...when you could still read their name
 

disclaimer: this isn't a 'beautiful early autographs' thread

Post 'before and after' autograph pics of players whose autographs changed.

Here's an oddity - Mike Schmidt's 1973 autograph, and his 'modern' one. His might have actually gotten better :eek: (the first one is real, as I got it in person, the second one - I have no idea :))

I posted a very similar thread about a year ago, with the same results.

I have to wonder (please PM me if you have the answer and don't feel comfortable posting publicly)....am I treading on territory that is politically hazardous for board members to respond to?

Guy buys a signed Gary Gaetti card from me that I got in person (looks like the 87 Topps below, then says "this is a forgery, I know Gary and he didn't sign this".

I emailed him back and said fine, no problem, but I think his signature changed for some reason and sent him a scan of a certified insert card I found online.

Guy emails me back and says "OK, I talked to Gary and he did change it".

Still don't know why...

More interesting question is if you have Gary Gaetti on speed dial, why are you trying to buy signed cards of his online?

I don't think the guy was trying to buy the card - he was just flaming the seller.

But this sheds light on why no one's posting - too much controversy over autographs that have changed over the years. I was hoping someone would post an early Mantle, but those who own them are probably afraid they might be forgeries. Just guessing.

LOL those were my thoughts, exactly!

The story as told to me is that around 1988 Gary found religion, changed his hard attitude/partying ways, and changed his signature as well. If you ask him to sign with his old signature he will. Or at least he did a few years back.

Like Schmidt, Kirby Puckett's signature became better looking with time as well.

But he bought it, and demanded a refund after. Seems like a lot of work to trash a seller.

I have a pretty extensive Kennedy collection. Here's a progression from 1956, to 1958 to the 1960 campaign trail (except these got worse with time):

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ps180a9b03.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ps8b985073.jpg
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ps2852c059.jpg

What got me to thinking about this was the 1981 Negro Leagues reunion ball in the current Huggins & Scott auction. Willie Mays actually signed his name upside-down, and mostly on top of another signature. Really ridiculous. I compared the Mays signature to his older ones from the '60s, and to his current ones. Mays went from signing readably to signing barely-recognizably, to signing incredibly mediocre.

I always have my eyes open for team-signed balls from pre-1970 teams that I was interested in, and every now and then I'll see one where players from a '60s team, signed a ball more recently. Boy is there a world of difference. I wouldn't own a ball where I couldn't read the majority of the signatures.

I have a few examples in my database where the signature was the same over a 25-30 year period and others that are so different that collectors would think they were forgeries. Here is one example: Mark Spitz. The first one was signed in 1969, possible in person at the University of Indiana. The second one is the more familiar signature. Signed 1996 at a Sears in Framingham, MA.

There is pride and there is lazy. In todays world it seems to be just lazy.

He changed his signature, probably because someone told him, no one recognizes this signature.

Just saw an interview with Arnold Palmer, last week at his tournament. His Grandson, I think it's his grandson was signing autographs when he joined the golf tour. Arnie says "Why are you signing something no one can read or know who signed?" With that, Sam his grandson starting signing his signature so that you can actually see who signed.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Joe

Think about your own signature. In my 20s and 30s it was pretty precise and legible. Over time mine has morphed a bit. Now I'm 58 and it's lazy and sloppy. I generally leave off the last letter of my first name and the last two letters of the last name. Replaced with a kind of lazy slash. I also can remember a few times when I was so drunk or hungover that it was surprising the bank even cleared my check!

+100 LOL :p

Maybe because as a friend he felt awkward asking him for an autograph. Players have so many people the try to "leach" off of them that he does not want to appear that the friendship is just based upon the fact that he is a former baseball player. I have purchased autograph items on eBay myself rather than asking a friend to sign something.

I know this is not baseball related, but I had just wondered about this last week when at the antique show I was scrounging through an antique dealers ephemera box and found a Deanna Durbin autograph for $3.50...a little card is attached to it that says it was acquired in the 1940s at the State Theatre in Cleveland. I looked at Ebay to compare the sigs and it looks nothing like what she signs now. When I bought it I didn't even think she was still alive, but she's still around. Would someone fake her autograph? Anyone know what her sig looked like 70 years ago?

edited to add: If you look at this link it appears her autograph has changed so many times that I'm not sure it would be possible to authenticate it.

http://www.deannadurbindevotees.com/...bin-autographs

Early Mantle's -1956,1951,1952

How about ole' TSW?

By the way, when did he change over to the style we're all familiar with?

Ken

You think that's something - check out this signature from singer Belinda Carlisle! And this is a check, a legal document - not a quick scribble hastily done for a fan.

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3257/...0bdd7399_z.jpg
(Personal information deleted from image for security purposes.)

Does anyone find that their signature is similar to a parent or sibling? I have the same first name as my father, and we sign it almost identical. The first time he watched me do it he thought I was trying to mimic him and he got a little upset. I had to assure him it was natural.

my signature is identical to my fathers as well

Too lazy to pull out examples but Cal Ripken Jr, clearly either copied or was heavily influenced by his dad's signature.