A collector, part of Cooperstown? 

That’s one fascinating possibility lurking within the correspondence collection kept by the National Baseball Hall of Fame research library. The 25-page list produces many surprises, none of which may be on public display.

Everyone knows that Hall of Famer Don Sutton has been a reluctant by-mail signer for years. Well, the HOF owns a hand-written letter from the pitcher, offering advice to a young player in 1966. An article from the period documents the exchange.

Players like Jackie Robinson saved letters of support from fans. Browsing the list, I found one fan wrote Robinson six times from 1952-55.

Sure, the archive includes lots of business letters: owners, commissioners, journalists. 

However, none of those official missives would match a single hand-written bit of correspondence between players and fans.

That’s the joy of Baseball By The Letters.

Click to access BA+MSS+44+Correspondence+Collection.pdf

Except, it’s not for sale. Never will be, either.

The Jackie Robinson Papers were donated to the Library of Congress by Rachel Robinson in 2001. 

More than 7,000 items make up this collection. Most importantly, correspondence makes up a healthy part of the collection. Fan mail from around the world. 

Jackie’s own editing on the manuscripts for his two biographies.

Who knows? Some player’s wife might be collecting the letters you send, too!

Collectors and fans ask often:

What do I write former players about? What should I ask?

Simple. Spring training!

Short major league careers might hide the fact that someone was a one-year wonder in the Grapefruit or Cactus League. After all, they had to do something great to get their shot at the bigs.

What are their best spring training memories? What was their best pre-season day ever?

Asking is free. Be prepared to be amazed.

When we mentioned visiting Quincy, Illinois, she lit up. “I attended the Quincy Beauty Academy years ago!”

She told about rooming with the family of Fred Ostermueller. “He played for the Pirates!”

His career stretched from 1934-48, with more than 100 major league wins. Born in Quincy, Fred died there in 1957. My friend’s story checks out.

Decades after his death, Ostermueller made headlines (unwanted ones) when the movie 42 was released. His offspring went national claiming that dad was misrepresented in the movie, and that he was nothing like that racist character who beaned Jackie in the head. In reality, the movie had several errors. Robinson was hit in the wrist. Bruce Markusen did lots of valiant journalistic digging, trying to find any surviving facts beneath the lore. 

So, what does this story have to do with collecting autographs or baseball research?

1. Friends, even relatives, won’t be able to help you if they don’t know what your goals are. “Do you know of any current or former major league baseball players?” Then, tell them why you want to know.

2. Success is out there, maybe closer than you ever imagined.

I missed out on writing to Danny Litwhiler, who held the distinction of being the oldest Cincinnati Red until his recent death at age 95.

His statistics aren’t overwhelming. Although anyone with more than 100 career homers isn’t a slouch.

His obituary told the untold story about Litwhiler. The outfielder posed for a picture with Jackie Robinson when the Dodgers visited Cincinnati in 1948. The gesture helped quell racial tensions.

Litwhiler’s questionable knee kept him out of the military until 1945. Nevertheless, he found a way to serve the war effort.

He molded future careers for Rick Miller, Kirk Gibson and Steve Garvey as a college coach. During his collegiate career, Litwhiler pushed for innovations like radar guns and Diamond Grit to keep wet fields playable.

In 2000, he teamed with talented author and historian Jim Sargent to write Danny Litwhiler: Living The Baseball Dream.

Phillies fan Stan Price was one of the lucky ones who tracked down Litwhiler before the veteran’s health (and signing) went downhill beginning in 2009. You can tell tons about Litwhiler’s work ethic and love of the game from the photo — which Stan turned into an amazing custom card.

There are still Danny Litwhiler-ish men from baseball’s past out there. Do your homework, and you’ll find men whose biggest victories never fit into a box score.

Coming Thursday: Awesome insights from Twins outfielder Steve Brye.

One new baseball term I’m abuzz over is “pitch to contact.”

I’ve known people who TALK to contact. They get the job done quickly.

Yankees Pitcher Johnny Kucks might qualify on both counts.

I asked about his masterful performance in Game 7 of the 1956 World Series, the culmination of his 18-win season. (Thanks to http://www.retrosheet.org/, here it is!)

