Header - Baseball by the Letters

Month: April 2013

Grady Hatton Dies at 90…Ending Mystery?

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Cancer claimed Grady Hatton Thursday at age 90.


A crisp sig, until the end!

Hatton was a sure-thing signer. He added “1952 All-Star” on request.

Questions were questionable, however.

All I got was a crisp autograph when I wrote. The questions were ignored.

Reviewing the archives of www.sportscollectors.net, I saw that I wasn’t alone.

In 2004, Hatton wrote to one collector that he’d get in trouble with players if he answered questions.

I met Hank Bauer at a 1980s card show. A bubbly Boog Powell loved chatting with him at an after-hours reception for card dealers.

Powell would tell anyone anything. Bauer was more careful.

“We had a sign on the clubhouse wall,” Bauer said. ‘What happens here stays here.'”

Before the Las Vegas rules. You know, what happens in Vegas…

No more worries about keeping confidences, Grady. Thanks for the signature.

Pat Neshek Still Shines As Hobbyist

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Give this collector an “A’s” for effort!

 
The New York Times offered an awesome tribute to hobby ambassador Pat Neshek last week.
 
Tyler Kepner is one of my favorite baseball journalists. However, he didn’t address two questions:

1. How many players would send a clubhouse attendant to ask for someone else’s autograph?

2. How many current players wouldn’t confess to collecting autographs?

I hope everyone reads the whole feature. In the final paragraph awaits a surprise.

One autograph reply could have changed Neshek’s career!

In college, he wrote Virgil Trucks. All Pat got in return was a FOUR-PAGE letter offering advice to a young pitcher. It seems that “Fire” was a double inspiration…on the mound, and as someone who demonstrated how to sign autographs with style and grace.

Thanks, Bobby Thomson! Why My Request Letters Include My Hobby Goals

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He liked knowing where his
signature would wind up.

Another baseball season is here. Hurray!

Here’s one tip for any level of collector:

Say WHY you want a response, be it an autograph or an answer to your question.

Current and former players know how goals work. After all, how have they succeeded in baseball?

Your letter stands apart if the recipient knows that you’re working toward a signed set or an autograph from every member of that pennant-winning team.

Also, it helps quiet the paranoia that we’re all getting rich on eBay peddling all these signatures.

Seriously, a few decades ago, Bobby Thomson was the first of many retirees to add a “Good luck with your collection!” sentiment. Try revealing a bit of your hobby game plan in your next letters. It works!

Goodbye, ‘Bullet’ Bob Turley

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Although he modified the “T” in his autograph,
Turley kept virtually the same signature
for a lifetime.

Pitcher Bob Turley passed away last week at age 82.

He debuted with the 1954 Orioles. A Baltimore paper offered a unique retrospective of his career and life.

I haven’t raved about the merits of www.sportscollectors.net lately. I checked the SCN results board. Of recorded attempts, Turley had signed 496 out of 531 TTM autograph requests. A few collectors had written him after his cancer had made signing impossible. Also, Turley had several retirement homes in the last decade, making it possible for a few requests to get lost in the shuffle.

Nevertheless, a pitcher who batted more than .900?

I loved seeing examples of his responses. He returned collector donations. He wasn’t keen on keeping extras collectors included as gifts. He’d sign it all.

Best of all, he was willing to sign on request “1958 Cy Young” and his “Bullet” nickname.

Do some collectors ignore the piece-of-cake signers, thinking they’ll be available forever? The roster of autograph all-stars is shrinking.