July 15, 2021: Summer Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/15/2021
This is an impressive array of nearly four dozen letters typically to fans and autograph seekers from literally dozens of Negro League players, many full letters on personal stationery and others brief handwritten notes, but almost all with the attendant autographs. The letters are typically in response to autograph requests and many related to returning items sent in for a signature; even in instances where the autograph request is declined or the fan is asked for a small remittance, the collector often wound up with a signature anyway. A couple of the letters are from widows or family members telling of a recent or even distant passing and a number of the letters have wonderful content describing life in the Negro Leagues; some are asking for recipes and some are being sent from hospitals, and a few gently ask for a small fee like $3 for the requested signature. Most of the letters are dated in the 1990s, a period when there was a substantial resurgence of interest in the long-defunct Negro Leagues, and some of the former players would actually set up at various card shows around the country offering autographs for almost nominal fees. The large array of letters breaks down thusly: 1) Smaller notes (5), generally 4-by-6 inches, including Roy Haggins, D.T. Harper, Gordon Hopkins, Cowan Hyde and Wilmer Fields; 2) Somewhat larger notes (26), typically 5-by-7 or 6-by-9 inches, including Skeet Griggs, Adolfo Fernandez, Casey Jones, Al Wilmore, John Mitchell, Lefty LaMarque, Jim Bolden, Bob Gordon, Frank Duncan, John Bissant, Frank Pearson, Jimmy Hill, Hooks Tinker, Milford Laurent, Clarence King, Arthur Bailey and nine (9) others; 3) Larger letters (13), about 8-by-10 inches, sometimes on letterheads, including Nap Gulley, Sherwood Brewer, Fireball Bolden, Frank Marsh, Butch McCord, Fran Mathews, Herb Simpson, Johnnie Cowan (2), Doc Horn, John Miles and Ulysses Redd.
Large Group of Signed Letters From Negro Leaguers (44)
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