There is a really good book on Addie Joss that used to be available through SABR, that details his chonic health problems. His obituary from 1911 reads "PITCHER JOSS DEAD, ILL ONLY FEW DAYS" he died from tubercular meningitas, but as was customary if a player was sick he didn't play so his condition of course was kept quiet plus a team would be less likely to sign a player with a fatal illness to a lucrative contract. News accounts of the day reported "arm problems" and the like especially in 1910.
The Lajoie scrapbook that contained the Joss if I remember correctly was signed around 1908. In addition to some Hall of Famers it also had the autographs of many 19th century non-famers. Several buyers were fighting over the book back then and I think what happened is a few dealers partnered in on it and bought it and broke it up. I ended up with a few signatures from the book that I needed at the time for my own collection. I don;t know where the Joss ended up
As for Richard's suggestion asking Ron K. about authenticity I can almost predict what his evaluation would be
, And I say that only because even though I believe both the signature from the Lajoie book and the document signature I mentioned from the widow are legit. We disagreed slightly on the examplar that was obtained from Joss's wife. So much so in fact that I provided a copy for the book but he chose not to include it.
08-28-2012, 03:46 PM
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