Best Baseball Treasure?

[Shea Knight]

just a curious question...

What's the single most amazing baseball "treasure" you own?

Me:

Given to me by my uncle, a ball signed by Sandy Koufax (kept in a case, of course...and double points here, since I'm Jewish as well, so an extra-cool thing that of all the players I have a ball signed by, it's the best Jew to ever play the game!)

[Yankwood]

The hat that Bobby Grich wore when he played for the Rochester Red Wings in 1971 when he was named Minor League Player of the Year and the Red Wings won the Junior World Series. He got called up by the Orioles just before the minor league playoffs began. My buddy was the batboy and traded the hat to me for a bunch of dirty magazines.

[Cowtipper]

The hat that Bobby Grich wore when he played for the Rochester Red Wings in 1971 when he was named Minor League Player of the Year and the Red Wings won the Junior World Series. He got called up by the Orioles just before the minor league playoffs began. My buddy was the batboy and traded the hat to me for a bunch of dirty magazines.

That's a dumb trade. I'm hoping you dusted them off before giving them to him.

[Yankwood]

That's a dumb trade. I'm hoping you dusted them off before giving them to him.

At the time I was very nervous about making the deal. If my father ever found out he would have killed me.

[ol' aches and pains]

About 20 years ago, I was into collecting Hall-of Famer autographs. I have a coffee-table type book put out in 1989 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the HOF, and I went around to card shows for a couple years getting HOF signatures in the frontpiece of the book. This was before the players caught on that people would pay a lot more than they were charging for sigs. I have 63 hall of fame signatures, plus Pete Rose and Ron Santo (who knew at the time they wouldn't get in?). There's Mantle, Dimaggio, Ted Williams, Musial, Aaron, Mays, Spahn, Mathews, the aforementioned Sandy Koufax, and on and on, plus some Negro league HOFr's, an umpire, a few broadcasters, etc. The most I ever paid was $20 each for Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio.

I also have a 100 year-old brick from the original Comiskey Park, scorebooks for every year of the Milwaukee Braves' existence (1953-65), a 1955 Jackie Robinson baseball card, and a 1934 Luke Appling card.

[9RoyHobbsRF]

certainly my Strat-O-Matic collection, proabbaly worth 12-15K on its own but I would not sell it for 1 million dollars

I also have a original Sandy Koufax autobiography from the mid 60s and a rare "A Pitcher' Story" - Juan Marichal's bio from the same period

I have my original SF Giants kids uni given to me when I was 4 in 1962

I have a baseball card of my dad when he played for the Stockton Ports (the 1947 Ports team, which my dad played on has been voted one of the top 100 minor league teams of all time)

from wikipedia.com: In 1947, the Ports won the California League pennant again without a major league affiliation (they had a limited working agreement with the PCL Oakland Oaks). After going 24-18 playing through June 4, they went on a 26-game winning streak and took first place, never to relinquish again in that season. The win streak is one of the longest in professional baseball and is still a California League record. The Ports finished that season with a record of 95-45 and sixteen games ahead of the two teams tied for second place. Years later, baseball historians Bill Weiss and Marshall Wright rated the 1947 Ports as one of the 100 best Minor League teams of all time.

[DiggerODell]

My heart. It's been broke. It's been elated. I came home from the army only to find out my mom had trashed all my old cards, autographs of the championship A's years, the late 60's Giants. They can never took me heart ;-)

[Shea Knight]

About 20 years ago, I was into collecting Hall-of Famer autographs. I have a coffee-table type book put out in 1989 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the HOF, and I went around to card shows for a couple years getting HOF signatures in the frontpiece of the book. This was before the players caught on that people would pay a lot more than they were charging for sigs. I have 63 hall of fame signatures, plus Pete Rose and Ron Santo (who knew at the time they wouldn't get in?). There's Mantle, Dimaggio, Ted Williams, Musial, Aaron, Mays, Spahn, Mathews, the aforementioned Sandy Koufax, and on and on, plus some Negro league HOFr's, an umpire, a few broadcasters, etc. The most I ever paid was $20 each for Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio.

I also have a 100 year-old brick from the original Comiskey Park, scorebooks for every year of the Milwaukee Braves' existence (1953-65), a 1955 Jackie Robinson baseball card, and a 1934 Luke Appling card.

WOW.

I hope you have all that insured or notorized or something, that sounds like an amazing mini-fortune and an incredible piece of memorabilia you have sitting there on your coffee table ($20 for DiMaggio and Williams--were they as cold as the storeis say they can be? Who was the friendliest/coldest?)

certainly my Strat-O-Matic collection, proabbaly worth 12-15K on its own but I would not sell it for 1 million dollars

I also have a original Sandy Koufax autobiography from the mid 60s and a rare "A Pitcher' Story" - Juan Marichal's bio from the same period

I have my original SF Giants kids uni given to me when I was 4 in 1962

I have a baseball card of my dad when he played for the Stockton Ports (the 1947 Ports team, which my dad played on has been voted one of the top 100 minor league teams of all time)

from wikipedia.com: In 1947, the Ports won the California League pennant again without a major league affiliation (they had a limited working agreement with the PCL Oakland Oaks). After going 24-18 playing through June 4, they went on a 26-game winning streak and took first place, never to relinquish again in that season. The win streak is one of the longest in professional baseball and is still a California League record. The Ports finished that season with a record of 95-45 and sixteen games ahead of the two teams tied for second place. Years later, baseball historians Bill Weiss and Marshall Wright rated the 1947 Ports as one of the 100 best Minor League teams of all time.

