Joe Jackson Signed?

[yanks12025]

So this item was on Ball Boys today because they visited the hall of fame and got to touch acouple items. It's a scrapbook signed by most of the players who played in 1912 and it had Joe Jackson. So I'm wondering if the Jackson auto is real or signed by someone else and also the hand written on the side was said to be his.

[7nohitter]

I thought he couldn't even spell his own name...the handwriting there is very nice.

[thecatspajamas]

That was my understanding as well, that he couldn't write, but learned to "draw" his signature, which certainly wouldn't account for the other handwriting on the page that you say is also attributed to him.

[canjond]

Not his signature.

[ScottR81]

I saw this as well today...I'm seeing a lot of items coming up different places lately with joe Jackson auto's on them. This one came straight from the hall of fame and also had 4 Ty Cobb signatures on it and the whole tigers team.

It was well known that Jackson was illiterate, but how illiterate? Maybe he couldn't read and write but I have to believe that the man eventually learned to write his own name.

Isn't it possible that man learned a little from his wife or other teammates?

I just find it hard to believe the baseball hall of fame knows less about Jackson's signature then us collectors who only know about Jackson from books, movies and tall tales.

Think of how many documents you sign as a person in your life. Your own name is the most important thing you can learn how to write.....just my opinion here.

[David Atkatz]

He could write his name.
But the example shown was not written by him.

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by ScottR81

I saw this as well today...I'm seeing a lot of items coming up different places lately with joe Jackson auto's on them. This one came straight from the hall of fame and also had 4 Ty Cobb signatures on it and the whole tigers team.

It was well known that Jackson was illiterate, but how illiterate? Maybe he couldn't read and write but I have to believe that the man eventually learned to write his own name.

Isn't it possible that man learned a little from his wife or other teammates?

I just find it hard to believe the baseball hall of fame knows less about Jackson's signature then us collectors who only know about Jackson from books, movies and tall tales.

Think of how many documents you sign as a person in your life. Your own name is the most important thing you can learn how to write.....just my opinion here.

the HOF has curators and historians who catalogue the history of baseball, but the one thing they are not is experts on baseball autographs and signatures.