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Mighty Bombjack
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- Aug 7, 2008
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It had been a while since I added any old names to my HOF autograph collection. As always, the REA spring auction was loaded, and I decided to go after a couple. I spent WAY too much, but ended up adding two names to my collection.
First, Cumberland Posey, longtime owner of the ***** League Homestead Grays, inducted into the Hall in 2006. During the time he owned and ran the Grays , he was also on the board of directors of Homestead High School, and diplomas from that period are one of the most common ways to procure his signature. You can see his "C.W. Posey in the middle of the right column of signatures. I like having a diversity of items in my collection, and this is certainly the first diploma (and one can read about the small financial windfall for the school that came from finding a stash of these diplomas that no one picked up in a storage room of Homestead High after Posey went into the Hall).
I have a few signed baseballs in my collection as well, but none as rare or valuable as this one. I normally stay away from single-signed baseballs because they carry a premium over other media, but this one called to me. It is signed by Hughie Jennings, a player and manager for 34 years. He won championships with the Orioles and Superbas as a player at the end of the 19th century. Fun fact from that time: Jennings holds the records for hit-by-pitch in a season (51) and in a career (287). He also won several pennants as the manager of Ty Cobb's Tigers and two world series as a coach for John McGraw's Giants, the latter of which being the period in which he signed this ball. It came with the requisite COAs, but also a handwritten letter from the family of the man who caught the foul ball at a giants game and had Jennings sign it. These are hard to store, but nice to display. It will look good next to my Honus Wagner and Mickey Mantle baseballs.
This puts me at 246 different HOF autos. I blew the savings, so it will certainly be a long while before I purchase another who is already in.
First, Cumberland Posey, longtime owner of the ***** League Homestead Grays, inducted into the Hall in 2006. During the time he owned and ran the Grays , he was also on the board of directors of Homestead High School, and diplomas from that period are one of the most common ways to procure his signature. You can see his "C.W. Posey in the middle of the right column of signatures. I like having a diversity of items in my collection, and this is certainly the first diploma (and one can read about the small financial windfall for the school that came from finding a stash of these diplomas that no one picked up in a storage room of Homestead High after Posey went into the Hall).
I have a few signed baseballs in my collection as well, but none as rare or valuable as this one. I normally stay away from single-signed baseballs because they carry a premium over other media, but this one called to me. It is signed by Hughie Jennings, a player and manager for 34 years. He won championships with the Orioles and Superbas as a player at the end of the 19th century. Fun fact from that time: Jennings holds the records for hit-by-pitch in a season (51) and in a career (287). He also won several pennants as the manager of Ty Cobb's Tigers and two world series as a coach for John McGraw's Giants, the latter of which being the period in which he signed this ball. It came with the requisite COAs, but also a handwritten letter from the family of the man who caught the foul ball at a giants game and had Jennings sign it. These are hard to store, but nice to display. It will look good next to my Honus Wagner and Mickey Mantle baseballs.
This puts me at 246 different HOF autos. I blew the savings, so it will certainly be a long while before I purchase another who is already in.