A box score can’t tell when a winning pitcher may have been a bit nervous. I asked Kucks for a tense moment from that title-clinching victory:

As in JACKIE Robinson! Who’d pass up a chance of bragging explicitly about the future Hall of Famer he outmatched?

I’ve checked out Kucks’ baseball cards for hints about his motion. I’ve seen him described as a sidearmer. However, I wasn’t sure if he go three-quarters if needed. Or, did a coach tinker with his delivery?

Kucks showed with his final answer that he isn’t a chest-thumping, muscle-flexing veteran. After 19 wins in his first pro season, Kucks lost two seasons to military service. Thankfully, a ticket to the show awaited him upon his return in 1955. Regrets?

“Everything went well on career delay.

Best wishes,
Johnny Kucks”

Coming Tuesday: Two reluctant Redbirds, and other blog updates!

When the accolades come, none are taken lightly. Even after retirement, tight-lipped players remain men of deeds first, words second.

Joyner shared the experience of having baseball history as his teacher.

Q: How do you describe your work?

I don’t know what this type of art was technically called in its heyday (1920s-60s), but for lack of a better term I just started calling my version of this genre “bio-illustration”. I’d always admired the old newspaper legends of this genre — Thomas “Pap” Paprocki, Willard Mullin, Lou Darvas, Jim Berryman, Phil Berube, etc., etc., but I never thought I would have the venue (albeit it a smalltime venue) to bring it back on the scene. But POP FLIES gave me the opportunity, so I began creating a Brownie bio-illustration for each quarterly issue. Soon I was creating bio-illustrations of Senators, Braves (Boston) and Athletics (Philadelphia) players for their fans’ similar publications. Eventually I began creating a weekly bio-illustration for SPORTS COLLECTORS DIGEST (SCD. This was great because it allowed me to draw players from all teams and all eras. While I have illustrated a good number of mainstream and Hall-of-Fame players, I have always taken particular interest in illustration of lesser know guys.

No disrespect intended to the big-name guys, but I feel there are plenty of other avenues to learn about them, so I like to carry the torch for the little guys. Now I have drawn close to 200 guys, and my hope is that I will someday publish them all in a book.

Q: I received photocopies of your bio-illustrations of Jim Greengrass, Fred Valentine, and Ken Retzer after corresponding with them through the mail. How do you feel about that?

A: That really makes me happy. I am truly honored that they choose to utilize my bio-illustrations to tell the story of their careers when they correspond with their fans. I will occasionally meet a player who I’ve previously illustrated — a guy who I’d not previously met. Sometimes when they put two-and-two together and recognize my name they’ll tell me that they received copies of my bio-illustrations in the mail from fans who clipped them out of SCD. That always makes my day. That reason alone often makes me prefer illustrating living guys, but every now and them I’ll dip back into the lives of deceased players for my subjects.

Q: Are you writing the great bios, too?

A: Yep, I write ’em and draw ’em. I’ve always enjoyed researching and writing, so this gives me an outlet for that passion. I occasionally write straight-forward article-type stuff, so my bio-illustration text allows me to ham it up a bit in the style of the genre — you know, lots of silly jargon like “swiped 20 bags,” “clubbed 20 round-trippers,” “fence-buster,” “port-sider,” etc., etc. One thing you may have noticed is that I always end EVERY sentence, even the most mundane of statements, with an exclamation point (unless the piece is particularly serious like that of Willard Hershberger, for example). That’s something I picked up from my comic book
reading days. I thought every one would get the joke, but I have actually had complaints about it from the occasional SCD reader.

Q: Have you corresponded with the retirees BEFORE a work is created? It seems most retired players will answer an interesting question if asked politely.

A: I have, in fact, talked with players before doing a drawing, but usually only if someone has asked me to illustrate someone obscure for whom it is difficult to find reference material. A couple of recent examples are Red Borom and Ducky Detweiler. Most of the time I just go at it on my own. I used to always send the players a batch of copies of my finished drawing AFTER completion, but I’ve done less and less of that these days due to being overly busy.

