This might well be my last pickup of 2022. It's from Clemente's appearance at Horne's in 1960. It's got a small pinhole but I haven't seen many copies of these so I jumped at the chance to acquire it. The image appears to be a tighter version of the picture used for the Jay Publishing 1958-61 Clemente photo, but with the facsimile autograph added.

2 GREAT pickups!
 

That is a BEAST of a photo to find! Only the 4th example I have ever seen.

Another Incredible pickup! This was the first graded example (a chewed up raw 1 sold on Ebay last year) to be publicly offered in the 30+ years I have been watching. Really nice eye appeal too. I saw it in the latest Heritage auction.

Congrats to you both! Fantastic pickups to close out the year!!

Nice pick up Howard.

Thanks Howard. I thought they were scarce but had no idea how scarce. Your Sugardale is nice---I'd never seen a Clemente before, and most other Sugardales that I'd seen in the past are in really terrible shape!

Have they all been autographed?

I have only seen one other example and originally couldn't remember where I saw it. But then I checked out this very thread and realized I'd seen that other example right here; Howard had posted a pic of his spectacular Horne's Clemente! Like mine, it contained a facsimile signature. So admittedly we have a small sample size of 2 for me. Howard has said he's seen a couple other copies and may be able to clarify further. But it begs the question: If Clemente was making an appearance and presumably signing his picture, why have a facsimile signature on the picture he's signing? Unless...maybe there were 2 versions: one to sign and give out, and one to give out after the Clemente had left the store?

Lost to time is probably the interesting story about which came first: the Horne's version or the Jay Publishing version. If players started making appearances at Horne's in 1958 as indicated by Howard's research, that's about the time coinciding with the Jay Publishing Pirates release, which again, lacked the facsimile signature. And it's the same image, but why use a tighter shot on the Horne's version? Again, these details are probably lost to time!

None of the ones I have seen
 

The few examples I have seen all had Fascimilie autos. I am attaching an image of the ad that ran the day before. The language says "They'll have autographed pictures for you too if you wish". Sounds like they were just giving out the pics with facsimile auto's rather than signing them. There were 4 players that appeared that day - Clemente, Maz, Stuart and Burgess.

I stumbled upon this photo a moment ago. The photo originates from the Heinz History Center. It is described in the following manner. “Dick Stuart, Smokey Bridges, Roberto Clemente, and Bill Mazeroski (top to bottom) sign photographs for fans at the downtown Horne’s Department Store on Sept. 15, 1960.“

Despite the description, I believe it confirms Howard’s theory that they weren’t signing autographs. I don’t see a pen anywhere in this picture taken at the Hornes event.

When I was an autograph hound back in the day, I always had a pen with me to get people to sign things. It's possible/probable that some in that crowd asked the players to sign the pics when they got to the table. Too bad the pic doesn't show young fans up there, as it might be a different story with them wielding pens.

That’s possible I suppose. However, when examples of these rare photos do surface they are never signed. Doesn’t it seem that actual signed copies would have had a better chance of surviving?