Retired Baseball Players Autographs

© Sports Collectors Digest, F+W Publications Inc.

This section is devoted mainly—but not exclusively—to prominent former baseball players whose credentials were solid, but not quite enough to merit Hall of Fame induction. That means you’ll find current autograph values for hundreds of play¬ers who put up impressive stats during their careers and became fan favorites in the process.

There are:
• sluggers like Dave Kingman (442 career home runs), Graig Nettles (389 HRs), Frank “Hondo” Howard (382 HRs) and Dick Allen (351 HRs).
• popular, productive Yankees stars like Nettles, Roger Maris (275 HRs), Bobby Murcer (252 HRs), Thurman Munson (.292 career average) and Don Mattingly (.307, 222 HRs), who played for the Bronx Bombers for all or much of their careers.
• fathers of famous sons—baseball-playing dads who were pretty talented in their own right: Ken Griffey Jr.’s father Ken Sr. (.296 career average) and Barry Bonds’ father Bobby (332 HRs, 461 steals).
• such personalities as Joe Garagiola and Bob Uecker, who followed unspectacular playing careers (Garagiola: .257 batting average; Uecker: .200) with long stints as popular announcers.

The section also includes would-be Hall of Famers like Tony Oliva and Tony Conigliaro, who suffered serious injuries that curtailed their playing days.

But the most prominent names in this section are two “should- be” Hall of Famers (at least in the minds of their supporters): Joe Jackson and Pete Rose. These two legends are connected in baseball lore, unfortunately, through their alleged ties to gambling and subsequent ban from the game. In terms of autographs, though, they reflect the extremes of the marketplace.

Rose, one of baseball’s most active signers, has been extremely visible on the show circuit. In recent years, his auto¬graph prices have been stable at around $50 for a signed base¬ball and $40 for a signed photo. On the surface, he’s undervalued (considering that he was a popular player and manager, is base¬ball’s all-time hits leader, and is always controversial). But the healthy supply of Rose signatures keeps the price affordable.
“Shoeless” Joe Jackson’s autograph, on the other hand, is one of the scarcest in baseball history. Because he was unable to read and write, he didn’t sign many autographs. Thus, seri¬ous collectors have to pay a small fortune to get one when it surfaces. How rare is Shoeless Joe’s autograph? The Web site BlackBetsy.com wrote in December 2000, “We are aware of about 30 verified and authenticated Joe Jackson autographs and we are aware of about 10 to 20 more that are Joe Jackson- signed items…but that have not been verified or authenticated.” As a result, Jackson’s signature on photos, balls or cuts can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Finally, this section is home to a handful of retired players who might be destined for the Hall of Fame but who—at this writing—haven’t yet been voted in.
In some cases (Paul Molitor and Wade Boggs), it’s simply a matter of time. In other cases (Jim Rice and Bruce Sutter), it’s not so automatic.

Boggs’ 3,010 hits in 18 seasons for the Red Sox, Yankees and Devil Rays all but ensures his spot in the Hall of Fame. Boggs retired after the 1999 season and is eligible for induction in 2005.

Rice and Sutter, on the other hand, are on the bubble. Rice blasted 382 HRs and had a .298 average in 16 seasons. And Bruce Sutter posted 300 saves and a 2.83 ERA in 12 seasons. To earn HOF induction, a player needs to be named on at least 75 percent of the ballots cast by the Baseball Writers’ Associa¬tion of America (BBWAA).

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