Posted By:
Dan BrettaI actually have so many great finds...my brother was at an estate auction about two years ago and he called me up and asked me if I wanted something called a "baseball transfer" and I was thinking 1965 Topps baseball transfers so I said no, then he called me back a few minutes later and told me I should come to this auction because there were some autographed baseballs so I decided to go to the auction...when I got there I noticed a trophy from the Sioux City Soos and I asked the auctioneer who the auction was for and they said "The Bruner family"...I walked around a while until I noticed a lady that was going inside the house and I asked her if this was her auction and she said yes, I then asked her who the baseballs and trophy belonged to and she said they were her dad's Jack Bruner.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=bruneja01
The auctioneer didn't even know that they were doing an auction for a former major league player. I ended up with the baseballs, but I kind of had to work out a deal with another collector to not go after the trophy which I now regret, but such is life. The baseballs were minor league balls from the 1940s of the Western League's Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Has a sig of Sam Hairston who I think was the last Negro League MVP) and the other ball was from the Sioux City Soos. I paid about $30 each for them.
Here's the Colorado Springs ball...I can't find my pic of the Soos ball, but I know I have it somewhere.
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Bruner's daughter invited me into the house after the auction and showed me all the stuff of her dad's that they were keeping, which was substantial...photos, plaques, balls. They said they had some uniforms, but they were at another family member's house.