{"id":9188,"date":"2017-05-01T00:30:18","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T04:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=9188"},"modified":"2020-05-08T16:40:39","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T20:40:39","slug":"2020-collections-boughtographs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=9188","title":{"rendered":"2020 – Collections: Boughtographs"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Ignore May 1, 2017 publish date – this was published on February 14, 2020)<\/p>\n

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Apparently, I\u2019ve coined a new term. Last year, I posted about autographs that I happened to acquire in person during the course of my career (https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=7963<\/a>).<\/span> But I also have some that I purchased either online or at auctions: bought autographs<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Admittedly, it\u2019s a shakier proposition to do it that way – it\u2019s not exactly an industry known for honestly – but some situations have a better feel than others and sometimes familiarity with certain signatures can increase your confidence by a couple of percentage points.<\/span><\/p>\n

The vast majority of these sigs are sports-related and most of those are supposedly Mickey Mantle\u2019s – my childhood hero – who I got to take ONE picture of (with Whitey Ford) at Yankees Spring Training camp in Fort Lauderdale in 1982. Go to http:\/\/bobleafe.com\/<\/a><\/span> and find it under \u201cNew York Yankees\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

So let\u2019s start with him:<\/span><\/p>\n

I should mention that most sports signatures online come with a \u201dCertificate of Authenticity\u201d (CoA) that can be as phony as some of the sigs. Some look absolutely legitimate and some really are, but it\u2019s difficult to know for sure, so I\u2019m including the CoAs I received. Maybe you can tell what\u2019s legit.<\/span><\/p>\n

This photo is of Yankees manager Casey Stengel and Mickey in 1956 when he won the Triple Crown for leading the league in batting (.353), home runs (52) and runs batted-in (130):<\/span><\/p>\n

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There was no actual CoA – just this sticker on the back:<\/span><\/p>\n

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This shows Mickey and RFK at Yankee Stadium in 1965. The CoA shows a blue signature. I don\u2019t recall if mine was blue when I got it:<\/span><\/p>\n

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These are two photos involving Mickey and a mermaid; one includes Whitey Ford. Mickey\u2019s signatures look different. So do the CoAs (\u201c\u2026from my personal accumulation<\/em>\u201d?):<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mickey, Billy Martin and Whitey Ford go fishing. I\u2019ve found a couple of these online and either they all signed it or no one did. This is the only one I\u2019ve ever seen where only Mantle signed it. This one is also a fairly crappy-quality print that I sharpened a bit. Still, the sig could<\/em> be real (the CoA only mentions Mantle):<\/span><\/p>\n

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Plaques are notorious for having fake signatures. This sig doesn\u2019t look too bad, but the CoA is a CoC: Certificate of Collectible, which I\u2019ve never heard of and certainly doesn\u2019t sound like authentication. Plus, this particular \u201climited edition\u201d plaque is #2,010 of 5,000? I can\u2019t imagine Mickey Mantle (or any star) willingly sitting down to sign 5,000 of anything, so I’m guessing that one pic with a good sig was copied 5,000 times and slapped on plaques:<\/span><\/p>\n

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One signature that I WAS fairly confident in was on the cover of the 1997 Mickey Mantle auction catalog cover that was also signed by his business manager, Greer Johnson. I have #110 of 536 – the latter number being the number of home runs he hit in his career.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Mickey died in 1995. See Lelands notes below:<\/span><\/p>\n

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On to other Yankees:<\/span><\/p>\n

This fading signature belongs to Chris Chambliss, who is shown after hitting a walk-off home run against the Kansas City Royals in the deciding ALCS Game 5 that sent the Yankees to the World Series in 1976:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Another fading sig is that of Don Larsen, shown pitching in the 9th inning of his perfect game against the Dodgers in 1956 – the only perfect game in Major League postseason history. The CoA is kinda crappy:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Old Yankee Stadium, old Yankees\u2019 signatures on this one. There are supposed to be 12 sigs, but only 9 are visible. Fading\/faded away are those of Bobby Richardson, Joe Coleman and Bobby Brown. Whoever wrote on the C0A misspelled a couple of last names:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Phil Rizzuto and Yogi Berra are shown in their playing days:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Years later, here\u2019s Phil as a Yankees announcer. His signature looks a little less steady (but the CoA sure looks classy):<\/span><\/p>\n

