Any Item In Your Collection HOF Worthy?

[sylbry]

sylbry,almost all the players mentioned in Ritter's book were eternally gratefull and your letter is an example of that.

Especially Hooper, Coveleski, and Marquard.

[Mark17]

I know it's once again veering off-topic, but anything involving Larry Ritter and/or "The Glory of Their Times" is super interesting to me. Ritter was such a nice fellow, and his giving money to the ballplayers who worked with him on that book is so consistent with how much Larry appreciated and respected them.

Back in the early days of Amazon.com, I wrote the first review of "The Glory of Their Times" online, stating it is my favorite book of all time, and that I'd owned several copies, and so on. Much to my amazement, I received an email from Larry thanking me for the review, and offering to mail me a free first edition hardcover, autographed, copy of the book!!! What a thrill!

I accepted the offer and asked him about Chief Meyers. Not sure why I chose him, I was just as interested in Joe Wood or Sam Crawford, but anyway, along with the book, Larry sent me the following letter, and a several-page long article he had written shortly after Chief Meyers' death.

He and the Chief had become very close friends, and the stories he tells in the article are great! Like Chief, working for the Mets, replying to a fan requesting a sample of infield dirt, reaching over and pinching some soil from a nearby potted plant to send to the fan.

Those old players loved Larry Ritter and he loved them back, and I love his book and feel fortunate to have been able to tell him so.

[Swoboda4]

mark17, Ritter brought to our attention that great players,after their playing days assimilated back into society and lived in our midst with most of us not knowing that the quiet gentleman down the block or on a farm up the road,was once a superstar. Now mind you the lack of payment from owner to player kind of forced that issue,but I still admire the player that came back to live a normal life. Case in point:

HALL OF FAME WORTHY?(correspondence to a fan). Riggs Stephenson. MLB 1921-34. Unniversity of Alabama quarterback. 14 yrs in majors. Highest lifetime average of someone not in the HOF,.336!






In a day and age when athletes and their brokers keep fans at arms length it was refreshing to know there was a time when players used to write back when receiving a request. This item,is an example of a questionaire that used to be sent to players and surprisingly many were returned to the fan completely filed out and signed. This questionaire cost about $35 dollars on e-bay and then I bought a frame,mat and typed the rest on the computer. I rather own this than a $150 scribbled ball from Steiner.
There should be a corner in the HOF that shows this past interaction between fan and player.

[Ollie]

I have the uniform that Mussina wore when he got his career 2500th K with photomatching display. Moose should (IMO) get into the HOF!

[suicide_squeeze]

Individually, I would say these bats are each museaum pieces. Together, I'd put them up against any grouping of five bats in the world....

-Babe Ruths very last at bat game used bat; It is important to note this bat is a one-year model 1932 bat. It was picked up off the field by Wally Berger, who upon hearing the Babe utter the imfamous words "I quit". asked Ruth if he could keep tha bat as a momento. Babe replied "Sure kid, keep it." Wally Berger kept the bat as his favorite keepsake until the day he died. His wife ended up giving the bat to Barry Halper, where the bat resided until the famous Halper collection auction of 1999. The fact that the bat is a 1932 model, many historians have argued, that it could have been one of Babe's favorites, and a bat that having been around for four years may have been used to hit a substantial amount of Babe's late home runs. Although that is pure speculation, one has to wonder why Babe would keep a bat around from 1932 and still be using it in 1935....the bat that marked the end of the most hollowed career in baseball history.

-Ted Williams 517th home run bat. (In 1939, Ted Williams hit his 28th home run of his rookie season off of Thornton Lee. a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox. 21 years later, he hit this home run off of Thornton's son, Don Lee, of Washington.) Also, tha bat is the rare "U1" model ordered by Ted only one time in his entire career, in 1960...a 36" 35 oz. warclub! Ted himself publicly presented the bat to a local car dealership owner, a personal friend of Ted and a large donator to Ted's favorite charity, the "Jimmy Fund", where the bat was displayed on the wall of the dealership until his family later sold the bat after his death.

-Roger Maris' 49th home run bat from 1961; This bat was obtained by a Cleveland security guard while securing the dug-out of the Yankees just after Maris hit his 49th home run of the season against the Indians. The guard, upon receiving the bat from Maris himself wrote a letter to a daughter telling her of his amazing gift, and gave her the bat. In his letter, he mentions to her to "Keep this bat. It will be worth something some day." The bat, which has an overlined/underlined "MARIS" written in Roger's hand is about as close to a Rgaer Maris signed gamer as one could ever hope to find.

-Hank Aaron's 740th home run bat; Hit off of the one and only Nolan Ryan, signed and dated by both, with Hank Aaron adding the home run inscription. This bat is the highest known home run bat held in private hands that has reasched the public auction circuit...a pretty amazing piece.

-Willie Mays' 620th home run bat; This bat, upon my winning it, became a 5 year project for me. It comes with a signed "Willie Mays" letter on Giants stationery attesting to the fact it was his 620th home run, also his 2,999 career hit, which was marked as such by the bat boy at the time of the event. I Met Willie four times to have him sign it, and finally add the infamous inscription. Willie, being no fool in this collectors hobby of ours, made me pay handsomely to have it simply signed, then refused to add the rest. That's because he knew I would come see him again, and he could ream me for more money to get him to add the inscription, which is exactly what happened. As it stands, this is the ONLY KNOWN signed and inscribed Willie Mays home run bat in the hobby.....and has impeccable provenance.

Pictures to follow.

[suicide_squeeze]

In order, the bats mentioned below....



-Babe Ruth's last game used at-bat lumber;

-Ted Williams 517th career home run bat;

-Roger Maris' 49th home run from 1961;

-Hank Aaron's 740th home run bat (hit off of H.O.F. Nolan Ryan);

-Willie Mays' 620 career home run bat;

[suicide_squeeze]

(cont.)

[suicide_squeeze]

...last three...

[Swoboda4]

"suicide squeeze,your talking my kind of talk"
"What do you think Fast Eddie?"

"That's the best five I've ever seen. The best,Fats"


"suicide squeeze,now you're "talking"."

[yanks12025]

suicide,
All i can say is WOW!