Your dream baseball autograph?

[HexsHeroes]

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I've heard the story about how, upon his release from the Giants, Bugs Raymond hung his jersey up in a local saloon with a sign advertising that he was now bartending there. But I also seem to recall that another story (not sure how accurate) stated that Raymond use to sign baseballs to trade for drinks. That seems to be a slightly-less-than-common currency used by other ballplayers. And quite possible the storyline survives, as the cast fades. But if true, such a signed ball would be worthy of a lengthly catalog narrative. Not my dream autograph, but one I would greatly enjoy the opportunity to view.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Phil,

Yes, that story was in The Glory of Their Times. I always think of that whenever I ponder the near-total lack of Raymond signatures. It also reminds me of the story that a former teammate of King Kelly recounted decades after the fact. He said that neighborhood kids would flock around Kelly wherever he went, pestering him for autographs. I'm of the opinion that either this teammate's mind was playing tricks on him or the writer/interviewer took creative liberty and added the autograph part into the story. People simply weren't collecting players' autographs on a grandiose level until the 1920's. Judging by collector-obtained material that still survives, it seems as though the hobby was not born until the first decade of the last century.