I never heard that story about what happened to Vance memorabilia , But I do recall when I visited his daughter that she still had some things related to her father, She lived in a very small house , Might have even been a trailer in Crystal River or Homosassa Springs. The items I recall being shown were several items related to his childhood including his original birth certificate , also there was a very large photo of Dazzy Vance that was hanging on the wall that she told me had hung in Ebbets Field and they were given the photo when they demolished the park.
She said he spent most of his time fishing and one day his favorite dog jumped in the water and an alligator killed him, cut him in half right in front of him and it broke his heart to watch it. When he got too old for that he opened a curio shop on the main drag that was in the shape of a large teepee and he sold trinkets to tourists and swapped baseball stories with anyone that had remembered his glory years.
After he died she said her mother used to send out cuts from his signed checks to collectors that would write asking for his autograph.
I always found it fascinating that Vance did not become a regular player in the major leagues until he was 31 years old and still had the best fastball in baseball.
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