Baseball Art    1950 - 1953

I have been a lifelong baseball fan ever since my father took me to Fenway Park in 1947 to see the Red Sox play.  In 1950 when I turned 11, I started making and designing cards to send to baseball players, asking for their autographs.  My mother, whose hobby was art and illustration, helped me gather the materials needed such as the inks, paint and paper and so on. I paid for everything with money I earned from my paper routes.  It was more complicated than I first thought because I had to buy envelopes and stamps including the SASE needed for each card.  Nonetheless, I received back 80% of all the requests I sent out; 160 out of 200.  I will always remember checking the mail box after the first batch had been mailed. 

I did one team at a time and usually included the eight starting players and two starting pitchers.  Bobby Doerr was the first one to respond. In 1951 I remember seeing him hit a ball that just cleared the green monster in left field.  He tipped his cap as he rounded third and I noticed his gray hair.  I remember thinking "These guys are old!"  I continued making and sending the cards until 1953 when I turned 14.  Sometime during the 1953 season I discovered girls and it all came to an end. I'm sure that doing this same thing today would be impossible.