Baseball Hall of Fame Autographs

Richly illustrated with nearly 1,000 examples of both autographs and forgeries, this new and expanded edition includes signature studies of all Hall of Famers from the 19th century to the present. Collectors can compare signatures to the examples to determine the genuineness of autographs. Shoeless Joe and the rest of the Black Sox are explored in depth, along with Roger Maris, Gil Hodges and the top 50 non–Hall of Fame autographs. A new price guide examines values of various signed mediums. A market population grid lists rare and seldom seen signatures.

Ron Keurajian, a commercial banker and attorney, has written numerous studies on baseball and vintage golf autographs. He lives in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

Ron Keurajian
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 313
Bibliographic Info: 988 photos, appendix, glossary, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7140-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3418-0
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments viii
Preface 1
Introduction 3
Glossary 8

Part I. Building a Collection
One What to Collect 9
Two Forgeries and Authentication 32
Three Obtaining Signatures and the Auction Process 52
Four Provenance, the Black Market and Other Things 62

Part II. The Hall of Famers
Five Signature Studies 67
Six The Top 50 ­Non–Hall of Famer Signatures 260
Seven The Fix 286

Appendix: Population Grid 295
Recommended Reading 297
Index 299

• From the first edition: Winner, SABR Baseball Research Award
• Reviews of the second edition: “Valuable…expands greatly on Keurajian’s first effort, which was published in 2012…contains more than 100 new pages of information, and the number of autographs have increased from 745 to 988. Baseball Hall of Fame Autographs is a scholarly, exhaustive look at baseball autographs. Keurajian writes with effortless flow…and injects personal and professional experiences into his prose.”—Sport in American History
• “Highly recommended”—ARBA
• “[Keurajian’s] new book is unique in that no other has approached the detail found in this new edition. It is a book for both the novice and the advanced collector.”—ProtoView.
• Reviews of the first edition: “Keurajian offers his significant expertise and passion in a book that will serve the novice autograph seeker and experienced collector alike…recommended”—Booklist
• “Indispensable…. Whether you’re a seasoned collector or a novice, a good place to begin is Keurajian’s fun and fascinating guide”—Forbes Magazine
• “Baseball historians and autograph hounds will find Keurajian’s book a compelling read”—The Tampa Tribune
• “His cautionary tale serves as the backdrop for one of the most accurately detailed reference pieces the sports collectibles market has ever seen…. Armed with this educational ammunition, autograph collectors of any experience level will benefit tremendously from this information”—Rob Bertrand, co-host of the sports collectibles radio show, Cardboard Connection Radio
• “a reference guide through the shark-infested waters of sports signatures to provide collectors the proper tools to keep them from getting burned”—New York Daily News.