Baseball players who aren't friendly signers
 

Was reading the thread about Willie Mays and his horrible autograph stories. Would love to see a thread on other encounters by other baseball players. I can add Reggie Jackson to the list. My dad and cousin ran across him in New York one night in the 70's, my dad being in his early 20's, my cousin being around 8-10 years old. They were the only ones around and my dad asked him to sign a piece of paper he had on him, he wouldn't sign it. From what I hear, it didn't sit well with Reggie to ask for his autograph on the street.... I can personally add Cal Ripken Jr, although I know he is a generous signer, i was at Yankee stadium 2 times where he was signing before the games, I was still a teenager, however not young enough for his autograph. He signed every kids ball that was say under 12, everyone else he completely ignored. Yes, I get why he was doing it, however ever since then, he became an asshole in my eyes.

Joe DiMaggio was dope. Questioning where we bought the item to be autographed and for how much. He hated that other people were making money off his likeness. He finally signed it (Armand LaMontage print) but he didn't like it and told me that's the last one he was signing.
Also Jim Rice was nasty. If it wasn't a bat, ball or photo he got all bent out of shape

I can personally add Cal Ripken Jr, although I know he is a generous signer, i was at Yankee stadium 2 times where he was signing before the games, I was still a teenager, however not young enough for his autograph. He signed every kids ball that was say under 12, everyone else he completely ignored. Yes, I get why he was doing it, however ever since then, he became an asshole in my eyes.[/QUOTE]

Really? Hes an asshole cuz he signs for just kids and not greedy adults? Lol what a jerk.

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

I was like 15 years old, couldn't even drive a car yet... real greedy, lol

I would give Ripken a pass on that, a player like that gets more autograph requests than he can realistically handle sometimes and has to have some system for prioritizing. Kids = yes/ grown-ups = no seems a reasonable system to have in that situation. Bummer that you fell above his cut-off point but I'd hardly call him an ass hole for that.

I completely understand his side. Yes, he obviously gets a ton of requests. And can't sign everything. i guess I need to explain more.... so if you've ever been to Yankee stadium, I found the best spots to get autographs is hanging out down the left and right field between the bases and foul pole. I'm in left field, right by the ball boy. Prob with 5-10 other people, he comes over and signs basically every ball but mine, no I was not rude or pushy or anything like that. As this is going on, more and more people keep coming. I'm directly in front of him, and he takes my ball, then gives it right back unsigned. And continues to sign for say another 5-10 minutes. As a 15 year old huge baseball fan, I thought I was snubbed.... say what u want about him, but that's just being a dick in my eyes... yes he does sign a lot and he didn't have to, but when someone you think I'm of very highly, completely looks over you, what would you personally think of him???

Marc,
I'm sorry to hear about your experience trying to get Ripken's autograph.
Cal Ripken was certainly one of the most tireless signers that I ever recall seeing.
I have seen him sign for kids and adults alike at the stadium while he was an active player, especially late in his career.

Nolan Ryan was also amazing! On the road he would frequently sign outside the hotel. He would come out at exactly the same time and sign one autograph for everyone in a line that was usually really long. While he was looking down while signing he would make note of the shoes that a fan was wearing. Once he started seeing the same pair of shoes, he would stop and it was off to the stadium. The only time I saw him threaten to leave early was when some autograph seekers started shoving in the line.
In the last 30+ years, I can't think of too many HOF stars that were as accommodating as these two guys were, IMHO. :cool:

Sometimes it's just not your day... Very few stars sign at Yankee stadium unless they know someone in the stands, so for cal to do that regularly when I saw him there was very cool. Just from my personal experience, it didn't go as well as I would have liked. As a huge fan of baseball and autograph collector, it was disappointing. Sometimes people are in great moods, sometimes there not. I started the thread to hear more stories like willie mays and his signing stories.

Your context helps. Did you respond at all when the ball got handed back to you like " hey Cal please please lm not going to sell it!!!"

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

As a collector at visiting team hotels in the 1960's Aaron , Mantle, and Bob Buhl were horror stories I still remember 50 years later the details of which I put on other posts.
Collecting with my son in the 2000's at spring training Sammy Sosa (acted like he thought he was God), Eric Davis- who publicly made fun of me because I had a beard were the most disturbing as well as a Junior College player named Bryce Harper who twice one on one at JUCO wouldn't acknowledge my existence. There were many other non signers but these guys were memorable

A beard??

