Willow Lane senior’s autographed baseball collection inspired book, Christie’s auction

MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. - Feb. 27, 2015 - PRLog -- John Kirwan Jr. never sought the spotlight or financial gain as he amassed a collection of 963 autographed baseballs with 19,397 signatures of Hall of Famers, World Series winners and home run kings.

     The Residence at Willow Lane senior put together perhaps the most impressive single collection of signed baseballs because he loved the game and enjoyed the quest to gather those autographs. His collection included baseballs dating to the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Senators signed team balls and extended into the 1970s.

      Each of those baseballs had its own story. Those are found in Kirwan’s recently released book, “The Pittsburgh Gentleman: ‘There’ll Never Be Another One Like It.’”

     Kirwan, 83, and his late next-door neighbor, W. Gordon Park, combined to assemble the once-in-a-lifetime collection, which originated when they each resided in a Detroit neighborhood decades ago.

     Park landed autographed balls from legendary teams such as the 1927 Murderer’s Row New York Yankees, the Brooklyn Dodgers Boys of Summer, and the St. Louis Cardinals Gashouse Gang. He eventually willed his collection of approximately 600 baseballs to Kirwan, who had shown an enthusiastic interest in the endeavor with his neighbor and carried on the tradition after Park’s death, adding more than 300 signed baseballs.

    In a life-altering event, Kirwan auctioned off his entire collection through Christie’s on his 64^th birthday on October 5, 1995. His baseballs created a buzz among sports memorabilia collectors nationwide prior to and during the auction in New York City.

    At the time, Christie’s honored Kirwan’s request to remain anonymous and simply referred to him as “the Pittsburgh gentleman.” Christie’s said of his collection, “There’ll never be another one like it.” After the auction, a relative asked Kirwan how many people knew the behind the scenes stories of how he and his neighbor had obtained autographs from the likes of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Henry Aaron, Lou Gehrig, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial and hundreds of other great ballplayers.

    That question eventually led to the book published by Dorrance Publishing Co. of Pittsburgh nearly 20 years after the auction.

    Kirwan has roots in Detroit and Pennsylvania, and the collection went with him wherever his family settled. From Detroit, the Kirwans moved in 1958 to Somerset, Pa., where John managed the family’s Roof Garden Motor Hotel near the Pennsylvania Turnpike exit.

    Kirwan displayed a small portion of his baseballs at the hotel. Guests admired the collection, and Kirwan occasionally established connections that enabled him to correspond with ballplayers in order to build up the collection. The book details a humorous encounter with Hall of Fame player/broadcaster Ralph Kiner, who sent Kirwan an autographed baseball after the motel mailed Kiner an item of clothing his wife inadvertently forgot at the motel.

    Kirwan, his wife, Phyllis, and two children eventually moved to Moon Township in Pittsburgh. The baseball collection continued to grow. While attending a sports memorabilia show at Robert Morris University, he met Christie’s sports specialist Donald Flanagan.

    As time passed, and after much pondering, Kirwan eventually decided to put up his entire collection for auction through Christie’s. Years of his worrying about a potential theft of the baseballs or a devastating fire finally were put behind him.

     Flanagan assisted and advised him. The collection was divided into multiple “lots” and a number of collectors purchased the items. Kirwan said those buyers who thanked him for enabling them to collect items related to their hometown team made him feel much better about his decision to auction the baseballs.

    Nearly 20 years later, Kirwan is at home at The Residence at Willow Lane, a senior living community in McKees Rocks. His book has brought stories of baseball’s golden era to Willow Lane, where he now is known as the community’s author.