Autographs- Do you collect? Do your care?

[packs]

I've only paid big money for an autograph once. It was for this Roberto Clemente rookie year signed baseball. The signature is a little light but its hard to come by a sweet spot Clemente. Dick Groat and Jerry Lynch are on a side panel.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Penmanship is an interesting topic among athletes. I got a big kick out of watching the players exit the court at last year's U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows.

Most just made swipes at programs and such. Last Summer at the St. Jude's Classic in Memphis I noticed most of the golfers took their time and made nice signatures for fans.

These posts and those experiences sent me to my folders to see if signatures varied by sport or by generation.

Of all my autographs the golfers were by far the best and there also seemed to be a dramatic difference in players in all sports that played their games before 1980. Also right behind the golfers were the football guys.

This is a very unscientific study as you might imagine.

[whitey19thcentury]

A few members of this board have dealt with me in terms of buying autographs from me, and selling autographs to me.

I am not sure where my love affair started, but like I said in other posts, I think my love affair started about 13 years ago when I found out I could make serious money selling autographs of "Joe Schmoes," sometime a lot more than what I could make selling signatures of Hall of Famers. That is what got me into studying autographs and researching them.

I was fortunate to grow up in the card show boom where I got the chance to meet many now-deceased Hall of Famers. Unfortunately, now we're in the Facebook era where, looking back, I would almost rather have a photograph with the player than having his signature.

My best/most favorite in-person autograph was in 1996. A friend of ours started working with/for FOX sports and I accompanined him to the Orioles-Red Sox series in Baltimore sometime in 1996. I only brought one card to get signed.... 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco rookie. Why? Growing up in the 80s, Canseco was my favorite player and this was my favorite card b/c it was worth an astronomical amount at the time I bought a pack and got it at a show in the 80s.

We were underneath Camden Yards and I was not surprised that all of the Orioles players parked in the player's lot, except for Cal Ripken Jr, who was dropped off under the stadium. Canseco was dropped off by a cab and I was impressed at how large he was. I spotted him and walked up to him and politely asked him for an autograph and said something along the lines of "You were my favorite player when I was a kid." Granted, I was 17 at time of this signing. He looked at me in kind of an annoyed look and grabbed my fine tip sharpie and card and signed it and handed it back without stopping walking. He signed (maybe on purpose) across the darkest part of the card. The sig shows up much better on the scan than what it does "in real life." The card is kinda beat up now from me carrying it to the game and back, but I keep it on my desk in my office at home.

[steve B]

There's a difference between athletes from the US and elsewhere too.

When I was in Jr High the international six day motorcycle trials were held in the area. Teams from nearly everywhere any of us had heard of racing motorcycles cross country along the power lines. The bikes all had to be locked up within a few minutes of finishing for the day, and only about a half hour was allowed in the morning for repairs. Naturally the rider exit area was a great place for us to try to get autographs.

One of the Pentons - American riders and sons of the manufacturer- refused. He said he'd hurt his hand. Puzzling to us since all he had was a band-aid.
None of the other americans were particularly accommodating. Maybe doing 1 or 2 out of 30 before making some excuse and hurrying off.

When one of the Russian riders came out we figured no way. He's Russian, covered in mud and wearing a cast on his right arm. full hand and up past the elbow! And he's ridden the full race that day, probably well over a hunderd miles. When he saw the group of kids he stopped and yelled to his mechanic, who brought over a pen and fit it into a hole in the cast. He signed for everyone, and attempted some conversation. Most of the Soviet block guys were also very friendly.

The russian guy with the cast had a lot of fans at my school, the Pentons? Not many. Of course, we also prefered David Schultz hockey card to nearly any other.....

Steve B

[T206Collector]

I collect signed pre-war cards just like this one. If you don't think this makes them immeasurably cooler than the unsigned variety, then I'm never going to be able to convince you otherwise....