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Al Leiter is mostly remembered in the NY area for his time with the Mets, but over a decade earlier, he was a Yankee\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.that\u2019s what attracted me to this plaque. I haven\u2019t bothered to check on the signature and there\u2019s no CoA:<\/span><\/p>\n

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I bought this Joe DiMaggio plaque when I bought the Mantle one, so it has the same weird CoC that Mickey\u2019s does. Joe D signed pix for 5,000 plaques? I don\u2019t think so. Like the Mantle plaques, perhaps a pic with a good sig was copied 5,000 times and put on the plaques:
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Other baseball people:<\/span><\/p>\n

This pic shows the track of Bobby Thomson\u2019s 1951 \u201cshot heard \u2018round the world\u201d at the Polo Grounds in New York. Google the story if you\u2019re unfamiliar with it. This is NOT a good photo copy. Perhaps the signature is better:<\/span><\/p>\n

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While I never liked the Red Sox (or Ted Williams), I\u2019ve always liked this early shot of him and it\u2019s a nice-looking signature. This not only has a very formal-looking CoA\u2026\u2026..it also has an equally formal-looking CoG (Certificate of Guarantee), so it MUST be good (I hope):<\/span><\/p>\n

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Eric Davis and Darryl Strawberry played against each other in high school and both made it to the major leagues, where they continued to play against each other. Because I had a musical encounter with Darryl in 1987, I decided to get this (no CoA):<\/span><\/p>\n

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When I was gathering all these pix for this post, I could not recall who Pete Gray was – surprising since his story is so unique. He played for only one season (1945) for the St. Louis Browns. He appeared in 77 games, batted .218 with no home runs and 13 RBI – not exactly memorable stats.<\/span><\/p>\n

So why is he remembered? He lost his right arm as a child (he was right-handed), yet made it to the major leagues as an outfielder, as you can see in the pix. His story is quite interesting and worth Googling:<\/span><\/p>\n

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The last Major Leaguer shown here was not a player, but rather a long-time umpire whose name may sound familiar to those of a certain age: Al Barlick, whose career covered mostly the 40s, 50s and 60s. His loud call was memorable, but I can\u2019t find a recording of it anywhere:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Other signatures:<\/span><\/p>\n

Mixing sports and music, Muhammad Ali knocked out the Beatles in Miami in 1964 and signed this print that hangs in my living room:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Former NJ Governor Brendan Byrne apparently attended Jimmy Carter’s 1977 inauguration with a New Jersey contingent and signed this for someone.\u00a0 Page 4 (bottom) has a Washington, DC street map:<\/span><\/p>\n

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In 1982, New Jersey Senator (and former New York Knick) Bill Bradley signed this for a noted autograph collector, Curtis Iddings, Jr:<\/span><\/p>\n

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These are the original members of Grand Funk Railroad – one of my favorite bands from \u201969-\u201971 (no matter what the critics said). No CoA:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Uncle Floyd is probably New Jersey\u2019s best-known funnyman\/piano player\/entertainer. His \u201cUncle Floyd Show\u201d is legendary. I was the show\u2019s photographer and had a great time, but I had nothing signed by him, so when I saw this little Casio keyboard with his distinctive (and now fading) signature, I grabbed it. Go to http:\/\/bobleafe.com\/<\/a><\/span> and scroll down to \u201cU\u201d to see all the shenanigans (and bands):<\/span><\/p>\n

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Anybody remember watching \u201cDobie Gillis\u201d in the early 60s? The left side of this pic is from the show and the right half is star Dwayne Hickman years later:<\/span><\/p>\n