I never thought I’d see the day where I would forgo the possibility of a cool interaction with a player because I am too busy, but that’s sadly the case. When I do reach out to players by sending them copies, their reactions are, amazingly, mixed. There are guys who are very gracious and friendly, but there are also guys who seem to care less. And it’s not just the guys you’d think, either. Some times it may be a HOFer who is blown away, yet the unknown guy seems unimpressed. But usually it’s the other way around. Accolades from guys like Greengrass and Retzer, however, make it worth the time and effort to try and communicate to every guy.

Q: What kind of response do you get AFTER they see your work? This is like
the back of a great old Topps card. Even greater!

I don’t mean to dampen your enthusiasm too much, but it’s hard to impress most players. Even the most short-time player was usually great in all his seasons leading up to his major league experience. That means they all have stacks of scrapbooks (I’ve seen ’em!) loaded with clippings about their heroic baseball exploits. Many have already been depicted in illustrations like mine by the sports artists of their time. Or they’ve been on classic baseball cards. And many of the more well-known players I’ve illustrated have already been the subject of paintings/illustrations by well-known artists versus a no-name (it is what it is) like me. For those reasons, many players tend not to be bowled over
by yet another tribute to them.

That said, there are definitely enough guys out there who love what I do for them, and that makes it fun. 1945 A.L. MVP Eddie Mayo paid me the ultimate compliment by telling me my bio-illustrations were better than any baseball card could ever be because it captures the fun of a card, yet it’s much more informative. A quick look at a list of my drawings reminds me of some guys who have been very enthusiastic about my bio-illustrations of them: Rugger Ardizoia, Joe Astroth, Eddie Basinski, Bobby Bragan, Al Brancato, Joe Cunningham, Clint Dreisewerd’s family, Mike Epstein, Boo Ferriss, Ned Garver, Chuck Goggin, Eli Grba, Don Gutteridge, Spook Jacobs, Johnny James, George Kell, Al LaMacchia, Frank Mancuso, Hal Manders, Walt Masterson, Lee Maye, Brian McCall, Ralph McLeod, Dick Means’ family, Ed Mickelson, Al Naples, Bob Neighbors’ family, Herb Plews, Jackie Robinson’s wife Rachel, Bob Savage, George Shuba, Billy Southworth’s (dad and son) family, Virgil Trucks, Lon Warneke’s daughter, Bill Werber and Ken Wood.”

Remember how Joyner noted that he was a baseball autograph collector first? Tomorrow, he’ll divulge a few of his TTM misadventures with names you’ll know!

One of the greatest aspects of autograph collecting is how collectors help each other. As I re-entered the hobby, I’ve sought advice and inspiration from the hobby’s stalwarts.

I’ve long followed the progress of Andrew Martin on hobby websites. He’d post often when he had a success. I wanted to know more about his career as a collector. It seems I found a kindred spirit.

Andrew wrote:

“I have been doing TTM since 1990 and have shifted my primary goal from receiving and autograph to getting back a cool note, letter, or phone call.

I have two returns that stick out for me. The first was a letter I got from Carl McNabb back in 2006. Carl played in one game in 1945 with the Tigers, with one at bat, and that was the entirety of his major league career. I had asked him a few questions about his career and he responded with a two page letter just going off on how if his Tigers’ manager, Steve O’Neill hadn’t had so many favorites, he would have had more of an opportunity. He told me that even at his age (then about 90), if he was given another opportunity to play, he would do it again.

It had been 60 years since his debut and he still thought about the what-ifs on a daily basis. I was blown away to find out how much of an impact something like that could have on a person.

Another favorite is actually something that happened just last week. I had the privilege of having a 30-40 minute conversation with Carl Erskine on the phone and heard many wonderful stories about his playing career; in particular the first time he met Jackie Robinson.

My “thing” has become researching and corresponding with lesser known players. Though they may not have put up All-Star numbers, they often have the best stories and have a greater appreciation for what they were able to experience.”

I tip my collector cap to the hobby vets like Andrew.

Andrew is sharing with more than collectors. He’s begun collecting what he learns to create biographies of the former players he encounters. See what he discovered about 1970s White Sox hurler Steve Kealey.