Origin of 1967(?) Corn King Ron Santo Photo Card
 

I don't know if this photo card has ever been catalogued or if anyone who doesn't collect vintage Cubs or Ron Santo items is even aware of it, but I talked to an eBay seller that just sold one who told me an interesting story about it. He told me that approximately fifty years ago (1967?) as a little leaguer in the Chicago area he went to a Ron Santo public signing at a Jewel grocery store. Apparently these were handed out to kids and fans as they waited in line. He told me that Santo was his idol at the time but he was shocked to see Santo smoking a cigarette as he signed it. That would be unthinkable now but was acceptable at the time. I have only seen three or four of these over the years on eBay, and all of them were signed by Santo. As an eleven or twelve year old little leaguer in New Jersey in 1978 or 1979, I remember going to a similar signing of Chris Chambliss where they handed out a black and white photo for him to sign. Unfortunately that is long gone. I stupidly forgot to put in a snipe on the Corn King Santo photo, but I do have one that I found on eBay years ago. It is about 5 x 7, glossy, blank backed, and printed on thick paper similar to a 60's advisory photo.

If you buy a card that has Best Wishes from the player who signs it, and you sell or trade that card, does the Best Wishes dissipate or can you transfer it to the new owner. Or can the original possessor retain Best Wishes in the transaction through some remainder or mineral rights clause even though he gives up the picture itself. Would any of that affect the value of the item on the market ?

Hey Al! I think maybe if you do an endorsement on the back as the original owner with a "Pay to the order of," the best wishes should be transferable!

Nice item by the way - I find the more obscure or unusual the issuer, the more interesting an oddball item like this gets!

Cool card, had never seen before. I'm a Santo collector, he's been my favorite vintage Cub for a long time. Just a gritty and determined character. Banks may have been Mr. Cub, but Santo was the backbone of a lot of those teams.

As far as the smoking goes, I think it's probably par for the course. I've heard snippets here and there before about Santo smoking and drinking, which of course combined with his diabetes had to have been toxic - but as he's pointed out in the past - they knew next to nothing about the disease in the 1960's. Who knows.


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If I search for one that was signed to a Cliff I think will be waiting a while :). I have other items that are signed by Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Santo, and Fergie Jenkins that I would just as soon not be signed at all, but they are so rare that I take what I can get. I have an uncatalogued small Wilson Advisory card of Ernie Banks that is personalized by Banks to another person, I will put up a scan when I get home. ETA, here is a scan of the 60's Ernie Banks small Wilson advisory card, it is personalized to a girl named Sheryn. Sheryn was the seller of this Banks card on eBay a couple of years ago, and in her description of the card she had a similar story that the Banks card was handed out to people waiting in line to get a Banks autograph, but I forget where she said the signing was. It might have been a sporting goods store. It's about the size of a regular card and blank backed. I still need a Ron Santo card in the same format.