This week we have some really great items for sale and even more new acquisitions listed on our website at
www.qualityautographs.com. Be sure to contact us at 800-241-4809 or qualityautographs@msn.com to reserve your finds early. Don’t miss out on some great new items! Kevin Keating has been a prominent hobby figure for a long, long time. Known for his deep knowledge of sports autographs, Keating has developed a loyal following of those who share his passion for famous signatures. This week we will look at collecting the individual member signatures on flat items of the 1969 “Miracle” New York Mets.
Since most team collectors attempt to assemble their items on flat items in order to display the completed team together, we will apply the scarcity index key (SIK) below only to our estimate of the total number of signed flat items we have seen for each person listed above:
SIK-I: Extinct (we have never seen one)-none in this category
SIK-II: Extremely Rare (we have seen 1-10)-Joan Payson
SIK-III: Very Rare (we have seen 11-25)-none in this category
SIK-IV: Rare (we have seen 26-100)-Gus Mauch
SIK-V: Uncommon (we have seen 101-500)-Dan Frisella and Gil Hodges
SIK-VI: Readily available (deceased with little or no autograph-show or private signing participation but examples are routinely offered in the market largely or primarily due to volume mail responses; check or other document releases; and/or overall widespread collecting of that person during their lifetime)-Cal Koonce
SIK-VII: Plentiful (deceased but seemingly endless quantities exist from participation in modern shows, private signings, and/or fan-mail responses or a combination thereof)-Tommie Agee, Don Cardwell, Donn Clendenon, and Tug McGraw
SIK-VIII: living but inaccessible and/or whereabouts unknown-N/A
SIK-IX: living with limited and/or sporadic accessibility-Jesse Hudson
SIK-X: living and accessible-all else
Notes:
1: While Hudson is still living, he remains an elusive signer. He has been known on occasion to answer mail requests though more often than not, he is either a non-responder or his whereabouts are simply unknown. And at the time of this writing and as far as we know he has never done a formal signing of any kind.
2: Payson lived a long life and we remain perplexed that more of her autographs have not appeared in the marketplace. As both an executive and a dignitary-she was the first woman to be a majority owner of a team in a major North American sports league-we would expect there to be far more available samples than what we have seen.
Summary: Notwithstanding their place in baseball history as one of the most unlikely juggernauts of all-time, one other reason this team is so widely collected is that it is readily possible to obtain nearly all of its members. In fact the majority are still alive and accessible at the time of this writing. Moreover, most of the deceased players can be found for a reasonable cost and all of its key members can be obtained if one has the patience and means to acquire them. Even Dan Frisella, who died in a dune-buggy accident at the tender age of 30 during his career, can be found without great difficulty. Frisella’s availability is no doubt a result of both his popularity with fans and his willingness to sign whatever and whenever autographs were requested of him-a fact this author can attest to from first-hand experience meeting the affable signer many times in the early 1970’s both at a Chicago hotel and at Wrigley Field. For the completionist, Jesse Hudson, still living, may be the greatest challenge to find from those players who appeared in at least one game for this storied team, as he remains a spotty and elusive signer.
Manager: Gil Hodges (d.72) Substitutes:
Art Shamsky
Starting eight: Al Weis
Ed Kranepool 1B Rod Gaspar
Ken Boswell 2B Donn Clendenon (d.05)
Wayne Garrett 3B Bobby Pfeil
Bud Harrelson SS J.C. Martin
Cleon Jones OF Ed Charles
Tommie Agee OF (d.01) Amos Otis
Ron Swoboda OF Duffy Dyer
Jerry Grote C Kevin Collins
Jim Gosger
Bob Heise
Pitchers:
HOF–Tom Seaver
Jerry Koosman Coaches:
Gary Gentry HOF–Yogi Berra
Don Cardwell (d.08) Joe Pignatano
Jim McAndrew Rube Walker (d.92)
Ron Taylor Ed Yost
Tug McGraw (d.04)
HOF–Nolan Ryan Other:
Cal Koonce (d.93) Trainer Gus Mauch (d.83)
Jack Dilauro General Manager Johnny Murphy (d.70)
Al Jakcson HOF announcer Lindsey Nelson (d.95)
Danny Frisella (d.77) Owner Joan Payson (d.75)–*See Note 2
Jesse Hudson–**See Note 1
Bob [Robert Dale] Johnson
Les Rohr
