Quote Originally Posted by Mark17 View Post
Everyone here seems to find it logical that selling autographed baseballs makes no sense unless the people selling them can make money doing so. So... why can't the players make some dough, too, without it being considered "greedy." Why is it that only the dealers can have a profit margin?

Pujols makes many times as much money playing baseball as his teammates. Why shouldn't he likewise make many more times as much signing baseballs? Put another way, and relating it to game used, what's the price differential between a GU8 Cardinals common bat, and a GU8 Pujols?

Bottom line: Take anything Cardinals common, and if you compare it to Pujols, multiply it by a factor of 10 or 20.
If Pujols were forced to pay 10-20 times as much for job-related expenses, like clubhouse fees, or for that matter things that everyone has to buy, like food and housing, that might begin to make some logical sense. No, he shouldn't be expected to give his autograph away to people who aren't even pretending that they aren't going to turn around and make money from it - reference my earlier rant about the auto-seekers with their binders full of duplicate cards - but causing your fellow players to lose out because you can't deal with the thought of only getting a "measly" $100 (or whatever the number) a signature, instead of the $250-$500 your ego tells you it's worth, is not reasonable, defensible, or Big League. It's being an arrogant jerk, imho.