Header - Baseball by the Letters

Gifts For All Collectors!

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Happy Birthday, Diana!

My wife has been a wonderful friend to me. On her birthday, she gives gifts.

Therefore, I want to follow her sterling example. Here are three tips to help anyone wanting to stand out in your correspondence with a current or former player:

1. Choose a strong question. WHY works. HOW is a close second. Let them explain a moment in baseball history to you. WHAT was your greatest thrill? Don’t expect an entire sentence to answer that one, let alone a paragraph.

2. Quote them. You’re sure to get a “the answer should be in my latest book…” Well, if you’ve read the book and wonder why they feel that way, ASK! Collectors have said that they’ve seen Dave Winfield sign in person, choosing to first autograph copies of his books before signing any cards or baseballs.

3. Learn from greeting cards! Here’s my ultimate secret. Never pass up those stray greeting card envelopes at Hallmark or stationery stores. The envelopes and the cards never match, so the store sells a pile of colorful envelopes for as little as a penny apiece. When did you ever get a bill or bad news from one of those cheery envelopes with the Hallmark logo on the back? That happy memory might make a player open your letter first.

Are there any “extra touches” you use to help increase your response rate?

Finding Updated Player Addresses

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This is the logo I remember from when I first started collecting autographs by mail in the early 1970s.

One of the first techniques I learned was adding ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED under my return address.

Logos change. So do the times.

On a whim, I called my local post office. Essentially, the USPS voice said:

Your letter gets forwarded for one year. For the next 6 months, you’ll get your letter back with the new address label (if available).

No need to write ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED.

I’ll try to verify this in the days ahead. However, I hope it’s true. Adding those words made me feel like a bill collector trying to track down a deadbeat.

Struck Out by White Sox ‘Key’ Player

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My wife is a gifted piano teacher. “If you’re going to make a mistake, make it a big one!” she encourages her students. In other words, don’t be timid. When swinging, go for the fences.

That’s what I did writing to another keyboard artist, Nancy Faust. She’s been the team organist for the Chicago White Sox since 1970. She’ll be retiring at season’s end. In my Hall of Fame, I’d give Nancy some real estate for introducing Steam’s Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) as a ballpark standard.

Everybody gets three strikes. Therefore, I asked three questions:

1. You were Harry “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” Caray’s first accompanist. What are your memories of creating a new baseball tradition?
2. What are your memories of the 2005 World Championship season?
3. Besides Jack McDowell, what White Sox players have impressed you most with their musical knowledge or abilities?

My reply in care of the team included a personalized 4-by-6 color photo and a signed team-issued card. Thoughtful bonuses I received with gratitude. However, no answers.

That’s okay. I took my cuts. Play on, Nancy!

Discover Another Side of Author Lawrence ‘The Glory Of Their Times’ Ritter

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Here’s one more gem from R. Plapinger Baseball Books. If a book was EVER published, trust Bobby to find a copy.

(Reader advisory: to fully appreciate the forthcoming tale, it’s important to know a bit about the huge contributions to baseball history Lee Allen made. Start here, with a tribute from the SABR Bio Project. Now, back to Bobby…)

“My other “inscription story” is somewhat more personal. I was lucky to be one of the hundreds of people who was friends with Lawrence – Larry – Ritter – author of what many still consider to be the single best baseball book of
all time, “The Glory of Their Times”.

(Yes, it’s true. The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It
redefined first-person baseball history. It’s a must-have title for any baseball fan.)

“One time Larry generously allowed me to buy some books from his personal
library & one of the ones I picked was “The National League Story” by Lee
Allen – which Allen had inscribed to Ritter

“For Larry Ritter –
Companion of the night
(at the Tuscany, Some indescribable (ALLEN’s spelling…)
German place + Bill’s)

With real affection
sincerely
Lee Allen
August 21, 1967″

Allen was known to enjoy more than a few drinks & back then, I think, so was
Larry. I’ve always wondered what it might have been like to have
accompanied the two of them on “the night”.


Remember, Bobby Plapinger is the “go to” guy for getting hard-to-find baseball books. (He’s great at finding unsigned and autographed editions.) He’s never let me down. Write him at baseballbooks@opendoor.com

Reading Between the Lines of An Autographed Baseball Book

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Bobby Plapinger is one of America’s foremost names to baseball book collectors.
As “R. Plapinger Baseball Books,” he’s become an adored author in his own
league. Look at his sale catalog, and you’ll see his mini-reviews are
penned by a grateful, learned fan of the game.

I asked BP (no, not THAT B.P.) what noted autographs he’s discovered in
his years as a bookologist. He offered two juicy tales:

“The first starts in 1989 – probably in the Spring. I was on my annual trip to New York to visit family… and… of course … the Strand bookstore.

By pure chance, I arrived in the Strand’s Rare Book Room on the day they
were unpacking books from Bob Fishel’s estate.

I recognized the name Fishel, but wasn’t well acquainted with him. I did,
however, “know” alot of his books & purchased quite a few of them – many
inscribed to Fishel by the authors.

When I got the books home & had a chance to carefully inspect them, I learned a little more about Bob Fishel.

Turns out he’d started out working for Veeck & the St. Louis Browns – he was
the guy who “found” Eddie Gaedel.

After the Browns, Fishel worked for the Yankees for a long time, before
finally ending up in the American League office. The annual award given to
baseball publicists is named after him.

It was clear from many of the inscriptions that “baseball people” considered
Fishel not only to be a friend & colleague, but a beloved one.

A copy of Bill Veeck’s “sequel” to his autobiography (“Veeck as In Wreck”) –
“The Hustler’s Handbook”, had a page long inscription in Veeck’s handwriting
that read, in part, “To Bob… It’s almost impossible to … explain how
much you’ve meant.. to us”.

In the copy of his “It Takes Heart” which he gave to Fishel, Mel Allen wrote
“To Bob, It has been said: ‘What we have done for ourselves alone dies with
us, what we have done for others in the world remains and is immortal.’ To
me, Bob, you are immortal. I am sincerely grateful for your warm friendship.
Mel Allen.”

Other inscriptions from other authors were similarly heartfelt, but these
two, in particular, struck me as almost transcending “inscriptions in a
book”. To me, they were almost like letters from the authors, testifying to
the strong feelings they had for their close colleague and friend.”

At press time, Bauman Rare Books was selling the Mel Allen signed edition for $800.

Friends of this blog need to email Bob at baseballbooks@opendoor.com Tell Bob that “Baseball By The Letters” sent you. Ask for his latest catalog, which he’ll send as a PDF.

Tomorrow: The intriguing untold story of a baseball book’s wink-and-nod inscription.