Is full name autograph more rare?

[shelly]

By far. Mickey Charels Mantle is 1200 to 1550. Most players today cant do it. It takes a lot of practice.Theadore Samuel Williams another 1200 ball. Full name is the only way to go if they will sign that way. Just think. Ten thousand Mantles and one full name.

[Clark7781]

I agree that full name autographs are rare, especially for players no longer with us. A few years ago I asked Whitey Ford to sign a ball for me with "Edward Charles 'Whitey' Ford." I also have a "Gary Edmund Carter" ball in my collection.

[cjedmonton]

Thankfully, The Chairman of the Board is still with us:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitey_Ford

[thecatspajamas]

I can only imagine that most of today's players would have difficulty even signing their full name in the first place. They're so used to crapping out those "glyphs" they call signatures, and now they have to somehow insert their middle name in there? Seems like it would completely change things up for most of them, and I would bet that more than a few would flat out refuse rather than go to the extra trouble. Old-time players or those with signatures that are actually legible might be more amenable since it wouldn't require them to somehow alter that "logo" they call a signature.

Then again, they could just as easily add another squiggle and say, "There you go, now that's my full name," and who could say otherwise?

[dapro]

Cool, just added a full name autographed baseball to my collection. It is just something different.