Take me out to the Autograph game...

[AutographCollector]

Even though this is a few months old... it's sad... but oh so true.
http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=3162619&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

[metrotheme]

I feel some sort of way after watching this video because I've been going to games and trying to get autographs for at least the past 15 years. All of the times I've went to get autographs have been when I bought a ticket and was inside of the stadium. I've never tried to go to the stadium early and wait outside.
Out of all of the autographs I've acquired in person at games, I've sold zero.

The chase was always the fun part, running across the field level at Shea Stadium to see if you could get in position for that person who was signing. I'd come prepared with my little box of Mets cards and players from the opposing team. As a fan, I do not think there is anything wrong with being prepared.

Now what makes me raise an eyebrow is when I see people with binders just handing over the binder to the player and getting 6,7,8 cards signed at once. What on EARTH to do you that many cards of a player signed for, especially when all of these people are waiting?

This summer during my break from teaching, I took one day to go down to the visiting team hotel, which is near where I live. I had never done this before and I wasn't terribly prepared, I had a few cards of the Marlins players and 1 baseball.

What I saw turned me off, and the men that I saw were VERY reminiscent of what you saw in the video. I ran into some teenagers there who I struck up a conversation with, and they were very quick to point out the dealers, who they said were very arrogant and protective of their "turf". First player that I saw come out was Dontrelle Willis. As I watched from afar, Willis immediately tried to hide behind one of the pillars and then quickly snuck into a cab. The "dealers" bum rushed the cab, and while it was only 3 people, Willis wouldn't sign.

What I saw next amazed me. These two fat-ass teenagers SPRINTED (almost falling) down the street to their cars to FOLLOW Willis' cab to the ballpark in hopes of catching him coming out of the cab.

It only got better after this. About 10 minutes later, Cabrera comes out of the hotel, and is standing outside of the doors waiting for a cab. There are only about 8 people waiting, 30 feet from him on the other side of the rotund. Almost immediately, Cabrera picks up his cell phone. While I am waiting there silently with my baseball card, the other people are all yelling his name "Miguel .. pleeeeeease ... pleeeease .. c'mon Miguel ...", a few are trying to use their best "Spanish" to coerce him to come over. Now mind you, it would take him about 30-60 seconds tops to sign 1 item for the 8 people that were there, but once he got on the cell phone, you could tell be his body language that he wasn't coming. I walked away, but the others continued to stand there and plead for him to come over. He didn't come. I left shortly thereafter, and I left looking at the other people as losers. I guess if I went that makes me a "loser" too, but the way they carried themselves and were PLEADING for a grown man to give up his autograph, and by the way the others CHASED Willis' cab, was just disgusting.

It's very hard for the players to figure out who are the dealers and who are the fans. Sometimes, as Morneau said, you can tell if you see the same person OVER and OVER again. As a fan, you can show up prepared (cards, balls, photos) and still not be a dealer, but how does the player really know? It does spoil it for the fans that come out every once in awhile, or who do plan a day around trying to score a tough autograph for their collection.

As you get older (as I get closer to 30), you lose that innocence. Players probably wouldn't question that teenager who had a few cards, but they're going to look hard at that young adult who is still there doing it. This is why I stick to TTM requests and the occasional public signing. Even at the public signings (free), it still seems to bring out the crusty middle aged white men who seem to have bated breath waiting for that player to sign. I hit 2-3 in NY this summer when I was visiting my parents and I saw quite a few of the same people. Are they collectors? Are they dealers? Hard to call it. If we have a hard time speculating, how do the players feel?

The autograph is the players' commodity. It's their choice to do what they want with it, just as it is our choice once we receive it. Should a player making $5 million a year REALLY be concerned if that fan makes $20 off of their autograph? Or should they look at it as their small way of spreading the wealth? It comes with the territory of being a celebrity.

