Collector of the Week: November 25, 2013
Click through the slide show to view Drew's collection:
Collector:
Drew Davis
When did you start collecting?
I started collecting baseball cards in the late 70s. My first in-person autograph was Nolan Ryan at a Astros/Phillies game in 1984. TTM, Jim Kaat in 1983.
What you collect:
I primarily collect baseball HOF autographs. I have a couple ongoing projects that keep the hobby fun for me:
- Every reasonable (Jimmie Foxx, Chuck Klein, etc are out of my current league) baseball HOF who wore a Phillies jersey - autographed pictures in their Phils jersey.
- Sparky Anderson was a difficult picture to find.
- Sandberg, Morgan, Perez were tough to get signed copies.
- I pursued Kaat and Rose just in case... and, need Pedro Martinez, Jim Thome and some other potential/future Hall of Famers.
- Unique items - I got some old wire photos at auction and sent them to (Bob) Feller, (Bobby) Doerr, (Monte) Irvin, (George) Kell - all of whom wrote me back asking for copies of the pics. They had never seen them.
- That has been a lot of fun - these guys sign the same thing over and over and over. I get great responses (even Feller's phone number on his letterhead) with the different pictures.
- Harry Kalas wrote a wonderful inscription on my "tarp incident" photo from Colorado. He was emotional during the broadcast when the Phillies helped the opposing grounds crew. I sent him a pic and he filled it with the inscription. I need Cole and Ryan Howard on that one.
- Jackie Robinson business card signed by his wife - very close to getting another one signed by President Obama.
- A homemade HOF plaque postcard of Pete Rose.
- Every living baseball or basketball hall of famer
What is your favorite piece in the collection?
A weird, Bill Veeck driftwood "sculpture."
Bill Veeck, "Imagined" artwork
On the bottom is says "CREATED - imagined by Bill Veeck" The words "imagine" and "created" are synonymous with Bill Veeck in baseball. I've heard from both his son and his grandson about the piece. His son said that creating this driftwood pieces was one of Bill's favorite activities. His grandson said recently that not even his family has one of the sculptures. Doubly special is that my grandparents gave it to me.
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