Ballpoint or Marker? Which One Do You Prefer??

[xpress34]

I'm not sure about how long a signature takes to fade in lights or which would fade faster. I personally prefer a bic medium point pen for my OMLB signatures.

It probably doesn't hurt that my basement only has ONE window (no direct sunlight) and I have replaced all of my Incandescent bulbs with CFLs and all of the bulbs in my cases are LED (no ultraviolet so to speak).

Having worked for Rawlings, the leather on the ball (even on OMLBs) can also affect the fading and such - some pieces of leather are just more porous than others. I had a OMLB signed by Robin Yount that faded away inside a year. My buddy had Robin re-sign it with another pen and that sig faded away too... he then sent the ball through the mail and sent Robin a letter about the 'disappearing' sigs... Robin signed it a third time and sent it back and that one faded away too... thankfully Robin thought it was a funny story, so he also sent my buddy a second signed OMLB ball as well that still looks great.

[NYCrulesU]

It probably doesn't hurt that my basement only has ONE window (no direct sunlight) and I have replaced all of my Incandescent bulbs with CFLs and all of the bulbs in my cases are LED (no ultraviolet so to speak).

Having worked for Rawlings, the leather on the ball (even on OMLBs) can also affect the fading and such - some pieces of leather are just more porous than others. I had a OMLB signed by Robin Yount that faded away inside a year. My buddy had Robin re-sign it with another pen and that sig faded away too... he then sent the ball through the mail and sent Robin a letter about the 'disappearing' sigs... Robin signed it a third time and sent it back and that one faded away too... thankfully Robin thought it was a funny story, so he also sent my buddy a second signed OMLB ball as well that still looks great.

Great story. Cool that Yount thought it was funny Sounds like a great guy, I always thought he was.

[geoff]

Always A Pen On A Ball.

[TriplexXxSports]

You will have to excuse me......I am way out of my league here in a baseball thread but has anyone ever used a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker? I had a bunch of golf balls signed years back and it seemed to work great, but I have no idea how it would work on a baseball.

I would think that it would withstand the fading part, but I don't know whether it would bleed or not.

Anyone have any info or thoughts on using one of these?

[xpress34]

You will have to excuse me......I am way out of my league here in a baseball thread but has anyone ever used a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker? I had a bunch of golf balls signed years back and it seemed to work great, but I have no idea how it would work on a baseball.

I would think that it would withstand the fading part, but I don't know whether it would bleed or not.

Anyone have any info or thoughts on using one of these?

XXX -

On a Golf Ball or a Football I would go Sharpie / Paint Pen. Especially a Golf Ball as I can see no thoer way to get an auto to stay on it's plastic cover...

The problem on a baseball is the porous nature of the cow-hide that is used (bleeding) and that so many amateur auto sekers don't give the sharpie time to dry and ened up smearing the sig.

As far as a Fine Point Sharpie? That might work pretty good because the smaller tip doesn't allow for extra ink or 'globbing'.

- X

[chipperhank44]

Definitely use a ballpoint on regular baseballs. I made that mistake early on and ended up using autographed baseballs to pley catch with because the autographs completely turned into blobs. When I have the right supplies, I prefer paint pen on a black baseball to any other option. It just looks great IMO and I have never had an issue with bleeding on black baseballs. Here's a Jason Heyward I picked up:




BTW - I'm really impressed with that A-Rod auto baseball. I would have predicted serious bleeding for sure. It looks great!!!

[yankees.stub]

Blue point pen is best for baseball.

Marker is better for equipment - bat, cleats, jersey (even though on jersey, the autograph will bleed over time - happened to my Mattingly, Mariano, A. Rodriguez, just to name a few).

As for Ticket stub, I prefer to go with marker since the signature stands out more than pen and it doesnt being pressed onto the paper to hard and leave an imprint behind (main reason why PSADNA reccommend to do authentic grading on the ticket with autograph by pen and regular graded for marker signature).

[legaleagle92481]

I have a question about using ballpoint or marker to have signature on a baseball.

Which one could be kept on the sweetspot for longer time?

I don't want the signatures fade from the lights.

Thanks for your opinions!

Li

No matter what you use keep the sig out of the light and especially direct sunlight. Baseballs develop yellow spots if exposed to light. It does not take that long either. I used to have several baseballs displayed in ball cubes on my dresser in my bedroom near but not directly in front of a window with blinds and curtains and a lamp. The lamp was on under an hour a day and the blinds and curtains were open during the daylight hours. Within two years the signature on one of the baseballs faded even though it had been signed at a sit down paid signing with blue ball point pen and another developed several yellow spots. Now I store my baseballs in ball cubes in the boxes the ball cubes came in and have not had any more problems in the 15 plus years I have stored that way.

[joelsabi]

No matter what you use keep the sig out of the light and especially direct sunlight. Baseballs develop yellow spots if exposed to light. It does not take that long either. I used to have several baseballs displayed in ball cubes on my dresser in my bedroom near but not directly in front of a window with blinds and curtains and a lamp. The lamp was on under an hour a day and the blinds and curtains were open during the daylight hours. Within two years the signature on one of the baseballs faded even though it had been signed at a sit down paid signing with blue ball point pen and another developed several yellow spots. Now I store my baseballs in ball cubes in the boxes the ball cubes came in and have not had any more problems in the 15 plus years I have stored that way.

once i have my display up, my main concern is autograph baseballs. right now i have them stored just like you in cubes and boxes they came in.

about 10 years ago, i remember going to a 3 day mall show in the heat of the california summer. i notive on the first day, there was a dealer with an autograph baseball that was displayed in the sunlight. It was super hot. I remember going back the final day while making my rounds that there was a noticable change in the signature and that's only after just 3 days. Direct sunlight can be brutal.