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...with some people. I'm referring to the guys - and maybe some of them/you are reading this - who ask a (usually minor league) player (at ST, Fall League, whatever) to sign a whole page (or more) of cards, often the same card, when other folks are just trying to get a ball signed, or whatever.
I'm going to try very hard not to sound judgmental - really I am. I do understand that you/they are perfectly within your/their rights to ask a player to sign multiple whatevers, and then to do whatever it is you do with those twenty identical signed cards. Maybe you sell them on sportlots or eBay, maybe you compulsively hoard them - I don't know, and it isn't my business. I'd just like to hear from somebody who routinely does this, and get your perspective on the practice.
Is it a business for you, or "just" a hobby? If it's a business, is there really a market for that many signed pre-rookie cards of some semi-obscure prospect, or do you have big albums of signed, unsold cards sitting around?
During the Fall League, I see guys hauling their big albums from park to park, getting some cards signed before the games, and then sometimes not even staying to watch the games.
I said I wasn't going to be judgmental, but I feel as though I should have the right to say how I sometimes feel, in those situations - it isn't really the same thing, is it? When I'm waiting to get a ball signed - not to sell, just for my personal collection - and between me and the player are a half-dozen guys holding out big pages of identical cards, it does, to be honest, put my teeth somewhat on edge, as the saying goes. Not only am I afraid that - as sometimes happens - the player will get tired of signing at some point and walk away, but I have to feel some kind of empathy for the guy; I mean, most of them want to accomodate the fans as much as possible, but... The truth is, I sometimes feel embarassed, in those situations...like I want to say to the player, "Hey, not everybody here is looking to make a buck off of you, okay?"
Yeah, well, I probably didn't do too well with the "judgmental" thing, I guess. Sorry. Am I alone in feeling this way?
I'm going to try very hard not to sound judgmental - really I am. I do understand that you/they are perfectly within your/their rights to ask a player to sign multiple whatevers, and then to do whatever it is you do with those twenty identical signed cards. Maybe you sell them on sportlots or eBay, maybe you compulsively hoard them - I don't know, and it isn't my business. I'd just like to hear from somebody who routinely does this, and get your perspective on the practice.
Is it a business for you, or "just" a hobby? If it's a business, is there really a market for that many signed pre-rookie cards of some semi-obscure prospect, or do you have big albums of signed, unsold cards sitting around?
During the Fall League, I see guys hauling their big albums from park to park, getting some cards signed before the games, and then sometimes not even staying to watch the games.
I said I wasn't going to be judgmental, but I feel as though I should have the right to say how I sometimes feel, in those situations - it isn't really the same thing, is it? When I'm waiting to get a ball signed - not to sell, just for my personal collection - and between me and the player are a half-dozen guys holding out big pages of identical cards, it does, to be honest, put my teeth somewhat on edge, as the saying goes. Not only am I afraid that - as sometimes happens - the player will get tired of signing at some point and walk away, but I have to feel some kind of empathy for the guy; I mean, most of them want to accomodate the fans as much as possible, but... The truth is, I sometimes feel embarassed, in those situations...like I want to say to the player, "Hey, not everybody here is looking to make a buck off of you, okay?"
Yeah, well, I probably didn't do too well with the "judgmental" thing, I guess. Sorry. Am I alone in feeling this way?
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