Lifetime autograph collector, and I am getting close to 50yrs old. I went through the 90's autograph craze when everyone thought that this would be part of their retirement. I did it for the love of the hunt and would only get guys at games, events or autograph shows. It gets old when guys like Jeffrey Leonard and George Hendricks ignore you for a whole series when they are low level minor league coaches. For the last couple of years I stated doing the Heritage minor league set from topps. I was able to get Joc Pederson as he came through Sacramento. The J P he scribbled on my card looked like the other hundred or so minor league cards I had signed. These kids do not know how to write their own names. It is a lost art form. We don't teach cursive or penmanship anymore in the classroom. You should see what I get from students at the high school level, it is really bad. I have narrowed my autograph collection down to two items(74 topps set and the topps complete collection book from1990) and am about ready to move on from both. It was an incredible hobby growing up as was collecting complete sets, but it has changed and I have myself have probably changed. I think we put so much time, effort and love into the hobby and it doesn't love us back and we can get bad reputations as collectors from a few that ruin it for everyone. None of my 3 teenage boys show interest in baseball or my collection so I will not pass it on to them. Geez, sorry for the long post, but I think you can see the emotional attachment we have to doing something our whole lives.
Paul Stewart
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