Its not pre-war but I think its cool

[whitehse]

I know we have plenty of autograph guys on here so I figured I would post this.

I came across something I forgot I had and re-found at my parents house. During most of the 80's I worked for the Chicago Cubs and before the memorabilia boom they had a habit of cleaning out files and tossing stuff out. I had a habit of dumpster diving and very often came away with some cool stuff. I really wished I had saved everything I found but i could only keep so much.

Myself and my cohort....who is now a very big shot with another Chicago professional team, came across a few of these sheets from when the team finally tossed out the files of the former traveling secretary, Robert Lewis. These sheets were for the weekly expense money the players received in spring training. they had to sign this sheet to signify that they had received their pay. This form features a beautiful early Ernie Banks auto as well as a few other Hall Of Famers like Kiner and Garagiola. (at least I think he is in the broadcasters wing). As near as I can tell this sheet was for the 1954 spring training which would put this at Banks' first full season and his rookie season.
I always thought this was so cool and will probably frame it with a team photo or a collage of baseball cards from whoever had a card at the time. I had 4 of these sheets and this was the one that had the most signatures on it. I believe the others I gave away or sold back in the 80's. They didnt have nearly the same signatures on it and have now probably been cut up and placed on cards by those memorabilia raiding card companies.

I just thought you guys would like to see it. FYI...the paper is a brighter yellow and the signatures are more bold than the scan shows. I am not sure why my scanner washed them out some.

[GrayGhost]

That is ONE AWESOME piece

[tcdyess]

Wow... Very cool!!!!

[Scott Garner]

Me likee!!

[mr2686]

Outstanding! I love seeing stuff like this.

[97manoftroy]

"Weekly player allowence of $25.00"

Thats a great piece of history! Thank you for sharing

[Rickyy]

Nice! Love the story behind it too!

Ricky Y

[Jay Wolt]

Andrew neat piece, thanks for posting.

[Bilko G]

Just curious.... So what would $25 in 1954 equal to in today's world?

Very cool piece btw!

[whitehse]

Originally Posted by Bilko G

Just curious.... So what would $25 in 1954 equal to in today's world?

Very cool piece btw!

Good question

I believe todays players get like 65 bucks a day in meal money during the season while on the road. It would be interesting to find out what 25 bucks means in todays money

[Griffins]

according to the inflation calculator, $25 in 1954 is equal to $200.43 in 2010 (the last year it calculates to).