What baseball autographs could be considered uncommon

[packs]

I will never understand why someone would care that people are selling their signature. Neil got to walk on the moon. That would be enough for some people.

[3and2]

Collecting autographs from World Series teams are popular. Every team has guys that played marginally and are very difficult to find/collect.

For example, I'm a huge Mets fan. I have a team signed photo of the entire 1986 team minus reliever Randy Myers. Every time I look at the photo my eyes go right to him and I cringe. I'd probably pay a 100 bucks for him to sign it. Problem is he never signs at shows. If anyone knows of him signing somewhere please let me know. I've been scouring the Internet for 2 years now.

[MacDice]

Originally Posted by 3and2

Collecting autographs from World Series teams are popular. Every team has guys that played marginally and are very difficult to find/collect.

For example, I'm a huge Mets fan. I have a team signed photo of the entire 1986 team minus reliever Randy Myers. Every time I look at the photo my eyes go right to him and I cringe. I'd probably pay a 100 bucks for him to sign it. Problem is he never signs at shows. If anyone knows of him signing somewhere please let me know. I've been scouring the Internet for 2 years now.

Randy for a long time was coaching women's basketball at Clark College in Vancouver, WA. In the past he was very active in fundraising, you might try and contact the school and see if for a donation they could help you acquire his signature. Or he also has a foundation http://www.todayfoundation.com/

[JimStinson]

Walk on the moon ? When did that happen ? Neil Armstrong ? isn't that the guy that was in that simulated lunar landing film they shot in Hollywood back in 1969 ?

[earlywynnfan]

Originally Posted by packs

I will never understand why someone would care that people are selling their signature. Neil got to walk on the moon. That would be enough for some people.

So you're saying he should spend, what, an hour, two hours, five hours a day opening packages, signing his name, packaging back up, and mailing all this stuff so it can go to someone who ebays it and makes a pile of money?? This is how a man in his 80's should spend his life? "He walked on the moon 40 years ago, so he should gladly be in the public's debt for the rest of his life."

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

[packs]

Who said anything about signing autographs full time. I'm talking about the sentiment behind not signing autographs because you think people will sell them. So what if they do? Why does that matter to you? Sign an autograph when you have time, don't worry about what happens to it after.

[prewarsports]

I agree on Armstrong. I think I would get pretty sick of it too. I think I would sign freely but insist on personalizing them so they would be tougher sells or something to the dealer to discourage anyone from asking for pure monetary gain.

[Mr. Zipper]

Originally Posted by packs

Who said anything about signing autographs full time. I'm talking about the sentiment behind not signing autographs because you think people will sell them. So what if they do? Why does that matter to you? Sign an autograph when you have time, don't worry about what happens to it after.

I think you may be underestimating the amount of requests he would get. Hundreds per week. Maybe more at times. It must have been a part time job just signing and returning items.

And then he learns many of them are insincere requests from people lying in attempts to get more, more, more.

Greed killed the goose laying the golden egg.

The man served in combat and then went on to risk his life for anther 15 years in service to his country. And he probably earned in his life less than what Derek Jeter earns in one season.

I think he's earned the right to enjoy his life doing what he wants without dealing with mountains of fan mail from strangers, many of whom are just looking to make a quick buck.

[travrosty]

he could make a ton of dough by just setting up his own web site and selling like brett favre does, so i dont think not making jeter type money is part of the equation.

he wants to be known as one of those difficult signers. he doesnt have to sign through the mail, but to refuse on the street, i dont get it. muhammad ali doesnt have that problem.

The speaker of the house of the united states asked armstrong for his autograph, and he turned her down. hardly seems like a scam attempt.

He wants to be known as a difficult signer. It gives him a sense of power, like it does mike marshall, and like it did bill russell. russell eventually gave in when enough money was involved.

If armstrong is concerned about unscrupulous people making money off of his autograph, the solution is to sign more, not less. the more things are worth, the more they are forged.

[drc]

From what I read, Armstrong both didn't like seeing his autograph selling for so much on the secondary market (him signing for someone else's profit and the money as motive that sickens many people about the hobby) and all the forgeries-- so he quit the whole process. At least that's what I read.

If he doesn't want to sign, that's his choice and fine by me. We live a free country.

[David Atkatz]

Armstrong doesn't owe anyone anything. It should be up to him whether he signs or not.

Ballplayers (and all other entertainers), on the other hand, do owe the fans--the ones who pay their outlandish salaries, and make it possible for them to become ungodly rich while playing a child's game.

[collectbaseball]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

Armstrong doesn't owe anyone anything. It should be up to him whether he signs or not.

Ballplayers (and all other entertainers), on the other hand, do owe the fans--the ones who pay their outlandish salaries, and make it possible for them to become ungodly rich while playing a child's game.

I honestly don't think anybody owes anybody anything... if a guy doesn't want to sign, he doesn't want to sign.

But, just for the record, it's not like Armstrong's salary wasn't financed by you or people like you (not to mention cost of developing the technologies that enabled him to do what he did).

[Mr. Zipper]

Originally Posted by travrosty

he could make a ton of dough by just setting up his own web site and selling like brett favre does, so i dont think not making jeter type money is part of the equation.

he wants to be known as one of those difficult signers. he doesnt have to sign through the mail, but to refuse on the street, i dont get it. muhammad ali doesnt have that problem.

The speaker of the house of the united states asked armstrong for his autograph, and he turned her down. hardly seems like a scam attempt.

He wants to be known as a difficult signer. It gives him a sense of power, like it does mike marshall, and like it did bill russell. russell eventually gave in when enough money was involved.

If armstrong is concerned about unscrupulous people making money off of his autograph, the solution is to sign more, not less. the more things are worth, the more they are forged.

I completely disagree. If he wanted to be known as a difficult signer, why sign for over 35 years?

Read his authorized biography. He has a very structured way of looking at things. If he says no to Joe Blow, he says no to the speaker of the house. It's that simple. He's happy to shake your hand or pose for a photo like you are old pals... but no autographs.

When Apollo 11 returned, Charles Lindbergh imparted one bit of advice on the crew -- don't answer autograph requests because they will want more and more and it will never end. Collins listened, Armstrong and Aldrin did not.

Unlike Armstrong, Aldrin embraced fame and commercial opportunity.

[Exhibitman]

Several of the astronauts have commercial sites where you can pay for an autograph. If Armstrong doesn't like his signature sold by third parties, join the others and cut out the middleman. Give the proceeds to a pet charity if the filthy lucre aspect is repulsive. It just seems a shame to waste all of that potential good.