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

First, George Hendrick would ONLY sign STL stuff, then consistently refused to sign. So, F*** him. His not being on a 51s team ball is no biggie.

Very hard to get autographs as an adult at a MLB game, or even a crowded MiLB All Star game. Naturally, kids get first crack, and every adult is viewed as someone looking to sell their autographs. Witster

I always get a kick out of players who only sign for kids. McGwire would do that a lot also. If you sat back and watched the kids would take the signed ball and run up in the stands and a guy would hand them cash for it. Then they would run back to get another signed. In the long run all those balls signed for kids wind up in some adults collection.

Joey Belle
 

By far the worst autograph signing experience that I ever had was with Albert "Don't call me Joey" Belle.
I had heard that Belle was a notoriously nasty signer. I decided to take him on as a challenge and approached him outside of the Doubletree Hotel in Anaheim, CA in the mid 1990's while he was with Cleveland.
The Doubletree was frequently used by visiting teams that were in town to play the Angels.

I timed it so that I had him one on one out in front of the hotel and politely asked him to sign a ball that I had brought with me. He literally told me to get the f**k away from him and threatened me. Nice! :eek: The word is out on what a scumbag he really is these days. No surprise for me...

Ricky Henderson would always tell you that he would sign in the stadium, but would never sign for anyone except for black children in all the times that I watched him.

Randy Johnson was always nasty/surly and would literally growl at people that asked him for his autograph. That and 6' 10" of big ugly unit made for a near impossible autograph. In a paid signing though, he comes off as a decent guy.

Eddie Murray would never sign for me, but he was always very polite in his refusal. On Father's Day he singled me out outside of the stadium and gave me his wrist band with his uniform number on it.

All of your examples were not successful for me, either many years ago. Belle was going thru the Albert/Joey thing. Some players were jerks, while some auto hounds were jerks who made it worse for everyone else out there.
Sandberg wasn't good at signing either.

I imagine a player being in a hurry or dealing with the pressures of playing, just aren't always the right recipe to approach a guy for an autograph. Sometimes, they're just having a bad day. Some guys sign for who they choose to. I suppose that is their right. Witster

Dillon Tate
 

My worst signing experience ever was with Dillon Tate, an early 2015 first round pick of the Rangers who's now in AA in the Yankees organization.

I took my son and my nephew on a Sally League tour in the summer of 2016 and, in advance, bought a few dozen Bowman Chrome cards of highly rated Sally League prospects for them to get signed. One of them was Tate.

We showed up 90 minutes before a game between Tate's team, the Hickory Crawdads, and the Kannapolis Intimidators. Tate isn't even pitching that day, and is soft tossing in shallow right field along the first base line. My son, who is the ONLY person there, politely waits for Tate to finish throwing and then asks him if he can sign the card. Tate says, "I can't help you" and walks off.

What a tool.

I know it's off topic, but on the great side Of autograph collecting... Mr. Aaron Judge signs before almost every Yankee game in the right field ball boy area. Not to mention he throws his warmup balls while playing right field into the stands every time, which is cool, I was lucky enough to catch one during the Alcs last year.. game 5, 4th inning... was offered 500 and still kept the ball

All of these horror stories about baseball players make me thankful I only had one in person autograph requests from golfers.... well and one football player. Very Positive!

I was spoiled as a young kid in the early 90’s. I had the great pleasure of meeting and receiving signatures of two of my all time favorite golfers. Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer! After hitting their tee shots on one of the holes I called for them to come over so I could shake their hands. I had a lot of guts right ? There had to be no more then 10 people around. It was a super humid July afternoon in Md. Both were gracious, saying hi, shook my hand and signed the program I had picked up from the first tee. After Arnold signed my program he said, “Son I think you may want the guy walking down the fairway behind me. I said who is he ? He said it’s Golden Arm son. I said ok who is that !! Haha how naive was I. Anyway I said hey golden arm come here and sign my program haha I was brave. He came right over kindly smiled and signed my program along with shaking my hand. When I came home and showed my pop he educated me on who golden arm was.

Cardinal pitcher Ray Washburn told my two younger brothers to 'go to hell' when they called out his name from the Astrodome's pavillion seats at a day game way back when. He had just finished his running along the warning track.
I've never forgotten that.

