Ron Keurajian, "Baseball Hall of Fame Autographs: A Reference Guide" (McFarland, 2018)

New Books in Popular Culture

Today we are joined by Ron Keurajian, author of the book Baseball Hall of Fame Autographs: A Reference Guide (Second Edition)(McFarland, 2018). Keurajian is a commercial banker by trade but has spent 35 years documenting and cataloging autographs. This second edition, which expands on his original 2012 work, contains more than 100 new pages of information, and he analyzes 988 autographs. That includes autographs and forgeries of every baseball Hall of Famer, from Hank Aaron to Robin Yount. Keurajian also devotes a chapter to autographs of the top 50 players not in the Hall Fame, plus a chapter about the signatures of the infamous 1919 Black Sox who fixed the 1919 World Series. Digging into probate, court, military and deed records in more than 30 states, Keurajian provides historical perspective behind every autograph. He does not mince words when it comes to exposing forgeries and backs up his assertions with evidence. Many of the autographs shown in the book are reproduced from the Hall of Fame archives and includes the collections of Frederick Long and August Hermann. “The autograph hobby is not for the faint of heart,” Keurajian writes, while cautioning the novice collector to be careful and “collect what you like, but don’t bite off more than you can chew.” It’s sound advice, an Keurajian is a collector and student of signatures who speaks from experience.

Bob D’Angelo was a sports journalist and sports copy editor for more than three decades and is currently a digital national content editor for Cox Media Group. He received his master’s degree in history from Southern New Hampshire University in May 2018. He is the author of Never Fear: The Life & Times of Forest K. Ferguson Jr. (2015), reviews books on his blog, Bob D’Angelo’s Books & Blogs, and has reviewed books for Sport In American History. Can be reached at [email protected].

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