1937 Cum Posey Signed Homestead High School Diploma

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Source Robert Edward Auctions

This 1937 Homestead High School diploma features one of the scarcest of all Hall of Fame signatures: Cumberland Willis Posey. Posey has signed the diploma "C. W. Posey" in black fountain pen (grading "10") in his capacity as one of the directors of the school. For nearly thirty-five years Cum Posey reigned as one of the central figures in Negro League baseball, first as a player, then as a manager, and finally as an owner. Today, he is best remembered as the architect behind the legendary Homestead Grays clubs of the 1930s and 1940s. Many consider Posey's 1930-1931 Grays the best Negro League club ever assembled. When the Great Depression hit, Posey lost many of his top players to Gus Greenlee's Pittsburgh Crawfords, but by 1937 he had rebuilt the club and proceeded to win an unprecedented nine straight pennants. The explanation for the rarity of Posey's signature today is twofold: First, signatures of Negro League players, especially team officials, were never actively pursued by early collectors until years after integration. Second, and most important, Posey passed away in 1946 at the age of fifty-five but wasn't elected to the Hall of Fame until 2006. This is only the fourth Cum Posey signature example we have ever handled (three on Homestead HIgh School diplomas and the other on a 1932 Josh Gibson Homestead Grays contract). read more

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