TBR: Vintage Clubhouse Signatures to the Pro's

By Bob Brill

I was listing a bunch of baseballs on eBay and on my website www.pattiwaggin.com this week in anticipation of finally selling them. They are all baseballs certified by JSA, Jimmy Spence, and all either team signed or single signed to people I own the rights to. In doing so it again occurred to me even in the 1960's when a player got a team signed ball he couldn't be sure all the sigs were real.

Case in point. As you may know I own the rights and most of the estate of Burlesque Queen Patti Waggin and her husband Don Rudolph. Rudolph was a journeyman pitcher who had a wonderful minor league record and a mediocre major league career. In the estate I found many autographed team balls from both the big leagues and the minors. There were all-star photos signed, baseballs signed and all sorts of great stuff. I had JSA certifiy all of it.

When it came to the 1961-63 NY Yankees signed baseballs I was appalled by the fact Don Rudolph, a major league pitcher was given baseballs with clubhouse signatures. Mantle, Maris, Howard and occassional others would not sign baseballs given to colleagues. Not always true because a couple of the items were signed by the likes of the M&M boys.

I did notice most of the bad teams, and Don played for some of the worst, didn't mind signing. The early 1960's Washington Senators were good. Gil Hodges, then managing, could have passed. However, his autograph on the one baseball I listed was one of the most beautiful sigs I've ever seen. The likes of Woodie Held, Rich Rollins and Dick Donovan usually signed and happily.

The 1962 Indians baseballs I had were similar. On one Sam McDowell, Johnny Romano and Barry Latman were clubhouse signatures. On another only McDowell wouldn't pen is name. A local friend of mine was the Indians clubhouse keeper in 1964 to about 1966 and he admitted he was the "clubbie" signer for that team.

"I usually signed for Birdie Tebbits, the manager and the starting pitcher," admitted Billy Malone. "For the most part the mid-60's Indians were good about signing but Birdie was usually too busy and the starting pitcher rarely signed on the day he was pitching, so I had to, management ordered me to."

Malone went on to explain it was part of his job and usually under direct orders from management to finish the team signed baseballs given to sponsors of the club. Car dealerships, furniture and department store executives all wanted a signed baseball. Some got a "Billy Malone."

Everyone in the hobby knows about Charlie "The Brow" for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Johnny the clubhouse boy in Boston among others. Few folks know some players wouldn't sign balls going to players. In the case of the minor league baseballs we didn't run into any clubbie sigs but then again in the minors it was something to do between long bus rides, I guess.

One thing about Rudolph he signed when asked. I recently got a call from a older man who heard about the book coming out, "Fan Letters to a Stripper; A Patti Waggin Tale," and wanted to tell me about Don's kindness. Elliott Caine said he met Don at a minor league game in Indianapolis and got an autograph. Don became his favorite player right then and there. He continued to write to Don and Don continued to write back, sending him a post card from the big leagues in 1963 and encouraging the youngster.

He said he was always very enlightened by the fact this major league player whom he'd met in the minors put his on his Christmas Card Mailing List. He said for years he continued to get cards at Christmas signed by Patti and Don! That was pretty cool.

The minor leagues are still probably the best place to get a signed ball finally surpassing Spring Training. You just have to hope some of the guys on the baseball make it and make it big. Even in today's world this is a tough proposition.

 (NEW WEB SITE) Authentic Sports Collectibles is offering web sites affiliate like marketing similar to Google Ads. The site, which specializes in everything under the sun (some underpriced, much of it overpriced) offers competing websites the opportunity to flag some business for it and then pays a small commission if the sale is made directly from your site to theirs. Interesting concept if it works. However if you are selling the same thing as them how does it help you?

(UD OVECHKIN DEAL) Upper Deck still reigns in its element. The company inked NHL MVP Alexandre Ovechkin to an exclusive deal. Since it is the only company allowed to make NHL trading cards how exclusive can it be? It does mean when it comes to autographs and such stuff, he'll only be doing UDA for pay.

(QB WHO? WHERE?) Brett Favre in Purple and Mike Vick in Green? Now that is something I didn't figure on ever seeing in the NFL outside of a dream which turned into a nightmare. This last week we were treated to Favre coming out of retirement and signing with the hated Vikings and the hated Vick actually getting a contract in the NFL and inking with the Philadelphia Eagles. I always thought he should have signed with Cleveland so he could get boo'd by "the Dog Pound."

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You can reach Bob at bob.pattiwaggin-AT-gmail-DOT-com. His book "Fan Letters to a Stripper; A Patti Waggin Tale" is due out any day from Schiffer Books. You can order it on line or on Bob's Website at www.pattiwaggin.com where you can also see some of those wonderful baseballs he talked about.

Tags: waggin indianapolis held deck letters association cleveland the hodges report minor rudolph maris sam brill fans indians leagues team malone fan patti baseballs mantle upper woodie autographs mcdowell american gil billy signed

Dodger Great Steve Yeager Autograph Signing

By Wesley Hein

On November 22nd, SportsBuy.com is holding a public autograph signing with Dodger great Steve Yeager. 

 Visit the SportsBuy Tradeshow Information page for more information. 

Tags: autographs signing dodgers baseball

ThePit.com New Football IPOs Tuesday 10/21 5pm PST

By Kevin Klein

Tomorrow, 10/21, more football IPOs will be rolled out onto ThePit.com. Headlining this batch will be 2008 Topps Chrome Rookie Autographs of Matt Ryan, Darren McFadden, Eddie Royal, Mike Jenkins and Mario Manningham. In total, these 5 Topps Chrome Autograph Rookie Cards will be made available for Tuesday's IPO event. Be sure to check back at 5pm PST sharp to grab them at their initial starting price!
                                                                                                                                                            Not familiar with ThePit.com or IPOs?

ThePit.com is a sports card website that allows its users to buy rookie cards in bulk quantites, similar to the stock market, without taking possession. Watch your portfolio grow and trade your holdings for cash or cards. Periodically, ThePit.com has brand new offerings at low prices. These offerings, or IPOs, get snatched up quickly and are very popular events for its user base to take part in. Obtaining an ID to use the website is completely FREE and registration is simple.

Tags: football raiders thepit.com ipo cowboys broncos rookie_cards ny_giants autographs falcons