Perhaps I'm ignorant...but how can board game baseball be worth 12K?

(And do you know if there's a free online version anywhere of that or APBPA...?)

My heart. It's been broke. It's been elated. I came home from the army only to find out my mom had trashed all my old cards, autographs of the championship A's years, the late 60's Giants. They can never took me heart ;-)

:O

Why would she throw out AUTOGRAPHS?

[ol' aches and pains]

WOW.

I hope you have all that insured or notorized or something, that sounds like an amazing mini-fortune and an incredible piece of memorabilia you have sitting there on your coffee table ($20 for DiMaggio and Williams--were they as cold as the storeis say they can be? Who was the friendliest/coldest?)

It's covered in my homeowners insurance, I suppose, I never took out a separate policy rider on it.

Dimaggio wasn't cold, exactly, just businesslike, he didn't really make much of an impression. Ted Williams was polite and friendly.

The friendliest were Warren Spahn, Jim Palmer, Joe Morgan, Harmon Killebrew, Reggie Jackson (believe it or not), Ernie Banks (no surprise), and Stan Musial (no surprise).

The worst was probably Willie Mays. He didn't even make eye contact, just signed what you put in front of him and sat there staring at the table waiting for the next one. To say he was surly would be understating the case. Hank Aaron was pretty aloof, too. But those two were the only rude ones I encountered.

The biggest disappointment though was Eddie Mathews. He was my childhood hero, and I was really looking forward to meeting him. But as I approached his table at the card show, I could smell the booze on him from 10 feet away. And this was before lunch!

[Allie Fox]

It's covered in my homeowners insurance, I suppose, I never took out a separate policy rider on it.

Homeowner's will only cover so much. Get it appraised, take pictures and video of everything and stow it away someplace safe. I did so for my Star Wars collection after my house was burglarized (they only got tvs and jewelry) and my agent said it would only have been covered up to 1000 clams despite it being valued at about 20K.


ANYHOW. . .

My favorite baseball thing is a ball signed by the winning picture of the first baseball game my son ever attended. A SALly game; Savannah Sand Gnats beat the Rome Braves.

[CandlestickBum]

just a curious question...

What's the single most amazing baseball "treasure" you own?

My memories, and selected memories from fellow fans.

[Shea Knight]

It's covered in my homeowners insurance, I suppose, I never took out a separate policy rider on it.

Dimaggio wasn't cold, exactly, just businesslike, he didn't really make much of an impression. Ted Williams was polite and friendly.

The friendliest were Warren Spahn, Jim Palmer, Joe Morgan, Harmon Killebrew, Reggie Jackson (believe it or not), Ernie Banks (no surprise), and Stan Musial (no surprise).

The worst was probably Willie Mays. He didn't even make eye contact, just signed what you put in front of him and sat there staring at the table waiting for the next one. To say he was surly would be understating the case. Hank Aaron was pretty aloof, too. But those two were the only rude ones I encountered.

The biggest disappointment though was Eddie Mathews. He was my childhood hero, and I was really looking forward to meeting him. But as I approached his table at the card show, I could smell the booze on him from 10 feet away. And this was before lunch!

I would NEVER have guessed the surliest in that group would've been The Say Hey Kid...though I guess if you have to sign autograph after autograph all day, you might not be able to make too much of an impression (but it sounds like some of the others did, though, that's cool...)

[EdTarbusz]

I would NEVER have guessed the surliest in that group would've been The Say Hey Kid...though I guess if you have to sign autograph after autograph all day, you might not be able to make too much of an impression (but it sounds like some of the others did, though, that's cool...)

Mays has had that reputation since the mid 70s. When autograph session at card shows took off in the mid to late 70s Mays was frequently criticized in hobby publications for his behavior toward fans who were paying for his autograph.

[zahavasdad]

I got a baseball signed by Joe Torre inscribed LETS GO METS

I got it when I was a kid and he was the mets manager, I love showing that ball to my Yankee Fan friends (especially when Torre was manager of the Yankees)

I also got a ball signed by Ching Ling Hu

So when people asked WHO SIGNED THAT BALL?

I answer

Exactly

[metfan13]

I inherited a baseball signed by the 1937 NY Giants. Has Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell and Bill Terry (Mgr) among others.

[StanTheMan]

My father met a legend in te early 80's and had a ball signed fo me. It reads, "To Bryan, Best Wishes, Mickey Mantle". I did something similar for my oldest, when he was about 10. His ball reads "To Brendan, A Great Fan, Stan Musial".

