Baseballs

At some point in the late ’80’s or early ’90’s I began to take three American or National League “official” baseballs to every recording date and asking the musicians to sign them. I have one to the artist, one to the engineer, and I kept one. It was a silly idea that everyone seemed to take some delight in. Apparently, everyone likes signing baseballs. They’re dated and the I wrote the artist, place and date on each one if very small print.

I have some interesting ones: Stevie Wonder’s thumb print, Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, and scores of well known jazz and blues musicians. We made the list below of all of the signed baseballs I have and who signed them.

Another interesting thing about them is that each record date has a project notebook, and a box of related tapes and media (out-takes, tapes of songs that were considered, daily mixes), and session photos. It’s an interestingly vertically aligned collection in that sense.

Here’s a video of the baseball collection: