Please sign Mr Jeter - NY Times article about collecting Jeter in Fla

[packs]

Spring Training is definitely a whole different animal in terms of the number of dealers walking around. I don't know why, but most of the dealers walk around with binders of cards they're trying to get signed, not baseball after baseball. They are easy to spot, and guess what? Avoid if you're a player. The dealer thing is BS to me.

I love Spring Training because it allows you to get a lot of insight into the type of person players are. There are plenty of camps where you were barely separated from them, like Dodgertown or the old Winter Haven camp for the Indians. Of the players I've been around, I'd say Miguel Cabrera, Curtis Granderson, Pudge and Jason Giambi were the best.

[BigJJ]

Circa late 1980s, I remember Rickey Henderson on crutches at spring training, seeing me and a group of other kids standing by a gate seeking autographs, and he hobbled a half block over on crutches to sign for us.

[dgo71]

Originally Posted by packs

Spring Training is definitely a whole different animal in terms of the number of dealers walking around. I don't know why, but most of the dealers walk around with binders of cards they're trying to get signed, not baseball after baseball. They are easy to spot, and guess what? Avoid if you're a player. The dealer thing is BS to me.

You couldn't be more wrong. I go to ST every year and I have stacks and stacks of cards with me and I never sell a single one. I get multiples signed for the occassional trade, but also because I spend over a grand each year on the trip and would like more than 15 signatures to show for my time and money. Not to mention any "dealer" will tell you there is no money in signed cards. People want photos, baseballs, equipment to sell.

Hmmm...so if you, as a collector and avid hobbyist cannot tell the difference between a fellow collector and a dealer, maybe Jeter (or any other athlete) can't either.

[packs]

Jeeze I don't know what to tell you. I don't know why the dealers carry around their binders either since I feel the same way you do, signed cards aren't big sellers. Here's what I do see though, the guys with the binders trying to get 10 autographs while every around them is trying to get one. You brought up how much your trip costs you and wanting something to show for the money. You might not sell your cards, but that's a dealer mentality.

[dgo71]

Originally Posted by packs

You might not sell your cards, but that's a dealer mentality.

Well, I disagree but I definitely see where you're coming from. The difference in my mind is if the guy signs 10 great, and if he signs 1, that's great too. I come prepared for multiples but at the end of the day I'm happy with what I get and I don't push, shove, yell out rude comments, etc. In fact, I've gotten to know several guys in the minors just by striking up conversation with them while they sign.

I guess my whole point of contention here is that making generalizations is usually dangerous, and there seems to be a lot of generalizations being made in this thread.

Originally Posted by packs

the guys with the binders trying to get 10 autographs while every around them is trying to get one.

I think it's up to the player. If the player is willing to sign ten, and in the process not shut out 5 other people, then so be it. You have to have some common sense, if it's a rush thing and you know the guy wants to get everyone, put out one item. If the guy is standing around talking and signing whatever, give him whatever. Sometimes I have 10 different cards of a guy, and I usually try to get as many different cards done as possible like someone else mentioned. But I won't jump in front of someone with one item, I usually try to go last. End of the day, as long as you're polite to the player and the fans around you, it shouldn't bother anybody.

[HRBAKER]

I don't think that the majority of the players understand the "hoarder" mentality. To them a guy with 8 cards on a board with photo corners is a seller. The ones that sign them all don't care. I can see where they are coming from. I do understand your POV as well. I have collected signed cards for years, have nearly 20,000 of them. I accumulated them to trade for others. I started out with ttm in the early 80's.

[dgo71]

Absolutely right HRBaker. I don't understand the hoarder mentality myself half the time, LOL. People ask me why I collect stuff and I just say it's what we (collectors) do...we amass stuff. But yeah, not only do players not understand the hoarding and trading aspects, they also have no clue what their signature is really worth, which in most cases is nothing. A lot of players see a certified, #'d to 100 insert auto on eBay for big bucks and think that's what ALL their signed cards go for, when that's very far from the truth.

