Walter Johnson Political Button Collection

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Posted By: jamie

I recall Leon showing off a few Cy Young and Big Train political items care of Marshall Fogel so I thought I'd pass these on as well... they belong to a friend of my father who specializes in Johnson congressional items.



The old Fogel post now has dead images. If you still have them Leon, maybe you could add those to this post.

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Posted By: Paul

Does that first pin imply that Wendell Willkie had a "nice Johnson"?

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Posted By: Steve M.

The board is denegrating.
But

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Posted By: jamie

draw your own conclusion about willkie's willie

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Posted By: martindl

Jamie,
Neat items.

I collect a lot of eclectic stuff, pins included. I'm curious on the "Elect Johnson" pin at upper right. How do you know that this is connected to Walter Johnson? There have been many Johnsons running for all kinds of offices over the years. I ask because I sometimes see pins in auctions attributted to Walter, but in my mind they could be for any number of people named Johnson.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Jamie, I notice that two. "Nice Johnson, Wilkie" If if it's instead "Nice Johnson," what exactly is a Wilkie?

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Posted By: jamie

all penis jokes aside, the buttons were identified by walter johnson's grand-daughter and later written up in an article in scd about 5 years ago. im trying to get a copy of the article from the writer (owner of the buttons and the nice johnsons)

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Posted By: Hank Thomas

The information on the generic pin probably came from me--Johnson was my grandfather, and this pin was in my aunt's scrapbook with her notation as a young child, "Dad's pin for congress." Gary Hong may have written the SCD article referred to. To my knowledge, these are the only pins from Johnson's 1940 campaign. Coincidentally, I just had a discussion with an eBay seller advertising a "Johnson For Congress" pin as coming from Walter Johnson's campaign. I tried to tell him I didn't think it was, and the information wasn't well received, with him claiming that in political memorabilia circles his pin was widely regarded as being related to the ballplayer. I told him that was new to me, and I would have to see some proof before I believed it. I have the only campaign brochure I've ever seen. I'd like to see Marshall's stuff if it can be reposted, and any other rare Johnson stuff for that matter. I have a nice collection of his pins and silks, but sold off my card collection several years ago. I'll be bringing my pins and silks to Fort Washington in a couple of weeks if anybody wants to stop by and see them. I set up with Kevin Keating at booths 705-707. I didn't know about this forum before--somebody sent me the link and it looks great. Is this an offshoot of the magazine? I had a subscription before it went under. Hope this helps.

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Posted By: martin dalziel

Hank and Jamie,
Thanks for the info re the pins. I'll continue to be leery of all and any pins purporting to be tied to Walter's campaign.

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Posted By: jamie

hank,
thank you so much for weighing in. i was actually the winner of that other johnson pin. i shouldve spoken to my dad first- he's a member of apic and had doubts about the pin right away. he put me in touch with gary.

id love to see a scan of the pamphlet if youd be willing to share it. thanks again for clearing up the mystery on the pins

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Posted By: Hank Thomas

Glad to help. Jamie, if you send me your email, I'll get you a picture of the brochure eventually. I just got a digital camera to do this sort of thing, but have been busy and also am impatient with computer stuff. But I will get to it. Please send another request to my email, so I'll have that as a reminder.

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Posted By: Henry Eshelman

Hank
I live 5 mins away from Johnsons old house in Maryland. Do you remember ever visiting? Cant believe that its not some kind of landmark.

Thanks, Henry Eshelman

Website:www.freewebs.com/vintagebaseball

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Posted By: Hank Thomas

A couple of years ago, when the house was for sale, I was driving down Old Georgetown Road with my mother, who grew up in that house. It was open for inspection, so we walked through it. Mom said that the downstairs rooms had been reconfigured, but the upstairs was pretty much the way she remembered it. One of the changes to the downstairs was that Walter's trophy room had been eliminated. The biggest change was that it was a large estate when she lived there, almost nine acres, which of course my grandfather made into a little farm, with cows, horses, chickens, etc. Now it's maybe a half-acre and sits right on the road. There was a circular driveway when she lived there. The house does have an historic designation from the county, which means it can't be torn down, but it would be cool if there was some kind of marker to tell people he lived there.

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Posted By: Bryan

Hi Hank,

Not to change the subject but I noticed today that Sotheby's will be auctioning off one of Walter's jerseys. Just thought I would point that out to you if you haven't already seen it as you may be interested in seeing it.

Bryan

http://www.shareholder.com/bid/downloads/news/20060420-193364.pdf

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Posted By: Hank Thomas

Thanks, Bryan, I knew about it, but appreciate the alert. It's the only known Johnson jersey ever to hit the market. A managerial jacket was auctioned about 15 years ago, and the Hall of Fame has his 1927 road uniform, from cap to socks. I think they're hoping for maybe a half million for this one. Wish I had a couple.