Elliott Museum Adds to Baseball Collection

Joe DePaolo was 12 when he got his first baseball autographed.

The year was 1947 and it came during a Sport’s Night at a local American Legion near his Connecticut home. The signature came from a New York Yankee rookie named Frank “Spec” Shea.

While Shea went on to a less than illustrious 8-year career, that one autographed ball hooked DePaolo. And so began a collection that would grow over the next 62 years and end up as the newest addition to the Elliott Museum’s baseball exhibit.

During a museum ceremony on Friday, DePaolo will officially hand over 35 autographed baseballs to be put on permanent display. DePaolo will also talk about his memories that will kick off the museum’s new lecture series — “Adventures in Collecting.”

“I think the reason I decided to donate the collection was very simple, it was a labor of love for me and I wanted to share them with other people,” said DePaolo, a professor of education at Palm Beach Community College. “I spent a lot of time gathering these autographs and I did not want to put them away in box somewhere. After I walked around the Elliott Museum it made perfect sense to me; the placement of the balls couldn’t be in a better place.”

The museum is renowned for its large collection of autographed baseball cards, at one time boasting autographs from every living Hall of Famer. DePaolo’s addition will compliment the existing collection, yet remain intact in its own right, said Amy Christensen, Development Manager for the Stuart Historical Society.

Friday night, however, is all about DePaolo — and his baseballs.

“We will display them with the rest of the collection, but for right now those balls are going to be in the North Gallery as a collection unto its own,” Christensen said. “We want this to be the centerpiece for Friday and then we will integrate them in the near future.”

DePaolo said his talk will deal with more than just collecting signatures. He hopes to convey the personal nature of getting autographs from the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and, of course, his all-time favorite player, Hank Aaron.

“One of the things I’ll talk about is the day I met Jimmy Piersall and how everything is not always about baseball, it’s sometimes all about life,” DePaolo said. “I had a lot of fun doing this, I really enjoyed every minute of it.

“It’s really become a part of who I am.”