Another 1940s baseball, help on autos!
Spartcom5
Posts: 397 ✭✭✭
So this is the second ball I have from the 40s. Unfortunately the glue used has toned the ball drastically over time. Sorry in advance for the pictures, this was a hard one because the toning. I can get better pictures just let me know!
Chet Laabs, Joe Grace, ???, Mark Christman 
This is where it gets very hard.... I may need to take better pictures without any glare. But for the time being this is what I have.
???, Don ?, ?????
??, Bill ?, George ?, Joe Gallagher, Bill ?
??
Mark Christman signed again?, ???, George Gill, ??
0
Comments
It appears the ball is from the 1939 St Louis Browns.
Chet Laabs
Joe Grace
Sam Harshaney
Mark Christman
?
Don Heffner
John Berardino (who went on to a long acting career on General Hospital)
Myril Hoag
Moose Solters
Joe Glenn ??
Frank Shellenback (Browns pitching coach in 1939)
?
George McQuinn
Joe Gallagher
Bill Trotter
Harlond Clift
Mark Christman
Vernon Kennedy
George Gill
?
Steve
Great job Steve! The one below Shellenback is I believe Billy Sullivan and the one under George Gill is Lefty Mills. What a terrible team!
Thanks! I believe you're correct about Sullivan and Mills. I couldn't differentiate the S in Sullivan from the S in Shellenback, and there is no Howard on the Browns' 1939 roster according to baseball-reference.com, and I didn't even think to click on Lefty Mills to see what his real first name was.
Also, I think the one above Heffner, is Hal Spindel.
Steve
Thank you so much guys!! Really appreciate the help! One more ball to go but it is the hardest of them all because the autographs have faded quite a bit. Also, quick question... I don't really care because I'd never sell this in a million years but how in the world do you put a value on something like this? Beckett wanted $120 to just authenticate every auto on the ball.
Value is tough to determine on a ball like this. Value, to a large extent, is contingent on any big-name players being present, as well as any harder to obtain players, such as "one-year-wonders" or players who died young (making their autographs in general, rare). Really, the best/only way to determine value, would be to consign it to an auction house and see what happens.
One bit of trivia that might be of interest, is that the 1939 Browns were the worst St Louis Browns team of all time (they existed in the American League from 1902 - 1953). They finished with 43 wins, 111 losses and 2 ties, 64.5 games out of first place. Interestingly, they went to the World Series only 5 years later, where they lost to the St Louis Cardinals.
Steve
Wow! Frank Shellenback won 295 games in the Pacific Coast League. His nephew Jim Shellenback won 103 games in the minors & pitched in the bigs.
Shellenback is a legend. He's one of those guys that would of been a HoFer had he chose to pay in MLB instead of the PCL. Back then the PCL was nearly on par with MLB.
Harlond Clift is an outstanding one to have too. Great player.