not exactly pre-war, but can someone explain why Mike Witt auto's are so expensive?

[Exhibitman]

I think we will see more and more difficult guys in the future.

1. The money from a career is so good that many of them have no need to pimp themselves out to make a living. A lot of the old time players made only a decent wage and had to generate income, a void that card shows filled nicely.

2. The degree of insulation that a ballplayer has from every day life as a result of the money and the way they travel and train means that the younger ones never develop a taste or respect for fan interactions. Players increasingly live and operate completely removed from fans. If they don't find fan interaction--ballpark encounters, spring training meetings, public relations appearances, fan mail responses--to be part of their job good luck convincing them to do something for fans after they retire.

3. The fact that we care indirectly creates its own disincentive to signing. I can appreciate that some people find the whole money-autograph-marketing thing to be distasteful and don't want to participate in it (at least until the money is too good to pass up or the cause is so good that they feel bad saying no).