Circa late 1980s, I remember Rickey Henderson on crutches at spring training, seeing me and a group of other kids standing by a gate seeking autographs, and he hobbled a half block over on crutches to sign for us.

You couldn't be more wrong. I go to ST every year and I have stacks and stacks of cards with me and I never sell a single one. I get multiples signed for the occassional trade, but also because I spend over a grand each year on the trip and would like more than 15 signatures to show for my time and money. Not to mention any "dealer" will tell you there is no money in signed cards. People want photos, baseballs, equipment to sell.

Hmmm...so if you, as a collector and avid hobbyist cannot tell the difference between a fellow collector and a dealer, maybe Jeter (or any other athlete) can't either.

Jeeze I don't know what to tell you. I don't know why the dealers carry around their binders either since I feel the same way you do, signed cards aren't big sellers. Here's what I do see though, the guys with the binders trying to get 10 autographs while every around them is trying to get one. You brought up how much your trip costs you and wanting something to show for the money. You might not sell your cards, but that's a dealer mentality.

Derek can't either so the default position is that they all are and the little kids are runners. Sadly he'd be right as much as wrong IMO. You choose to spend XXX on a trip to Spring Training as I did, I had to measure it in terms of enjoyment not how many autos I got. The number continued to decrease every year as the crowds got larger and the players less and less compliant.

Well, I disagree but I definitely see where you're coming from. The difference in my mind is if the guy signs 10 great, and if he signs 1, that's great too. I come prepared for multiples but at the end of the day I'm happy with what I get and I don't push, shove, yell out rude comments, etc. In fact, I've gotten to know several guys in the minors just by striking up conversation with them while they sign.

I guess my whole point of contention here is that making generalizations is usually dangerous, and there seems to be a lot of generalizations being made in this thread.

I think it's up to the player. If the player is willing to sign ten, and in the process not shut out 5 other people, then so be it. You have to have some common sense, if it's a rush thing and you know the guy wants to get everyone, put out one item. If the guy is standing around talking and signing whatever, give him whatever. Sometimes I have 10 different cards of a guy, and I usually try to get as many different cards done as possible like someone else mentioned. But I won't jump in front of someone with one item, I usually try to go last. End of the day, as long as you're polite to the player and the fans around you, it shouldn't bother anybody.

I don't think that the majority of the players understand the "hoarder" mentality. To them a guy with 8 cards on a board with photo corners is a seller. The ones that sign them all don't care. I can see where they are coming from. I do understand your POV as well. I have collected signed cards for years, have nearly 20,000 of them. I accumulated them to trade for others. I started out with ttm in the early 80's.

Absolutely right HRBaker. I don't understand the hoarder mentality myself half the time, LOL. People ask me why I collect stuff and I just say it's what we (collectors) do...we amass stuff. But yeah, not only do players not understand the hoarding and trading aspects, they also have no clue what their signature is really worth, which in most cases is nothing. A lot of players see a certified, #'d to 100 insert auto on eBay for big bucks and think that's what ALL their signed cards go for, when that's very far from the truth.

The "50/50" and trading aspect...most players are amazed that there are forums like this one where collectors can meet all over the world and help each other. 95% of the players upon hearing this are immediately cool and sign whatever you have. I've been able to help a lot of folks by explaining this side of collecting to the players.

hoarders
 

The first few years I used to buy every obscure minor league card of every coach, etc and have 8 different cards of some minor league coach that never made the majors. It would take a month to go through rosters, buy cards off beckett and ebay as well as sets, etc. If I didn't have 100 cards signed in a day it was a bad day. It was quantity that mattered. As time went on instead of loading up on those same guys again I cut down but it was hard to let a guy walk by without getting him on something so until a few years ago I tried to have at least one card to get signed on everyone as well as all the minor league team sets for minor league spring training where I would do 10 days in late March. Last year I wasn't agressive and was more apathetic. I wanted to get Pujols on a picture of him and my son. I almost got thrown over getting him and he signed in blue sharpie on hs black shirt (if you tilt it in the right direction you can see it was signed). I met my goal though.
If you only concentrated on stars you could be shut out and get no one so this way it was more productive.
Our stuff takes up quite alot of room and we are trying to drastically downsize but it would take the rest of my life to list the items on ebay and I never intended on selling.
Alot of us "older guys" are packing it in as the cons of doing it outweigh the pros. I'd rather concentrate on my vintage collection.
When my son batboyed for Team USA and Frank Robinson was manager half the players on the team never knew that Frank had once played. My son might be happier if I get Pablo Sandoval than Elmer Flick but at least he knows who Elmer is.
My son when he worked at fall league would come home at the end of the season with 30 incredibly stinky hats and 20 pairs of stinky cleats and sometimes he had no clue who wore what. At least we got rid of some of that

