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RaiderNationPDX
11-17-2012, 05:44 AM
As I've touched on in a previous post, searching thrift and resale shops for game used gear is a hobby of mine. This last week, I ran across something that threw me for a loop. At a Goodwill store in Portland, I found a few baseballs, mostly Pacific Coast League for two bucks each (I bought two; one a Portland Beavers team-signed Rawlings ball from 1990, the other a 1980 Wilson ball with a couple autos and signs of game use). The third, the Rawlings AL ball pictured in front below, showed signs of game use, and had about eight autos along with a child's or teen's handwriting that I read as "Baseball off strike at this game." Figuring it was a ball tossed by the catcher to a kid in the stands at the end of an inning, I picked it up for $0.99.
http://alex-d-burson.com/P1020619.jpg
Upon getting home from work and hitting the Internet, I quickly found the PCL balls' pedigree. The OAL ball, on the other hand, was stumping me. I was running through historical MLB player rosters trying to match up names with the autos, and was coming up with nothing. For an hour or two, all I could come up with was the name of Al Chambers, who'd played for the Mariners from, if I recall, 1982-1985.
http://alex-d-burson.com/P1020622.jpg
None of the other signatures were anywhere close to other Seattle players from that era, so I quickly ruled that out. I was about to put it aside and move on to something more productive, when I took another look at the kid's writing and it hit me. What I'd read as "off strike" was actually "on strike."
http://alex-d-burson.com/P1020620.jpg
There were two baseball strikes during which a Bobby Brown AL ball may have been used, one in 1985 (for two days) and the other in 1994-95. The "Spring Training" written on the ball narrowed it down to 1994-95.
http://alex-d-burson.com/P1020621.jpg
Using Chambers' name and a downloaded replacement player database (since they don't appear in any official records), I found this was a Chicago White Sox ball. Matched up all but two of the autos. One, as it turns out, is Pete Rose Jr. As an aside, Michael Jordan played for the White Sox organization during the strike, but refused to cross the picket line, so he's not on the ball.

To me, this is oddly fascinating. The reason I couldn't find any of the players' names is that, according to the MLBPA, they don't exist. They are all, by Players' Association decree, banned for life from membership for crossing the picket lines; sad since many were minor leaguers who were in effect forced to cross by the owners or face being released, or retired major leaguers looking for one last shot (as was Chambers' case).

Valuable? Absolutely not, but to me this is what sports memorabilia collecting is about - it's the stories behind the gear and the thrill of connecting the object in your hand to a broader historic event.

frikativ54
11-17-2012, 09:58 AM
Interesting story; thanks for sharing. It's always fun getting the back story on some of our items. Enjoy your finds. :D