Are there any player's autographs that you refuse to collect?

[scmavl]

I used to say that I would never collect Cobb, due to his racist views and general a-holeness. However, after much more reading and learning about him, I must say I admire his drive and ability. I wouldn't say no to a Cobb check.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by scmavl

I used to say that I would never collect Cobb, due to his racist views and general a-holeness. However, after much more reading and learning about him, I must say I admire his drive and ability. I wouldn't say no to a Cobb check.

I agree. I'm actually waiting to find one of his checks that was signed on my birthday. So far, no luck, but I continue to look...

[J.McMurry]

Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Jose Canseco, Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz,...

That pretty much sums it up for me too,although I do have a Bonds baseball from several years back.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by J.McMurry

That pretty much sums it up for me too,although I do have a Bonds baseball from several years back.

Me too. I have a Barry Bonds SS signed ball that I got in person in about 1990 (at Dodger Stadium). For this reason I won't get rid of it. I definitely wouldn't chase his autograph today.

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

I agree. I'm actually waiting to find one of his checks that was signed on my birthday. So far, no luck, but I continue to look...

Scott, that would be cool. I found one at the very first "big" show I went to in the late 80's in the very first row of the show. Since it would have taken almost all the money I had brought with me, I decided to check out the rest of the show first. 50 rows later, I came back to find it was sold. 20 some odd years later, I'm still kicking myself.

[Mr. Zipper]

I certainly understand not wanting to collect players tainted by the steroids scandal.

But, to play Devil's advocate, would you feel the same way about collecting signatures related to the 1919 Black Sox scandal?

[drc]

Cobb is one of my favorite players, but because he was so dynamic and interesting, not because I we share the same views. Alter boys don't interest me as historical figures.

Joan of Arc is one of my favorite historical figures, not because I'm Catholic (which I'm not), but because she was such a complex, ambiguous and fascinating figure. She can be seen in many different ways.

The 20th century Austrian-American Princeton mathematician and logician Kurt Godel during his lifetime and today was regarded as one of the mental giants on the order of Einstein and Isaac Newton. Yet he was also mentally ill and did the most illogical, strange things. He was certain people were trying to poison him, he wore heavy fur coats on the hottest days of summer and kept open all the windows and doors of his house in winter. He also said he had mathematical proof of the existence of God, said the US Constitution could legally allow a dictator to come to power and didn't trust human logic. Easily one of the strangest, complex, contradictory, deep, enigmatic minds ever-- and, due to his published academic papers, no one questions that he was a genius.

Certain complex historical figures like those attract my interest more than Dick Clark and Pat Boone.

And, off the top of my head, the one autograph I'd most like to own? Anne Frank. She's one of my favorite ever people, and her diary is perhaps my favorite non-fiction book. I first read it as an adult and the whole thing fascinated me, she was such a talented writer, a wise thinker and a charming and lively personality. And, keeping in line with my post, she wasn't a two dimensional, goody two shoes-- she was a real person, a perfectly normal, funny and wise cracking, back talking to her elders, smart ass, hot headed, hold a petty grudge, thinks her neighbors are idiots, refuses to eat the vegetables (literally-- there's a passage about it), head strong, inappropriate jokes, thinks about boys half the time teenage girl.

If instead of the diary, an adult wrote her biography it would have sucked (and blowed), because they would have made her a two-dimensional instructional 'heroic' figure instead of the human being she was.

And, one of the more interesting tidbits I learned from her book: The Franks celebrated Christmas and exchanged Christmas presents. No doubt a cultural thing from having lived in Germany for many years. And, in keeping with the topic of this forum, a 1937 Anne Frank signed Christmas card exists. Someone discovered it just a few years back in a Dutch antique store.

[J.McMurry]

I agree on Anne Frank. I actually toured her home in Amsterdam back in '89 and secretly snapped a pic of the hidden door(pictures were not allowed), if I can find it I'll scan and post.

[sylbry]

Originally Posted by J.McMurry

I agree on Anne Frank. I actually toured her home in Amsterdam back in '89 and secretly snapped a pic of the hidden door(pictures were not allowed), if I can find it I'll scan and post.

I did as well. How can you not take a photo of it?