Houston Colt .45 Autograph?

[Case12]

Tough mystery! I got this 1962 Houston Colt .45 Inaugural Facimile ball on ebay. Love it. I can easily get 24 of 25 autos identified. The one in the photo (above the ink) is a mystery. I checked all the players and managers on the roster. All the players I could find that may have only been there a day. I have tried bat boys, owners, radio broadcaster (English and Spanish). I am stumped

Maybe someone or a .45s fan can figure it out? I don't know what the smudges blue ink name is either. I figure maybe a kid wrote it in?

This is a souvenir ball...so it shouldn't be this hard, right? ;-(

Thanks, casey

[MooseDog]

It almost looks like it could be a manufacturing defect...have you checked against the roster as to who is missing? Looks like someone wrote Russ Kemmerer below the mystery sig.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Ken Johnson

[Case12]

I think you may be right about someone writing Russ Kemmer except Russ' autograph is already on another side of the ball. Guess that is the mystery.

Yes, I have gone through the roster. Actually have most all of the players autographs on other things. None look like this.

Ken Johnson is not elsewhere on the ball, but his signature is so different, and not this long.

As for a misprint. What would do that? (BTW, how were these fax balls printed in early 60's?). Did someone put the wrong rubber stamp? Ha, ha.

This really has me stumped...

[MooseDog]

I doubt that all of those souvenir balls were actually rubber stamped. More likely the autographs were affixed on the two individual panels by some sort of printing process. then stitched together. You notice on some of these the autograph overlaps the seam but there is no ink on the seam. Whatever the process was could have created the issue.

I kinda agree with BillyCox that it might be Ken Johnson, mangled.

Suppose if you could find another 1962 souvenir ball you'd have your answer.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

100% Ken Johnson. Believe it or don't believe it, that's who it is.

[bobw]

From an auction from 2018, a clearer image of a different ball

[Case12]

I believe it. I had to dig a lot to find another like it. Ken W. Johnson. Must be early signature from his Phillies days in the 50's. Thank you very much! Amazing mystery solved!

[Steve D]

Originally Posted by Case12

I believe it. I had to dig a lot to find another like it. Ken W. Johnson. Must be early signature from his Phillies days in the 50's. Thank you very much! Amazing mystery solved!

Question:

You say Ken W. Johnson; but, The Colt 45's player was Ken T. Johnson.

There were two Ken Johnsons.

Ken Travis Johnson played from 1958-1970 for the A's, Reds, Colt 45's, Braves, Yankees, Cubs & Expos.

Ken Wandersee Johnson played from 1947-1952 for the Cardinals, Phillies & Tigers.


Steve

[Steve D]

OK, I believe the signature is in fact, Kenneth Wandersee Johnson, as evidenced by these two documents I have found:





So, whoever made the baseballs, put the wrong Ken Johnson's facsimile signature on the ball. That explains why it is so different from the signatures from Ken (T) Johnson of the Colt 45's.

Steve

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Entirely correct. I'm sure the Autographed Ball Co. may have made similar mistakes with the two Don Lepperts, Bill Henrys, Bob Millers, Ken Hunts, etc. I can't recall offhand, but I know Topps did the same thing.

[Case12]

So, the signature on the ball is not Ken T. Johnson of the colts?. Weird twist -

Side note: Ken T. Johnson was the only MLB player to pitch a no-hitter, and still lose....

[Case12]

Fyi on how they did fax balls....Thanks for pointing me to the Autographed Ball Company.....

The Autographed Ball Company was founded in 1947 by Richard B. (Dick) Culler in High Point, North Carolina. Culler played baseball in the major leagues from 1936 to 1949, for the Philadelphia A's, Chicago White Sox, Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs, and New York Giants. Dick Culler had invented a technique to stamp facsimiles of players' signatures on baseballs, so team-autographed balls could be mass-produced. It allowed a baseball to be hand-stamped with a spherical stamp six times, once for each panel on the ball

A joint venture with ex teammate Billy Jurges, the company licensed the use of players' signatures on the basis of one cent apiece for each ball sold. The company sold the balls through concession stands in big-league parks and also sold them through the mail. The standard contract allowed the Autographed Ball Company to reproduce the players signature on team baseballs that were to be sold to the general public. The ballplayers were required to provide four separate signature examples at the base of the contract, for use to create a die to stamp the autograph on a baseball.

Producing replica team autographed baseballs for almost 70 years, the Autographed Ball Company went out of business in 2014. These baseballs provided a history of the game unequaled by any other product. The balls were produced with current team rosters and reflected midseason call ups and trades. Team Balls made in April, can be completely different by October. The autograph dyes used for the baseballs were created at the time the order was placed. They did not keep printed balls in stock from a previous order.

[mrmopar]

In the earlier days of ebay, I was fortunate enough to win what I think was a full Dodgers team set of signatures, circa 1977-78. These were apparently from the plaque company and were somewhat different from the ball company contracts. Mine were just the signature examples that appeared to be cut off the original contracts. I also have a Glenn Burke ball contract. I used both types of signature example sheets to show his signatures in this blog entry.

https://1978theyearitallbegan.blogsp...ure-guide.html

[mrmopar]

I was going to suggest maybe Ken Aspromonte with some ink skipping as a possibility. I didn't check to see if he was on the Colts around that time and maybe if he was, he appears on the ball elsewhere?

Thast Johnson guy had an unusual signature, that is for sure.

[Case12]

With contracts well accounted for, interesting they got the wrong Ken Johnson :-)

[MooseDog]

This thread made me go searching my mess of a collection as I knew I had this (Ken W) signature somewhere...

Found it. A GPC postmarked in 1950.

[Wrightfan85]

What a unique autograph! I though Luis Aparicio had the most breaks for a baseball signature