Thanks to Daniel Solzman for this update:
“Joe Garagiola had major surgery in the last few months and is finally starting to return fan mail. He called yesterday asking about what I sent as he saw the envelope but my photo was either lost or misplaced.”
At age 87, Joe may have fanned some worried thoughts in the hobby, when letters this fall got the “Return to Sender” treatment.
My faith in Joe remains. Back in the 1980s, as co-editor of Sports Collectors Digest, I was surprised that Joe was a reader. He phoned more than once to ask about former players in need. When he started asking for donations by mail, signing autographs to aid the Baseball Assistance Team, I knew how sincere he was about helping fellow players.
Since then, he’s turned his energies to serving children at the St. Peter Mission School.
The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola may not have logged its last chapter, after all!