Horrible signatures
 

OK OK...I know we've beaten this dead horse into the ground many a time, but just had to share Paul Goldschmidt's signature. How horrible of a signature is this?
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNj...V0nrf/$_58.JPG
I can only make out the "P" and maybe an "L"...the "au" has obviously disappeared. At the end of his signature looks like a "Y"...but there's no "Y" in his name!

What's wrong with these young kids??
:confused:

IF he becomes one of the game's greats (which I doubt), it will be so easy to forge his auto.

By today's standard that is a pretty good lucking signature.

If it wasn't for the picture of him nobody would ever get that. that's exactly why I don't collect autographs

Didn't look at the picture, just the sig and thought it might be Poker Superstar Phil Ivy :)

Cursive isn't taught in most schools anymore.

I've said it before but the concept of collecting a signature only if it appeals to you in some artistic way is weird to me. I don't care if Babe Ruth's signature is his thumb print. I'll take it.

Sure, I understand that. I also collect guys like Ichiro and his signature is a mess! I'd rather take a thumbprint because at least it would be unique and something that can't be duplicated. The problem with these simple signatures is that they're so easy to forge (not to mention not even close to his name). If a really popular and great player has a signature like Goldschmidt's (and I'm not saying he's a great player yet) that would be chaos for people who plan on buying it second-hand, unless there was some reliable holo or cert with it.

True, but a signature is your own personal mark. If everyone just wrote their name in cursive, it would be just as easy to forge.

It's a generational thing. People in general, not just athletes, don't take pride in their handwriting like they did 80 years ago. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't all that long ago that a person's social status could be determined by their handwriting but we've come a long way since then. It's almost like complaining that a gallon of gas doesn't cost 12 cents anymore.

Catholic school.

I agree with the generational theory. Complaints have now trickled all the way down to the way people write their name.

i don't care to discuss the legibility of a player's signature (again), but yes goldschmidt is a great player, a superstar...it's ok to say.

Look at this Mantle
 

I've never seen anything so bad....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MICKEY-MANTL...item5d5c4c98f2

Here is a father and son's auto. No clue why I still collect players from the last 20 years.

http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/...Aleksander.jpg
http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/...eksander-1.jpg

It's bad enough that in the Mets' programs they have a section where they show players' signatures and ask you to identify the player.

One has to wonder - do the players sign their contracts and other legal paperwork the same way?

But here is the thing, If the Babes auto wasnt so bold heavy handed and so legible would anyone really care to collect it at all? Same to be said with all the greats....Mantle, Cobb, Gehrig, Maris, Rose, Robinson, Jackson, (maybe not Joe Jackson)...you get the point, they took pride in their signatures and folks like us were proud to display them!!! I dont ever want to have to explain an autograph to my friends or kids. When I pull out my Ruth or Cobb I love that they Know exactly the auto I am showing them and love how they are "wowed" by this....sad how you have to explain even Jeter auto these days...JMO . I fell in love with autograph collecting when I was 6 or 7 but I am sorry I am not going to collect a bunch of unreadable scribbles on a ball or card that years later I need to post in for help identifying the signature...

Signatures are the same as anything else in my opinion. You get to know them because you're familiar with how they look. That's how you tell a fake one from an authentic one. I see no difference in learning what Derek Jeter's signature looks like vs. reading Babe Ruth.

One I recently picked up:

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...%20Kershaw.jpg

What is it, Arabic? Cause it sure isn't the Alphabet...

Another "special" modern autograph
 

Here's another laughable modern signature.
I don't know about you, but I don't see how you possibly can get Hisashi Iwakuma out of this signature, but this is his sig from 2012. Umm, OK...

Why do I care?
Hisashi Iwakuma just threw a no-hitter a couple of weeks ago in Seattle & I collect the signatures of all no-hit pitchers. That includes nice ones and some that look like these.

Just to add to the intrigue, Iwakuma now has a newer version of his sig that looks nothing like this and is equally as illegible... :eek:

Check these out....

Amazinlgy those are all apparently authentic "signatures" of the same individual, a rookie by the way. He looks like he could be big player too....


Here's 4 more that all still look different .... it's....Miguel Sano

Wow...now, THAT one is a mess of a signer. At least if you're gonna scribble your name, make it kind of consistent. :rolleyes:

Beauties, aren't they
 

Johnathon Schoop for the orioles is like this. All his cards look different. No idea how anyone could authenticate them.

carlos gomez's auto is the worst.

At least Moustakas has some substance to it even if it's not the most legible. That Barkov (the son) in Siksyko's post isn't even trying.

Heres a few more. There is no way to authenticate any of these sigs.

They must be very busy. No time to apply a legible autograph or shave. :-)

For those complaining about player signatures...let see some of your signatures. Not just athletes who have horrible penmanship

I enjoy signing my name...

Edited to add: to be fair, I do shorten it and do it more sloppy when signing non-important trivial things at times. However, for anything important, and if I were famous and signing for a fan I'd like to think I'd take my time and give each person a nice sig!

Gotta be an idiot to pay $463.76 for this.

Dopey buyer probably paid for the "1/1."

At least the "Mickey" is legible, but still......



http://www.ebay.com/itm/MICKEY-MANTL...p2047675.l2557




Attachment 202812

Some fool paid over $450 for that?? I paid $250 for a great auto'd ball on this site.

What a shame.

That's crazy, maybe if the decimal point was moved over one at 46.xx it may be about right...still a tad high.

Most players consider autographs to be non important trivial things and also sign shorten and sloppy versions as well.

Not all of them do. Stan Musial and Minnie Minoso both took great pains to give good looking signatures, and Harmon Killebrew was known to reprimand other Twins players who had lousy penmanship. And in one of his books, Johnny Pesky said he was glad his grammar school nuns made him work on his handwriting so much, because it meant his signature was neat and legible.

Agree. But that is what disgusts fans so much today. Players shouldn't treat the fans as being not important. Overall, years ago I think players were more appreciative, respectful and caring and took the time for fans. They used to take pride in their signatures and that is why fans start threads like this showing disgust in today's players signatures.

Being a yankee fan I look at signatures from guys like ruth, gehrig, mantle, dimaggio, ford etc... and overall it's night and day compared to today's players. There are some examples like Mariano rivera for example but overall most players today take no pride and make no effort in their signatures.

The only times I really do shorter, sloppy signatures is when I'm signing for a package or something like that when no one cares what my signature looks like but it's just a requirement and the mailman is in a rush to get to the next house too.

This article is 2 years old, but sums up this topic well:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/29/sp...lyst.html?_r=0

Excellent article. Thanks for sharing this!

I think you can really pinpoint the decline of signatures to when card companies started having players sign thousands of cards (or stickers) for them in a single sitting.

I think you can really pinpoint the decline of signatures to when card companies started having players sign thousands of cards (or stickers) for them in a single sitting.

I work for a band who's lead singer has an illegible scrawl when I need him to sign paperwork, but has a very ornate readable signature when he signs for a fan.

When a new drummer was added to the mix a few years ago, he wasn't allowed to sign for fans until he came up with a more readable signature.

Doug

Ok, ok stay calm :D
Models and movie stars are probably worse than ballplayers. And PSA authenticates them,,, I have no idea how.

That's OK, I looked at that three times before I even noticed it was signed. :eek:

:D :D ;) Also guilty as charged

I can clearly read it , but who would name her camel toe ?