One of the baseball legends from Decatur, Illinois is Walter "Boom Boom" Beck. My former colleague at the Decatur Herald & Review Mark Tupper recently shared the story of how Beck got is unique and famous nickname and it involves a bad day, Casey Stengel and one of the oddest stadium walls ever constructed.
I recently added an authenticated Beck autograph and a copy of his 1934 Goudey card to my collection. This comes from a company called Historic Autographs in a set called Originals 1934 that came out in 2019.
I bought the piece purely for the autograph because as a collector of Beck's Goudey card, this card is almost too good to be true. To me, those corners screamed 'trimmed' to me. For a Goudey card to survive that long with those amazing corners is close to unbelievable. A version that strong of a '34 Goudey would command serious dollars on its own without the autograph and you'll also note that the Beckett authentication is only for the autograph.
Here's the reverse side. It seems to me that the left side (right side on the front) got some serious trimming, making it look more off-center than it was originally. Still, I enjoy the piece and picked it up for a price I'm happy with the design and the oversized nature of the slab.
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