Campy & Envelope
 

Hey guys
I picked this up for the postcard. The envelope was nice but now I am not so sure the postcard came in it, since the autograph doesn't look too good either (it looks like a slow hand last name). That said I am not an autograph guy and Campy very well could have signed differently before the accident than after. Any help on it would be great...

Hi Leon,
That one is a stamped/facsimile/preprinted signature.

Thanks Jeff. Much appreciated.

The postmark on the envelope looks like 1966.

Yes a very nice Roy Stampanella...

I thought Campanella COULDN'T sign autographs after the accident until someone came up with some kind of a device that helped him, and if my understanding is correct the device wasn't around until the 1980s or so.

Can anyone post an image of a device-assisted Campanella signature? I don't recall seeing one, and I'm curious to see how they look. Also interested in seeing the device itself (I don't know if it needs to be said, but it doesn't have to be the exact same one that Campy used).

Quite simply Campanella could not sign after his accident . Autograph requests via the mail were either a facsimile signed photo or a stamped signature on your item that you sent . In person he would give out these same photos or stamped cards. Then in the mid 1980s during the autograph craze a device was designed for him that he would "wear and use" to sign your autographs at shows . Flats were easy to do but baseballs did pose a problem and bats and jerseys were rare. Also at that time I believe he was the most expensive in person autograph signing fee on the show circuit . I remember fees of $250 -$350 per item at the National Pastime shows and at the National. So technically to an autograph purist after the accident he couldn't sign his name ever , and collectors at the time would not take his device assisted signatures as a "real" Campanella signature since it was done with the assistance of the signing device .

The pictured envelope is from 1966 with the proper stamp of White Plains where he lived . The 7th Ave NYC return address in the upper left I believe is from his HIP liquor store he owned .

I would see him and his wife Roxy at the games on the old club level. There was one spot for his wheel chair and one seat for Roxy just to the left of home plate. I would just stand by him and watch in AWE. My friend handed him a ball to sign and his wife signed it for him. Didn't do a bad job either. There are pics out there of him using the signing apparatus. Also, he signed swatches of the balls laying flat with the machine and then they were sewed together. That's why all of the balls stamps are upside down he scribbled back then.

This is correct, he could only "sign" flats. All balls were done by Scoreboard, in which he would sign the ball flat and then they would have them stitched up. I got into the autograph craze around 1991 and by then, he would only do private signings. He was supposed to do a public appearance at a show with Don Drysdale in 1993, but they both passed before the show happened.

Campy auto pen

http://photos.imageevent.com/griffin...ge/PSCampy.jpg

The majority of collectors were not aware of the "sewn" balls that Campanella signed. The forgers never got around to doing the "sewn" balls , and the stamping issue was always a good guide to see if the ball was a forgery. That was a closely guarded secret for many years.

We've had this discussion before, and I don't know for sure what type of "machine" Campanella might have used pre late 80's, but I attended a show on Oct 7th, 1989 where Campanella was signing. At 200 bones, it was by far the most I had paid for a living player at that time. I was standing right in front of him as he was signing, and I can tell you, it was not a machine. What he used, at least at that time, was a brace that was attached to where he was signing so that he arm/wrist could not shake/move. He then signed just using the movement of his palm and fingers. If you look at most of those autographs, you will see that the "Roy" looks pretty darn good, and then, because he couldn't lift his hand, he went right in to the Campanella...and as he got towards the end, he had to stretch his fingers a bit which caused it to look a bit stretched (for lack of a better term). I value and treasure that autograph, and wouldn't trade it for any pre-accident Campanella autograph.

That is a nice signature on a Photo.

Here's some shots of the sewn ball.