Given the ridiculous and dehumanizing nature of the autograph chase I think I'd rather just watch the game and enjoy my day then pick up a certified autographed card on Ebay.

One slight defense of DJ: in the article the person being the total flaming a-hole was actually the attendant telling the crowd the rules and insulting the crap out of them. Not necessarily even Jeter's bobo. I've been in other situations where an overzealous 'Paul Blart' security type takes the perceived power overboard. Of course, if I was Yankees management the worker in question would get a hell of a talking to and there would be significant 'or else' policies set for further fan interactions. Jeter may be free to alienate the customers but not the team's parking lot attendants.

You have no what you're talking about. Measuring GG's is a joke. Your comparison with the other players is laughable because they are not even the same position, and you're comparing pure power hitters vs non, etc.

Funny how you say he's only a 'singles hitter' when he's ahead of WILLIE MAYS!!! When it's all said and done, Jeter will be a top 20 or even top 10 for more careers doubles. Yeah, guess he only hits singles though.

And don't even get me started how clutch he is. Do some research and really think twice about what you say before making yourself sound like an idiot.

Wow...yep sure as hell makes sense.

I started to collect autographs TTM about 25 years ago. Even Joe D would sign one item per month back then.
I chased autographs a couple of times at the Waldorf Astoria when they had a couple of sports banquets.
It was not something I enjoyed, so I stopped even though I had some success. I gave a friend of mine my SBIII program and he got Namath and Ewbank on the cover for me, at the Waldorf.
And in regards to the parking lot attendant in the Jeter story, that part of the story absolutely reminded me of the National Pastime NYC shows. My table used to be in front of the stage where the main guests were signing so I had a prime view of what went on with the signers and collectors. The guy running the lines there was a total jackass on the only power trip of his pathetic little life.
"Get on line,,, numbers 1-50, if you have #51 you don't belong here and your autograph ticket will be taken away, remember I said only 1-50." Wow, was that guy a jerk.

hmmmm ok....

1 - Nomar Garciaparra - 229 hr, 313 ave, - SS
2 - Paul Molitor - 234 hr - 306 ave, - not a power hitter
3 - Robin Yount - 251hr, 285 ave - SS, not a power hitter

I enjoyed getting autographs personally, whether it was baseball players, band members or anyone else. If it wasn't fun, I wouldn't do it. The only bad experiences I had were with Dick Butkus, Pete Rose and Willie McCovey, all as a child. It confused me, as most professionals were very kid-friendly back then, but I was old enough to realize they were a-holes. The people who were super-friendly far outnumbered them.

The scenario with Jeter would not be fun and I can't imagine anyone putting themselves through it unless they were dealers.

Gotta look beyond the numbers, which you lack of understanding, I can throw out numbers all day long in certian categories in which Jeter is better than them

I'm 26. I grew up in Florida. When I was in middle school my aunt dated the son of a higher up in the Yankees brass. One summer I went to a game with my dad. We had great seats behind home plate. After the game my dad and I waited for the players in the player parking lot. I walked over and asked Jeter for an autograph. Jeter said "you don't have enough money, kid" and walked away. My dad has hated him ever since.

Nice! :rolleyes:

I am not a Yankee fan at all, but Jeter is currently 11th all-time in hits. Two more productive seasons and he will get to fourth all-time in hits. He has a fairly decent chance of ending up third on the all-time list.

Short of an extraneous factor like a steroid taint or a gambling link, I can't see any way in the world that a guy that high on the hit list would be anything other than an overwhelming first-ballot inductee.

Very true. ;)

My 2 Cents
 

I've been to every Nationals Spring training since 2005. Over the years, the team has gotten much worse, then much better. At the beginning, the place (Viera) was jammed because of the novelty; for several years it was quiet and empty, and now its busy as hell.

