What is the toughest baseball HOF autograph to obtain?

[packs]

I bet there aren't too many Ross Youngs or Candy Cummings around. Probably zero examples from the early negro league players like Pete Hill.

[mighty bombjack]

Originally Posted by packs

I bet there aren't too many Ross Youngs or Candy Cummings around. Probably zero examples from the early negro league players like Pete Hill.

There were two Ross Youngs in the August Heritage auction (though that is an anomaly as he is extremely tough).

You're right about Hill and many of the early Negro Leaguers. Cristobal Torriente, Smoky Joe Williams, Bullet Rogan, now those are some hard to find autos.

[keithsky]

Ask the experts at Coach's Corner what the toughest one is to find and they will say none are tough to find

[JimStinson]

There are at least a dozen considered tough to impossible. About 2 dozen which only a few examples exist of , topping my list of perhaps impossible (at least at present) would be
1) Jose Mendez
2) Cristobal Torriente
3) Frank Grant

nearly impossible
4) King Kelly
5) Tim Keefe
6) Hoss Radbourne
7) Buck Ewing
8) Addie Joss
and probably a few others. But the top three "forget it"

I was researching #1 & #2 over 18 years before their induction into the hall, And was never able (even then) to produce a single lead. And that included knocking on doors and even making "cold calls" and being armed with information that even today I've kept secret

[the-illini]

Thanks everyone - I hadn't even considered some of the early negro league players. I would have to think some of those would have to be a miracle to find an example of.

Tim Keefe surprises me that he is that difficult. Didn't he live to be about 75? I know autograph collecting didn't really exist during his lifetime, but I would have thought there were enough checks/government documents over the course of 75 years to keep him off the top 10 of this list.

[Griffins]

are there any post war players that are more difficult than you'd think?
Mike Marshall/Neil Armstrong types that won't sign?

[prewarsports]

John Ward is always the one that surprises me. For his fame and status as an Attorney after his playing days (he was VERY active in the community and one of the top Lawyers in New York), you'd think there would be hundreds of documents with his autograph on them but I would bet less than 20 are out there in collectors hands. Maybe someday a huge cache will be found but I doubt it.

Rhys

[JimStinson]

With regards to the tough Hall of Famers , according to Ron K. who's book is due out soon the only HOFers NOT pictured in his book are
KEEFE & GRANT. Examples of which could not even be found in private archives etc. There is at least one real Keefe that I believe is in a private collection but I've not seen it. No one to my knowledge has ever seen a real Frank Grant.

If you are talking Living non-HOF players Mike G. Marshall tops the list although he's done at least a couple private signings in the last 10 years so not as tough as he used to be. I'm not real up to date on post WW II living non-signers , the guy to refer that question to would likely be Bill Corcoran who is a member of this board but has (so far) remained silent