Baseball Scouting Notes & Signed Baseballs
Watch
GUEST:
This is my husband's collection, and so I'm his emissary today.
APPRAISER:
Why is your husband such a baseball fan?
GUEST:
He grew up playing baseball and he ended up playing professional baseball for a while. He played for six years, and then when he didn't make it to the big leagues, then he decided he better get a job and work for a living.
APPRAISER:
So what era are we talking about?
GUEST:
David played in the mid-'60s, early '70s.
APPRAISER:
Okay. So what connection does he have to these pieces?
GUEST:
This first baseball was given to him by his uncle. And when he went to a Washington Senators- New York Yankees game, he got Babe Ruth's signature.
APPRAISER:
Wow.
GUEST:
When he got Babe Ruth's signature, Lefty Grove happened to be there at the time, and apparently his Uncle Bill asked for his signature as well, but Lefty didn't give autographs. And when Babe Ruth heard that, he started giving Lefty a hard time, saying that he should placate the fans and be more gracious, and so he got both autographs on the baseball.
APPRAISER:
Well, that makes a lot of sense. Babe Ruth really brought about the great first era of signing baseballs. But this one's much later.
GUEST:
Well, this one, my husband was with the Dodgers and one summer, the Tokyo Giants professional baseball team came and they participated in spring training with the L.A. Dodgers.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
And the men on both teams exchanged paraphernalia-- you know, "I give you my hat, you give me yours"-- and this baseball was one of their official baseballs. That's why the color is a bit different. And it was signed by two famous Japanese players. The first is Sadaharu Oh.
APPRAISER:
That's right, in the Japanese league.
GUEST:
And the second one is K. Takahashi. He was a pitcher like my husband.
APPRAISER:
So we've got two balls down. We've got one piece still left: this very innocent-looking piece of paper. Tell me about this.
GUEST:
Well, I think that's the most special piece. My husband, as I said, was a pitcher, and when he was issued his pitching jacket this particular season, he put his hand in the pocket and there was this crumpled piece of paper in it. And when he opened it up, he realized what it was. Don Drysdale had been the pitcher for the L.A. Dodgers that previous season when they had won the world championship, and this was the scouting notes that told him how to pitch to each of the people in the Minnesota lineup.
APPRAISER:
Wow. This was written in the Hotel St. Paul in Minnesota. Well, the 1965 World Series was decided in seven games. We've got Don Drysdale, who was 23 and 12 that year, 209 wins in his total lifetime, and he's sitting down and he's taking on Harmon Killebrew, who is a Hall of Fame hitter, and he's saying, "Fastball, in and tight." He's got Tony Oliva in here, who was one of the greatest hitters, who won several batting titles. It's amazing. He's got the catcher, Jerry Zimmerman, who batted zero against him, so obviously he did very well. The Babe Ruth and Lefty Grove ball-- very, very important ball to have both those signatures on it and in great condition. Value-wise, probably somewhere in the $2,500 to $3,500 range and maybe even more. The Sadaharu Oh, Takahashi baseball, probably about $200 to $400. But this piece of paper, if this was an ordinary pitcher in an ordinary game in an ordinary year, it wouldn't be worth very much, but because you have a Hall of Fame pitcher in the 1965 World Series that they won taking notes on the opposing team, I can see a collector paying in an auction somewhere between $1,000 and $1,500 anyway. So I think the moral of the story is always check your pockets. (laughing)
Appraisal Details
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
