1930s/40s Chicago White Sox Team Baseball Autographs ID (maybe Comiskey?) (updated clearer pics)
niceties55
Posts: 13 ✭
While cleaning up my parent's house (they are moving) I found this old baseball.
This used to be sitting on my grandma's shelf. My dad said that it was probably signed by 1930s/1940s Chicago White Sox Players. Apparently, my great-grandfather managed a famous country club on the south side of Chicago in the 30s/40s. Lots of famous people came through (including the White Sox) and he got their autos.
There seems to be a “Charles Comiskey” auto on it.
I was just wondering if anyone knew who signed this baseball?
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Comments
The bottom of "side 2" appears to be Luke Appling.
It appears to be from 1940, as that is the only year Eric McNair, Pete Appleton, Moose Solters, Ken Silvestri and Ed Weiland were teammates with the White Sox.
Players I see on the ball:
Side 1
Julius "Moose" Solters: 1940-1941, and 1943
Larry Rosenthal: 1936-1941
Eric McNair: 1939-1940
Bob Kennedy: 1939-1942, 1946-1948, and 1955-1957
Ed Weiland: 1940 and 1942
Side 2:
Taffy Wright: 1940-1942, and 1946-1948
Thornton Lee: 1937-1947
Ken Silvestri: 1939-1940
Luke Appling: 1930-1943, 1945-1950 (Hall of Famer)
Side 3:
Johnny Rigney: 1937-1942, and 1946-1947
Pete Appleton: 1940-1942
Herold "Muddy" Ruel: 1934 (also coached there from 1935-1945
Joe Kuhel: 1938-1943, and 1946-1947
Side 4:
Ted Lyons: 1923-1942, and 1946 (Hall of Famer)
Monty Stratton: 1934-1938 (coached White Sox in 1940) (also subject of "The Stratton Story" starring Jimmy Stewart)
Mule Haas: 1933-1937 (coach in 1940)
Regarding Charlie Comiskey:
Charlie "Commy" Comiskey died in 1931. His son, John Comiskey took control of the team, but he died in 1939. Ownership then passed to John's widow Grace. In the 1950s, Grace and John's son Charlie II took control of the team (he was born in 1925).
Steve
Great work. But....
If the ball is too late for the original Charlie but too early for Charlie, Jr., then where does that leave us? The signature is smack in the middle of the others. 🤔
Did little Charlie have some role with the team as a teenager?
That's what has me confused.
I even went to Ancestry.com and looked at signatures of the Charles Comiskeys in Chicago (there were at least 4) around that time, and none of the signatures match the one on the ball. I also looked at ebay examples of Commy Comiskey's signature, and it isn't a match. So, I just don't know what to say about it.
Steve
Also, consider this:
The only players I see on the ball, who were with the White Sox before Commy Comiskey died, are Luke Appling and Ted Lyons. Looking at the placement of the Appling tells me he didn't sign the ball that early (below Silvestri, Lee and Wright; Lee being the first to join the Sox in 1937)
Also, if the ball was signed by Commy Comiskey, why would he have signed it where this particular signature is located? As I see it, it's just not the place the famed owner of the White Sox would have signed a ball.
Steve
It does look like it could have been signed by a teenager....
I someone did notice a "Joe Tinker" on side 3.
The ball could have been signed over the course of a decade.
Man, wish I knew more about the history of the ball.
Do you know the name of the country club? Being on the south side it may have been Flossmoor or Olympia Fields.
As you surmise, the ball could have been signed over a long period of time, not all at once as in the case of most team balls.
Detroit area coin dealer Earl Schill had a similar ball that was signed by the baseball greats of the 1930s. He worked at the hotel Desk and had the ball signed over a long period. I recall that Babe Ruth and Lou Gerhig signatures were on the ball. I had a chance to buy it back in the mid-1980s but passed because I thought the $600 asking price was too high. Big mistake.
Hey! I did some research and found out that it was the "South Shore Country Club."
The "South Shore Country Club." is now the "South Shore Cultural Center." Located at 7059 S South Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60649.