Baseball Hall of Fame Autographs

© Sports Collectors Digest, F+W Publications Inc.

Any baseball autograph collection worth its salt includes players who have reached the Hall of Fame. Why? Because those players represent the best of the best: the most success¬ful and usually the most popular players to ever play the game.

When it comes to the signatures of Hall of Famers, some are naturally harder to find than others. The toughest ones are from those players who passed away in the late 19th or first part of the 20th century. That would include Cap Anson, Jake Beckley, Dan Brouthers and Alexander Cartwright—baseball figures whose autographs are virtually impossible to find on anything but a cut or a 3x5 card. Collectors pay a steep premium for these autographs, but their addition will enhance any collection.

At the other end of the spectrum is the group of living Hall of Famers who appear frequently on the autograph show circuit. In fact, some of these players earn far more money signing at shows than they did swinging a bat or pitching a ball. Keep an eye on auto¬graph show schedules published in hobby magazines and newspa¬pers and you’ll see such names as Ernie Banks, Bob Feller, Harmon Killebrew and Brooks Robinson turning up. It’s worth your while to snag signatures of these stars, if you haven’t already done so. Even Hall of Famers’ autographs can be affordable, especially when you compare them to the prices current stars charge. An autographed Ernie Banks baseball sells for around $130 - $150.

If a player—even a Hall of Famer—is especially active on the show circuit, his autograph value will tend to stay at moderate levels. To the uninitiated, it might seem odd that the value of a Hank Aaron baseball, is in the $60-$75 range when you might have to pay more for a Derek Jeter baseball. Similarly, a Johnny Bench baseball is valued at $40-$50, while a Mike Piazza baseball is in the $100 range. In those examples, The Big Apple is one factor; Jeter and Piazza play in the media mecca of New York. But the big reason for the difference in the values we’ve cited is that Aaron and Bench were fairly active throughout the 1990s as autograph show guests (and still make appearances), while Jeter and Piazza appearances are rare—and probably will be as long as they’re active players.

Many collectors try the autograph-by-mail approach with Hall of Fame players. (The institution’s address: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, 25 Main St., P.O. Box 590, Cooper¬stown, N.Y. 13326.) The success rate for certain players is good, especially if you donate money to their charities. Other players simply don’t sign through the mail, period. If you do choose to send something through the mail, A) make sure it’s not a valuable item that you can’t replace, and B) be patient. Some players will eventually respond, but may take months to do so.

Looking ahead, remember that it helps to anticipate which play¬ers are destined for the Hall of Fame in coming years. Around the time a player is inducted, the demand for his signature rises—and so does his autograph’s value. Consider the example of George Brett from the class of ’99: A George Brett baseball was worth $35-$40 before his election to the Hall was announced. After his induction, the price rose to $60, and is now $85.

Another factor that affects the value of Hall of Famer auto¬graphs, unfortunately, is a player’s death. The great Willie Stargell, for example, passed away on April 9, 2001. Afterward, collectors understandably wanted mementos related to the longtime Pittsburgh Pirate slugger, but were faced with paying a higher price than they would have paid several years ago. Patience in such cases will benefit the collector: Eventually, val¬ues of a deceased player’s autograph will peak and then often drop slightly in value before stabilizing. Today you can pick up a signed Willie Stargell photo for a very affordable $100 - $150.

From Standard Catalog of Sports Memorabilia by Bert Lehman
© Sports Collectors Digest, F+W Publications Inc.