Sam Jones Help (Baseball)

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by uga1980

The autograph you have is of Sam Jones who pitched for the Cleveland Indians who was also referred to as "toothpick". There was a thread discussing the two variances on net54 before but I don't recall the actual post date.

The guy who was supposedly illiterate ?

Aaaand (from the thread) "whats odd is BOTH Sam Jones have similar signature slants up and to the right"


I'd wager the PSA examples with smooth writing are forgeries, as well as the 2 sgc signed slabbed examples

[stat192]

Thank you all for your replies, everyone on this board is amazing

[etsmith]

So which Sam Jones would this autograph be?

Sam P. Jones Baseball.jpg

[Scott Garner]

Your check is signed Samuel P (Pond) Jones, which is Sad Sam.
For a reference point, here is a payroll check that I own of Sad Sam that is dated 1925.

Believe it or not, I purchased this check from a collector in Japan at least 13-15 years ago.
Collecting prewar vintage baseball is truly an international hobby.

I hope this helps!

[etsmith]

It doesn't look much like the one on the 3x5 card a couple of posts up.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by etsmith

It doesn't look much like the one on the 3x5 card a couple of posts up.

Hi Ed,
As strange as it may seem, it was not an unusual practice for some players to use a more formal signature with more "flourish" when their signature was requested from friends, someone of note or occasionally a collector. Sad Sam Jones (Samuel Pond Jones) and Lefty Grove are great examples of this practice.

Here is an early vintage signed index card of Sad Sam that I own, that also shows his beautiful signature with the flourish that I mentioned.

Also for extra context, I will show an example of Lefty Grove's formal autograph. Compare it to about 95% of every Grove signature that you see on eBay and you can see there is a HUGE difference.

I hope this helps!

[etsmith]

The Sam Jones is a really attractive signature, but most players back then had really great handwriting unlike today's players.