You Know What They Say When You Assume...

Just before I disappeared from the blogosphere, I made a couple of purchases that might have - subconsciously - helped push me out of full-bore collecting and writing. You know that feeling? Where you mess up so frustratingly that you just have to step back and stay from whatever situation you're involved with for a period of time? Well, that's at least partially what happened with these card-related transactions. Now, there's a litany of other contributing factors that played a much larger role in my absence; but, these mess ups were non-zero de-motivators.


Now, you might be asking yourself, what monumental screw ups could this guy have made that were so heinous that he had to temporarily put one of his favorite hobbies on the backburner.  Well, I ignored one of life's most important guidelines - "if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is."  To make things even worse, I did it twice in a row, meaning I snookered myself and then, knowing what I'd done, willingly dove right back into a shallow pool.  What a dunce, right?

Anyway, on with the show.  Here's a couple of things that I bought that weren't at all what I was expecting.  First up:

What's this?  A stretched and pixelated picture of an old school pitcher that was clearly downloaded from the internet, blown up well-beyond the limits of the original file, and spat out on a ink-jet printer on some cheap photo paper?  

Bingo! You nailed it!

When I saw this image attached to a listing on Ebay, for some reason, I assumed that it was just a poorly scanned image of a vintage postcard.  You know, like one of those Brace and Burke photo postcards that I've often showcased on Wrigley Roster Jenga, several of which populate my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection because they are the best, most budget friendly source for cards ballplayers from the WWII era and earlier.  The seller wasn't being deceptive - I just made an assumption about what I saw based on absolutely zero evidence.  Well, you know what they say when you assume - you make an ASS out of U and Me.  Going back and looking at the listing, the vendor never made this claim, so I had no right or reason to make this leap and, yet, I jumped right in with both feet and no life preserver.  

Thankfully though, this transaction wasn't a total loss.  While I did think I that was getting a Brace/Burke postcard out of the deal, the photograph wasn't the main focus of the Ebay listing - I'd zeroed in on the wrong part of the advertised package.  In fact, in all honesty, the Kodak print was just used as a throw-in to spice up the package for the true center of attention:

Any purchase that comes with the autograph of a bonafide Major League Baseball player can't be a total wash, right?  Especially when the total purchase price is less than a measly five bucks, correct?  It's kinda hard to stay upset when looking at that silver lining.

At any rate, the photograph depicts and the autographed index card comes from former Cubs hurler, Ed Hanyzewski. Of course, with his sterling penmanship, you probably didn't need me to spell that out for you - worlds apart from today's certified autos of today.  Beyond practicing his cursive, Eddie pitched on the North Side of Chicago from 1942-46, taking the mound in 58 games (about half of which were starts) while posting an ERA 3.30 and a record of 11-12.  Overall, the highpoint of his career was definitely the 1943 campaign, when he appeared in 33 games (16 as a starter) and won eight of 15 decisions. This year, he contributed a 2.56 ERA in 130 frames to go along with three complete games.  That's one helluva swingman!

Unfortunately for Ed, he hurt his arm along the way in '43 and was never really the same afterwards.  Such a sad and common tale in the time before Tommy John.

Here's a clearer image of Ed, courtesy of SABR

Overall, getting an autograph from such a vintage player is always a victory, so I really shouldn't be too sad about this acquisition.  However, I am left with a minor quandary - should this count towards my CATRC binder?  After all, it's an index CARD, right?  Even though it's not a traditional baseball card, it would hardly be the first off-the-wall addition to said binder.  The only thing that gives me pause is the lack of an image to go along with his John Hancock.  Perhaps I should create my own cut-auto card to jazz it up, though that's a risky proposition with the signature of a guy who's been dead for thirty years now.

What do you think I should do about this dilemma?  How would you handle this sort of situation?  Please share your thoughts in the comment section below; I would love to hear what you have to say!  As of now, I have this index card included in the tome, displayed in a postcard page along with the bum photo print.  I mean, I lay down my hard earned money for that picture after all, I might as well put it to good use, for the time being.

So, that's the story on frustrating purchase number one of two.  The Hanyzewski index card is definitely the less annoying of the two; although, to be upfront, both transactions do involve an autograph.  "What a complainer," you must be thinking.  How could getting two autographs of Cubs players for your favorite collection be such an annoying thing?  Well, please allow me to make my case.

This is an item, like with Ed, that I was under the falsely assumed presumption was an antique Brace or Rowe postcard that came with a proper autograph.  Unlike with Ed, this item came with the signature on the item itself, rather than on a separate index card.  All seems well here - a vintage postcard feature a non-mangled image and autograph of a rare, forgotten Cubs player that I still needed to fill an empty slot in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.  This should be an absolutely perfect and celebrated acquisition, eh?

Sadly, all is not as it seems - there's a couple of black marks that go against this buy that are not readily obvious from the picture above nor from the original listing.  First of all, once again, rather than being an actual Brace or Rowe postcard, this is an image that someone printed on their own.  This time, it's not even on photo paper; rather, it's been printed on thin, though slightly matted, traditional paper.  While this is a negative, it's not a deal breaker on it's own.  While slightly disappointing, were these the only defects, I would still be perfectly happy in nestling this bit of ephemera into my CATRC binder.  After all, this is another case where I made an unjustified assumption about the item in question and it's still an autograph on a piece which properly features the actual player in question.

Or is it?

Here's the thing.  Roy "Pop" Joiner, besides being another athlete with excellent penmanship, had a couple of brief trials with the Cubbies in 1934 and 35, as well as a cameo with the Giants five years later.  As someone who played so long ago, you would be correct to assume that he also passed away some time ago - December of 1989 (the same year I was born).  If you're keeping score at home, we're now 31 years on.  The photograph in question is printed on some pristinely white paper that is in immaculately good condition... are you thinking what I'm thinking?

I feel like there should be at least some signs of aging on three-decade old, basic paper  Furthermore, there isn't a wrinkle or corner ding to be found on what is, once again, three-decade aged, regular ol' paper.  Maybe I'm overly skeptical and am looking for problems, but this seems rather suspicious to me.  What do you think about these red flags?  Once again, I'd really and truly appreciate it if you weighed-in in the comment section below.

On the plus side, the Ebay seller has overwhelming positive feedback and the few down votes they have are completely unrelated to forged autographs.  Plus, who would go to the trouble of faking the signature of such an obscure and uncollected athlete from a time before plastic had even been invented?  That would be like counterfeiting pennies.  Plus, I only spent six bucks on the piece, so even if it was a forgery, it's not like it really hurt my wallet all that much.  With that in mind, for now, I've also included this imperfect acquisition in my CATRC binder, as it very well could be the real McCoy.  However, if I come across a good deal on Joiner's 1940 Playball pasteboard, you darn well better believe that I'll be making a swap.

Have you seen this man?

Overall, I'm mostly just being a baby.  Maybe I got scammed, maybe I didn't.  Either way, in both cases, I made some stupid assumptions that I shouldn't have and, in neither case, did I spend much money.  I'd say these are premium examples of low risk, high reward purchases.  With that in mind, maybe they could pitch a few innings in the bullpen next year?  However, with all of the other malaise surrounding baseball at the time of these transactions, the annoyance caused was just another nail hammered into my hibernation coffin.

Now I ask you, have you ever made such presumptive purchases or am I alone in making such delusional deals?  Feel free to tell me what a dunce I am.

In the end, at least I was (maybe) able to check a couple of obscure names off of my want-list.  In 2021, my News Years resolution is going to be doing a better job of looking on the bright side - there's already far too much negativity in the world right now.