TOUGHEST BASEBALL AUTOGRAPHS FROM THE 1940's & 1950's REVISITED
 

Toughest 1940's & 1950's Baseball Autographs: I get asked this question a lot, So figured I'd put it out there for anyone that's interested.
Obviously, a subject for debate here but what I did is put together the collector "want lists" I have accumulated over the years and found the names that intersected the most.
Probably not the most "expensive" autographs from the 1940's & 1950's but certainly the toughest to find.
The names noted with a (*) ARE expensive in some cases VERY expensive and would easily eclipse many Hall of Fame autographs in terms of what they would cost IF you could find one. Have listed by debut year
1941) WIMPY QUINN (Died-1954)
1943) CONNIE CREEDEN (*) (Died-1969)
1944) JOHN FICK (*)( Died-1958) , CLANCY SMYRES (*)(Died-2007 absolutely refused any and all autograph requests)
1945) WOODY CROWSON (*) (Died-1947 age 28 while playing in minor leagues when the team bus was struck by a produce truck)
1946) JOHN CARDEN (*) (Died-1949 accidentally electrocuted himself)
1949) JULIO E. GONZALES (*) (Died-1991 In Cuba after playing only a small portion of the 1949 season for the Senators after which he never returned to the USA)
1951) EDDIE GAEDEL (*) (The 60 pound 3 feet 7 inches tall Gaedel drew a 4 pitch walk as part of a promotional stunt by team owner Bill Veeck. Gaedel was mugged on his way home from a bowling alley in 1961 and died as a result of his injuries)
1955) WEBBO CLARKE (*)(Died-1970 in Panama after a brief stint in the major leagues) , WENC "VINCE" GONZALES (*) (Died-1981 in Mexico)
1956) CHARLIE PEETE (Died-1956 along with the rest of his family in a commercial airline crash
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Always BUYING Vintage Autographs
jim@stinsonsports.com

My oversight. I failed to see that Clancy was indeed included.

Clancy
 

Yup Clancy is there even spoke with him on the phone and when baseball or autographs came up he went mute. Someone contacted me years ago that worked for a cable company or some type of utility service and he was a collector. When he realized How tough Smyres was he signed him up for whatever service he was getting and had him sign six docs. He kept the originals and turned in copies. He sent me scans and for sure they were Mr. Smyres. Have never seen one on the market. Always wondered what happened to them.
______________________
Always BUYING Vintage Autographs
jim@stinsonsports.com

I believe the best chance at a Quinn is on WWII baseballs.

Here's one of mine (I believe I have 2)

If any one has a 1944 John Fick they want to sell, will pay generously. Have only seen him on team signed items.

Just thought I would show one of my latest acquisitions, a spring training exhibition game score card from March 20, 1948 played between the Cleveland Indians and the NY Giants.

Not only is this a pretty cool score card, but it is also signed by several players including Hank Greenberg (Hank was with the Indians management team in charge of the farm system after just retiring in 1947), Larry Doby (the beginning of his 2d year with the Indians, Bob Feller of course, Bobby Avila (probably one of his first, if not the first, competitive game with the Indians) and last but not least - John Carden NY Giants! There are 3 NY Giants autographs, all on the back of the program: John Carden, Sheldon Jones and Lou Lombardo. Lombardo is also interesting as he only played in 2 games total for the Giants. I'm guessing since this game featured many rookies/prospects, that John was trying to make the big team again.

Any information you may have regarding this game would be appreciated.

Thank you Jim! Have you ever done a post on tough auto’s from the Deadball era? Would love to see/hear your thoughts!


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While examples DO exist of dead ball era "toughies" most are NOT in the public domain. The list would be exhaustive. A great source which many members here use is the database of WW I draft cards. Other examples can be found searching through other genealogy records if you know what you are looking for. Ancestory.com seems to be the best but it is a pay site and depending on how serious your collecting schedule is more than pays for itself in the long run.
______________________
Always BUYING Vintage autographs
jim@stinsonsports.com

Bumping this thread because it's cool and just wondering how rare, and desirable, is the autograph of Max "Lefty" Weissman. He was never a player, but was a trainer for the Cleveland Indians from 1921 until he died in 1949 at the age of 53.

Steiner has an autographed ball listed for over 4K on their site and over 2K on Ebay.

Here is an interesting link about Weissman:

http://tcf.danwismar.com/cleveland-i...-to-veeck.html

I thought that I might update my post regarding the John Carden autograph on my 1948 scorecard. I am happy to report that it has been certified by PSA and I just received it back today with all autographs passing authentication.

When I sent it in, I requested that all players be listed on the LOA and they failed to do that (Carden is listed on the LOA). However, they did list all players on their site when you do a cert verification. Also, it appears that PSA has changed the look of their letters - see attached.

Bobby Avila must have been excited as this was the year prior to his first Major League game so he signed it twice!

Mr. Peete

Today I received in the mail probably one of the greatest eBay finds i have ever had. I obtained 3 of the toughest players from 1940's for less than $300 total in 3 auctions where I am sure seller had no idea what he had, as their names were not even mentioned in the description.

Al Montgomery played 42 games for the 1941 Boston Braves and tragically died on April 26, 1942, at only age 21. Montgomery was killed in a car crash while heading north from spring training

Bob Katz - 1944 Reds - for a guy who played 12 seasons in the minors, he is incredibly tough to find. His 1962 death went unnoticed for years, and evidently his whereabouts after leaving baseball were unknown. On the day of his death, his house burned down, and all the baseball memorabilia in the home was lost.

Connie Creeden - Creeden one of the toughest autographs of all major leaguers that had their debut in the 1940's. Creeden played briefly for the 1943 Boston Braves. It is alleged he was accused of child molesting while playing in the minors and then disappeared and was believed to have changed his name.

Who wants an autograph of a child molestor? F that.

Congratulations Giovanni! What a couple of finds! I appreciate all the knowledge that you share here on the board.