Quote:
Originally Posted by Caseyatbat
Here's my two cents - I think the signature needs to be ruled out by exemplars, not by assuming he was not in the public eye anymore and that singles were nearly non existent at that time. Also he may have had advanced penmanship but that does not mean he didn't print his name on occasion. I can say with absolute confidence that many players during that time period neatly printed their names on baseballs rather than using cursive penmanship. To be honest I would go as far as to say it was common for players to print their names on baseballs in the late 1800s early 1900s. I think in this case the best way to determine if that is Sockalexis signature would be to find other examples of his printed handwriting. The ball and ink certainly look period so it is worth researching IMO. The way it was signed with the "Compliments" and "From" certainly suggest that Sockalexis signed it rather than someone just writing his name.
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I don't think "From" or "Compliments" means anything more than the baseball came from Sockalexis, not that it was signed by him. As a previous poster suggested, the ball is probably associated with him in some way versus signed by him.
It was not common for highly educated players to print their names. Look at any Christy Mathewson signature of your choosing. He attended Bucknell. Take a look at Eddie Collins' signatures. He attended Columbia. Sockalexis attended Notre Dame and Holy Cross. This was a highly educated guy in a time when people barely made it out of grammar school.