Offered is the opportunity to possess a 1920 Ty Cobb signed baseball, a ball that displays as single-signed. Cobb was an Inaugural Inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Probably the fiercest competitor in baseball history, Cobb played baseball as if it were war. At .366, he owns the highest lifetime batting average in Major League history. Mostly a center fielder, he played 24 Major League seasons: Detroit Tigers (1905-26) and Philadelphia Athletics (1927-28). He was also a player-manager with Detroit in some seasons. For years, Cobb held the record for most lifetime hits (4,189) and stolen bases (897), both superseded. He won 12 American League batting Championships. Cobb won the AL Triple Crown in 1909, and he was named the AL MVP in 1911. Also signing the ball was Nick Altrock, a Major League pitcher (83-75, 2.65 ERA lifetime), mainly with the Washington Senators. Altrock was also a long-time coach with Washington who would occasionally be added to the roster and pinch hit, mostly in meaningless games as a novelty, up to 1933 when he was 56 years old. Altrock also became a baseball entertainer and worked a baseball comedy act with Al Schacht in Vaudeville. Sometimes, Altrock would coach on the bases and clown, like the latter-day Max Patkin.

The ball is quite dark, and there are many small places where the skin of the ball has rubbed off in spots. Cobb signed as "Ty Cobb" in dark ink on a side panel. Nick Altrock signed in dark ink on the sweet spot. The ball looks to have a "10-21-1920" inscription near the Altrock signature, scripted by an unknown hand. The consignor claims that the ball is game used; however, because of the age of the ball and the resulting substantial darkening, the stamping cannot be seen. The offering comes with a PSA LOA for the Cobb signature. The ball contains its own irony because, although the ball can display as a single-signed Cobb signature, the two signatures represent a fascinating pair of baseball polar opposites: The fierce competition of Cobb and the humorous fun of Altrock, co-existing on the same signed baseball.