Just a Note Saying Goodbye to Legible Autographs:

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by bnorth

What country is the second one from? Looks like chicken scratches or a foreign language.

oops! I added that detail...as unbelievable as it is.



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[byrone]

I understand people today writing illegible signatures, but for athletes/celebrities writing "autographs", there's just no reason to be so careless. And it shows how little they actually "care" about their fans.

It's a real shame.

[mrmopar]

Cursive is on it's way out and from the perspective of signatures, a damn shame. Anywhere else, I say good riddance. Trying to read some peoples hand writing in letters back in the day was a nightmare.

[Jerry G]

So, if cursive is on the way out, does that make legible vintage autographs more desirable or in time will they go the way of 8 track tapes?

[perezfan]

I'd say MUCH more desirable.

Who would collect that? What even is the point?

[mrmopar]

I am definitely not a fan of multi-signature items like balls or team photros when you can't ID the signature to a specific player. Crappy signatures of players on their cards or photos is a little better, because at least you know who you have,

That ball shown above is awful. Even if you know who they are, it just looks like a bunch of stray pen marks like someone was pushing the ball up a hill with an uncapped ballpoint pen!

That said, I am 50 years old now and my signature has become illegible over the years.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

The saddest part is that the players on the modern ball were either compensated for signing or at the very least were signing for charity (judging by the MLB hologram). I can even understand these kids doling out scrawls if it's for free, but if you're being compensated, come up with a more attractive representation. Many players do have two versions, but not too many of the younger guys. Hey, you're famous; if you're young and don't know cursive, learn it for just this purpose. You owe the people doling out money a little more than what is seen above. Feel free to scribble (or not sign at all) when it's not a business transaction. That's your choice, as it's your choice to sign for compensation.

Yet people line up to pay a David Ortiz a minimum of $200 for some loopy lines.

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by perezfan

I'd say MUCH more desirable.

Who would collect that? What even is the point?

I'll keep my magnificent Charles Gehringer, but when I saw the Ichiro Suzuki autographs (even though I know his is a different language), I ended my quest to collect all living Hall-of-Famers and those players, like Suzuki, who are sure to make it. They want $240 for the Suzuki auto

1935 DIAMOND STARS w GEHRINGER AUTO.jpgichiro auto for 240 bucks.jpg

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by byrone

I understand people today writing illegible signatures, but for athletes/celebrities writing "autographs", there's just no reason to be so careless. And it shows how little they actually "care" about their fans.

It's a real shame.

One of my bosses has two different signatures. One for business & personal stuff that is completely illegible (it would look great on that modern Giants ball, and nobody would be the wiser), and another for when he signs "autographs" which is quite legible, and because of that would stick out like a sore thumb on that 1960s Giants ball.

[MooseDog]

My two cents, not worth much but I think there are three main reasons the trend to illegibility...

1) As has been stated in previous posts, penmanship, cursive, heck writing is no longer taught in most schools. With the advent of keyboard input and texting, the need to write for most younger folks is less and less, so there is no "practice". I think even the practice of drafting, where one learned to pen perfect block letters, has been supplanted by CAD computer software.

2) In the 1990s I discussed autographs with an athlete friend of mine and he surprised me with the comment that agents were advising against signing autographs for fear of identity theft and that if they did want to sign autographs that they should develop a "mark" that was different than their signature on legal documents.

3) This is conjecture on my part, but with the rise of eBay the numbers of people seeking autographs has risen (opportunists thinking they can profit from the autographs AND/OR the perception that an autograph has some intrisinc $$$ value), and those players who do want to sign autographs have to shorten the time it takes to sign as much as they can. One can see how a player in the minors may have a semi-decent autograph but as the years go by it gets worse and worse.

In today's society, when meeting someone famous, selfies have replaced the autograph so it will be interesting to see how "social distancing" affects this in the coming years. I imagine that access to famous people will get even harder now.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by MooseDog

3) This is conjecture on my part, but with the rise of eBay the numbers of people seeking autographs has risen (opportunists thinking they can profit from the autographs AND/OR the perception that an autograph has some intrisinc $$$ value), and those players who do want to sign autographs have to shorten the time it takes to sign as much as they can. One can see how a player in the minors may have a semi-decent autograph but as the years go by it gets worse and worse.

I primarily work for two people, both are "famous" I use quotes because it's a hard thing to define.

One of them (I've been with him for 6 years) will sign anything put in front of him by anybody, as many as he's asked to sign, he will sign them with no hesitation. Ebayer? He doesn't care.

The other (who I've been with for 13 years) won't sign anything at airports, hotels, or entering / leaving a venue. If I take 3 things into his dressing room to get signed, I will seldom succeed completely. He won't sign a guitar or a guitar part for anybody, including me. He assumes we're all ebayers. He's the one with two signatures who I mentioned earlier.

Doug

[bjerome]

I'm not an athlete or famous, but I do utilize a work signature and a personal signature for personal business.

[packs]

This same thread gets made every month but you know what I've noticed about this part of the forum? It doesn't matter who signed it or when it was signed, this board doesn't have any trouble telling you whose autograph you're looking at. So what does it really matter?