Ichiro Autographs
 

Does anyone know what to look for?

I see a lot of 'jumbled messes' - many different 'jumbled messes'.

I'm trying collect all living Hall-of-Famers and try to get them before they are elected, but I don't want to pay big money for anything like these:

His auto from 2001 when he first came over from japan was a lot better. You should look for his early signature.

You can find earlier ones. Mill Creek still does private signings. you will get the same signature you posted but on whatever you choose to send them. If you search a long time you might be able to find one he signed before the US. I have a very near I. Suzuki very neatly signed in a 1993 Hawaii Baseball league yearbook and a card signed while he was on Orix Blue Wave but it took me years to find them. His sweetspot signed card from 2002 might be your best bet https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ichiro-Suzu...frcectupt=true
There is a 2004 also but signature has deteriorated by then

I could be persuaded to part with this Japanese rookie. PM me if interested:


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/906/2...acabc60057.jpg

It still looks like garbage:)

the rookie card posted is a contemporary autograph, not an early one, great card tho

With Ichiro, the best way to become proficient at recognizing his autograph is to start by studying images of the ones from his first year. Correlate each letter to the letters in his name. It will take a while, but once you can do it, you'll be able to start seeing the transitions of the letters over time. Then you can decide which ones were a hurried mess, and which ones are the better, less hurried examples.

Quick good story. I needed an Ichiro-signed baseball for a display, so I went through the above for a while, then picked out a couple of decent Ichiro-signed balls to put offers on (on ebay). I stopped by an antique mall in Seattle, looking for other stuff, and bam - rookie-year Ichiro-signed baseball for $9.00. It had only four signatures, and the four only played together Ichiro's rookie year. Not the best, but a deal, and it's readable.

So it happens, just not often.

that is much nicer:)

This is an Ichiro rookie year photo signed in Japan about 1996.