Amazing find in a book!

[JayJaxon]

Unless for some strange reason you don't like baseball, you know that I am continuing the work of Marc Okkonen. He wrote Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century and his work is referenced by anyone who needs a baseball uniform reference. I ordered a second copy because I wanted to preserve my first copy by not littering it with notes. I didn't have the paperback version anyway. So I ordered a used copy from Amazon and got it in today. When I opened it, I saw that it was actually signed by Mr. Okkonen! That isn't even the crazy part. I started looking through the book, and there are post-it notes all over the place that appear to be written by him as well! It seems as if he sent it to someone to help him with corrections and point out others after the second edition of the book was published. Check the pictures below and see what you think.

[Sec19Row53]

That is AWESOME! How little did you pay for that gem??

[phutmasterflex]

Exciting! This is so cool!

[Lee.]

Huh. Best thing I ever found in a book was a $5 bill someone used as a bookmark.

This is pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

[St Louis Cardinals]

looks like youll have to buy another book

[tubby34]

Send an email to Bill Henderson, who wrote a uniform book himself. That may have been his.

[raysfan24]

I remember checking that book out of the library in high school. This is a great find though.

[JayJaxon]

Send an email to Bill Henderson, who wrote a uniform book himself. That may have been his.

I e-mailed Mr. Okkonen to try and confirm that it was his notes. When I hear back from him I will let you guys know. I doubt it belongs to Bill Henderson. His area is pretty much 1970-Present and it's unlikely he would part with this if it were his. My guess is that the book belonged to someone who has since passed and his family sold it. I paid $21 for it I believe.

[JayJaxon]

I heard back from Marc Okkonen this morning. Here is the e-mail he sent to me about the book.

Jay-

If indeed those post-it notes are from me the only Bill that comes to mind that this might apply to would be Bill McAlister, a Chicago area man whose hobby was "colorizing" old baseball photos and his input was a big help in that respect. I'm pretty sure Bill passed away some years ago and most likely if that copy was his it was no doubt put on sale by surviving relative(s) who had no interest in the subject. That's my best guess.

Marc Okkonen

This would make sense since many of the post-it notes are for Chicago-area teams. I just find it fascinating that I'm the one who ends up with this copy. Now I'll be ordering another. Let's see what the next one has in it.

[AlexWilson]

I heard back from Marc Okkonen this morning. Here is the e-mail he sent to me about the book.

Jay-

If indeed those post-it notes are from me the only Bill that comes to mind that this might apply to would be Bill McAlister, a Chicago area man whose hobby was "colorizing" old baseball photos and his input was a big help in that respect. I'm pretty sure Bill passed away some years ago and most likely if that copy was his it was no doubt put on sale by surviving relative(s) who had no interest in the subject. That's my best guess.

Marc Okkonen

This would make sense since many of the post-it notes are for Chicago-area teams. I just find it fascinating that I'm the one who ends up with this copy. Now I'll be ordering another. Let's see what the next one has in it.

Too bad you can't find Bill's family and ask them if it was his. It'd be even more interesting! Really cool find, the best thing I ever got in a book was a bunch of hockey cards someone had left in there.

[Chawls]

I just find it fascinating that I'm the one who ends up with this copy.

Fascinating? More like fate.

[JayJaxon]

I just find it fascinating that I'm the one who ends up with this copy.

Fascinating? More like fate.

Maybe. Mr. Okkonen has always been so pleasant with me when we talked and I'm glad I got a signed book from him without having to ask him to do it!