Rarest HOF or superstar autograph?

[prewarsports]

There are Keeler letters with his descendants. They may never hit the market but they are still there. I can say though that I have never seen an example. There have been maybe 5 Galvins hit the auction block in my time so he is rare but not impossible. On George Davis, he was unknown until he made the Hall of Fame but I think there are 2-3 known now. Bid McPhee is another rarity even though his late death date would seem to indicate others are out there somewhere. I would say Joss #1 followed by a bunch of 19th century guys like Radbourn, Kelly, Clarkson, Keefe etc.

That 1894 Ledger that sold in the Halper auction had signatures of most of these 19th century guys but that is the "Holy Grail" of autographs and it is not likely to hit the market again for some time.

As a side note, Pete Browning was illiterate but if you have the 19th century Baseball Encyclopedia Book they have a photo signed by Browning that was sent to a newspaper editor in an attempt to prove he could write. It looks like a 1st grader wrote it and it has since been thrown out or destroyed as all that is left is a photocopy.

In my opinion the most valuable autograph in the hobby would be a James Creighton if one was ever found. I think it would sell for 100,000+ but you never know. I never would have thought a Bid Mchee signed letter would be in th 75K range either!

Rhys


ALSO, There have been several (maybe 5-10) Ross Youngs signatures on album pages I have seen in the last 10+ years, and at least 20-30 on team signed Baseballs so he is Rare for the 20th century but not nearly as tough as some of these other guys.