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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.

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.

Charlie Hough: Free signer, no more!

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Sorry, Charlie…

For more than 20 years, hitters couldn’t figure out Charlie Hough’s baffling knuckleball.

Now, Hough himself is the bafflement.

According to Harvey Meiselman, Hough, Mickey Hatcher, Tim Wallach and Rick Honeycutt have signed with the same fan mail handler. Each now cost $15 apiece per baseball card autograph.

I checked the stats on www.sportscollectors.net.

Hough has signed for 767 collectors, a staggering 95 percent of all requests logged at the website. More impressive was how Hough would decline any offer to keep extra cards. If someone sent him 12 cards, but asked him to keep half, he’d return every card autographed.

I understand the temptation faced by the others. Honeycutt had signed for 120, Wallace 76 and Hatcher 35. Successes with the trio ranged from 41 to 63 percent.

Hough was different. What caused him to abandon ship?

Catcher Bob Schmidt’s Final Autograph?

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Years of service, to baseball
and the hobby. Thank you!

Thanks to Reds collector Ron Martin for sharing the news, via www.sportscollectors.net.

Former catcher Bob Schmidt, part of Cincinnati’s 1961 team, suffered a stroke and is unable to sign autographs.

Schmidt’s greatest statistic?

According to SCN, he signed 97 of 99 TTM requests.

Before everyone crosses him off their baseball address lists, I have one question:

When a retiree has to stop signing because of health matters, do any of you (who own his autograph) ever send a thank-you note? I’d think a note saying, “I kept your autograph all these years” would be quite meaningful.

Just a thought.

Coach Wendell Kim’s Legacy

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A now-poignant tribute, circa 1977, shared at
www.GiantsFarmPhotos.tumblr.com
 

Fans of the Giants, Red Sox, Expos or Cubs would know the name.

Coach Wendell Kim

Because he wasn’t a regular in card sets, Kim never topped want lists. A check at www.sportscollectors.net revealed that only three attempts were recorded. He returned all.

Kim’s last response was in 2007. Recently, his wife has been sharing the bad news.

Only 62, Wendell Kim is coping with Alzheimer’s Disease. He’s been in a care facility for three years, unable to sign autographs. Remove him from your baseball address lists, please.

Bravely, Natasha Kim preserves the legacy of her fan-friendly husband at www.wk20.com.

Some of us groan at non-responses. “Why hasn’t the guy signed? What’s wrong with him?”

Other collectors fret over their letters. “What’s wrong with me?” Typed or hand-written? Change the approach?

Sometimes, the answer is c) none of the above.

I’m grateful for what the Kims have shared, then and now.