This is a pretty good Dave Winfield autograph--not great but not bad either.
Many people say that if Dave Winfield is in the Hall of Fame then Jim Rice should be too. I disagree. Dave Winfield has better numbers than Rice, played longer, and his home parks were a disadvantage for him as he hit better on the road. Jim Rice only hit like a Hall of Famer at home. Rice was only an average player on the road.
This next one will take a bit of explaining. First, I included it to show you that the authors also included a page on each ball park which is interesting to read in addition to the player reports.
Second, some of you may be wondering who Krazy George is. He was the A's mascot (of sorts). I only had him sign this because I had the Famous Chicken sign for the Padres (later in the book) so I figured, "why not?"
Krazy George has also been the cheerleader for the Houston Oilers, Minnesota Vikings, San Jose Earthquakes, and a few other teams. Krazy George was the inventor of "The Wave." Others copied him in the college football season that followed and claimed to have invented it (like the Washington Huskies and Florida Seminoles), but they only got the idea after seeing Krazy George invent it in the baseball playoffs of 1981. I know because I was there. In fact, Krazy George was not two feet in front of me when he invented it. I was in the left field bleachers for the playoff game versus the Yankees.
The Rickey Henderson signature is better than normal, but I have a couple of his autographs on lineup cards that are even better. Speaking of lineup cards, that is another one-of-a-kind item that I have many of in my collection.
I made friends with the security guard at the Oakland Coliseum who worked the dugout. After the games, if the manager didn't take the lineup card, my security guard friend would take it off the wall and give it to me. I would then get the back signed by the team. Team-signed lineup cards are much nicer than team-signed balls in my opinion because the signatures are much larger, aren't crowded, and players don't write over each other on the lineup cards like they do on balls. Plus, they are all unique whereas there are probably hundreds of team signed balls out there.
I just did a quick google search on lineup cards, and it looks like recent ones go for about a thousand dollars; those aren't autographed either. I wonder what mine, that are more than 20 years old, are worth with signatures?
I included the following sample to show you a nice Joe Rudi signature (one of my favorite players) and a Fred Stanley signature in which he signed his nickname "Chicken" instead of his normal signature of "Fred."
The following is an example of how the part-time players only got a half page in The Scouting Report. Also, they didn't get any graphics (other than their picture) on their pages. But that's not the reason I'm showing you this.
Al Woods didn't play baseball in 1983. But he did live in Oakland. One day at the stadium I noticed him in the crowd. I approached him with the book and asked for a signature. He was surprised that someone recognized him. After signing he crossed off the Oakland A's portion of the page and said something like, "I never played for the A's." He wasn't lying (and he may have been a bit bitter about it). The A's traded for him in 1982 but cut him in spring training of 1983 after The Scouting Report was published. That is why he shows up in the A's section even though he never played for them.
Mr. Spitball wraps up this page. 1983 was Gaylord's last year so I was really fortunate to obtain this before he finished his long career. After Gaylord retired I ordered peanuts from his farm through the mail. Not only did I get some great peanuts from Gaylord but he sent an autographed baseball card with them. I wonder if he still does this? Google doesn't return his peanut farm in searches so maybe he doesn't have it anymore.
The stories and pictures continue below...
