Pete Rose -- The Autograph King?
 

While Pete set a hits record that'll likely never be broken, is it safe to say he signed more autographs than any other human?

I was happy to get this one last year in Rosemont, IL, where he signed for 90 minutes straight. I was near the last in line, decided to get it at the last minute.

Who else might be in Pete's class in terms of the number of existing autos? Mantle? Anyone else?

Bob Feller was long thought to be the king of most autographs signed, but Rose may have surpassed him in recent years.

Stan Musial sure has a lot of autographs out there.

So does Nolan Ryan.

Lots of Brooks Robinson too

I saw on another thread that Pete Rose cards are worth more without his signature (due to the amount of them).

He is def the auto king of baseball.

I saw someone fork over $500 for him to sign a beat up rookie card -- I thought it was insane. I guess that's the new thing. I saw Joe Montana is charging $900 to do the same on an '81 Topps.

Everyone is charging more now for signing their rookie cards. It's become pretty common at the shows.

I will say, Nolan Ryan truly is a class act. His foundation charges one price for any card you want to send and it costs the same to sign his rookie card as it does for a card printed yesterday.

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Yeah, and Fanatics-exclusive guys are charging amounts that make zero financial sense.

I took advantage of that myself -- you're right, great deal. Got it back in around two months.

As many autos as Pete has penned, I noticed a gigantic uptick in eBay sales yesterday. I had a few Rose signed pieces on my watch list for months, and yesterday all but one of them sold. There were many in which the seller raised the price earlier in the day, and even those sold through.

His sig is as common as it gets, but some of the earlier images Pete signed are seldom-seen (back in his mid 60s crew-cut days). That said, here are the top 10 deceased players that I'd rank as most common...

Feller
Rose
Musial
Spahn
Mantle
Banks
Mathews
Brooks Robinson
Berra
Ford

Probably forgot a couple of obvious ones (Gibson), but those came to mind first. RIP Charlie Hustle

Death always brings this out. Some people, a notable amount, mourn through buying stuff.

I remember Mike Darr autos going for $20-$50+ for almost a week after his death in 2002.

Within a month it was back in the single-digits of cost. Currently you can get one for a buck or two.

What players were the toughest auto to get?

You'd have to specify an era, unless you want names like Candy Cummings, Addie Joss and Jack Chesbro. :eek:

If you mean more modern players, then how about Mike Marshall, who famously refused to sign. And perhaps the best is Rimp Lanier (I can't take credit for that one.... my buddy Mike K. clued me into him). He might be the ultimate "cup of coffee" guy... look him up!

Seems like Joe Jackson is way up there. Modern -- Barry Bonds?

I think the toughest modern guys at the moment are Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, and Tiger Woods.

Brady does do private signings but it's usually something crazy like $1,500 and up. But I think he's probably next to impossible under any other circumstances.

I don't think Jordan or Woods will ever hit the show market. They both did private UDA signings in the past but I think those days are probably never coming around again. Highly doubt you'd ever get them in person either.

Then there are guys I know just don't like signing. Ken Griffey Jr is one. Zach Greinke another. I think Barry Bonds does do private signings once in a while.

Here's a cranky Greinke:

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Agree on Feller, it was said the most rare Feller collectible was one that was not signed.

Also agree Pete may have passed Bob due to his Las Vegas and Cooperstown endeavors.

I don't think Jordan or Woods will ever hit the show market. They both did private UDA signings in the past but I think those days are probably never coming around again. Highly doubt you'd ever get them in person either.

I was lucky enough to get 20+ Jordan autographs in person thru my uncle. One (on a replica rookie jersey) of which PSA deemed "likely not genuine" :D:D:D

Griffey must've done a signing with Mill Creek Sports recently because I know they had a TON of signed UD rookies available. Haven't seen him anywhere else. And yeah, the three GOATs you mentioned definitely don't need the money, so no reason to mingle with the common folk. I did see Peyton Manning last year getting $400 for a sig and $500 for a photo op ... guess he has no problem stacking every last dime.

Pete certainly did sign a lot, but finding his earlier signature is a little more challenging. This is from his rookie year in 1963…

https://photos.imageevent.com/docpat...260B88940.jpeg

What's your favorite one you're still sitting on, Brendan?

Nice! What's that signed on?

Rose
 

I think nobody is close, the guy signed an incredible amount of stuff..for a very long time

I think it would be a toss up, Pete or Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth signed an insane amount of autographs. As far as I know, he didn't charge money to sign, either.

It’s in an autograph album signed by players from the Reds & Colt 45s. Dated to 1963 based on the inclusion of Gene Green who only played for the Reds in 1963.

+1

Tiger Woods
 

I was lucky, moved to Vegas in 1996 had this Baseball signed by Woods at a Bar Restaurant opening. 1996.Have a photo of him signing the Baseball. Went to his Restaurant in Fl. Left the photo to be signed, no luck with that though. Never returned.

If my math is correct, Feller signed for 74 years, Rose just 61! Rose is close but Feller was a signing machine. He signed so fast, he acquired the nickname "Rapid Robert". :D

I’d think the demand for Pete’s signature was significantly higher than Feller’s since the hobby/show circuit took off in the ‘80s. It’s probably a close race.

Are you folks blind? Read up on how much Babe Ruth signed.

tough to compare different eras like that...imo. Autographs...cards...sports "collectibles" weren't highly valued back in babes day...like they are today.

Can you provide the Cliffs Notes for us?

