Just a theory
My thoughts regarding how the wrong facsimile signature most likely happened on the McLean T205 would be as follows.
When we think about how one might have gathered autographs of luminaries or celebrities back in 1910 a couple of methods seem plausible.
Autograph books were the rage back then so I don't think it would be too much of a stretch if a baseball sportswriters signature might have ended up on a page with a group of baseball signatures. When the page was viewed at a later time the person simply may have assumed it was the ball player McLean amongst the other baseball player signatures when it actually was the baseball sports writer's signature.
It's also quite possible that someone would have stored a large collection of autographs in the old oak filing cabinet(s) that were used during this time period. The autographs may have been put on index cards or small pieces of paper and gathered in person or via mail request. These autograph cards would most likely have been sorted either alphabetically or in categories such as baseball or sports. Again it would be pretty easy to grab a card that the signature could be either McLean or MacLean.
One last thought is that the biography on the back of the McLean card notes that," He played with various teams "way down East" till 1903, when he was tranferred to Chicago..." Hey...wasn't there a sports writer in Chicago with a similar name?
Just a thought.
Patrick
Last edited by Vintagecatcher; 06-23-2014 at 09:51 AM.
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06-23-2014, 08:21 AM
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