Is full name autograph more rare?

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by shelly

I think it was about fifteen years or more ago I bid on full name Gehrig check. It went for over $14,000 I have no idea what it would sell for today. Yes Trout could break a leg who cares? Why does a Gehirg ball sell for so much? He did not sign. So if you had a full name Gehrig ball it would sell for five hundred thousand or more.

Nonsense, IMHO.

Gehrig's checks are expensive because they are rare, not because they are signed with his full, legal name. His contracts are quite expensive as well, and most are also signed "Henry Louis Gehrig." Do you think that's the reason they are valuable?

Legal documents should be--and usually are--signed with a player's legal name. Baseballs, I believe, should be signed with the name he played under. At least I, for one, prefer it that way.

I much prefer my "Babe Ruth" baseball to my "GH Ruth" check.

I don't like "created purely for collection" collectibles. I don't need--or want--to have every signed ball made unique in some way--by writing "ROY," or "HOF," or the player's middle name, or even, in the case of our beloved NY Yankee center fielder, "Fuck You."

"Mickey Mantle" will do just fine, thank you very much.

BTW, here's one he signed for me outside the Yankee Stadium player's entrance in 1966: