Signed Ball of the Day : Pee Wee Reese ( ONL Sweet Spot PSA Graded 7.5 )

I thought to finish off the week I would discuss the third Dodger in a row that had ties to Brooklyn. There was Koufax but he was a mess in Brooklyn, there is Drysdale who was good but excelled once the team moved to Los Angeles, you had Jackie Robinson who was the catalyst, you also had Duke Snider who was the bourough's favorite son but the heart and soul of the team is none other than Pee Wee Reese.

His statistics were never eye popping evident but him being elected to the Hall of Fame by the veterans committee and not the writers. Everyday though he was out there on the field doing what the team needed him to do. He amassed over 2000 hits, sacrificed part of his career to fight for our country, stood side by side with Jackie Robinson through his journey of crossing the color barrier and countless other accomplishments. He was with the Dodgers through all their heartbreaking losses to the Giants and Yankees and with them when they won their first and only title in Brooklyn. He was the cog on the team that made everyone else able to do their part. It takes a team to win the championship but I think if the Dodgers never had Pee Wee they would have left Brooklyn without the 1955 title.

I always wanted Pee Wee's autograph but it has always been hard to find a good condition baseball that hasn't been thrashed or spotting with a decent looking signature on it as well. Most of the ebay auctions are buy it nows and the price was always too much for my taste or I didn't have the extra funds to acquire the ball. I finally found an auction that wasn't a buy it now and kept my eye on it. It was a PSA authenticated one and looked decent enough. Surprisingly there was not as much bidding on it as I thought there would be. On the last day the auction's top bid was still only $50 and I was hopeful. As the auction neared it's end I put in my bid at a little over $80 and suprise suprise I won at the exact price that my bid was. Lucky guessing on my part. A week later I received the ball and couldn't be happier.

Months later I got that itch to get some off my autographed balls graded by PSA and I chose this one amongst some others. This one got the most disappointing grade. Had better luck on others which I will show another time. This one came back a 7.5. Are you kidding me? It got an 8 for the condition of the ball which I can accept and was expected to a point. Toning issues are common with older balls, but then it received a grade of a 7 for autograph. Really? Minimum I would have given it a 8.5. Can anyone notice why it got the low grade? Maybe something I'm not seeing. I have considered resubmitting it but I want to acquire more autographs before that. Either way though I am a proud owner of Pee Wee Reese's autograph regardless of the crappy grade.