The Great American Pursuit: A Study of Athlete Signing Fees 1970s-present

[Lordstan]

I think the reasons come down to good old fashioned business math mixed with greed and entitlement.

If a player sees a line out the door at $7 per auto, then why not charge more? You can make the same amount and do less work. If the same line exists at $10, then the same logic follows. Keep repeating. As long as people line up at the door, even at ridiculous prices, they'll keep charging it. How else can Steiner sell Jeters at $600 per? It's because there are enough of the nonchalant buyer, who just wants a pic or ball to show off to their friends, and the obsessed crazy collector(myself included), who needs their item completed(see below), who will keep paying.
I think players use the resell angle to justify some of this, but I think it's BS. Most of the star players we are talking about did very well, in comparison to others living in the same time. They may not have made millions, but guys like Mantle, Dimaggio, Williams, etc were never working at Sears selling dishwashers over the winter. The newer players, and not just the stars, have it even easier. MLB minimum salary is, what, $1.3-$1.5 mil. Hard to feel sorry for them trying to justify charging some fan, who is directly responsible for that salary because they BUY the ticket to the games, BUY Direct TV MLB ticket, BUY sports apparel with their name on it, etc, etc, $50-100 to sign their name. Who cares if they sell it? Many other businesses seem to be OK with this model. Home Depot buys locks from Schlage at one price and sells them to the consumer at another. The athletes feel they should be they only ones who should be able make a profit from their autograph. Why? Greed and entitlement. They have been made to feel special their entire life, because of their athletic prowess. This entitlement will then overflow into this area.

I see signing at the park as being different. I totally understand the player who is frustrated by the guys who shows up with 5-10 items, each day of the series, and expects you to sign them. Those people have, to an extent, ruined it for the more casual fan. In this situation, I can sympathize with them feeling taken advantage of, but I don't think being rude is the answer. If you want to cut down on profiteering only sign one per person, personalize everything, or do both. A real collector would be grateful for one item and might ever prefer to have it personalized.

As far as other causes, sure, costs for staffing, venues, pics, balls, bats, and other items have risen. The promoters obviously want to make money so I'm sure their cut has gone up as well. I think these factors are responsible for a small percentage of the cost increase.

FWIW
The most I've ever spent for a living baseball autograph was $175 for Hank Aaron to sign this magazine. The signing was through Steiner. He was the next to last person to sign. I definitely would've gone higher if needed to complete the book. I have to go take my meds now.



Chris,
Tony, who is arguably the nicest player I ever met, told us at the time that this was his very first show appearance.

Best,
Mark

[Lordstan]

After thinking about it, I might have spent more total for the last 4 to sign that program, than I did for the first eleven.
I had Berra($55), Musial($70), Aaron($175), and McCovey($70), for a total of $400 with shipping, all done in the past 2-3yrs. I probably spent less then $200 to get all the other guys in the 1980"s.

To quote Dylan..."The Times They Are a-Changin"

[Deertick]

Originally Posted by Lordstan

MLB minimum salary is, what, $1.3-$1.5 mil.

Mark, actually it is under $500K, with the avg being about $3.2M. But there is a vast difference between say Reid Brignac and Arod ($.5M to $28M!)

And I think you underestimate the greed of some promoters. While some used to look at autograph guests as a means to get feet in the door (for added admission revenue, as well as justification for higher table fees), many saw the craze as a way to print money. I remember many guests where the price per auto was double or triple what was charged a month or two before at 'lesser' shows. And the price would drop back down the next time they were at a 'hotel' show.

And how about autographs that were only allowed on "Authorized" items (photos, balls, bats) purchased only at the promoter table? Of course you could have something else signed for a hefty penalty....

I personally think that the day that autographs stopped being in the $6-$10 range was the day that killed memorabilia shows.

(After writing this, I realized I don't really miss doing shows. )