Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

This is a collection of autographs that I acquired from my father. He was born in 1920, lived just outside of Boston, and, uh, was able to go to the, the Boston Red Sox and Boston Braves baseball games. And when he was a teenager, early teens, he decided he wanted to create a collection of autographs. So he wrote a handwritten letter to the player.

The letter said, basically, "I'm collecting autographs of all the greatest players of, of all time. And would you mind sending it back to me?" What he was most proud of is that every single player that he sent a letter to returned the autograph to him. He only has 12 autographs in the book, but, uh, eight of the 12 players made it to the Hall of Fame.

APPRAISER

Right.

GUEST

So...

APPRAISER

So his list of who he considered the best in the game or one of the best in the game was a pretty tight and factual list.

GUEST

Exactly.

APPRAISER

Tell me about the baseballs.

GUEST

The baseballs, I don't have a whole lot of background on that other than, he did get to Florida occasionally in the wintertime.

APPRAISER

Mm-hmm.

GUEST

So I'm guessing that that was probably spring training, and he corralled a bunch of players in the lobby of a hotel they were all staying at.

APPRAISER

Mm-hmm.

GUEST

When Babe Ruth was playing his last year in Boston with the Braves in 1935, he went to a game with a baseball glove and actually caught a foul ball from Babe Ruth, and that was tucked in this shoebox with all of the, the other collectibles.

APPRAISER

Yeah.

GUEST

And, uh, I'm, I'm one of five boys in the family who loved to get out and, and throw and bat baseballs in the backyard, and somehow that baseball is missing today.

APPRAISER

Oh, no!

GUEST

So I'm, I'm afraid to report that that's probably one of those balls that, uh, are sitting in the field someplace near our home.

APPRAISER

Incredible. Well, it's incredible the condition that you kept these in. You just don't find the signatures in a condition like this. On the baseballs, the closest one to me here is a 1930 Boston Braves partial team-signed ball.

There's about nine signatures on that one, with Rabbit Maranville on the panel that we're showing there. The next one, it is the Philadelphia A's. It's considered a full team ball with 19 signatures. It's 1928 to 1930.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

Can't pinpoint the exact year, because everybody that's on this ball played several years on the team.

GUEST

Yeah.

APPRAISER

And the last ball, the most important one, is a really rare 1933 Washington Senators team-signed ball.

GUEST

Huh. Okay.

APPRAISER

In beautiful condition. They won the A.L. pennant that year, and lost the World Series to the New York Giants.

GUEST

Interesting.

APPRAISER

It's a real important baseball, and there's only been maybe one or two in that condition I've ever seen.

GUEST

Wow, okay.

APPRAISER

We have the Cy Young, incredible condition. Absolutely zero fading whatsoever. Babe Ruth in the center there, and then the Honus Wagner, or he wrote "Pirate 1934."

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

And the one we have shown here is Tris Speaker, Hall of Fame center fielder, played for four different teams in his career. Do you have any idea of the values on these?

GUEST

I'm, I'm guessing all in, maybe, I don't know, $3,000 or $4,000? I, I, I don't really know.

APPRAISER

The partial team-signed 1930 Braves ball, I'd put the value on that one for insurance purposes at about $1,000.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

The 1928 to '30 Philadelphia A's ball, you're talking, for insurance purposes, $4,000.

GUEST

Wow, okay.

APPRAISER

And then the Washington Senators ball, tough ball to find in that condition, I would put the insurance on that at $6,000.

GUEST

Wow, okay.

On the signatures

Cy Young, easily insure that for $1,000.

GUEST

Wow.

APPRAISER

The Honus Wagner-signed album page, easily insure that one for $1,000, as well. And then the Babe Ruth. They just don't get much nicer than that for an album page. I'd insure that one for $8,000.

GUEST

Eight? Wow. Okay. Hm.

APPRAISER

And then lastly, your album, with what we didn't take out of there, of course, we have Tris Speaker, we have Mordecai Brown, and about six or seven others, I believe?

GUEST

Mm-hmm.

APPRAISER

On that album, you'd want to insure that for $4,000.

GUEST

Wow, terrific. Okay.

APPRAISER

So, in total, I would insure this group here today for $25,000.

GUEST

Really? Wow, that's unbelievable. Terrific. Thank you.