Back when I was in college I had a Dodger fan friend visiting for a LA-Houston series. I took him to the old Shamrock Hilton hotel where most teams stayed in Houston at the time. Davey Lopes came out of the elevator carrying a garment bag with his name emblazoned in two foot tall script and then proceeded to dress my friend down for approaching him with a baseball.

This won't surprise anyone but I worked a show for a promoter friend and watched Willie Mays sign for two hours seemingly without looking up once. Yes, the stories of him rolling the ball he just signed back to the collector are true.

Lol all these stories i officially hate baseball now....i mean Ray Washburn???? What the.....

I have a couple good ones. Dave Winfield nice guy.... i asked him about Steinbrenner and he just chuckled. . I was like 12....

Julius Erving. At my pizza hut one night with a very very young lady. Giant hands. Very cool

Daunte Culpepper in his college days signed the back of an order slip.



Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

Not to paint with a broad brush . . . .
 

Not to paint with too broad of a brush, most of the Sally League (and Southern Association) top prospects--other than Little Man Tate--were awesome, such as:

Anderson Espinoza
Billy McKinney
Brendan Rodgers
Josh Naylor
Phil Bickford
Ryan Mountcastle

and many others . . . .

Here's a favorite pic of my nephew and son getting an auto from Brendan Rodgers (who is a very cool guy):

It is funny, I hear so many horror stories about Albert Belle, and don't doubt them for a second, but he was one of the best autograph experiences I had. I believe it was 1993 and my family took a trip to Toronto and we stayed at the Skydome. We had tickets to a game, and my father found out that you could stand outside the stadium after the game and try and get autographs. Many Indians players came out a signed a few autographs. Albert came out, and he was the star at the time and everyone surrounded him. He said I will sign just give me some room. He had to be out there for about 45 minutes or so and he signed for everyone. I got him 2 times, my brother got him twice also. He got mad one time because half way through everyone was really crowding him. He got mad and said if you do not give me some space I am leaving. Everyone backed up and he signed for a good 20 minutes more. Maybe we just caught him on a good day?

Had a ba experience with Ken Griffey Jr one time. It was 1988 and I was in 6th grade and staying with friends for a week in Vermont. We went to a Vermont Mariners game, I didn't know who Ken Griffey Je was but my friend said he was a big star there. After the game we were standing out by parking lot to get autographs. Griffey comes out and everyone surrounds him. He keeps walking, there was maybe 10-15 people, mostly kids trying, and he gets in his BMW and leaves. We had to walk with him for a good 100 feet or so from stadium to his car, he didn't sign one autograph.

One of those is not like the others. LOL.

Was Buhl nicer in his old age?

Besides Mays, the only other ones that I thought were jerks (more in their attitude rather than anything they said or did) were Rose and Winfield. Reggie Jackson was similar the first time I got his sig (shortly after his playing days) but I think he's mellowed out quite a bit. Was real nice when I saw him at the HOF in 2008.

Was Willie Mays always bad towards fans?

Anyone know if he has a specific reason why he chooses to be an idiot?
Besides, of course, being an idiot.

At spring training about 5 years ago all us graphers would wait outside the stadium in the morning. The players would park and walk by us. There was a 90+ year old man who more than anything else wanted Willie to sign a personal item that definitely wasn't for resale. Willie was there that day. We all (even the dealers) moved away as we all wanted this guy to get him and we didn't want to scare Willie off. Willie totally ignored him and he was crushed.
I find it interested when I have been treated horrendously by some players (the vast minority), I still want their signature. Kind of sick when you think about it.

How Verlanders name has not been brought up yet amazes me.

Or Ted Williams.

I never had a problem with Ted Williams. I don't equate Old and gruff with being a total jerk. He was gruff in the old school way, much like Warren Spahn or Dick Williams.

Mark McGwire

Kaline

Kirk Gibson

Kirk as AZ manager signed at spring training and made all his players signed.

Kaline
 

Kaline will literally sign for everyone, but it about as ornery as they come. Since he signs for $10 ttm, that’s probably a better route.

So, all of these players who only sign for kids. The kid gets an autograph, is happy, and he wants to go to more games and get more autographs. Which he does. And the players continue to sign for him because he's a kid. So the kid develops an interest in collecting autographs.

