Who is Roy Castleton and why is his Autograph So RARE

[JimStinson]

I was in the middle of writing this story about Roy Castleton and I read on the forum that someone had already did a story on him for SCD which I have not read , so hope this one is not repetitive or redundant. To my knowledge no signature of Castleton has ever been offered for sale and he is still on my list of 1907 debut year players of which no autograph has ever been offered for sale.
Who is Roy Castleton and why is his signature so RARE?

He lived almost his entire life in Utah. His grandfather was Brigham Young's gardener and he was first Mormon major league professional baseball player.
It was a warm August morning in Youngstown Ohio in 1906. A 21 year old left handed pitcher from Utah sat nervously awaiting his assignment for that day. It was to pitch against the powerhouse Akron team which was comprised of mostly former major league veteran ball players. What he was to eventually accomplish at the end of that nine inning game would be nothing short of miraculous. Less than six foot tall his uniform hung loosely on the youngster's 150 pound frame, he did not look like an athlete.
Royal Eugene Castleton was born July 26th, 1885 he had worked as a clerk and bookkeeper for railroad offices in Salt Lake City Utah he had been a good student who excelled at math and in his free time played baseball for local teams. In 1906 against the wishes of his father Charles and mother Mary Ann both devout Mormons he elected to pursue his passion and boarded a train east. He arrived in Youngstown Ohio and promptly signed a contract to pitch for their minor league baseball team. At the turn of the century professional baseball was largely a game played by roughnecks , recruited from coal mines, farms and the bustling inner cities these ball players bore no resemblence to their modern day counterparts. Both in the stands and on the playing field, tobacco chewing, cussing, drinking and fighting was the norm. Gambling on games was openly practiced and fans sometimes brought guns to keep the betting on the level. Ladies rarely if ever attended baseball games.
Roy surveyed the field that August morning. It would be a hot and humid day he knew that and he would need to pace himself, as a pitcher he knew too that the humidity would make his curve ball break nicely making it harder to hit. Slowly, deliberately he walked to the pitchers mound , the hometown fans applauded. He took the baseball and began to pitch. He retired one batter after another as the tension began to build and by the 9th and final inning not a single Akron batsman had reached first base. In fact only four balls had even found their way out of the infield only to be snagged quickly by the Youngstown team's outfielders. With the final out of the game he had done it , The bookish looking Mormon from Salt Lake City had done it. He had pitched a perfect game ! Giving up not a single walk or hit while striking out ten in a 4-0 Youngstown victory. He would become an overnight sensation.
Word quickly spread to major league teams who clamored to learn more about this Utah "wonder" , Scouting reports read that "his fastball strikes the catchers mitt like thunder and appears much faster than is possible for a 150 pound human to throw, his curve ball is one of the best we have ever seen" He was compared to the major league's Cy Young who himself the year before had also hurled a perfect game. Cy Young would eventually win a major league record 511 games in his career and become one of the original five members of the baseball hall of fame. Roy Castleton would not be as lucky.
Major League teams were so excited about Castleton that he was immediately offered a contract for $2,000 an astonishing amount of money in 1906 when the average wage in the United States was twenty-two cents an hour ! Considering him too valuable, the Youngstown team refused to let him go. Finally a deal was struck whereby Roy would be allowed to finish the season with Youngstown before signing on with the New York Highlanders a team which would later be called the New York Yankees. He was considered by most sports writers to be one of the most promising rookie pitchers ever. Early in the 1907 season he was to make baseball history again when he took the mound for the Highlanders in the 9th inning he became the first ever major league baseball player born in Utah as well as the first LDS major league player. He did not allow a hit in his brief but historic outing. In his next major league appearence he retired the first 12 batters he faced and pitched effectively but his team mates afforded him only one run and he lost 3-1. In his next and last American League appearence he won his first major league game and finished the season with one win one loss and a 2.81 era. Highlander fans looked forward to the 1908 season where it was hoped the promising rookie would help lead the team to their first championship. Roy returned to Salt Lake City for the winter and his old job in the railroad office to await the promise of spring and the 1908 baseball season.
Typhoid fever was a dreaded and feared disease a century ago. Many people died from it and few were the same after they had contracted it. In 1908 disaster struck when Castleton became one of them. He lost 35 pounds and spent his twenty third birthday in a hospital bed. By the time he was ready to return the baseball season and his chances at major league stardom were over. He fought back and in 1909 and 1910 pitched briefly but effectively for the Cincinnati Reds in the National League but his fastball was never the same again. It was reported that "Roy does not look well and its doubtful the boy will ever pitch again". Wanting to be closer to home he returned to Salt Lake City and continued to pitch in the minor league's Pacific Coast League until physical problems forced his retirement from the game in 1913. In 1918 he married Esther Kelson in Salt Lake City and took a job with the stock brokerage firm of "Scott and Hadley". After the Great depression struck in 1929 he remained in Salt Lake City working as a accountant and book keeper. Which would mean he would have signed literally thousands of items yet to my knowledge as a baseball autograph collector and historian not a single Roy Castleton autograph has ever been offered for sale and the only example of his John Hancock ever seen is that pictured here from his World War One draft registration card. Why ?
Sometime in the 1940's he and Esther moved from Salt Lake City to southern California. They had no children. He was employed as a water heater inspector by a company called GWH Corp in Santa Monica. They lived in a somewhat upscale two story home at 1320 S. Highland Ave in Los Angeles. Suffering from diabetes his health gradually worsened and he died of a cerebral hemorrhage on June 24th, 1967. His body was returned to Salt Lake City for burial and his wife Esther then 75 years old chose to move back to the city of her birth and remain in Salt Lake where much of both her and her late husband's family still resided. Her health declined and she spent the last 10 years of her life in a nursing home and died in Salt Lake City on October 4th, 1987.
They say that baseball is "A game of inches" and it is true. Where inches can determine the outcome of an entire season, A ball caught in the tip of an outfielders glove at the end of his stride or a batsman swinging a second to early or too late or a pitcher who's once lightning fast pitch suddenly has lost its thunder. What is true in baseball may also be true outside of it. Away from the green grass of the outfield and the dried earth of the pitchers mound where in 1907 once stood a young left handed pitcher on the verge of greatness. Life is a game of inches.

