Seller Story: Bill Beal Cincinnati, OH

“My husband, Bill Beal was born in West Virginia to a mother who had to give him up for adoption. But if you knew Bill, you knew he could make the best of any situation–and things naturally fell into place for him because of that. So he spent his first three months in the hospital, playing with the nurses and waiting for his family when one day he was introduced to a couple grieving the loss of their stillborn baby girl. He won them over and they became his parents. About 8 years later, Bill lost his father in World War II. His mother remarried and they relocated to Cincinnati. Then, at age 21 his biological mother found him and that was when he learned he had been adopted. I was married to him when that happened, and true to his character, he took it all in stride. That’s just how he was.

When he turned 50 we surprised him by sending him to the Reds Dream Week, which was a camp where Cincinnati Reds fans could train and play alongside the MLB players. Bill played catcher. That was his position, and his number was always 34. He played every inning of every game that week and did nothing else but talk about baseball with his heroes. He was so happy he said, “You never have to buy me another thing as long as I live!”

When Bill got back from Dream Week, his collecting hobby began to take the place of what playing sports used to be for him, since he wasn’t able to play ball as much as he used to. By then, he had been collecting for 30 years. After he died, the curator for the Reds Hall of Fame came and spent 3 hours with Bill’s collection. With the help of our EBTH cataloger, Darla, we chose a photo of Crosley Field to donate to the Reds Hall of Fame in Bill’s honor. To give Bill a place in the Hall of Fame, we’re just really thrilled about that.” –Marlene Beal

How did he get so many autographs? He must have been pretty confident to approach all these celebrities.

He was quiet about how he collected. Whenever someone would come to town, like Bob Sellers, he would make sure to get down there to where he was to get an autograph. He had baseball players, football players, boxers, presidents, and Will Rogers. He was outgoing but very respectful of their privacy.

Did you help Bill collect his memorabilia or was it mostly his hobby?

Bill and I both volunteered for the All-Star Game in 1998. I rode the buses from the airport back to Cincinnati, and Bill gave me some baseballs to take with me in case I saw a baseball player. “If you see somebody, get one of these signed,” he said. But I don’t know one player from the other, it’s not my thing! At the airport, all these kids would be hollering and I’d have to ask them, “Who is that?” And they’d tell me who it was. Otherwise, I’d have no idea!

The last limousine to pull up at the airport that day was the Commissioner of Baseball, Peter Ueberroth. He gave me a signed baseball and thanked me for my help at the All-Star Game. When I came home and showed Bill what I got, he was ecstatic. So I did good!

Where did he keep everything? In your home?

He loved the game, but family always came first.Our family room was nothing but baseball memorabilia. He had pennants on the ceiling, uniforms on stands and even a life-size picture of Babe Ruth. There were all kinds of autographed photos on the wall, of which our youngest daughter was very observant. When she got her school picture, she asked for it to be framed and then she autographed it and gave it to Bill to hang in his “Hall of Fame.” At eight years old, she knew how much he loved his collection.