From what I've seen, the ebb and flow of the crowds is almost entirely opportunist re-sellers, dealers or not. This year, the autograph gatherers have set up a lawn chair gauntlet that players are literally forced to pass through when leaving the practice fields behind the stadium. for each of the last 3 years, we've been increasingly bombarded by people in other teams' gear asking us where Strasburg, Werth, Harper, Gio, Zimmerman, and any of several other players. They routinely held huge binders with cards of multiple teams and players. They did not know anything abut the player, except whose autograph was the most valuable and salable. Some did not even know the players' first names, just last name and number.

We've seen parents with massive binders launching kids with balls and cards into crowds to get someone to sign it, only to have the kid get yelled at for not being aggressive enough if somehow she/he failed.

I've half-jokingly suggested that everyone should have to register and disclose their eBay ID if they want to get autographs, so that the players would know who is more likely getting a signature for themselves or for resale.

I've also said that if every player would sign everything in sight, multiples, of anything, and make the supply so vast that demand could never catch up, then the problem would largely go away. Last week, I saw Gio Gonzalez, on several occasions, stop and sign literally everything stuck in front of him, for nearly an hour each time. he says its "part of his job," but that was way beyond any reasonable expectation. I still think flooding the market is the safest way for these guys to go, but I'm no economist.

The way it is now, legitimate fans who want the personal memento of a player by the interactive experience of a in-person autograph are being swamped by the growing hordes of re-sellers, and many real fans are being soured by the experience of trying to get the special, memorable moment when an idol or a hero or favorite does you the favor of shring a memento. Pity.

If a player's attitude is I don't want my signature sold, that's fine and I respect that. But then don't turn around and sell your signature to Steiner. Because then all you're really saying is that I want to be the one making the money. And if you're a professional athlete upset that regular people may or may not sell whatever it is you just wrote your name on, you need to take a look around and become just a little bit more self aware of the position you're in.

Speaking of Jeter...Last night I picked up a shadowbox from Michael's and put this together....

+1

Good for him.
It is part of his job.

I disagree. Show me in any baseball contract where it says "must sign autographs for XX amount of time." I'm glad guys like Gio exist (he's the MAN by the way!) but I also understand how guys don't want to sign ALL the time. That said, I believe they SHOULD sign because at the end of the day it's not taking away the millions they are making playing a kids' game, but I wouldn't ever go so far to say as I expect them to sign because it's part of their job because it's not. Quite simply, their job is to play the game of baseball at the highest competetive level, win games and not get into trouble off the field.

+1...I'm looking at you Dr. Mike.

Gio
 

I love Gio, he is by far one of th nicest/kindest human being I have ever met, regardless of him being a ball player. He loves interacting with the fans, and just an absolute caring person. We need more Gio's, not just in baseball, but in life. Reminds me of Puckett from when I was growing up, always interacting and caring about the fans. Truly a class act

i don't believe this. seems like something frank robinson would say, tho.

It is not technically part of his job but it is something that a decent ball player would take the time to do, knowing how people feel about him. If he wants to eliminate the obvious profit makers that is his choice but the average fan is not trying to make money from his signature.
The players should realize how much it does mean to the people who are paying the freight and at least a modest accommodation would be the right thing to do.

Now this I totally agree with. Good people tend to do good things for others.

In the "This sums it up about Jeter and 3000" thread, Exhibitman made some very intelligent comments that I strongly agree with. The parts I think are specifically relevant to this thread are in bold...

Right on.

George Foreman is a good example of someone who doesn't want greedy people to just turn around and sell but still wants his fans to have his autograph.

He has an address you can send in your own photo, or request a photo that he provides, to be autographed. He marks down your name and address and tries to limit the autographs to one per person. He generally only signs with a personalization. It's a compromise so people who are his fans get an autograph that says "To bob," but if bob's a fan and isnt looking to resell it, i dont think bob minds. If foreman is out in public he personalizes also, but he signs when he can he just says that it has to be personalized and he does it in a nice way.

i dont know of anyone who is disgusted at george foreman for doing it this way, and i have never heard from someone who has criticized Foreman for being a jerk about signing autographs. He reads and answers his own emails from fans too.