Autographs- Do you collect? Do your care?

[Writehooks]

I'm a sportswriter by profession and have been in the hobby for 40 years, but autographs were never appealing to me until my son was born in 1983. For a five- or six-year stretch when he was a little guy, I discretely asked athletes that I met through work if they would personalize an autographed photo for my son. To a man, they were all very amenable. While the "gallery" didn't mean a lot to the kid until years later, today his office is proudly adorned with more than three dozen framed photos signed to him by the likes of Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, George Foreman, Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, Evel Knievel and Jack Nicklaus.