Every year at work we have a silent auction for charity. Most of the prizes are gift certificates from local companies looking to get some cheap advertising. This year it seems someone has opened a line to the Toronto Blue Jays. Lots of cool Jays gear is available and even a couple of signed balls. For those unaware, I have what can only be described as an addiction at this point:
Now the fun part.
Three of the balls are signed by unidentified team personnel. The organizer of the auction didn't even bother to ask who signed. Based on my existing stash, I was quickly able to narrow that list down to just one. That's right, one mystery ball remains. I'm hoping someone out there knows who signed this ball:
I apologize in advance for the shitty focus on that pic. It's all I got. Only adds to the mystique n'est-ce pas? Throw in what looks to be a question mark as the second number and you got yourself a genuine autograph stumper. I can honestly say I'm not even sure if that picture needs to be flipped. I think it's right side up but can't be 100% certain.
1) The number 1 is part of the two digit number.
The only Blue Jays that wore a number in the teens this year were:
Edwin Encarnacion 10
Rajai Davis 11
Brett Lawrie 13
Corey Patterson 16
Mike McCoy 18
Jose Bautista 19
The only other Blue Jays that wore a number with the number 1 in it were:
Darin Mastroianni 1
Dwayne Murphy 21
Jesse Litsch 51
Alex Andreopoulos 61
Did I miss anyone? Maybe someone changed numbers in season or was traded away perhaps?
2) It's not Brett Lawrie unless he totally changed his signature, which is completely possible I guess. This is his signature from a few years back.
I'd really like to figure this out before I drop a couple of bucks down on a bid. Does anyone know who signed the mystery ball?
That's definitely an "i", with the dot of the I coming close enough to a number 17(?) to make it look like a "1?".
ReplyDelete@Grady,
ReplyDeleteI'm feeling that. Only problem, nobody wore 17 this year as far as I can tell. I thought it might be the number 12 but that was Robbie's and it was retired.
I also have an Alomar signature and it's not close.
My girlfriend says that the "B" in both are the exact same, so it's probably Lawrie. Google others of his and they all have that same B that looks like a 3.
ReplyDeleteI found this pic on ebay:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ebay.com/itm/BRETT-LAWRIE-2008-Razor-3-different-autograph-RC-rookie-Black-45-199-295-499-/330633924694?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item4cfb515056
The loop at the end with the number inside it looks very similar. I guess he did change his autograph.
Is this mystery solved?
It's Lawrie.
ReplyDelete@ LastRow
ReplyDeleteLooks like the bidding war is on then. I've already got his autograph so perhaps I could be persuaded to sit this one out.
Or not.
Dude, I waited four hours for a Lawrie auto, and I can DEFINITELY say it's his. Easily.
ReplyDelete@ Dude
ReplyDeleteRight on.
Ask Arencibia,Lawrie and Romero for help..Considering you're auctioning them for charity, I'm sure they'd help out
ReplyDelete@GS,
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they would as well. In total 5 balls were donated along with at least 20 articles of clothing. That's a very generous haul even when you consider they are changing uni's & logo next season.
Thanks everyone for stopping by!
Impressive balls....
ReplyDelete