Racking Autographs during the Golden Era?
 

As the game changes, so does the players. For me...getting an autograph has become more of a chore vs. a thrill. Mainly due to the attitudes of players...even at single A minor league level.

During the Golden Era of baseball there was a certain level of gratitude towards the fans & interaction. But--I'm sure they had a breaking point right?

I saw this picture of Jackie and decided to have some photoshop fun with it....You think Jackie would of signed all of those RCs for that kid? Any one ever heard of signing habits of players back in the day? How long or often they would sign for?


http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/n...psau6fy72z.jpg

I used to go to the hotels 1966-68 to get autographs. I do not think we ever asked the player for more than one at a time and it didn't matter if we were getting a yearbook, autograph book or card. My son and I collected at spring training and we would do up to a page of 8 for a player but never more than one of a particular card and let them choose how many they would sign. Others there would give stacks of up to 50. If they got to a player first sometimes after doing the 50 the player wouldn't have time for anyone else.

Good topic! I used to go to Fenway in the early '90's and it was pretty easy to obtain autographs. Now it's a farce. People shoving and pushing, players and their mostly surly attitudes.

Also, probably doesn't help these days that kids refer to the players by number. "Hey 22 over here!"

When Jeff Frey played for the Red Sox many people mistook him for Scott Fletcher... calling him Scott, Mr. Fletcher, etc. I knew it was Frye and yelled Mr, Frye will you sign? He came right over and told me he appreciated that I knew who he was!!

I don't blame the players a bit. The problem is with the fans and not the players usually. The last autograph I ever got was in 2003. I was 17 and at an Indians game. They were playing the Angels and Tim Salmon was signing during pregame. I was a little embarrassed because I thought I was too old to get a player's auto. I was dismayed as I saw a guy in his mid 50's that had a album full of Salmon cards to sign. He was literally elbowing 10 year olds so some guy 20 years his junior could sign 10 cards for him. That experience was so disgusting I don't think I'll ever ask for an auto ever again. Growing up I got hundreds of autographs and only had one bad experience ever and that was Walter Payton... total jerk. To me it's pretty clear though that it's the fans causing most of the issues by hounding players wherever they are.

at spring training you have dads send their disrespectful 10 year old sons to push senior citizens out of the way to get autographs

Now I rarely if ever want an autograph from someone who is younger than me. As I age, that severely limits candidates... :D

Another thing I won't do is wear a jersey with a name on the back of someone who could be my kid. To me, something about a 50 year old guy wearing a jersey with a 20 year old's name on the back is a little weird.

Agreed!

In the past I think most ball players knew someone wanted their auto for their collection, but now almost all of them know the majority of their signatures will end up on the bay. I think that probably drives the player to not want to sign, or could be why so many have such sloppy signatures?