A signed ball need to identify

[moonunit3424]

Some have numbers attached

[Michael B]

the first one appears to be upside down. Inverting it may help with identification.

[dgo71]

Pic 2 is Matt McBride.
Pic 3 middle signature is Rajai Davis.

[Majestic]

Last photo

top auto is Jake Smolinksi
middle auto is Marcus Semien

[JMEnglish27]

Top pic might be Matt Olson. Clearly an A's ball of recent vintage.

[JMEnglish27]

Curt Young below Davis

[JMEnglish27]

Jake Smolinski above Semien. This is a 2017 A's ball.

[mrmopar]

I truly believe this is what will kill autograph collecting into the future. I know there have always been un-readables, but nearly every player these days seems to have an undistinguishable scribble.

Either that or everything will need to be on photos WITH names on front or back. I mean, how often do you see a "need ID help" thread for autographs. Often, and it is 99% memorabilia (balls, bays, gloves, etc). Obviously a photo helps with the ID even w/o a name, but there are still a few 8x10 photo threads or cut/3x5 threads too.

I even started writing names on the back of my signed flat items, even when I knew clearly who they were. I will not own this stuff forever and hope that someone in the future won't need help to ID anything I owned.

[moonunit3424]

thank you

[packs]

Originally Posted by mrmopar

I truly believe this is what will kill autograph collecting into the future. I know there have always been un-readables, but nearly every player these days seems to have an undistinguishable scribble.

Either that or everything will need to be on photos WITH names on front or back. I mean, how often do you see a "need ID help" thread for autographs. Often, and it is 99% memorabilia (balls, bays, gloves, etc). Obviously a photo helps with the ID even w/o a name, but there are still a few 8x10 photo threads or cut/3x5 threads too.

I even started writing names on the back of my signed flat items, even when I knew clearly who they were. I will not own this stuff forever and hope that someone in the future won't need help to ID anything I owned.

A signature is nothing more than a mark. If you've seen the mark before, it's easy to identify. Derek Jeter's signature doesn't look like it says Derek Jeter, but when you see it on a ball you don't have to read it to know who it is.

[Case12]

Yeah, but there's something about honoring your fans by taking time to spell out your name. Gee, Ted Williams was still signing stuff on his death bed. It's appreciated by those who remember him. This is not always the case, but putting a squiggles should be exceptions.

[dgo71]

Players today have to save the good graph for when they're getting paid for it...

[mrmopar]

True, but is was once close to being something actually legible.
Many of these modern signatures don't have 1 or 2 distinguishable letters to work from to even try to figure it out

Originally Posted by packs

A signature is nothing more than a mark. If you've seen the mark before, it's easy to identify. Derek Jeter's signature doesn't look like it says Derek Jeter, but when you see it on a ball you don't have to read it to know who it is.