Seeking help with an signed old ball from Texas

[Chris-Counts]

I recently picked up three signed balls from a seller in Texas, and two were easy to identify: 1951 Birmingham Barons and the 1951 Houston Buffalos. The Barons defeated the Buffalos in the 1951 Dixie Cup that was played between the champions of the Texas League and Southern Association. But the team represented on the third ball is a mystery to me. The players mostly seem to come from Texas, and there are some familiar names, including Tris Speaker, Tex Carleton, Del Pratt and Heinie Schuble. Max West is there, too, but the signature suggests it's another player with the same name. Can anybody tell me what team this is? I suppose it could be from some kind of charity game as well. All help is appreciated. Thanks, Chris

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

There were two MLB Max Wests. This is the other one, and it's fine.

[Chris-Counts]

That makes sense. I have several signatures from the better known Max West and they look very different.

[doug34-36]

I'm sure this is not helpful, but I like to think that the top of the second photo is Ziggy Stardust (signing good with Pratt and Heinie, and the Spiders from Mars).

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[Chris-Counts]

I just discovered that "Ziggy" is catcher Ken Sears, who split the catching duties with Bill Dickey for the New York Yankees championship team in 1943. I would have been OK with Ziggy Stardust — one of the very best 1970s rock albums — or Ziggy Marley.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Actually, Ziggy Sears was an umpire, and that's his autograph. Ken, his son, was the Yankee.

[Chris-Counts]

Thanks for the heads up. The ball must be connected to some kind of reunion — it seems like there are too many old guys on it to field a team. I noticed that Lee Lemon played in the Texas League as early as 1911, while Sears first played in the same league in 1918. Nearly every other guy I can identify either played for Houston, or was born there. Speaker played there in 1907. As for dating the ball, it's an official Texas League ball, and has the league president J. Alvin Gardner's name stamped on it, but he was president for decades, so that's not much help. I would guess it comes from the late 1930s or early 1940s, but that's just a hunch. I'm glad someone took such nice care of it.

[Michael B]

Ray Pipkins played minor league ball in Texas 1923-1931. He played ss, 2b and was a pitcher who threw a no-hitter for the Temple Surgeons vs Terrell, June 20, 1925. There were also two Carl Littlejohns. Carl Eva played minor league ball in Texas 1926-1931 and Charles Carlisle who was from Texas and pitched for the Cardinals 1927-1928.

As noted, Ziggy Sears was an NL umpire. He also played in the Texas League from 1918-1928 and umpired there 1929-1934

[Chris-Counts]

That's some great information Michael. Thanks!