Jim Walkup, a tough name for a pitcher, possessed an extraordinary curveball and pitched 8.1 innings for the 1934 St. Louis Browns in his debut season, with an ERA of 2.16 over three games.  It would prove to be his best year in the majors as he unleashed a string of seasons almost unmatched for sheer futility on the mound, lasting 116 games before the Tigers mercifully pulled the plug in 1939, his almost legendary curveball finally losing its appeal among an unrelenting barrage of hits from American League batters. He did teach his curve to Johnny Sain, so some good eventually came out of his misery.  This 1939 Play Ball is graded an inexplicable 1 by PSA (faint writing on the reverse that we missed when submitting is the giveaway) but the beautiful dark blue signature is a solid PSA/DNA NM-MT 8, his nickname of Jim is in quotes (given name: James but he went by his middle name of Elton generally) and the combination is the only one in their database. The card originates from the Shibe Park collection of autographed cards, an original owner collection carefully collected by a teenage boy who, in 1939 and 1940, obtained many autographs from players arriving at the train station near Shibe Park, and continued for many years to obtain signatures in person and through the mail.