Fernando Valenzuela Secretarial?

[Kaneen]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

FWIW, I'm not sure that I agree with the observation that secretarial Fernando autographs exhibit the long tail below the signature.

When I lived in So Cal I managed to get Fernando's autograph 3 times in the wild.
For your consideration, please see the attached photo of the autograph that he signed for me at the LA Open at Riviera CC in Pacific Palisades, CA in the early-mid 1990's.

OT, so sad about the fires in LA. RIP to the 16 people that died in the fires.

I spotted Fernando and his son walking in to watch the tournament and managed to get this autograph on my golf periscope.
To say that he was a reluctant signer is the understatement of the year, but I did get it as the result of some serious begging from my close friend when I initially got rebuffed.

Note the long tales
I wouldn't necessarily subscribe to the theory that secretarial Fernando autographs were the only ones that had this characteristic.

RIP Fernando, one of the great characters in the MLB.

Hey Scott, congrats on landing that signature! I did not mean to imply that Fernando himself never drops some "tails" below the line of his signature. However, what I would point out is that when he does, the pronounced tail is typically on the "l" (next to last letter) and not on the "z." And it is typically a straight vertical line and not a long swooping curved tail. Your signature does have a slight tail on the z, but you'll notice it is a straight line. I've never seen an in person signature with the long, loopy tail on the z, and I've very rarely ever seen a TTM signature without it. Of course I haven't seen every in person signature he ever signed, so sure...there could be some anomalies or exceptions. The formation of the "F" in yours (and other confirmed IP examples) is markedly different from the TTM secretarials as well.