Then one day the kid is no longer a kid. Goes up to a player and asks for an autograph. The player is, like, "Sorry pal, I only sign for kids." Is the kid supposed to lose interest in autographs the moment he turns 18? Just stop, cold turkey?

For all we know, getting autographs may have been a highlight of going to games. If he can't get them any more, he may decide that a big part of the ballpark experience is now closed off to him - and stop going to games altogether.

Meanwhile, what is he expected to do with the autographs he already has? The guy might decide that if the players aren't going to sign for him any more because he's "too old," he no longer wants the autographs he has. So he takes what could have been the foundation of a wonderful lifelong collection... and sells them.

The irony is that he might sell them to a middle-aged adult who the player wouldn't sign for... a middle-aged adult who might have appreciated getting his autograph in person more than a kid would, if for no other reason than he's older and has the maturity to appreciate and understand baseball in general than a kid can have.

In spring training in AZ most kids say 8 or under "collecting autographs" were children whose fathers were dealers and they brought them along knowing they would sign. Often they brought multiple children. There were tho not that many players who would only sign for children. Women did as well or better than children

Worst signers
 

By far the worst person that I ever encounter for signing was Dimaggio. In 1995, in Chicago he signed at the Sun Times Show but had a list of things he would also not sign. I took a 1949 "Life magazine size Sports Illustrated...He was on the cover...I also took a regular 90's one as well as a backup.. He was charging $175.00 for a flat item if I remember correctly. He came out wearing glasses like for when you eyes are dilated. Apparently the flashes from cameras bothered him. He told my mother who went with me (big Yankee fan) to hurry up and finish the pictures she was taking as she was holding up the line....(before extra fees for photos)
However, the kicker was the guy in front of me. He had paid his money...waited in line...and had a baseball signed by Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle which he had gotten signed previously. When he got to the front of the line...Dimaggio looked at the baseball and said...."Not signing that.....don't sign anything Mantle signed ahead of me!" The guy had to get out of line and buy a regular baseball and just get that signed instead...
By far however the highlight of the day was a person who had a framed picture with a cut out area to have signed...Dimaggio signed it....the guy was elated...and later opened the frame to reveal a first issue of Playboy with Marilyn on the cover and unknowingly---Dimaggio had signed it in the cut out area.

That’s why Dimaggio was prob a jerk because of that last sleazy dealer/collector who would stoope that low to get a piece signed. Unreal how cruddy people can be in this industry. To top it off he brags about, low, very low.

Ted Simmons, Pete Vuckovich, John Denny, Ron Reed and Jim Rice all make this list for me.

WOW...DiMaggio was $175 in 1995? I was fortunate to pay 40 bucks a piece for him signing an 11x14 flat and my HOF book in 1991. Talk about inflation. LOL.

Care to share the Ron Reed experience?

Not for Resale
 

If you're not getting a signature for resale purposes, does it matter all that much if the corner of a baseball card being signed is bent? I seem to recall a story about Tug McGraw (?) who would sign cards but would crease the upper corner, to make it "un-resale-able." I'd be happy, as an adult, to bend the corners of my cards if I could get my favorites to sign cards of theirs, since I have no intention of selling, just displaying for my own enjoyment.

Sounds about right.

I vaguely recall Mantle being at a show on Long Island the year before he passed and I think it was around $150 base fee.

Seemed insanely high at the time given most other players were $20 and under. And, if you spent your $150 on a signed 8x10, you would barely get that back today.

Women do much better! We were at Saints/Colts Super Bowl back in 2010, lucky enough to sit in Legends box where my wife was able to get every player she asked to sign a football where I eventually gave up and just pointed people out for her.. She even had it passed around the next box which belonged to the Dolphins... Great fun!

There's no real story to share, just that as an in person collector in the 80s, he and the other players I mentioned consistently denied every time I would see them.

As I recall, he was part of that Philadelphia contingent that was very tough. He did mellow in person after he retired. I recall getting him in person in a copy of Basketball's Best (similar to "Who's Who in Baseball") and he was fine.

My season ticket that year was literally the seat where those guys are standing. :) That was the only bummer about having a front row season ticket near the dugout, the autohound crowds! But I also got a lot of autos from nice guys there over the years. I got Yoan Moncada at batting practice right after the Red Sox paid $30 million for him. He didn't love signing, but accommodated me. Brendan Rodgers was a nice kid, too.