Here's one example. By all accounts, he did this on a daily basis FOR YEARS! And not just baseballs, but basically everything that people sent to him. And again, he DIDN'T CHARGE A FEE to do it!

That’s a great pic!

We've had discussions here in the past about this...if Babe Ruth signed literally thousands of baseballs, photos, cards, etc., why then are these things so expensive today? The answer we are left with is, because it's Babe Ruth.

Ruth signed a ton, but only made it to his early 50's.

Feller lived nearly twice that long and was part of the card show and insert card boom. He rarely charged more than a few bucks an autograph, whereas Rose's price was a fair amount higher. Feller would also try to sell stacks of pre-signed pieces which he'd bring to shows and signings and would drastically drop the price if you bought in bulk! On top of everything else, Feller often did free signings at events where he was paid a flat rate by whoever was hosting the event, so even more stuff was signed because nobody turns down "free". Rose seemed to shy away from doing those sorts of events for many years.

TL; DR Ruth died too young to hold the title. Rose lived to 83 but charged more than Feller, who lived to 92. Feller is the king by far.

783. Infelleribility
The oft-heard quip that whenever you run across anything Bob Feller related, it is virtually guaranteed that the piece will have his autograph on it.


On a side note, that famous Babe picture (it's odd to talk about a pic of a babe and the subject is a man, but I digress) is just a staged photo op with the piles of boxes and everything, so it's possible he only signed (or pretended to sign) a single baseball. Just saying.

I love Bob Feller and Pete Rose. I met Bob Feller when he visited my ship, USS Independence CV-62. He was awesome. Both were prolific signers. But Bob Feller and Pete Rose could have lived to be 200 years old and they wouldn't have signed as much as Babe Ruth, in my opinion. The preponderance of evidence makes that very clear. There are just too many recountings by too many people that state the insane volumes of stuff that Babe Ruth signed.

I'd bet Pete signed more autos than any other ballplayer. He was a signing machine and would sign anything you wanted for the right $$.

Rose signed way more than Bob Feller. He certainly has signed more cards than he had base hits.

Looks like the type of small autograph book I got in junior high school in the 70s for end of year signatures.

Have to disagree. Rose planted himself in Vegas in public and signed for a conga line of visitors for years.

Rose made signing a full time job for nearly a 40 year retirement.

I can personally vouch for Tiger Woods being a very difficult signature. This was from about 11 years ago and was only signed after he grumbled that he believed the ball would be immediately turned around and sold on eBay. Only after the head of his agency told him he had to sign it, did he relent.

PS anyone who wants to buy it, make me an offer as I would want Tiger to be right on this one.

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even in the mid 70's Feller was a fast signer. When I met him at a home run derby he pitched between games of a double header he started with a stack of page sized printed pictures with career highlights on the back. Probably about 2000 of them. I was one of the last kids to go up, shy even though he was sitting in the stands. Got a couple pictures and a piece of paper for dads autograph book, and ended up talking pitching for a bit (I had no idea just how cool that was until later) by the time he said he had to go keep the grownups happy the stack of pictures was gone. Many of them made into paper planes and thrown around and off the top of the stadium.
He didn't even mind that, it was just kids being kids,

Not getting paid for it I'd go with Feller and in another sport Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull were the kings of signing for free.

You might think of him right away but I bet Denny McClain signed almost as much as Pete Rose. He would set up his own table at just about every show I ever saw a flyer for over at least two decades. many times he would be signing for free if he made a deal with the promoter.

You can bring up all these other guys and how much they signed. Form all the opinions you like; that is what makes the world go round. But from what I have read and seen, Ruth signed so much stuff, playing days and afterward, even after nights of carousing, that it boggles the mind. Waite Hoyt, who was one of the Babe's best friend, was astounded by it. Hundreds of items signed daily, then a small army to deliver it all to the post office. Every day. For decades. I kindly refer you to this, once again. Show me anyone else in a photo like this.

"Even though experts estimate that he has signed over 600,000 autographs in his time, there is still a great deal of interest in his autograph. It is also estimated that he signed about 9,000 baseballs a year. You have to remember that many of those signatures were lost, destroyed and damaged. His agent, Christy Walsh, said that in one barnstorming trip alone, Ruth signed 6,000 baseballs."

Jim - cool Ruth photos, but those are almost certainly publicity photos carefully choreographed by his publicist. Could have posed for the photo, signed 5 balls, click click click, and walked out to meet a female admirer in the lobby. (Do you think Marilyn Monroe stood over subway grates very often?) Of course I don't know that. Ruth signed a ton of stuff. Of course. But he died at age 53. Rose lived to be 83. 30 more years. . . . . 11,000 more days on earth. 11,000 days where his full time job was sitting in public places as often as he could and signing everything under the sun. Rose was literally signing stuff THE DAY HE DIED!

I will put my money on Rose.

...and as already noted, Feller lived 9 more years than Rose and in my estimation signed even more.

Goudey wasn't sending Ruth 10,000 plastic stickers to sign every month, either.

I do not know if he did shows but he had a company that he marketed his autographs and memorabila through. I do not think he ever made more than $100,000 a year playing. But if you met him anywhere in St Louis he would sign for free....and play the harmonica too

You're wrong on this Steve. Don't want to get into argument about it. The facts, as they say in court, are the facts. None of these people signed as much as Ruth. Just a fact. And no, that photo was not staged for publicity purposes, rather, as an example of what Ruth did on a daily basis, as evidenced by a great number of people. You'll just have to believe what you want, and ignore the facts. I can't get through to you.