[icee82]

I want to give another view of things. In the previous post, it referred to "crusty middle aged white men who seem to have bated breath waiting for that player to sign". I do not like to admit it...but I guess I might fall into that category as I am 49 years old. However, I make no excuses. I am a baseball fan. I love the game of baseball. I personally collect signed stuff...anything and everything although I mainly work with photographs, baseballs, and mini-helmets. With that in mind, I am not going to knock a little kid down or run down the street chasing a limo to get an autograph although I could, I will not resort to that type of conduct.

When I attend a baseball game, I might take 200 photographs of players batting, throwing, fielding, etc. If there is a big collision at the plate, there is a good chance that I am going to snap a photo if I am close enough. If I am out of town, I might take my memory card to a photo store and have an 8 X 10 made. Then I will try to get the players to autograph those. I also will get baseballs and mini-helmets signed. The mini-helmets are usually reserved for Reds' players as that is my team.

With that in mind, I see nothing wrong with that. It is something that I enjoy doing and if you do it the right way, it is a lot of fun. I have spent hours in 100 temperatures in Durham getting autographs of potential major leaguers as they enter the park.

There are unsavory characters out there. Last summer at Durham was a great example. Josh Hamilton was rehabbing there and some goober had about 50 cards for him to sign. What? What are you going to do with 50 signed Josh Hamilton cards? He was signing everything so I got him to sign a mini-helmet, a baseball, and the only Beckett Baseball Card Monthly that he appeared on the cover. All of these items are stored in my closet and I have no intentions of ever selling any of it. I have never sold a single autograph in my life and I have no plans to begin. I have never even traded autographs. These autographs are for my pleasure and my pleasure only. Eventually they will go to my two sons for them to whatever they desire to do with them. At that time, if they want to sell them, that is their choice although most of them are ones that I have gotten TTM or in person at the park or stadium. The value on those are not extremely high due to authenticity questions.

To paint everyone with the broad brush of being money driven is sickening. To me, it is just an excuse for the players to not sign. They are looking for a reason to not sign. There are players that will not even sign for a little kid. I do not think that age plays a role in this. If you enjoy, why should you not be able to do it? It is like the old cliche that all middle aged men look alike and dress alike. It is not a cliche...it is reality in many cases because people are shamed to doing that. To say that all middle aged men are crusty, anxious, and willing to knock down little kids is a bit of an overstatement. I guess the next thing that someone will say is that one should not cheer at a baseball game if you are middle aged.

[kearns643]

I'm not a "green fly" and the day I sell one is the day I give them away!!!!

[J.P]

A few years back, Dennis Martinez used to hold celebrity softball games, the price of the ticet was $10, and once inside, it was a free for all autograph wise. I got some pretty good autographs in those games (Pudge, Arod, Galarraga, Rey and Magglio Ordonez, Tony Perez, El Duke, Alou, Polanco, etc), but one year, I missed on getting Omar Vizquel's and a few others due to this group of about 15 young males that was there, they had about 10 baseball bags full of stuff (baseballs, bats, mini helmets, 8X10's,anything you can think of), one or two of them would just scout the area, while the rest would seat next to their bags........all of a sudden Pudge would stop to sign, and one of the scouts would yell out: Ivan Rodriguez!!! and here came this avalanche of dudes knocking everybody over, annoying the player, which would just turn around and leave.

On a separate note, I used to be a regular at a sports collectibles store(since closed) down here in Miami, they already knew me, once I mentioned to them that I was going to be attending the Marlins Fan Fest, they offered to pay me to get autographs for them!! Of course, I didnt accept, I told them my autographs are for me to keep, and my son to inherit.

[Dalkowski110]

I knew one store a that went out of business a VERY long time ago that used to do what J.P. is describing. It's despicable. Though they sure's heck don't catch any outlaws (or Han Solo...;) ), locally we call the people who take money from the stores "bounty hunters." The guy running the store used to get kids between 12 and 14 (once asked me and I declined when I was 9 or 10) for the tough autographs, and young adults for the easy ones.