Signed T206: Was Rube Marquard's Wife Signing For Him?

[ATP]

Originally Posted by WillowGrove

Jeff - really interesting that you have had this hypothesis and have done this research. I can add something but not sure how much it helps.

In 1980 my mother wrote a bunch of HOFers and asked them to send me their autograph for my upcoming 15th Birthday and I got a respsonse from Rube. See photos. He mailed it April 17th and passed away June 1st.

All these years went by and it took SGC to point out to me that the signature on the card was a stamp. You'll note it is the exact 'signature' that is on his HOF card. I did a perfunctory search and couldn't find any other stamps. So that's kind of interesting to me in and of itself.

The paper that says Happy Birthday, seems to have Rube's actual signature. This shows that on this particular date, approximately 6 weeks before passing away, it seems that Rube signed a note from a fan, along with including two stamped items. FYI, my mother mailed out her requests about a week prior to the postmark, so the turnaround time was short.

I found Rube's obituary where it says he died, "after a long illness" as well as a quote from his granddaughter who said, "her grandfather had been receiving round-the-clock nursing care for several months. Mr. Marquard, she said, had cancer and was operated on two years ago."

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!to...es/Bm5mXwhInhM

I reviewed this thread on my phone while traveling a few days ago and didn't review again now, so I don't remember if there were any later examples of his signature - but I wanted to post what I had.

For the record, I wrote Rube a thank you note - after receiving his mail on May 6th. I felt good as a kid taking the time to thank him but of course felt terrible to find out he passed away so soon after.

Good convo all. Thanks again Jeff!

Peter, thanks for posting, I really appreciate you taking the time to add what you have, and to include scans. I think it's pretty telling that someone else was working Rube's mail at the time you wrote to him and using that stamp. The little note wishing you a happy birthday clearly is not written by Rube and sure does look an awful lot like the other "Stick" R examples, and definitely looks like the signed T205 I posted and the example of his wife's signature (just look at the "d" finish in Marquard).

And Tom, I think it's also really worth noting, regarding the signed Diamond Greats you posted, that Rube's signature didn't have much left to it at all based on when that was signed (1979 or 1980, but you can STILL see the signature traits you expect), it looks NOTHING like the short note written regarding the Happy Birthday to Peter and would have been signed very close in time based on when that card was made.

I must say that I really was hesitant about creating this post in the first place. I was anxious that I would get bad reactions from some folks, especially those who may have owned one of the examples I was pointing out, but overall I am very happy with the feedback. I hope to continue researching this and would like to invite any others who are reading and haven't posted yet to weigh in, especially those who are in the industry and those who were collecting during Marquard's life and may have other examples they could post. Thanks again.