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Old 04-01-2020, 09:52 AM
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Tyler Smith
Tyler Sm.ith
 
Join Date: Dec 2015
Posts: 1,026
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I get both sides of it. I once worked with a guy who got a cup of coffee with the yankees and we talked about autograph signings. He had a really nice signature now but all his bowman autos were basically his initials and lines. He explained that signing 10,000 cards for a card company can for one be really time consuming and two that none of the collectors tended to care (I do but just look at any of the breaks on youtube and you'll see people going nuts when they pull open a Zion, Ja, or Barrett auto which are all look terrible). He then pointed out that at the ballpark a lot of guys want to sign for as many kids as possible and they would focus on quantity vs quality. Looking at Mike Trout's auto I can see his point.

He also noticed that even older players who used to have beautiful signatures have deteriorated over the course of their careers as they were requested to sign more and more autographs (e.g. Ripken) and that most players that started in the 90's or later have never been in a time where autographs weren't in high demand and therefore had bad signatures from the get go.

I like the idea of players who have two signatures and I would probably due something of the same. Particularly for card companies. If I were to sign 10,000 prospect cards, they would likely be quick and dirty but if it were for some type of more limited product I would take more time... I think this might be another reason why you see such a differential between the autos pulled out of topps products from the current and future players and the old timers who often only sign in limited numbers.
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