When he has a son, the pressure is on and the bar has been set extremely high!


Slightly more sentimental is the brick inscribed with my name on it at New Busch Stadium. I don't technically "posses" it, although they do give you a copy, which I have displayed at home. Something about the "forever" part of having a brick there is very satisfying. We pitched in and got one for my Dad on Fathers Day that year as well. Part of his inscription is "6 World Series" which was rendered incorrect not long after it was placed at the Stadium. He has now been to a whopping SEVEN different Series. 1964, 67, 68, 82, 85, 87, 06. I suck with a pedestrian 4...

[tlondon]

asigned ball and rookie (reprint) card of Hank Aaron. Also I have a glove that I used when I played little league in the early 80's that is a rawlings autograph model with a printed auto of Dale Murphy (My favorite player growing up). I got a chance to meet Dale at a nashville sounds game last season where he threw out the first pitch. I was asking him to sign a card and ball for me and showed him the glove. He said where did you get this relic and signed it to. Dale really is a nice and down to earth guy. he signed for everyone that wanted something and talked to everyone looking them in the eye.

[NYYgraphs]

A signed Phil Rizzuto photo. In my letter to him, I wrote about italian food and my Nonna's ravioli. He signed a photo that said "Holy Cow, I sure would love some of Nonna's ravoli - Phil Rizzuto." I also included a check for his autograph, and he returned the check and wrote "No Charge - Scooter #10" on the check.

[Cubsfan97]

My most valuable piece is an 8x10 signed by both Billy Martin and Mickey Mantle. Its missing a Whitey Ford, but I dont anticipate Ill get him so Im content with what I got.

However, thats not my favorite. I dont have one that stands out as my favorite, but the ones I would choose from would be...

1924 Baseball Magazine with Gabby Hartnett on cover, signed 8x10 Dave Kingman cause of meeting him, signed 8x10 of Mickey McDermott cause I loved hsi book, so I became a big fan of his and a 1934 Phil Cavarretta card signed by him. Of course my autograph collection is high up there too. If I had to pick one, I would probably say a home run ball signed by most of the 2006 Iowa Cubs because of the memories. They are not the most valuable pieces of merchandise, but most certainly my favorites.

[NateMan]

Several come to mind:

- A card that Ted Williams signed for me TTM about 25 years ago, my favorite TTM success.
- A brick from the old Memorial Stadium that my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas after they tore it down. She also gave one to my dad and two brothers. Yeah, we cried.
- More recently, I spent the past couple years acquiring sigs on 3 8x10s of Ebbets Field, the Polo Grounds, and the real Yankee Stadium. Nearly 30 autos between the three of them.
- An Orioles ticket stub signed for my mom: "To Mom, Best wishes, Cal Ripken Jr." I remember him laughing when I asked him to sign it that way, but he did. The stub was lost for 24 years and I found it this spring. And in case you're wondering--yes, I did finally give it to my mom.

Great thread!

[sturg1dj]

a 1968 Detroit Tiger Yearbook given to me by my late grandfather. I later got it signed by the player on the cover....one Al Kaline.

and since everyone is telling the stories of the autograph, I got the Kaline autograph at a signing at a Dominos pizza years ago. I was like 10 and he was super nice and even kind of flirted with my mom (not really he just did the ole 'this must be your sister' thing).

[9&10]

asigned ball and rookie (reprint) card of Hank Aaron. Also I have a glove that I used when I played little league in the early 80's that is a rawlings autograph model with a printed auto of Dale Murphy (My favorite player growing up). I got a chance to meet Dale at a nashville sounds game last season where he threw out the first pitch. I was asking him to sign a card and ball for me and showed him the glove. He said where did you get this relic and signed it to. Dale really is a nice and down to earth guy. he signed for everyone that wanted something and talked to everyone looking them in the eye.

Ditto. Having met him myself a couple times, Dale Murphy is hands-down one of the nicest guys to play the game IMO. I wish his numbers were a little better to get him in the HOF, but if they had a "nice-guy" HOF, he'd be in on the first ballot.

[9&10]

Mays has had that reputation since the mid 70s. When autograph session at card shows took off in the mid to late 70s Mays was frequently criticized in hobby publications for his behavior toward fans who were paying for his autograph.

Agreed. Ever since I've been a collector, he's had that reputation. . . though I did manage to get a half-smile out of him back at a Negro Leagues reunion in 1994. I believe I paid $35 for him to sign a ball back then. Last I saw, he was charging $175. Yikes.

[Cubsfan97]

175 when hes in a good mood! Ive heard him ask as high as 300!

[9&10]

175 when hes in a good mood! Ive heard him ask as high as 300!

Dang, $300? Wait, is that the price for a ball/flat, or a jersey/bat? I remember the good 'ol days when it didn't matter what kind of item you had, it was the same price. Or when it didn't cost extra to add "HOF 19XX" or something to that effect. Sigh.