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I was never a fan of British comedy shows – I couldn\u2019t understand what they were saying most of the time – until \u201cKeeping Up Appearances\u201d came along. I think I\u2019ve seen every episode multiple times.<\/span><\/p>\n

One day, I looked it up on eBay just to see what popped up and found cast-signed 8x10s that were going for at least $200 each. So I employed an old buyer\u2019s trick to see if I could save some money.<\/span><\/p>\n

You wouldn\u2019t believe how many people can\u2019t spell the simplest words in their auction titles. Consequently, buyers who CAN spell can\u2019t find their auctions, so I search using misspellings. In this case, I tried \u201cappearances\u201d, using only one \u201cp\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bingo! Someone was selling a \u201cKeeping Up Apearances\u201d cast-signed photo, starting at $40 and was waiting for bidders to begin falling all over themselves while raising the price into the hundreds\u2026\u2026\u2026.except that there were no bidders and the seller also neglected to set a minimum reserve price. I got it for $40 and the seller was PISSED!<\/span><\/p>\n

Too bad.<\/span><\/p>\n

Signature-wise, we\u2019ve lost Emmet, Richard\u2019s almost gone, and Onslow is starting to fade. It\u2019s still worth a hell of a lot more than $40 – even without a CoA:<\/span><\/p>\n

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As a certain President likes to say, \u201cI love the uneducated\u201d (he also doesn’t spell well and he does<\/em> love himself, doesn\u2019t he?).<\/span><\/p>\n

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I always try to finish off each post with something out of left field, but none of what I had collected really fit the bill\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.until I remembered something VERY unrelated to everything else (but related to me).<\/span><\/p>\n

DAD!<\/span><\/p>\n

You probably have the senior year high school yearbook of one or both parents, right? Inside are the signatures of everyone in the class\u2026\u2026\u2026.except for your parent. Who signs their own yearbook?<\/span><\/p>\n

So, years ago, I started searching eBay for a 1938 Teaneck (NJ) high school yearbook. When I finally found one, I contacted the seller and asked if it contained the signature of Norman S. Leafe.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was told it did! I bought it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The yearbook belonged to a Dorothy L. Parrish, who played a lot of sports and had a collection of lump sugar (that\u2019s what it says under her picture). The book also contained the commencement program, a 50-year reunion booklet and her high school diploma.<\/span><\/p>\n

My father (on the right) signed her yearbook thusly: \u201cBest wishes to the quieter of the Parrishes\u201d, but unfortunately, he did not write his normal signature.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dad was the managing editor of the Te-Hi News and hoped to become editor of a metropolitan daily (way<\/em> off on that one, Dad). It also mentioned that he \u201cwas fond of the weaker sex\u201d (they talked that way 82 years ago), but yeah – he was a ladies\u2019 man.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of his school paper duties, his nickname was \u201cLoose Leafe\u201d and that\u2019s how he signed the yearbook: with one big \u201cL\u201d to begin, smaller \u201coos\u201d above smaller \u201ceaf\u201d in the middle and one big \u201cE\u201d at the end.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Because I had to buy the yearbook, this is definitely a boughtograph – a word I\u2019m going to start Googling periodically to see if it ever catches on.<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Don\u2019t hold your breath, Bob.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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LATE ADDITION<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

May 8, 2020<\/span><\/p>\n

This has been so much in plain sight in my living room for a couple of decades that I completely overlooked it. It hasn’t helped that the signature is pretty sun-faded.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gaylord Perry – beside being well-known for throwing the spitball – is the only pitcher to ever win the Cy Young Award in both leagues. He has signed this cloth sack from his peanut farm in North Carolina:<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Ignore May 1, 2017 publish date – this was published on February 14, 2020)   Apparently, I\u2019ve coined a new term. Last year, I posted about autographs that I happened to acquire in person during the course of my career (https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/?p=7963). But I also have some that I purchased either online or at auctions: bought […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9188"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10116,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9188\/revisions\/10116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iaintjustmusic.bobleafe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}