1961 Post, George Altman

#195 George Altman

Here is something that I have not posted on here in some time. This card was not signed through the mail. It is an honest-to-goodness in-person autograph!

I got this card signed at a Royals game earlier this year. It was their annual Negro League game where the team sports some retro Kansas City Monarchs uniforms. I had been to a few of those games in the past and at the last one I attended three years ago, I noticed that there was an autograph line with some former Negro League players. Since I knew I was going to the game this year, I just assumed that they would have the Negro League guys there again. So I googled who was on the list last year and was lucky enough to have three of the four gentlemen return this year.

George was on the list and I did not have any cards of him. Actually, I had one, but I had already gotten that one signed TTM in 2011. I posted it four years ago and it can be seen here. So, I needed to find a new card of George. Usually, when a player plays for multiple teams, I try to mix up the teams when I get a second card signed. George played for the Cardinals and Mets, but only had one card with each. Both of those have generic looking hatless photos. So, I instead went the oddball route and got my very first Post card signed.

The Post cards are odd in that they have everything on one side. The back side is blank. I assume that is because they were probably cut out of a cereal box. But, the photo, write-up, and stats all on one side is a unique look and I was more than happy to get one signed in-person. As usual, I was very pleased with the results.

George was a very nice individual. After he signed my card, he asked me what I thought of the Cubs this year. That question caught me completely off guard and I actually looked down to see if I was wearing any Cubs apparel. Why I would think that I would ever wear Cubs gear to a Royals game remains unclear. That just goes to show how bad he threw me off. I then figured that he asked that because I was one of the few people that actually brought a non-generic item for him to sign. I do wonder, though, if he would have asked me about the Mets had I brought his Mets card.