Why Autographs?

[JimH5]

Autographs are simple, they're small, they can last a couple hundred years, each one is unique, they can be beautiful, and every one represents a single moment in the signer's life. It truly is captured history, and each one is personal, by it being an autograph.

My mom was pregnant with my youngest sister in the spring of 1971, and her OB/GYN appointments were in sync with those of Marty Pattin's wife.

I was 8, and she returned from a doctor appointment with a McCarthy postcard signed to me from Marty Pattin, and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

When I went to those early Brewers games, there were 6000-25000 people in the stands and I was sure I was one of the only ones whose mom knew Marty Pattin's wife!

So now I'm 50, and am reminiscing about something that happened when I was 8. It was a powerful enough event for me, and I think part of it for me is to recapture some of that, or when I buy vintage pieces, to recognize how much of a big deal it probably was to the collector in his day.

Amateur psychology aside, a beautiful signature, matted with a fine photograph of the signer looks tremendous on the wall.

[travrosty]

i like to collect boxing autographs because it's just fun. its fun to see all the different circumstances in which someone signed. a letter, a postcard, something signed on the day of a big fight. lots of different circumstances compared to a card, which is the same.

[MooseDog]

I think like most, I started collecting cards.

My mom took me to Disneyland, I think when I was about 10 or 11 and we stayed at the Grand Hotel in Anaheim. One day returning from the park I noticed there was a small group of people, mostly teens, and two old men standing around the entrance. A guy in a suit came out and they all went over to get his autograph.

Curious, when I saw them later I asked one of the teens what they were doing. This might have been one of the most fortuitous moments of my life as that young man was Richard Masson, who would later become one of my first autograph "friends" and mentors. He gave me some 3x5s and a pen and I hung out with them and got a few of the Detroit Tigers, most of whom I had to ask. I do recall recognizing Norm Cash and Mickey Lolich. But nowhere in sight was my favorite non-A's player, Al Kaline.

One of the old guys was Max Schrager, who was one of the few autograph "dealers" around at the time. I got to know Max a little too, but just as a buyer.

To a baseball crazy kid, this was like heaven. You could actually meet the players up close. Some would even talk baseball.

When we got back home, I tried to figure out where the visiting players stayed in Oakland. This turned out to be relatively easy, as there was an Edgewater Inn van parked in the players parking lot.

So from there I advanced to TTM autographs once I found out about the Jack Smalling address book. It was great to get autographs, pictures and letters from those old-time players.

So, instead of cars and girls I ended up spending the bulk of my teen years hanging out at the Edgewater and the Coliseum.

I think for me the personal connection was part of the appeal, but what really got me was the handwriting styles, especially once I got Charlie Gehringer's autograph. I mean a work of art!

I still like looking at old handwriting, even faded and tattered

[MooseDog]

Deleted. Duplicate Post.

[mschwade]

Originally Posted by JimH5

Amateur psychology aside, a beautiful signature, matted with a fine photograph of the signer looks tremendous on the wall.

+1000 The exact reason why 3x5's are still my preference.