Presented here is a large group of 3x5 index cards signed by 34 different pre-war era Hall of Fame position players. Alphabetically, the list is Luke Appling, Earl Averill, Dave Bancroft, Jim Bottomley, Willard J. Brown, Max Carey, Fred C. Clarke, Sam Crawford, Joe Cronin, Rick Ferrell, Elmer Flick, Frank Frisch, Chas Gehringer, Goose Goslin, Hank Greenberg, Chick Hafey, Gabby Hartnett, Billy Herman, Harry Hooper, George "High Pockets" Kelly, Travis Jackson, Freddy Lindstrom, Ernie Lombardi, Heinie Manush, Rabbit Maranville, Joe Medwick, Sam Rice, Edd Roush, Ray Schalk, Red Schoendienst, Bill Terry, Pie Traynor, Lloyd Waner and Zach Wheat. Most come in blue ballpoint ranging 6-9/10 in strength and eye appeal. Several are inscribed including Brown ("Wish you live for ever and I never die Smile"), Crawford ("Wahoo"), Maranville ("yours in sports"), Wheat ("Best Wishes") and Flick ("1969"). Each players' DOB, year of death and MLB debut season are listed by the meticulous collector, a former minor leaguer named Dave Hill. 

Brown (7/10 in our opinion), Bottomley, Clarke, Crawford (8/10), Goslin and Maranville (9/10) have each been encapsulated PSA/DNA "Authentic" from the Dave Hill Collection. The rest are pre-certified by PSA/DNA.

Provenance: How does one acquire over 9,000autographs, covering just about every Major Leaguer from 1900 to 2000?Very diligently with an unbelievable amount of patience anddetermination. For Dave Hill, the quest lasted practically his entirelife. Born in St. Louis in 1929, Hill was a standout pitcher who playedin college and then a few years professionally in the White Soxorganization before landing a position with the Central IntelligenceAgency where he had a long and decorated career. The management andorganization skills Hill developed at the CIA certainly came in handy ashe meticulously built his massive memorabilia collection.

Hill grew up a die-hard St. Louis Browns fan and always had a passionfor collecting. It became as much a hobby as an obsession as he trackeddown player after player by attending games or events where one waspresent, writing them letters with his request, or purchasing from othercollectors (some autographs were dated before Hill was even born). Therelentless man did not stop until well into his 60’s. Most signaturescome on 3x5 index cards or cuts, and many are done on the player’sbaseball card, photo, news clipping or mailed postcard/GPC. The list ismind-blowing, some signatures so rare that records of their mereexistence are blank. As a hobbyist, Hill was also recognized for hisextensive collection of St. Louis Brown photographs used to produce twoofficial “Brownies” albums by team archivists.

The Dave Hill Collection is easily one of the largest autographcollections ever documented. Its size and scope is beyond anything we’vehad the pleasure of representing. Luckily, Hill was meticulous aboutkeeping it organized in alphabetical order and, according to the family,his wife Jewell deserves much of the credit. Even the years of eachplayer’s birth [& death] and MLB debut are noted. A total of 186 Hall of Famersare included (out of a possible 323) and the most significant autographshave been encapsulated by PSA/DNA, branded “Dave Hill Collection.”David W. Hill passed away in 1995 at the age of 66.