The "50/50" and trading aspect...most players are amazed that there are forums like this one where collectors can meet all over the world and help each other. 95% of the players upon hearing this are immediately cool and sign whatever you have. I've been able to help a lot of folks by explaining this side of collecting to the players.

[theshleps]

The first few years I used to buy every obscure minor league card of every coach, etc and have 8 different cards of some minor league coach that never made the majors. It would take a month to go through rosters, buy cards off beckett and ebay as well as sets, etc. If I didn't have 100 cards signed in a day it was a bad day. It was quantity that mattered. As time went on instead of loading up on those same guys again I cut down but it was hard to let a guy walk by without getting him on something so until a few years ago I tried to have at least one card to get signed on everyone as well as all the minor league team sets for minor league spring training where I would do 10 days in late March. Last year I wasn't agressive and was more apathetic. I wanted to get Pujols on a picture of him and my son. I almost got thrown over getting him and he signed in blue sharpie on hs black shirt (if you tilt it in the right direction you can see it was signed). I met my goal though.
If you only concentrated on stars you could be shut out and get no one so this way it was more productive.
Our stuff takes up quite alot of room and we are trying to drastically downsize but it would take the rest of my life to list the items on ebay and I never intended on selling.
Alot of us "older guys" are packing it in as the cons of doing it outweigh the pros. I'd rather concentrate on my vintage collection.
When my son batboyed for Team USA and Frank Robinson was manager half the players on the team never knew that Frank had once played. My son might be happier if I get Pablo Sandoval than Elmer Flick but at least he knows who Elmer is.
My son when he worked at fall league would come home at the end of the season with 30 incredibly stinky hats and 20 pairs of stinky cleats and sometimes he had no clue who wore what. At least we got rid of some of that

[HRBAKER]

Derek can't either so the default position is that they all are and the little kids are runners. Sadly he'd be right as much as wrong IMO. You choose to spend XXX on a trip to Spring Training as I did, I had to measure it in terms of enjoyment not how many autos I got. The number continued to decrease every year as the crowds got larger and the players less and less compliant.

[Exhibitman]

Given the ridiculous and dehumanizing nature of the autograph chase I think I'd rather just watch the game and enjoy my day then pick up a certified autographed card on Ebay.

One slight defense of DJ: in the article the person being the total flaming a-hole was actually the attendant telling the crowd the rules and insulting the crap out of them. Not necessarily even Jeter's bobo. I've been in other situations where an overzealous 'Paul Blart' security type takes the perceived power overboard. Of course, if I was Yankees management the worker in question would get a hell of a talking to and there would be significant 'or else' policies set for further fan interactions. Jeter may be free to alienate the customers but not the team's parking lot attendants.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Given the ridiculous and dehumanizing nature of the autograph chase I think I'd rather just watch the game and enjoy my day
One slight defense of DJ: in the article the person being the total flaming a-hole was actually the attendant telling the crowd the rules and insulting the crap out of them. Not necessarily even Jeter's bobo. I've been in other situations where an overzealous 'Paul Blart' security type takes the perceived power overboard. Of course, if I was Yankees management the worker in question would get a hell of a talking to and there would be significant 'or else' policies set for further fan interactions. Jeter may be free to alienate the customers but not the team's parking lot attendants.

I started to collect autographs TTM about 25 years ago. Even Joe D would sign one item per month back then.
I chased autographs a couple of times at the Waldorf Astoria when they had a couple of sports banquets.
It was not something I enjoyed, so I stopped even though I had some success. I gave a friend of mine my SBIII program and he got Namath and Ewbank on the cover for me, at the Waldorf.
And in regards to the parking lot attendant in the Jeter story, that part of the story absolutely reminded me of the National Pastime NYC shows. My table used to be in front of the stage where the main guests were signing so I had a prime view of what went on with the signers and collectors. The guy running the lines there was a total jackass on the only power trip of his pathetic little life.
"Get on line,,, numbers 1-50, if you have #51 you don't belong here and your autograph ticket will be taken away, remember I said only 1-50." Wow, was that guy a jerk.