Need help to ID this 1942 baseball autograph!

[muggsy]

This is a cross-reference to my other thread about the 1942 autograph book , but this is one of the few left I can't identify.

From 1942, probably one of STL, CHC, CIN, PIT, PHI, NYG, BSN
It could even be a manager/coach but likely a player.

[witster]

I'm going with Eppa Rixley

[muggsy]

Originally Posted by witster

I'm going with Eppa Rixley

Rixey would be a fantastic autograph, and it could be a match. But Rixey retired in 1933, what was he doing in 1942? I can't find any record of him coaching at the time. Was he hanging around CIN Spring Training? It IS possible. I guess that is next for me to find out.
I don't know how complete this would be for the era, but http://www.thebaseballcube.com/people_places/coaches/#R does not list Rixey as being a coach.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

What's a Rixley?

The closest thing it could possibly resemble is an incredibly rushed, last-name only Jerry Priddy. This appears to be a National League autograph book, however, and Priddy was a Yankee that season.

[muggsy]

Originally Posted by BillyCox3

What's a Rixley?

The closest thing it could possibly resemble is an incredibly rushed, last-name only Jerry Priddy. This appears to be a National League autograph book, however, and Priddy was a Yankee that season.

Yeah it would be an NL team only. Rixey would be odd because it would be nearly 10 years after he retired and I don't think he had been coaching. Was he a spectator signing a few? I guess that's the hardest to figure out. It does have some similarity to his other signatures.

I agree it would make a lot more sense to be someone active.

[Steve D]

It doesn't match any Eppa Rixey signatures I've seen.

I have found a Benjamin Rixey, who played in the St Louis Cardinals organization (class-D minor leagues) in 1939 and 1941. He then showed up in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in 1947.

I've found one signed document of his on Ancestry.com, but am inconclusive on it being a match.

Steve

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Not Rixey, whose signature was far too methodical in its construction. I have only seen one rushed authentic Rixey signature in 30+ years, and it doesn't even come close to this.

Does this book originate from a city that had franchises in both leagues, such as NYC, St. Louis, Chicago or Philly? If so, finding an American Leaguer in a book with NL autographs is not unimaginable. I've owned dozens of these books, most of which originated from two-team towns, and it's more common than not to find an American Leaguer or two in a book containing mostly NL teams, or vice-versa. If so, that would explain it.

The "P", and especially the finishing formation of it, is very reminiscent of Priddy (although I can't confirm it 100%--too sloppy and I haven't encountered such a rushed example of Priddy before).