November autograph pick ups
 

Let's see what everyone picked up this month.

My latest acquisition has me pumped and a little worried at the same time. Found two Harry Stovey autographs and had to have them both. Stovey debuted in 1880, was the first MLB player to hit 100 homers and held the career mark for 8 years. Have yet to see a neater piece on him. Finding Stovey's signature has me pumped.

What has me worried is the excitement of getting a guy most casual or even great baseball fans don't care about or have never heard of. Sometimes I wonder how I got here. Do you ever feel that maybe you're in too deep?

Anyway, I added a page for Stovey on my website CooperstownExpert.com. You can see his page by clicking here. The website has a page for every Hall of Famer and 394 player pages of guys not in the Hall. It's a labor of love that also has me both pumped and worried...

Very cool, Jim! Congrats! :cool:

Thanks, Scott!

I understand what you are saying. I try to get at least one of every HOFer that is priced say under $4000. But if someone comes up I need that if I stopped 100 folks on the street and no one has a clue who they are I'm alittle less likely to bid vs a player that has some degree of name recognition.

It's not as much fun when you get to that point where the HoFers missing from the collection are $4K+. I'm lucky to cross one off of the list every couple years or so.

Luckily, I still find it fun getting a really neat piece on a more common guy or picking up a guy like Stovey.

Pete Gray's autograph is common. I've thought on and off about putting a page of Gray on my website but didn't want a basic 8x10 or other "manufactured" memorabilia.

Decided to pick up this inexpensive piece on Gray, original artwork drawn by John Raitt. Here is Pete Gray's page on my site.

Negro League autographs tend to fall into three general categories (it's not a perfect set of options, but it does captures the vast majority of players).

• Players who were largely forgotten, who may have had nice careers but were generally not stars and today are essentially unknown.
• Players who enjoyed a long life and signed quite a bit, many signed a ton at reunion circuits. Some of the biggest names including Buck Leonard, Cool Papa Bell, Leon Day and Wild Bill Wright are incredibly affordable considering their stardom. More valuable but still fairly common are Satchel Paige, Williard Brown and some others
• Players of significance who are nearly impossible to find.

My pickup falls into the last category. Alexander Radcliff was less famous than his brother "Double Duty" Radcliffe, but was likely the better player. He is tied for the Negro League record (with Buck Leonard) being selected for 13 Negro League All-Star games. (Josh Gibson is 3rd with 12). He passed in 1983, before collecting autographs was common.

Love this!

Nice pick-up Jim! I had the honor of meeting Mr. Gray outside of his PA home 27 years ago this month (he signed this biography as well as a couple other items for me):


https://i.imgur.com/Z3j5jfW.jpg

Very neat that you got to meet Pete Gray. That's wonderful

Well,
October really....but I magically remembered my N54 password so it's been a while...

HOF auto 280

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...fb6dd0b0e7.jpgThompson, Sam 1908 Postcard by BaseballHOFAutographs, on Flickr

Welcome back, you already know how I feel about this pickup!

Beautiful Sam Thompson Bill. I thought you were at 283? I hope it really is 280 so that I'm only 80 away from you. LOL

Hey brotha...

Yep..you're right....#283. My bad!!! I have to (and will right now), update my signature on this site..... brain fart!

Finally picked up a nice Vin Scully without breaking the bank. That brings me down to needing 4 more for the 1955 Dodgers.

Continued my sudden burst of purchases with these two. That leaves only the Mantle from that signed 1961 subset, and I'm not about to pay what it's going for, so I'll just pick up an unsigned one to complete the set.

Cool picture of Ted!

Barry McCormick signed postcard.

He played from 1895-1904. He was also behind the plate for the 26 inning game in 1920 between the Boston Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers where Joe Oeschger and Leon Cadore went the distance before the game was called.

Picked this up at the Olympic collector's show in Colorado Springs.

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