Speaker Autograph Question
 

Hi Guys,

I wonder if some of you experts can help me out. I want to know if Tris Speaker was known to ever have someone signing for him in his later years (like a wife or sister, or the like)?

Here's what I'm driving at...is it a safe bet - in general, of course - that a GPC that went to Speaker's house in the mid-1950s actually bears Speaker's sig?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Cheers,
Blair

JimStinson
 

To my knowledge Tris Speaker never used a proxy on through the mail requests. In fact he was SO accomodating to fans that he even went through the trouble of having postcard photos of himself made up and would often include them with autograph requests.
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jim@stinsonsports.com

JimStinson
 

They look like this...
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jim@stinsonsports.com

Thanks Jim - just the kind of info I was looking for! What got me wondering was that I've seen a few Speaker autos that don't have the big looping part of the "p" through the capital "S", but some of those were on GPCs...so that got me wanting to make sure these were not known to be signed by a relative!

Cheers,
Blair

For example, this one:

JimStinson
 

The signature posted above is GOD awful, Its either not signed by him or he was at deaths door.....like maybe "minutes" away.
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jim@stinsonsports.com

JimStinson
 

Can you post an image of the verso ?
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jim@stinsonsports.com

Hi Jim,

I have no image of the reverse on that Speaker I posted above - it is advertised as a 1955 GPC (though the slab says "index card").

I deduce from the other offerings of the seller that this Speaker is a companion to (from the same collection as) this Sam Crawford, addressed to someone named "Alan":

And also from same collection as this Schalk auto to "Alan", I'm assuming:

JimStinson
 

Both the Ray Schalk and Sam Crawford you pictured are "spot on" , I did notice the dates on the Schalk and the Crawford were 1955 & 1957, Speaker died in December of 1958. So who knows ......Maybe he WAS at death's door.

I've attached an image of an early 1950's signature on a GPC that is typical of all I've seen. Except for very early Tris Speaker signatures. They have all been very consistant.
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jim@stinsonsports.com

Hi Jim,

The one I posted dates from 1955, so Tris was pretty near the end of his years by then. Maybe that explains it?

(And I really appreciate your input on this!)

Cheers,
Blair

JimStinson
 

He died in 1958 from a massive and sudden heart attack while returning from a fishing trip. So he was healthy enough to go fishing ....:)
In 1955 he would have been either 66 or 67 years old not exactly what you'd call REALLY OLD..lol , Maybe someone has an example from that span that they could compare but it certainly is different
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jim@stinsonsports.com

I think all three of these were from the same collection and submition to PSA. If you look at the serial numbers on all three of the autos they are only a few digits apart. Just an observation
Drew