In the final weeks of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Tom Hanks gifts Stephen Colbert with a box of computer paper and an Underwood Ace typewriter (circa 1955-57).

https://youtu.be/DgYXYh-4uuc?si=2qFE639k6CQVmPYO&t=1236

It turns out our friend Tom has been scoring games with a typewriter since at least 2013!

Keeping score at a baseball game with a typewriter is not only possible but is also a much more detailed record of the match. (ORTEGA. Full count! Fouled back three in a row ... OH, THAT BALL’S LANDIN’ WHERE THE FANS ARE STANDIN’!!! Walk. Off. Home. Run. Thanks for your attendance and drive safely.) —Tom Hanks in "I Am TOM. I Like to TYPE. Hear That?" on Aug. 3, 2013 in the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/opinion/sunday/i-am-tom-i-like-to-type-hear-that.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

cc: u/lou_spirito<br /> u/Informal-Writer-1140<br /> u/oogieball<br /> u/joe_skidiachi_irl

Other examples of his scoring efforts: - https://www.reddit.com/r/BaseballScorecards/comments/1jn2475/yes_tom_hanks_does_schlep_a_typewriter_to_ball/ - https://www.reddit.com/r/BaseballScorecards/comments/1jm0l8k/tom_hanks_keeps_score/ - https://www.reddit.com/r/BaseballScorecards/comments/1jm4pie/tom_hanks_scorecard/

Posted at https://reddit.com/r/BaseballScorecards/comments/1tb7fbw/tom_hanks_scoring_baseball_games_via_typewriter/

Hanks, Tom. 2013. “I Am TOM. I Like to TYPE. Hear That?” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/opinion/sunday/i-am-tom-i-like-to-type-hear-that.html (May 12, 2026).

Tom Hanks outlines three reasons to use a typewriter:<br /> 1. sound<br /> 2. sheer physical pleasure of typing<br /> 3. permanence of words

Tom Hanks was using typewriters to score baseball games since at least 2013!

What Makes the Hanx Writer Click?<br /> by [[Silvia Killingsworth]] in The New Yorker<br /> accessed on 2026-05-11T14:49:13

https://www.facebook.com/SwanbergTypewriterRepair/posts/pfbid0VHWcGPuPicHv4Mf1F919THBEyYGMepHZMMAFiT6xj7f3vsqFsnBkcG3hVkkrqK2xl

Jonathan Swanberg's gifted typewriter from Tom Hanks.

Of space, time, and typewriters<br /> by [[Rebecca Ritzel]] for the JHU Hub<br /> accessed on 2025-12-06T20:51:49

Tom Hanks delivers autographed typewriter to Portland shop<br /> by [[Devon Haskins]]<br /> accessed on 2025-09-18T20:31:03h

https://www.facebook.com/groups/721704878218903/?multi_permalinks=2848334838889219

https://californiatypewritermovie.com/<br /> California Typewriter

A classroom full of typewriters gets the ultimate reward — letters from Tom Hanks by [[Lee Cowan]], [[Analisa Novak]]

Also: Students wrote letters to Tom Hanks using typewriters. He responded to each message. by [[CBS Mornings]]

Pittsburgh area school sent letters via typewriter to Tom Hanks.

Tom Hanks' love of typewriters by [[CBS Sunday Morning]] by Lee Cowan

Baseball Scoresheets for Typewriters by [[Louis Spirito]]

If the "Hanks Effect" was really so prominent, then we should see the commensurate rise in price of 5 Series Smith Coronas and particularly the Clipper and the Silent which he's also mentioned several times. In fact, he's said these would be the typewriter he'd keep if he had to get rid of all others. Given this fact, it has to be, in part, a variety of other factors which inflates the prices.

Personally I think that it's a combination of the fact that they were manufactured at the peak of typewriter use and manufacturing and before companies began using more plastic and cheaper manufacturing methods, but were also done in a later timeperiod when exterior design and color were on the rise as a differentiator in the marketplace. Quality, form, and function become part of a trifecta which drive desire and collectability.

Tom Hanks Typewriter Collection #329<br /> Corona Junior donated to Vale Typewriter in March 2023

Tom Hanks Reviews the Children’s Novel ‘Olivetti,’ by Allie Millington by [[Tom Hanks]]

https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/efqkpc/tom_hanks_starred_in_a_movie_where_he_uses_many/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzXvxb-g0vM

You've got to love that Kinnear's character has two of these, one as a "backup".

Tom Hanks Changes the Ribbon on a Typewriter - Secret Talent Theatre - Vanity Fair

Tom Hanks: Uncommon Type

“Tom Hanks, Typewriter Enthusiast.” CBS News Sunday Morning. CBS, October 15, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTtDb73NkNM.

Friday<br /> 7 July <br /> 2017

Lee,

You are a wise and brave man. This 1930's era Smith- corona Clipper will last you for the ages..

Happy to have served you...<br /> /s<br /> Tom Hanks

Hanks wrote this letter to an interviewer who purchased one. Lost here on the viewer is the fact that the Clipper wasn't manufactured until 1946...

This is what I would suggest: if you wanted the perfect typewriter that will last forever that would be a great conversation piece, I'd say get the Smith-Corona Clipper. That will be as satisfying a typing experience as you will ever have. —Tom Hanks on CBS Sunday Morning: "Tom Hanks, Typewriter Enthusiast" at 07:30

Typewriters, More Than Just a Hobby for Tom Hanks

—Tom Hanks in TribLive 2020-05-22 at https://web.archive.org/web/20200522085215/https://archive.triblive.com/aande/books/tom-hanks-on-his-love-of-typewriters-and-the-free-press/

I've seen several sites and listings for Smith-Corona typewriters which mention this interview quote.