Grignon player query

[Michael Peich]

I recently acquired this Grignon postcard, and it is alleged to have been written by Frank Schulte. The remarks on the card would suggest a player had written it. And the reference to "today Saturday" corresponds with the postmark date, Oct. 12, 1907 (the -2 is partly obscured, but is a -2), which was the day/date of the series clinching game #5 for the Cubs.

I asked the opinions of three autograph experts (two autograph dealers, one early Chicago expert/dealer) at the Valley Forge Show. Two of the three felt it was Schulte's signature (not Frank Chance btw, the only other -F on the team), and the other dealer (a well known autograph dealer) was rude, dismissive, and didn't offer an opinion (I'll keep him anonymous, but his initials are the same letter. He'll never get any business from me.) BTW, when I bought the card I did not pay an extra premium for the alleged Schulte connection.

Can anyone post a Schulte handwritten note/letter that will allow me to compare the writing? Many thanks, and in the meantime enjoy the card.

Cheers, Mike

PS--Leon: I hope it's okay to post in both the card and memorabilia forum. If not take the post down from the card section.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

I have three Schulte exemplars on immediate hand, but they are signatures only--no extra writing. Two are from government documents. The formation of the "F" on both of those are consistent with each other, despite being signed decades apart. It is not consistent with the way the "F" is signed on the front of the postcard.

It's also not the writing of Jimmy Sheckard, whose photo appears on the PC.

A couple of individual letter formations slightly resemble those of Frank Chance, but it doesn't appear to be his writing, either. The flow of the writing does not match Chance. He's the only other "F" on the 1907 club besides Chick Fraser, whose writing is markedly different from this.

In spite of all of this, the Tigers did lose 5-1 to the Cubs on October 10, 1907, the day this PC was cancelled.

[Michael Peich]

Thank you, and I didn't think it was Sheckard since it looks like an -F. Is it possible that it could be Frank Chance's hand? He was from California, and lived in Los Angeles. Are you able to scan one of the Schulte exemplars?

Many thanks, Mike

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

There are very few Chance exemplars with extra writing, and nothing from the same year. On a whole, the individual letter formation exhibited on the PC is far too rounded and from the hand of at least a slightly more learned man than Chance, who was not the world's best speller.

[Scott Garner]

x

[Scott Garner]

Hmm... Do you suppose "F" was trying to say that he knocked the stripes off the tigers, not spots? I've never heard of a tiger with spots......

Also, it's pretty unlikely that Nellie Mullen, who the postcard was addressed to, was any relation to George Mullen on the opposing team the Detroit Tigers, right?

[Michael Peich]

Thanks to all for weighing in on my query. It's amusing -F can't recall that a tiger has stripes, and it seemed to me that this was too well written to be Chance. And, it's interesting to conjecture on Mullen's sister, but I doubt that as well. I guess it was probably written by a fan who was at the game and helped them win via his support.

I still like that it is postmarked the day they clinched the series during which the rookie Cobb batted an anemic .200, had no rbi, and was caught stealing the only time he tried.

Cheers, Mike

[canjond]

Are we sure it's not a "J" (maybe a hurried one)? For example, I thought it looked somewhat similar to the "J" in Joe Tinker's signature?

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

It's most assuredly not Tinker's writing. I also thought about it being a "J", but it has to be an F.

[prewarsports]

Sometimes fans refer to themselves as part of a team "We won today" etc. If I was at say a Boise State Football game (since I am a season ticket holder that is the only reference I could give) I could say "I helped win the game for the Broncos" as a fan and it would not be totally misunderstood that I "helped" even though I was not on the team. My guess is that is the case here.

[Michael Peich]

Hi, Rhys,

I agree with you. In fact, the more I think of it, fans were rabid in the early 20c, referred to as "cranks," and I am almost certain that this is nothing more than a fan response, written on a cool card, the day the Cubs won it all. Thanks for weighing in, and you are going to have to do some real work to get your team to a big bowl game!

Cheers, Mike