Depends. Some guys signed alot later in life and if I want a signature at a reasonable price it will be one of those. The Negro League guys are the best examples of that. No cards and precious little otherwise out there from their careers but some decent stuff at later in their lives. Plus, in some ways it says to me that the player wasn't spending his twilight years forgotten and unappreciated but was still getting love from the fans.
The funniest incident I had with late in life signings was when I looked to buy some pieces from a longtime collector who attended lots of HOF events and got lots of signatures. He was an old man and
his hand shook as he held the items so every signature he had in his collection was shaky, even when the athlete was young.