Baseball players who aren't friendly signers

[Gary Dunaier]

Originally Posted by witster

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.

Originally Posted by mcgwirecom

I always get a kick out of players who only sign for kids.

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.