What baseball autographs could be considered uncommon

[markf31]

As we all know, many of the still living HOFers sign autographs like they're going out of style, and many of the recently deceased signed in a similar manor as well when they were still alive. My question then is, in your opinion, what HOFers really limited their signing sessions and autographs and as a result their signatures are more uncommon and rare? There are the obvious pre-war players such as Wagner, Cobb, Mathewson, etc… But I’m thinking more along the lines of players from the 1940s to today. Thoughts?

I know Sandy Koufax rarely does signings, one of the reasons his autograph is valuable compared to other pitchers of his day.

[bender07]

Any HOFer starting their career since the 30's has a pretty common signature (Clemente being the obvious exemption). As you mentioned Koufax's popularity and lack of signing events make him more expensive but he's still very common. Mays and Aaron command high prices but are readily available.

The uncommon HOF autographs come from some of those starting their careers in the 1800's and passing by the 1930's and those from the negro leagues that weren't inducted until recently.

[Lordstan]

Mark,
I guess part of the answer is what do you consider uncommon?
To echo Mark's comments, there are very few HOFers that started since the 40's that would really be considered uncommon. The exceptions would be the guy who died at a young age, like Jackie Robinson. Also someone like Campanella, who was unable to sign the amount he likely would've had he not been in the accident.
Most of the HOFers we see today have signed truckloads of autographs. Currently, there are 654 Sandy Koufax autographed items listed on ebay. Now I'm not saying they are all real, but even if only half are real, that still isn't what I would call uncommon.

Best,
Mark

Hey that's three Marks in a row. Is that a record?

[Lordstan]

Wait,
I take back the part about Jackie Robinson.
There are currently 78 Jackie Robinson autographed items on ebay. Most are certed by someone. Not exactly uncommon!
There are 40 pre stroke Campanella items. More uncommon than Robinson!

[HexsHeroes]

.


. . . but I'll go ahead and venture the name Nellie Fox for marginal consideraton. Major league playing career started in late 1940's, died in mid-1970's.

[travrosty]

if the player died before the mid 80's, their signature will be a lot less common than if they lived later than that, because their participation in the autograph show boom would be more limited.

maris just missed out, only doing 1 or 2 shows or private signings. so obviously robinson, clemente, even greenberg, less autographs than if they would have lived to late 80's when it really took off like gangbusters.

[packs]

Not going to find too many Grover Cleveland Alexanders around. Even less with him on the sweetspot.