Skyrocketing Signatures

[skyking26]

Sometimes photos like that are worth more than a sig. Nice. Must have been taken last year??

[sammy]

Back in 2000, I contacted Brooks Robinson's representatives about a private signing.

The price was 25,000.00 plus expenses for a 4 hour signing, with a set number of items to be signed.

I just laughed and told them they were crazy.

[bigjimsguitars]

Back in 2000, I contacted Brooks Robinson's representatives about a private signing.

The price was 25,000.00 plus expenses for a 4 hour signing, with a set number of items to be signed.

I just laughed and told them they were crazy.

And how much do you think would have actually filtered down to Brooks?

[godwulf]

My sincere apologies to Sergio Santos - yeah, I know...like he's gonna read this - and to the Baseball gods; earlier in the thread, I besmirched his character somewhat, 'cause he appeared to have snubbed me last Saturday night, when I was trying to get him to sign a bat, after an Arizona Fall League game.

Good rule of thumb: never post when angry or mildly depressed.

I must have just caught him at a bad moment, or something...'cause today, only mildly daunted, I lay in wait for him outside the clubhouse door, called his name as he passed by, and he came back and very graciously took the time to put a nice signature on the bat for me.

[richpick]

Here is one that I am sure you will all appreciate. I am a Dodger fan and even though he was a Cub when this happened I am sure some of you will remember when Rick Monday grabbed the American flag from two guys who ran onto the field and were trying to light the flag on fire. This happened at Dodger Stadium in 1976 (if you do not know of this event which is deemed one of the top 100 moments of baseball history go to rickmonday.com and there is a video of the event with Vin Scully calling the action, classic). Well I have a large poster of the famous shot of Rick with the flag just after he grabs it away from the two guys. The poster is black and white and from the Herald Examiner newspaper.

Well Rick Monday was doing a free signing a few weeks ago at a Nissan dealership in Los Angeles. So my daughter and I traveled up there with the poster. So the autograph is FREE and the poster came out of a bunch of Dodger stuff that I bought from a flea market and I had made my money back on a few nice items so really the poster was an afterthought so it was FREE. So really I had no money into the whole thing apart from time and gas.

We go and I tell my daughter of the whole story and she asks "what happened to the two guys who tried to light the flag on fire?". So I tell her we will ask Rick if we get a chance. The event was really nice free Dodger Dogs and sodas and really about 20 or so people in line. We get to Rick and I ask him to sign the poster to my daughter and myself. He does and then we talked with him for over 5 minutes. I told him my daughters question and he replied "I can tell you what happened to the two guys they were ticketed for tresspassing and placed on probation for two years". The flag is still in his posession. Really nice guy.

So here is the FUNNY part. So now I have a nice poster to frame that my daughter and I will remember. The poster though is not in the best (MINT) shape. It has many folds which is how they placed it in the newspaper and the folds have slightly yellowed and a couple of folds have started to tear. It is not bad though for being over 30 years old. So since I am going to frame it I send it to a poster conservation company on the east coast who preserve posters and one sheets for auction houses, collectors, and museums. I am thinking, going in that I will pay $80 for linen backing which will strengthen the poster for framing.

They call and tell me to restore the poster to perfect condition it will cost $210. I explain that the poster has no real monetary value and this would be absurd. If I did pay this money they would bleach wash the poster to remove the yellowness (since he signed in permanent Sharpie it would not affect the signature, sounds weird but they assurd me), fill in the tears, and then add the linen backing. I pleaded that the poster only had sentimental value so they said they could do it for $185.

Rick Monday Flag Snatch Patriotic Poster: FREE
Personalized Signature from Rick Monday: FREE
Preservation and repair of poster: $185
Memory with my daughter: PRICELESS

It will take one month turnaround time and then I will have framing on top of that! Oh well its only money!


My daughter and Rick Monday


Myself, my daughter, the poster, and Rick

Richard

[island_style]

Maybe there should be a thread on how to collect auto's for free where people from around the country could chime in and lend their experiences at the different ball parks around the country.

With that let me give some free pointers about Dodger Stadium:

The gates open for the parking lot 2 hours before the game, and while it's stated that the gates to the stadium open 90 min before the game, there is the field level gate at the left field side that opens 2 hours before the game and all fans regardless of where they are sitting can come in and get an opportunity to watch the last part of the Dodgers during Batting Practice and maybe shag a ball and get an autograph...fans's are allowed to stay until batting practice is over for the visiting team and that also means that they can get some auto's from the visiting team.

The visiting team buses typically park outside of the right field pavilion and the players walk to it at the end of the game and they often sign and allow you to take pictures with them, but you have to hang around for about an hour or so at times. This is okay as it allows for the traffic to die down anyway.

Great info on the left field entrance and visitor's team bus. I can remember when the Dodger players used to park outside the left field pavilion. Although there was a chain link fence to separate the players and autograph seekers, it was fairly easy to get some sigs (either with the players signing through the fence or by tossing the items over the fence). Unfortunately, the Dodger players now park in a secured area on the eighth level at the employee entrance in-between the Reserved Level and Top Deck.

Here in Hawaii, we have the Hawaii Winter Baseball League going on. The players are very approachable and I have yet to see a player turn down an autograph or photo opportunity. Joba Chamberlain pitched here last season.

Kind Regards,

Ron.

Rsamiano@aol.com

[otismalibu]

So here is the FUNNY part. So now I have a nice poster to frame that my daughter and I will remember. The poster though is not in the best (MINT) shape. It has many folds which is how they placed it in the newspaper and the folds have slightly yellowed and a couple of folds have started to tear. It is not bad though for being over 30 years old. So since I am going to frame it I send it to a poster conservation company on the east coast who preserve posters and one sheets for auction houses, collectors, and museums. I am thinking, going in that I will pay $80 for linen backing which will strengthen the poster for framing.

Well, I guess it's a little late but here's what I do for old posters that aren't in the greatest shape. Take it to your local craft shop and have it dry mounted to foam board. Takes out all the wrinkles and adds a rigid backing. Then I go over the any imperfections with colored pencils. You can also have it dry mounted to a slightly over sized piece of foam board, leaving a border for a mat. I think it's around $20-25 for a 24"x36" poster.

If you look at the pair of posters in the 3rd row down (below link). You'll see that the one on the right was laminated and you can see all the folds. The one on the left also had the fold marks, but it's been dry mounted and touched up. Almost all of them have been dry mounted and stuck in a cheap frame.

http://www.geocities.com/otismalibu/posters.html

[richpick]

Well, I guess it's a little late but here's what I do for old posters that aren't in the greatest shape. Take it to your local craft shop and have it dry mounted to foam board. Takes out all the wrinkles and adds a rigid backing. Then I go over the any imperfections with colored pencils. You can also have it dry mounted to a slightly over sized piece of foam board, leaving a border for a mat. I think it's around $20-25 for a 24"x36" poster.

Thank you otismalibu,

In the future this will help with other projects or anything that does not hold so much sentimental value. I did send it to one of the best restorers around and when you get the best you pay for the best. I am sure it will turn out nice and I am thinking of trying to get Vin Scully to autograph the poster as well as he was giving the play by play of the event. I will post a picture of the poster when I get it back.

Thanks agian,

Richard

[godwulf]

If you want a real collectible, you should try to get the "hippies" to sign it.



Naaaaaaaa...

[richpick]

If you want a real collectible, you should try to get the "hippies" to sign it.

Thats funny that crossed my mind

Richard