rarest BB HOF autographs?

[rsuriyop]

I'm sure that sigs of Al Spalding would also rank among the toughest to find.

[Agente Libre]

I know autographs of Cobb, Ruth, etc., are the most popular in a general sense, but I also know there are quite a few baseball HOFers for whom there are no known autographs available at all (e.g., a large chunk of the 2006 inductees from the pre-Negro League days).

Has anyone seen a list of such "lost" BB HOF auto's?

Aside from the "lost" guys, who are the rarest available auto's?

Thanks very much.

[Dalkowski110]

I would imagine an autograph of King Kelly would be a tough one, especially because he basically drank himself to death before age 40. Candy Cummings is also uncommon, but there are a handful known to exist. I'd think the rarest would be a guy like Alexander Cartright. Just my opinions, tho'.

[anjo25]

i think there are some signed photos & stuff like that(smithsonian baseball-nice book!) from cartwright...chadwick might be a hard one to find, too. Youre right, King Kelly is probably oine of the rarest...maybe some sigs on cheques etc. exist...nice thread!

[Captain Cold Nose]

I've heard Addie Joss is an extremely tough auto to find, possibly the toughest of 20th century players.

[flyingdutchdude]

Here are some tough ones...
(these players below will cost $2000++ ea. even for a cut sig if you could find one)

Cap Anson
Jake Beckley
Henry Chadwick
Oscar Charleston
Jack Chesbro
Jimmy Collins
Roger Connor
Candy Cummings
Ed Delahanty
Martin Dehigo
Buck Ewing
Rube Foster
Willie Foster
Pud Galvin
Josh Gibson
Billy Hamilton
Ned Hanlon
William Hubert
*Joe Jackson
Addie Joss
Tim Keefe
Joe Kelly
King Kelly
Pop Lloyd
Thomas McCarthy
Joe McGinnity
James O'Rourke
Eddie Plank
Charles Radbourn
Wilber Rogan
Sam Thompson
Rube Waddell
Montgomery Ward
Mickey Welch
Vic Willis
Ross Youngs

[Agente Libre]

Wow ... that's quite a list, and you didn't even get into the 2006 inductees of whom at least half are supposedly very hard (or impossible) to find.

[Captain Cold Nose]

Plank surprises me. He was very active in his hometown, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and even worked as a battlefield tour guide after his baseball career had ended.

[flyingdutchdude]

Yes, and the list I have of toughies is about 5 years old so doesnt have many of the latest inductees. It is based on an older price guide of 3X5/cuts, and doesnt include bigger names like Gehrig or Mathewson whos prices more reflect their popularitiy rather than overall rareity.

[cjedmonton]

Plank surprises me. He was very active in his hometown, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and even worked as a battlefield tour guide after his baseball career had ended.

Plank doesn't surprise me. He has proven to be VERY tough to come by, and along with Rube Waddell, will probably never grace my southpaw collection. I can still dream, though!

[Dodgerfan1]

Three-Finger Brown. No known autographs in existence. They say he couldn't hold a pen. :D

Also Joe Jackson. Couldn't spell his name. (Oops! My bad! He's not a HOFer...)

[AlecBoy006]

2006 Inductees? You will find Bruce Sutter's TTM auto at MY house. ;)

[AutographCollector]

2006 Inductees? You will find Bruce Sutter's TTM auto at MY house. ;)
Bruce Sutter lives in the same town as my brother. Well exactly 4 miles away to be preceise. I too have his auto; on a personlized 8x10. Can't be that tough to get. :lookitup

[Agente Libre]

Yeah, but how are you coming on that Cristobal Torriente auto?

[Captain Cold Nose]

Plank doesn't surprise me. He has proven to be VERY tough to come by, and along with Rube Waddell, will probably never grace my southpaw collection. I can still dream, though!
Fine, but why? He wasn't exactly a hermit post career. You'd figure working as a tour guide in a highly publicized and visited national park would have given people plenty of opportunity.

[Agente Libre]

Speaking of Rube Waddell, his auto recently sold for $29,000 at auction (with a pre-auction estimate of $4,000).

[flyingdutchdude]

Plank died before the autograph craze took off. He passed away fairly young at 50, and this was in early 1926.

Try finding cards signed in the 1910s-20s...they are tough, but cards signed in the 1930's are very common, especially the R319 Goudey cards. Autograph collecting (especially by the kids) really took off in the 1930s.

Mordecai Brown and Cartwright are actually fairly common for their era's.

Joe Jackson did know how to write his name, he just didnt like to do it. His wife did most of the autograph requests, but Jackson signed the contracts and more important stuff personally.

Of the newer inductees. many of the 17 of the Cuban/Negro Leaguers induted last year and some in previous years would be fairly tough, especially the earlier ones like Torriente, Mendez, Santop, Grant, Cooper, etc.

[Dalkowski110]

After doing a couple days' search, Jose Mendez would definitely be among the rarest 20th century signatures. So few autographs are known of Mendez in the US (although there are supposedly some in Cuba), that you could probably count them with both hands. I've seen 'graphs of some of the other Negro Leaguers elected this year floating around the 'net (with a surprising number from the aforementioned Cristobal Torriente and Louis Santop). Rube Waddell is also very rare because he signed virtually everything with an "X". Supposedly, he even did this on some baseballs! I'd imagine Frank Grant would be an easier find than you might think (although not much easier), considering he played with Buffalo for a few years.

[Agente Libre]

That's interesting re: Torriente. Just a couple weeks ago, I read that there were no known auto's for him.

I imagine the fraud factor is very high for guys like the 2006 HOF inductees. A person could probably make $50,000 with one or two pieces.

[Dalkowski110]

I found three autographs, two pictures and a piece of paper, on the internet for Torriente. Granted, they COULD exist in Cuba but not the US. They were on two different type pictures, but one of them had a signature that was in a different place than the other. All three signatures looked like they were written by the same person, but also not the same enough to qualify as hoaxes that were literally lifted off a master copy. NONE were for sale, and all were simply being displayed.

EDIT: When Pop Lloyd was inducted into the Hall, IIRC, they thought there were no known signatures of Lloyd. And now, look at how many you see versus the time he was inducted that have been proven as genuine. I believe Upper Deck even has a Pop Lloyd cut signature baseball card.

[HexsHeroes]

Over the past 7 years, respected autograph dealer Jim Stinson (Miami, FL) has sold five different examples, including a signed business card, 3x5 index card, a personal check, 2.5x4.5 scorecard cut, and a Government postcard. But only five examples over a 7 year period certainly makes it a more difficult autograph to locate.

[Agente Libre]

Speaking of Stinson, he has a Utah address but his site lists a bunch of Miami phone numbers. Where does he operate out of?

[Agente Libre]

Speaking of Stinson, he has a Utah address but his site lists a bunch of Miami phone numbers. Where does he operate out of?

[HexsHeroes]

I believe that Jim may do business from both locations, although Miami is his primary work location (I think). St. George was his home for many years but he found that Miami offered more options for his ever increasing need for international travel, especially south of the U.S.

[Captain Cold Nose]

Not only is Plank's autograph hard to find, his grave site isn't too easy, either. I think I spent an hour on Monday in the Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg trying to find it, to no luck.