Sign up for the Autograph eZine at www.AutographMagazine.com current happenings in the autograph hobby
Ulysses S. Grant Moves South
M
ississippi State University is now home to 90 file cabinets filled with hundreds of thousands of documents and memorabilia related to General Ulysses S. Grant, who helped swing the Civil War in the Northern states’ favor when he led a military victory at Vicksburg, Miss. Cape Cod Times reported in January that MSU won the collection in a legal battle with Southern Illinois University, which held the items for more than 40 years until a falling out with the legal owners. Items in the collection range from original Grant documents to the Grant family’s Bible. “It’s an incredible collection of amazing things,” said John Marszalek, a Civil War scholar and Mississippi State history professor emeritus who’s now overseeing the collection. “All my colleagues are just beside themselves, saying, `Man, how’d you get so lucky?’” While it may seem sportsman-like for the defeated to promote a conqueror, leader of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Cecil Fayard Jr. said, “Southern folks remember well his brutal and bloody tactics of war, and the South will never forget the siege of Vicksburg.”
But Marszalek explains, “People recognize this for its scholarly worth, and I think what has happened over time is that people have come to realize that the Civil War is over and we’re a united An unused 1880s invitation from the Grants, one of the thousands of papers held at MSU (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) nation again.” Few universities are home to the papers of earlier presidents because the custom of creating presidential libraries did not occur until the mid-20th century. Marszalek, a biographer of Union General William T. Sherman, one of Grant’s closest friends, said, “This Grant collection is going to be a star on campus.”
A-Rod’s Autograph Value in Jeopardy
Heisman Trophy Winner Signs for Accident Victim
A
s the youngest player to hit 500 home runs, Alex Rodriguez is considered one of the best baseball players of all time and the demand for his autograph memorabilia has remained consistently high throughout his career. But the Yankees third baseman’s recent admission to using banned substances while playing for the Texas Rangers from 2001 to 2003 may impact collectors’ deAlex Rodriguez card sire to own Rodriguez-signed items, and ultimately lower his autograph value. “Here was a player that was thought of as a guy who was clean, kind of the anti-Bonds, someone you could root for as he approaches baseball’s most hallowed record,” said David Kohler, president and CEO of SCP Auctions. “Now, that’s all changed. The demand for Rodriguez memorabilia will be significantly less, as well as the value. “The bottom line is there’s always going to be an asterisk to Rodriguez pieces,” Kohler continues. “Even his 500th home run ball, which has never been put up for auction, would be a fraction of what it was worth prior to his admission.” 12 april 2009
AM0904_News.indd 12
W
hen high school student Kaitlyn Mounce was killed in a car accident, Tuttle, Okla. residents rallied to support her family. A fundraiser, combining burgers, soft drinks and the autographs of 2003 Heisman Trophy winner Jason White, brought in contributions of more that $3,000, The Tuttle Times reported. “They’re living every parent’s nightmare,” said Dale Hurley, owner of Hurley’s Corner, a local service station. Jason White (Okla. Athletic Dept.) “We’re doing what we can do.” What they could do involved more than 200 hamburgers as White signed autographs. “I’m getting used to it,” White said, signing a couple of ball caps in exchange for a $100 donation. The ball cap customer got one of the autographs for her husband and the other for her friend and neighbor, Kaitlyn’s grandfather. White was the University of Oklahoma’s quarterback from 1999 to 2004 before quitting professional football as an undrafted free agent with the Tennessee Titans in 2005 due to knee weakness. In his 2003 Heisman Trophy year, White threw 40 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He won the Davey O’Brien Award two years in a row and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy in 2004.
AUTOGRAPH
3/6/2009 12:48:36 PM