Lou Boudreau (1917-2001) and George Kell (1922-2009)

An affordable eBay auction caught my eye last week and I was able to get two (hopefully legitimate!) Hall of Famer autographs.  Lou Boudreau and George Kell were both incredible infielders for their respective ball clubs and moved to the broadcast booth once their careers were over.  Boudreau also managed in the big leagues.  Both signed on 3x5 index cards (which had been printed with their names) in blue sharpie pen.

Neither counts toward my collection of living Hall of Famers, but they add to my overall collection, which at this moment stands at 25 of the 300 players who have been elected.

Non-HoF Autographs: Miguel Batista

At a minor league baseball game last week, I met journeyman pitcher Miguel Batista, and was able to get his autograph on my ticketstub.  Our conversation stood out in my mind despite how short it was.  He commented on how beautiful my daughter is, and encouraged me to have more kids!  He is currently in his second tenure with the Toronto Blue Jays organization, battling to make it back to the bigs.

Failure #24: Paul Molitor

I was a bit sad to get this one back.  I sent a request to Paul Molitor (who happens to be one of the few former Toronto Blue Jays in the Hall) via the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  It was then forwarded to John Boggs and Associates (Molitor's professional representatives) who opened my letter, and returned it with with the letter you see informing me that they do not forward mail to their players.

You would think the Hall of Fame would simply send it back to me, instead of forwarding it to someone who is going to open and reject my request, but that is the way it goes sometimes!

Tommy Lasorda

Update from the original post: I made a big trade and ended up with a nicer Tommy Lasorda autograph - on the unlined side of a 3x5, and without the "To Mark" personalization. This works much better for me, and now I have an extra Lasorda autograph to trade or sell (hopefully to someone named Mark!)

My final purchase from Randy's Sportscards in Quakertown, was this blue pen autographed index card from Dodger bleeding-heart, Tommy Lasorda.

I met Tommy at a Dodger community event one time and had been lamenting that I never got his autograph while we lived in Pasadena. This is a nice consolation prize - even if it is personalized to someone named Mark. I've tried a few times to land his autograph through the mail with no success.

Rich "Goose" Gossage

Update from the original post: I made a big trade and ended up with a Gossage autograph on a normal-sized baseball card (and frankly, a card I like better than the jumbo one I originally obtained. This works much better for me, and now I have an extra Gossage autograph to trade or sell.

The second HoF signature i found on my recent visit to Randy's Sportscards in nearby Quakertown, was this oversized card of Rich "Goose" Gossage, signed in black marker. Gossage was an incredible pitcher, and I have already had a failed attempt to get his signature through the mail.

The giant baseball card has a bit of a crease, but the signature is clear (if not a bit faded).

Lou Brock (1939-2020)

I stopped in to Randy's Sportscards in nearby Quakertown, and was pleasantly surprised to discover a few affordably priced Hall of Fame autographs for sale.

The first was this blue pen signature on an old Topps baseball card of Cardinal's great, Lou Brock.  Brock played for almost 20 years, and famously broke Ty Cobb's stolen base record that had lasted for decades.  It isn't a great signature (you can barely see it in this photo from my camera), but I'm happy to add another one to my collection at a reasonable price!

Update: Mr. Brock passed away in 2020

Failure #23: Ozzie Smith (again)

I already made the mistake of trying to contact Ozzie Smith through the Baseball Hall of Fame, but for some reason I forgot to look in my notes for that bit of information and foolishly sent off a through-the-mail request last week. Hopefully I have learned my lesson.