Autographs

[ItsOnlyGil]

I have never begun an autograph collection, nor seriously contemplated one. However, I recently came across the following list and said to myself: get some!
Anyone know how to get started?

Nat Rogers... .Now 78 years old and a waiter at Memphis' Peabody Hotel, Nat writes that he played for 45 consecutive seasons in organized baseball, compiling a batting average of over .340. Rogers was one of the few players, black or white, who hit Satchel Paige consistently well. Nat remembers a 31-game hitting streak as his best moment in baseball.

Ray Dandridge. . . .Fifty-eight year old Ray Dandridge lives in Newark, N.J., and is a scout for the San Francisco Giants. A lifetime .312 hitter, Ray remembers 1950 as a banner year when he was selected as MVP in the Triple-A American Association, while playing with the Minneapolis Millers. A great 3rd baseman, Dandridge compiled a .455 batting average in 3 Negro All-Star games.

Willie Foster. .. . Called by many the greatest left-handed pitcher in the black leagues, Willie won 4 World

Series games in his long career, and may be the only pitcher, black or white, to have pitched a complete 9-inning All-Star game. Foster still retains a strong interest in baseball. He is Dean of Men at Alcorn College in Lorman, Mississippi, and also serves as baseball coach.

James Bell. . . . Cool Papa Bell was probably the fastest ball player ever to don spikes. Bell, who regularly went from 1st base to 3rd on sacrifice bunts, enjoyed his peak years with the St. Louis Stars and Pittsburgh Crawfords in the early 1930's. Now 66, Bell lives in St. Louis where he is a guard at City Hall.

Ted Page. . . . Ted starred with the great Josh Gibson on the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays in the 1930's. An outfielder and a solid hitter, Page resides in Pittsburgh, where he operates a bowling alley. Ted says shortstop John Henry Lloyd was the greatest ballplayer he ever saw.

Holsey Lee.. .A great pitcher for over 20 years, Scrip Lee spent most of his long career in the Eastern Colored League. Remembered as one of the few hurlers Josh Gibson had trouble hitting against, Lee writes that Martin Dihigo was the greatest player he ever saw. His biggest thrill came in the 1924 Negro World Series when he shut out the Kansas City Monarchs for 7 innings in relief. Lee lives in Washington, D.C.

George Scales. . . .One of the strongest-hitting 2nd basemen of his time and a .311 lifetime hitter, George played in the big-time for nearly 25 years with 6 different clubs. He cites being selected to manage the East All-Star team in 1939 as his biggest moment. A native of Talladega, Alabama, Scales now lives in New York City.

Willie Wells... .A .338 lifetime hitter, Willie Wells is often called the best shortstop to play in the black leagues. The 5'7" Texas native was certainly one of the smartest players of his day. A member of 8 All-Star squads, Willie remembers a home run he hit in 1931 to win the pennant for St. Louis as his greatest baseball thrill. Wells, 66, is a New York City resident.

Jack Marshall. . . .A star 2nd baseman for most of the top Chicago ballclubs, Jack still lives in the Windy City. He now operates a sporting goods store on the South Side. Marshall remembers occasionally playing 4 games a day when he was with the Philadelphia Stars and he says Satchel Paige was the fastest pitcher he ever saw.

Frank Duncan... .A Kansas City native, Frank, 69, now operates a tavern in his home town. A good right-handed hitter, Duncan is always mentioned as one of black baseball's best catchers. During his long career, Frank played on 7 pennant-winners with the Kansas City Monarchs.

Bill Evans. . . . Bill (Happy) Evans enjoyed a brief career with the Homestead Grays in the early 1930's. Born average. Now a Los Angeles resident, Evans remembers playing against almost every great ballplayer, black and white, during the late 1920's and early 1930's.

Newt Allen... .For 20 years, Newt starred as the Kansas City Monarchs slick-fielding 2nd baseman. A speedy switch-hitter, Newt writes that Martin Dihigo and Dave Brown were the two greatest pitchers he ever faced. Allen's best baseball memory is an unassisted triple play he made in the early l930's. Newt still makes Kansas City his home.

Sam Streeter.. . .The star pitcher for the Pittsburgh Crawfords in the 1930's, Sam pitched for the West in the inaugural Negro leagues All-Star game in 1933. Now 71, and a Pittsburgh resident, Sam says that Smokey Joe Williams was the greatest pitcher he ever saw while slugger Mule Suttles gave him the most trouble at the plate. Streeter's biggest thrill in baseball was to hit a home run.

Jimmie Crutchfield. . . .A slender outfielder, Jimmie signed with the great Pittsburgh Crawfords when he was only 19 years old. An excellent all-round ballplayer and a teammate of such greats as Josh Gibson and Oscar Charleston, Jimmie is a Chicago resident where he is employed at the post office.

Buck Leonard... .Walter (Buck) Leonard combined with Josh Gibson for Negro baseball's best 1-2 home-run punch. A high average hitter and an excellent first baseman, Buck played in 12 All-Star games. He says his greatest thrill was a home-run he hit in the 1940 classic in Chicago. Buck lives in Rocky Mount, N.C., where he owns a realty agency.

[xholdourownx]

Find either cards or pictures of those players and then start mailing them out. If you are looking for just negro league autos in general, there have been some nice card sets signed. Just check ebay.

[metrotheme]

All of those players are deceased. That list reads like it is from the early 1970's if it says Ray Dandridge is 58. Dandridge and Leonard's autographs are probably the most readily available out of that group.Be advised Leonard has two signatures, one before and one after his stroke. Wells and Foster are going to cost you big $$.

[ItsOnlyGil]

All of those players are deceased. That list reads like it is from the early 1970's if it says Ray Dandridge is 58. Dandridge and Leonard's autographs are probably the most readily available out of that group.Be advised Leonard has two signatures, one before and one after his stroke. Wells and Foster are going to cost you big $$.

Yeah, I guess thats true. I didn't check the date. But at least I didn't think at all either.

[RuthMayBond]

Yeah, I guess thats true. I didn't check the date. But at least I didn't think at all either.

Got anything to trade towards a Dandridge?

[Captain Cold Nose]

I see signed HOF plaque postcards of Leonard and Dandridge on ebay fairly often.

[CorduroyCalves]

Sadly, nearly all of the pre-1947 negro leaguers are deceased. I was fortunate enough to have gotten to two negro leagues reunions in 1994 and 1995 in Secacus, NJ. Got my pic taken with the likes of Buck O'Neil, Joe Black, Max Manning, Lester Lockett, Nap Gully, Double Duty Radcliffe. . . those are the ones I remember off the top of my head. Got autographs on from a bunch of them as well. Willie Mays was at one of the reunions, and this was back when he was only getting $35 for balls and flats. He even looked at me and smiled, which is more than a lot of people got out of him. I haven't looked at those autographs in a long, long time, but I'd venture to guess that all of the guys I got are now deceased.

[beisbolfiebre]

I've got a couple of autographs from Ted 'Double Duty' Radcliffe. But, no, they are NOT for sale!

[houfan]

I think collecting signatures of the Negro Leaguers is a fun area to collect. You wind up learning so much about their game that we know so little about. Learning about the players who played during that era is a piece of our history that should not be lost.

Another area that is worth delving into is collecting the autographs of the Japanese League stars. Not only are their signatures far more visually appealing, as they take great pride in their penmanship, but learning about the great players who have played on that side of the Pacific, and what they accomplished, is also just as rewarding.

[RuthMayBond]

I've got a couple of autographs from Ted 'Double Duty' Radcliffe. But, no, they are NOT for sale!

But what about trading?