CGC x JSA Signature Analysis: Charles Comiskey

Charles Albert Comiskey was the third of eight children born to an Irish immigrant on August 15, 1859, and grew up in Chicago. As a young man, he trained as a plumber’s assistant and drove a delivery wagon but had a hard time concentrating on anything but baseball. His career took off in 1878 as a member of the Dubuque Rabbits, starting out as a pitcher but eventually moving to first base.

In 1882, St. Louis Brown Stockings owner Chris von der Ahe purchased Comiskey's contract. While in St. Louis, he was celebrated for his innovations at his position. Lining up well off the first base bag to field more territory, which allowed the pitcher to cover, and the universal infield shift are each innovations that are credited to Comiskey.

He would go on to play and manage the Chicago Pirates in the Players' League and the Cincinnati Reds in the National League. However, it was his time as a team owner where he reached the pinnacle of the sport before an infamous downfall. Comiskey was an integral part of forming the American League and was the founding owner of the Chicago White Sox. Chicago's iconic baseball stadium on its South Side, Comiskey Park, was built under his guidance and named after him.

The owner would help lead the White Sox to two World Series titles (1909, 1917) before his reputation was tarnished because of the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 and he became reclusive in his later years. Comiskey spent his life in and around baseball and is a legendary figure whose influence on the earliest decades of Major League Baseball was vast. For his contributions, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939 and the St. Louis Cardinals named him to their team Hall of Fame in 2022.

Signature analysis

Typically signing "Chas. A. Comiskey" regardless of the item type, his autograph went through an intriguing transformation that may have mirrored his life’s troubles. In the early days of the American League, his lively signature showed well-formed rounded characters, fine flow and conviction expected from a successful and confident man. As the pressures of Comiskey's life began to take their toll, a deterioration of his mark became evident with signs of tremors, slowness and weakly formed letters.

Figure 1

The majority of the examples that remain are from the final quarter of his life (1909-1931). The capital "C", the most volatile of all the letters experienced the most noticeable change. At first, it was of a circular formation, the initial stroke arching into the core creating an eyelet, and then perfectly curling upward to the tall, looped stem of the “h” (Figure 1). By 1913, the "C" evolved into a slanted half-moon configuration, with a retraced "beak" eyelet pointed downward (Figure 2).

Figure 2

By 1920, the capital "C" resembled a bullseye (Figure 3). An angular hump would complete the carefully shaped lower case “h” followed by a robust retraced conventional “a” and open looped “s” whose eyelet may or may not be retraced. Without lifting the fountain pen, another similar “a” is evenly spaced with dotted punctuation placed on or below the baseline.

Figure 3

Again, without pause, another hemispherical capital “C” umbrellas over the next two to four letters. This time the “beak” eyelet widens and comes back elevated from the baseline into an acutely slanted narrow “o” that tends to be open or retraced. The first hump of the “m” could be considered arcade in style but the second leans more toward angular design. The non-descript “i” contains a small vertical dash slightly to the right.

The connector stroke leads into the slightly-smaller-than-the-former “s”, this time sans subsequent connector stroke. Prior to 1919, he eliminated the break between the “s” and the “k”. Interesting that this occurred around the same time the other variations became prominent.

The tall lower-case “k” resembled the previous “h” but in the pre-1919 era was far more distinguishable, kicking back to form an open loop. A filled-in “e” ensued before finishing his signature with two retraced lines that formed the upper portion of the “y”. As expected, a flourish below the descender was typical but diminished and shortened the lifeless vertical stroke in the later period. Very few examples can be found between 1922 and 1929, when his self-imposed isolation seemed most reclusive (Figure 4).

Figure 4

I have examined very few valid album pages and have never seen a US government postcard in the marketplace. Player contracts and the even more familiar typed signed letter are the most common form of his signature. The finest example of this version is accompanied by its postmarked envelope addressed to Hall of Famer Ed Walsh. The 1909 correspondence on Chicago Base Ball Club letterhead forbids Walsh to have his contract negotiated by a third party and that his $3,500 contract is “…what you are worth to me.”

Totally handwritten letters would be considered scarce; I know of one 1901 example. The ornate and colorful embossed stationery used from 1918 to 1931 is especially eye-catching, but most examples from the final few years are ghost-signed by team secretary Harry Grabiner (Figure 5). Season ticket passes displayed in leather folded covers unfortunately bear the same entrusted manuscript.

Figure 5

Grabiner's style is far more rounded, faster and upright. Most noticeably, Chas’ “h” towers above the “C”, whereas Grabiner's version cowers enveloped beneath. The content of Grabiner’s typed signed notes range from offering games gratis to VIPs or rejection notices for employment requests. Although Lou Comiskey’s signature is eerily similar to that of his father’s, I have yet to find a case where he pinch-hit for daddy’s manuscript.

Figure 6

Comiskey’s 1919 biography “Commy” produced 200 numbered, signed copies (Figure 6). An autographed bound book from the 1913 World Tour sold in a Hunt auction that had all the participants’ names. The lone personal check via mid-1990s Robert Edward’s Auction made out for only 60 cents comfortably rests in an established collection.

Figure 7

A couple of team-signed balls, faded as expected, from the same era are the choice few examples in which his inked name can be found (Figure 7). Charlie’s absence from the Chicago scene post-1921 often resulted in a rubber stamp application to player contracts (Figure 8).

Figure 8

Figure 8 close-up

The final two years of his life, 1930 and 1931, Comiskey did acknowledge several birthday well-wishers with form letters, accompanied by his frail signature (Figure 9). Also, regrets to attend testimonial banquets and the like were answered with signed RSVPs of regret.

Figure 9

Figure 9 close-up

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