Thursday, June 5, 2014

The Pencil Scribbling On My 1941 Scorecard

Yesterday I mentioned the scribbling on the front and back cover of my 1941 scorecard.  If you looked carefully at it, you noticed that it isn't scribbling.  It autographs!



They are all in pencil and over the past 70+ years they have faded some.

Are the autographs real?  I'm no expert, but they all seem to be in a different style of handwriting.  It doesn't look like someone just started signing names.   Plus there are some pretty obscure names, which I doubt would have much of a forgery market.  I'm going to say that they are the real deal.

The bad news, at least for me, is that all of the autographs are from the Cubs opponent, the St. Louis Cardinals.

The good news is that there is one very famous Cardinal name.


....Stan the Man!!

Musial was a 20-year-old rookie in 1941, which makes this even cooler...a rookie auto of Stan Musial.

So is it real?


Here is mine side by side with an authenticated signature.  The S on Stan is definitely different.  All of the autographs I've seen have an S that looks more printed that the cursive S that I've got.  Then again, this is from a 20-year-old Stan.  It is entirely possible that he shifted to a printed S as he got more famous and signed more autographs.

The Musial looks pretty good.  I may be prejudiced, but I'm going with authentic.

So who else signed?


Pitchers Lon Warneke (a former Cub) and Harry Gumpert


Coach Bubba Wares


Infielder Jimmy Brown


Shortstop Marty Marion....Marion always made a big dot above the I in Marion, so this looks good.


Pitcher Max Lanier

There are others that I couldn't make out.  But with just the Musial alone, my outlier 1941 scorecard is pretty awesome!

3 comments:

  1. Johnny Beazley up the left side (by the paw). Walker Cooper in bottom left. Howie Krist along bottom (upside down). Eddie Lake across Cubbie Bear. Lou Stringer along right side (yay, a Cub!)

    Beautiful autographs but those days are gone. Today's programs actually would be scribbles.

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  2. That would have been from Stan's first appearance at Wrigley. His first game was less than two weeks earlier. How awesome is that! Marty Marion has a pretty distinctive signature, vertical and skinny like himself.

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