An autograph you despise?

[jad22]

Mine is a Bill Russell signed Celtic program, where the "ssell" portion of the signature is a sharpie blob.

[terjung]

One that bothers me is that of Willie Mays. I don't know what he is signing, but it doesn't look a thing like "Willie" or "Mays".

[perezfan]

One that always bothers me is Pie Traynor. His autograph itself has absolutely no style or flair (in an era when most players took pride in their signature). But more irritating is that the guy had absolutely no feel for where to place the signature.

Whether it's on an index card, trading card, photograph or ball, he always crammed it into a ridiculously tight and illogical spot. Typically relegated to an obscure corner, or right up against a border (so you can't effectively mat it) or touching on the laces of a ball.

The concept of signing a sweetspot or side panel apparently never occurred to him. No matter what the medium, the result was almost always aesthetically displeasing.

[jad22]

Originally Posted by perezfan

One that always bothers me is Pie Traynor. His autograph itself has absolutely no style or flair (in an era when most players took pride in their signature). But more irritating is that the guy had absolutely no feel for where to place the signature.

Whether it's on an index card, trading card, photograph or ball, he always crammed it into a ridiculously tight and illogical spot. Typically relegated to an obscure corner, or right up against a border (so you can't effectively mat it) or touching on the laces of a ball.

The concept of signing a sweetspot or side panel apparently never occurred to him. No matter what the medium, the result was almost always aesthetically displeasing.

But his early signatures looked nice. Why did he change it?

[7nohitter]

Originally Posted by perezfan

One that always bothers me is Pie Traynor. His autograph itself has absolutely no style or flair (in an era when most players took pride in their signature). But more irritating is that the guy had absolutely no feel for where to place the signature.

Whether it's on an index card, trading card, photograph or ball, he always crammed it into a ridiculously tight and illogical spot. Typically relegated to an obscure corner, or right up against a border (so you can't effectively mat it) or touching on the laces of a ball.

The concept of signing a sweetspot or side panel apparently never occurred to him. No matter what the medium, the result was almost always aesthetically displeasing.

Very interesting about the placement of the signatures-I've never noticed that before. Whereas I know Mantle took the time to sign in the 'best' place, I wonder how many players just don't give a crap.

Since Pie is from my hometown I'll cut him some slack!

[ScottR81]

Ive always hated that greg maddux signed his name like a stroke just came upon him....how did it come to this and is there a real nice signature out there that actually reads well? something a total stranger to the sport could read?

[whyconform]

Cool Papa Bell easily....nice simple 3x5 and he's got his auto crammed up in the corner...I've seen Grimes to it too....I can't stand that....Some late stage Cool Papa Bells are pretty ugly too....


I have two Pie's...but this one from 1929 has some flair

[perezfan]

That's a nice one... must admit!

I know there are always exceptions, and I guess most of the better examples would probably be his earlier ones (as mentioned above...)

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by terjung

One that bothers me is that of Willie Mays. I don't know what he is signing, but it doesn't look a thing like "Willie" or "Mays".

Ditto, though if he had a signing, I'm sure there would be lines out the door

[Runscott]

I had an early 1960's (I think 1961) exhibit card of Mantle that was signed: "Hi Kids, Mick"

The card was so beat-up, with corners missing, that I threw it away. It was an extreme eyesore. This was a long time ago - maybe 25 years - and I didn't collect autographs. Now, of course, I wish I had kept it.

[Maddog]

I could go on and on with this one

How about the guys who give you 2 initials and a uniform number. Some of these guys make Maddux's autograph look like 18th century calligraphy!

[tazdmb]

Tell me about it-here is Mike Trout auto from a "sit down" signing.

[MacDice]

A former teammate played over in Japan. Shortly after my son was born, another buddy went over to Japan to visit our him. At the time our former teammate was with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and was managed by Sadaharu. Anyway they had Sadaharu sign a ball for my son. I guess personalization's aren't common over in Japan and/or they had issue with the translator explaining how they wanted the ball sign, thus after several attempts at explaining the translator grabbed the ball and did the personalization on Sadaharu's behalf and then handed it to Sadaharu to sign. Wish the personalization was done in Sadaharu's handwriting. I wouldn't say that I despise it but I cringe a little when I look at it.