Before Steiner, athletes saw all of their signed items turning up for sale in hobby stores and eBay. Dealers and other businesses made huge dollars and the athletes got zilch. You may think their salaries make it so they shouldn't care about that, but that's pretty naive. If Hans Lobert could've monetized his signature before becoming basically bankrupt at the end of his life, don't you think that would have been nice? Are we drawing the line at Jeter because he's a millionaire many times over? What about Ramiro Pena? Is it okay for him to make a little extra money on his signature because his cup of coffee may be over at any minute?
Isn't it ridiculous to think Vincent Van Gogh died penniless, but now his paintings are priceless?
Jeter deserves every cent he can get, and if you want to demonize him for taking a dollar away from the small-time dealer, or turning down the occasional autograph, so be it.
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