Jim Stinson is a free lance sports writer, autograph collector, Baseball historian and long time member of SABR (The Society for American Baseball Research)

[jgmp123]

Jim,

Great story....It's great to be acclimated with a player/story that you have never heard before.

Great stuff.

[travrosty]

It would probably cost more to find his autograph than it would be worth. It took me 3.5 years to find former mexican heavyweight champion boxer Manuel Ramos' autograph from deep in mexico and it's probably not worth 100 dollars and it is one of a kind as far as i know.

But if someone wanted to go on a crusade and leave no stone unturned, they could maybe find a R. Castleton autograph. Is it worth it is the question? A guy spent a decade looking for Jim Robinson's boxing autograph and couldn't find one so the prospect of putting in tons of time and money and not getting anything out of it is a possibility that people will weigh before deciding on investing the time/money to find a signature of his. We are trying to find an Charley Retzlaff autograph and looking high and low and nothing, and there should be a few around but connecting the current whereabouts of the autograph to the person looking for it is quite a task sometimes.

That said owning a R. Castleton autograph would be cool and I hope someone does find one.

[JimStinson]

An authentic Roy Castleton autograph would in my opinion sell for anywhere from $1,000-$3,000, at least. As a former Highlander (Yankees) he's on every Yankee's "Want List" I see and also on every single 1907 debut year want list also, Not to mention the Mormon connection.
Baseball autograph collecting is a little different in that very obsure non-hall of famers can command more dollars than big name famers. The autograph of Clancy Smyres who played in only 5 games for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1944 and died in 2007 would sell for more than Honus Wagner, Rogers Hornsby & Ty Cobb COMBINED.

[mr2686]

To me that's the difference between a collector and an investor. An investor weighs the time and cost of acquiring an item to maximize profit, where a collector doesn't care because it's the thrill of the hunt.

[mr2686]

Jim, what's the deal with Clancy Smyres? Did he not do shows in the 80's or sign by mail. Strange that someone who died in 2007 and lived in or around Los Angeles and played for Brooklyn would not have done at least a couple of shows in the 80's. Was he unable to sign?

[JimStinson]

For reasons known only to Smyres he would not sign, anything. Collectors sent him expensive gifts via certified mail requiring only his signature and he refused them. In the 1990's I called him on the phone and he was very nice on the phone until the word "autograph" came up and he kept saying "Good bye, Good bye", (smile) I was doing private signings then and offered him $5,000 to sign 10 items and he hung up on me. He was perfectly able to sign but steadfastly refused. Since his death I have heard of collectors offering his son far more money than I did for anything signed by his father, and the son (so far) responds the same as his father used to

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by mr2686

To me that's the difference between a collector and an investor. An investor weighs the time and cost of acquiring an item to maximize profit, where a collector doesn't care because it's the thrill of the hunt.

But investors dont go on crusades like this, only the collector is insane enough to go on a multi-year wild goose chase to find a near impossible autograph like this, but after spending tons of money and time, even a collector has to know when to call it quits, like my friend who spent probably over 10 grand and couldnt find a jim robinson autograph. There is such thing as throwing good money after bad. When you cover about 95% of the bases, the remaining 5% will cost you more than the first 95% ever did, and some autographs just aren't meant to be found. I've went on a few of these chases and have about a 50% hit rate.

Marvin Hart a good example. The very few that are around are either in public institutions like museums or gov't archives, and only a couple in private hands but have been around awhile, but I never see new examples come into the marketplace, I wish they would, finding some of these autograph is like finding sasquatch sometimes. You get a lead but it ends up evaporating before your very eyes.


I found autographs of over 90% of all the champions and challengers for the heavyweight crown unified, wbc, wba, ibf, (and all of them from 1923-1996 except one, leroy jones, and that is a story unto itself.)

You have to do a systematic approach with included geneaology, work history, friends, geographic location, etc. i am quite good at it now and will take on autograph cases if anyone wants a certain one.

[mr2686]

Travis, although I agree with most of what you're saying, I do believe that the internet and social network sites have made the world so small, that almost anything can be found (if it can be found) by just sitting at your computer. There are collectors right here on this site that network all over the U.S and the World and have found some stuff that I would have thought was extinct. All it takes is one person to happen upon an item in someone's collection or yardsale etc, take a picture of it on their smartphone, and then text it to multiple collectors to see if they need it.