way that he ended up with the largest privately-owned collection of autographed baseballs in the country - well over a thousand balls containing 19,379 individual autographs. His collection consisted of team balls (one from every major league team in both major leagues from 1933 through 1976, 43 years) as well as individually signed balls from players such as Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose and on and on, ad infinitum. Name a player, John had him In 1995 he made an immensely difficult decision. The collection was uninsured, had always been at his home and, due to fear of fire or theft, he sold the entire collection at auction at Christie's in New York City.

John's collection got it's start in the early forties when he lived next door to a man who was a friend of Lou Gehrig and gave John a ball autographed by the entire 1927 Yankees team including Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. It was this neighbor who started the collection of team balls and bequeathed the collection to John who then continued the massive team ball collection until 1976 when circumstances dictated he devote his time to individual players' autographed balls. John's efforts were also assisted by another friend who was the Treasurer of the Pittsburgh Pirates and "opened many doors" for John.

John has promised your editor that he will provide details on some very interesting experiences he encountered during his journey down Baseball's memorabilia way for a future edition of the Pitchburgh Press.

"It's a Small World After All"
by Bob Parker

Darlene and I had just spent a week touring the various theme parks at Walt Disney World and were on our way home via Air Tran Airlines on Thursday, December 8. When we arrived at the Orlando airport, we were informed that there would be a slight delay of about five minutes (Big Deal~). At the gate we were given a different story. Due to snow in Indianapolis, the plane might be delayed as much as an hour or more. As time went by, we came to the realization that the plane may never arrive.

Finally the announcement was made that the plane was on its way. A short time after that, it was announced that the flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Pittsburgh.

We were given a voucher for a motel in the area, but none were available and it was getting late, so we decided to spend the night in the airport. We were instructed to go back to the main terminal which meant going back through security again. We all tried to find comfortable chairs or benches to sack out on, but I don't think anybody got too much sleep.

During this entire adventure, we had been conversing with an elderly lady whom we kind of took under our wing to help her through the nightmare. She lives in Florida, but was on her way to Apollo, PA for the 50th wedding anniversary of her sister. As we were sitting at our gate the following morning, we just started talking about "stuff'. I mentioned to her that I sang in a barbershop group. She said her husband sang barbershop before he passed away about five years ago. I asked her which of the Florida chapters he sang with, and she said that he didn't sing with a chapter in Florida. He sang with the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter.

After the initial shock, I asked her what her last name was. When she replied Sommers, my mind went back to all those years Bill sang with us. Later, she informed me that we could have gone to stay with her sister in a little town south of Orlando that I probably never heard of. The town is called Avon Park, and it happens to be the town where my parents spent most of their retirement years.

Just one final coincidence in the whole story. There was a mother and daughter we "spent the night with" as well. They were from Indiana [PA] and Blairsville. The mother's other daughter was named Darlene, and her husband's name was Bob. It is a small world after all!!