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In the collection is this government postcard signed by Chicago White Sox pitcher Billy Pierce just 79 games into his big league career. Two days before the card was signed Pierce pitched against Bucky Harris’ Washington Senators.

Though he took the loss – the 25th of his career – Pierce was solid, allowing only one hit in 7 2/3 innings. Hampered by control problems early in his career, Pierce walked 8 batters that day.

At the time the card was dropped in the mail Pierce, who would become the All Time White Sox leader in strikeouts, had career numbers of 261 walks and 210 K’s. Pierce quickly found his touch, averaging more than 15 wins per season in the 1950s.

During the decade he made six All Star games and the winningest left-hander in the American League over the period. Overall, Pierce was a 7-time All Star.

Though Pierce’ signature is fairly common, examples such as these from early in his playing career remain highly sought-after.

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Postcards such as these are attractive to collectors because of their United States Postal Service postmark. This one is stamped from Chicago on July 29th, 1950 at 9:00pm. With the proliferation of forgeries and fakes, the more provenance a piece has the better.

Pierce’s White Sox team hosted the New York Yankees, dropping 11-4 before 7,686 fans at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. Some time after the day game, the postcard went was off in the mail to the collector.

Collectors would send an envelope addressed to the player at the team’s address. Inside the envelope was a fan letter and a self-addressed stamped postcard for the player to autograph and drop in the mail. One can only imagine the thrill of opening your mailbox and receiving the postcard from the player.

The collector who received this one lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has written Pierce’s statistics and biographical information.

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The Exhibit Supply Company of Chicago made postcard sized cards that could be purchased in vending machines at stores, fairs and amusement parks.

Shown here is one such “exhibits” of Billy Pierce made somewhere between 1947-66. A seven-time All Star, Pierce was the American League’s winningest lefty of the 1950s. Pierce’s consistent and legible signature adorns the bottom third of this card.

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This government postcard signed by Billy Pierce shows a postmark of July 29, 1950, the very same date of the postcard shown in the first image on this page.

Though signed with different pens, they were mailed on the very same day. One must wonder what the circumstances were that made all this happen. Imagine the unlikelihood of having two signatures from the middle of the 20th century both dropped in the mailbox on the very same day.

Autograph collectors from decades past relied on the US Postal Service to further their collections.

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The postmark shown here is dated July 29, 1950 with an 11:30pm timestamp, two and a half hours after the postcard shown in the first image of this page.

The collector receiving was Paul DeGood who lived at 4920 E. Lewis in Wichita, Kansas. Many autograph collectors today still write to ballplayers in hopes of obtaining their signatures.

Billy Pierce won 155 games during the decade of the 1950s; that’s more than any other left-hander in the American League during that time.

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Billy Pierce won 20 games in both 1956 and 1957 and was an All Star each season. The next two years Pierce was featured on Topps baseball cards with other top National League hurlers.

In 1958 Topps produced “Mound Aces” with Pierce and Pittsburgh’s Bob Friend. A 22-14 campaign in 1958 gave Friend his only 20-win season and his second of three All Star berths.

In 1959 Pierce teamed with Philadelphia’s Robin Roberts on Topps’ Ace Hurlers. Roberts  had a Hall of Fame career as a six-time 20-game winner.

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Billy Pierce is one of the forgotten stars of the 1950s. Rarely brought up in the conversation of the game’s outstanding lefties, Pierce nonetheless won more games than any other southpaw in the American League during the decade.

Here Pierce writes about his career. Interestingly, he identifies Tigers hurler Tommy Bridges, “…who was not too big…” as his inspiration. Bridges was in his penultimate MLB season when Pierce broke in during 1945. Both men were generously listed as 5’10” in their playing days.

His performance earned him a statue outside of US Cellular Field in Chicago. Among lefties who retired in the top-10 in career strikeouts, only Pierce is outside of Cooperstown.

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In the collection is this 3×5 index card signed by Bill Pierce. Pierce has added an inscription above his autograph he has written, “IT WAS A GREAT HONOR TO HAVE MY NUMBER RETIRED BY THE CHICAGO WITHE SOX. IT WAS NO: 19”.

Thirty years after his number was retired, Pierce was immortalized with a bronze statue at US Cellular Field in 2007.

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A trio of Billy Pierce autographed cards is shown here. On the far left is a 1959 Topps card extolling Pierce’s All Star exploits. No stranger to the Mid Summer Classic, Pierce pitched in seven All Star games while with the White Sox. After the 1961 season Chicago traded Pierce to the San Francisco Giants with whom he’s pictured in the remaining two cards.