Would you paid for an autograph or would you take chance to get it for FREE at the stadium or hotel or airport

[stlbats]

Just wondering, what was the Arod fees at the Steiner Show?

Jason

[Lokee]

Man i remember waiting outside the old Kingdome. Back in the 90's it was alot easier to obtain auto's for free of your favorite player.

2 quick stories:

I waited for Mo Vaughn for about 2.5 hours at the Kingdome. I hung out got a few red sox but had my baseball all ready for big Mo. Finally he makes his grant departure and my parents, brothers and sister and maybe 3 other people where waiting. What a thrill, he stopped shook my hand signed my baseball and we talked for about 5 mins. I cannot remember anything. I still have the ball to this day.

One of my worst experiences was with Tim Wakefield. at the Kingdome he came walking out in the open about 40 mins after the game. There was about 20 to 25 people all pushing and shoving. He got upset real quick and said " if anyone gets sharpie on my shirt i am swinging" I don't blame the guy but threataning violence that's pretty messed up.

I would prefer to get them at the ballpark for free, especially if iam keeping them for my collection and not worried about re-sale.

I have paid for a handful of autographs from players like Guy Lafleur, the late Maurice Rocket Richard, Martin Brodeur, Hank Aaron and Ted Williams.

[yankees.stub]

Can you post pics of what you got signed?

One thing I wish Arod would do is sign his full signature on his LOA's. Collectors pay a lot of money for this stuff and to sign LOA's with his AR signature, just isn't right.

Reards, Tony

Wow, I take that back. MVP certificates has the WORST Arod signature!

Hmm, I would do the same too if I was Alex since I have to sign it twice!

[yankees.stub]

Just wondering, what was the Arod fees at the Steiner Show?

Jason

He did three shows with steiner so far.

The first and second, general signature is $300 each (this is when I got the ARZ signatures on two baseballs) and if you want equipment $400 (a game used bat from his seattle days - with ARZ) and if anything 500 HR related $450 (got the best tickets I had and I got ARZ also). So that was pretty bad but hey, at least he did not roll the baseballs down the table and so forth. I got a handshake and a thank you at the end!


The third show, the pricing stays the same except for $250 - general signature. After the first two bad experiences, I arrived an hour before the gate opens, get on Alex line (5th or 6th on line) and wait it out while juggling with Mariano and Pettitte stuff.

It worth the wait, Alex signed his full name on another 500th HR ticket I got along with YOUNGEST TO 500 and couple WS game used balls I got during the game (not bad after bribing some one to get couple foul balls down first baseline). Alex signed everything with a smile and a handshake at the end.

So again, I would doubt very much if he would signed any of my items if I had approached him at the stadium or hotel. Chances are he might ends up ruining them for me and I would curse up the storm.

[murfsteve25]

Let's start with Alex Rodriguez - since he is the most sought after signature at the moment and getting his first WS ring help even more!

I paid for Alex signatures last week at Steiner show. I think it is money well spent since I dont think I be able to get Alex to sign my 500th HR tickets and a couple MLB authenticate balls - couple of them where actually foul tip balls. After everything signed, I get them authenticated by Steiner.

He was happy signing anything anyone put on the table along with the right paying ticket price - happen to hang out with couple friends after my stuffs were signed. After a while, his mood of signing became off a bit - rightfully so, since I know I will get annoy if people asking for pictures and so forth. (mind you, there were about 300-400 paying people on line and he only get to about 100 or so before things change).

Why did I paid for his signature? Simply because it is easier and more cost effective in my opinion. For me to get his signature on the field, I will need to spend more money - Field level tickets at the stadium cost in the average of $350-$600 each, and that just have access to field level seats - no guarantee that Alex will pop up from the dugout and signing FREE autograph.


(I saw a post earlier blaming Steiner for encourage these athletes to charges for signatures - I dont think that is fair at all. If fan (more like business person) want to increas the value of an item by having a signature on it and he/she willing to pay for the autograph - who are we going to blame?... The same can be said - how do we place a value on an item when it is the BUYER's choice to paid.)

When it comes to getting autographs to add to my collection, the only thing that matters to me would be getting it in person. I dont mind paying a few hundred bucks to get a tough signature. as long as its signed right i front of me.
I've been to hotels and stadiums and got autos from star players for free. Thats nice and all, but when your trying to get a superstar such as Arod, might as well pay to get the auto in person. Saves a lot of headache and worring that you may or may not get his auto.

[Utopian2630]

Granted I've long since retired from getting autographs as a competitive sport unless its something i really need signed like a jersey or a band of importance is in town.

I agree with those who say they like the stories that goes along with the autographs. The chase is half the fun to be honest with you....I've probably posted a few stories here and there (like me getting cussed out and threatened by Terry Pendleton when I was 12 because I asked him to sign a cracked game-used bat ) but whatever, it was fun and collecting autographs as a kit kept me out of trouble so no harm.

I think its an entirely different situation these days as its more of a business and the fun is all but gone it seems. Think about it, back in the day, if I wanted someone like Ozzie Smith or Tony Gwynn (grew up in an NL town) I had to devote the entire homestand to try and get them.....if I was out of luck, I had to wait until the next homestand (or next season if they only visited here once). Now, if I were a kid collecting, I wouldnt have to worry because there'd be ebay....or a billion other websites available to fill my need.
However, because of the bigger pricetags associated with autographs these days, you have more 'pros' who have just soured the whole thing and make it an almost dangerous scenario in some cases. For example, do a youtube search of Paul McCartney signing autographs and you'll see many out of control frenzies where it looks like people are on the verge of coming to blows...not cool.

Anyway, I guess my long-winded take is that growing up before the big memorabelia/autograph boom spoiled me too much to spend a car payment for an autograph of a current athlete whose autograph can always be secured for a price.

Im sure as to what other veterain autograph collectors think of this.

[Utopian2630]

[quote
Im sure as to what other veterain autograph collectors think of this.[/quote]


meant to say I am CURIOUS as to what other veteran autograph collectors think of this. Insanely long day at work for me today and I can barely think.

[platinum1]

I will never ever pay for an autograph unless I really really need it.
I get the players at the ballpark or the hotel and living in Chicago you get
to see players from the NL and AL.
When I worked at the airport I would always have a couple of baseballs at work just in case someone would come through.
Especially when there was an autograph show in town. I would search for players and get them to sign when they got of the plain .
I was able to get Tony Gwynn, Dave Winfield , Reggie Bush , Felix Pie, Mushin Muhamed, and some celebrities like Morgan Freeman, Michael Keaton and many more all at the airport for free.
And as far as authenticity I dont care.
I dont plan on selling any of my autographs and if one day I have grandchildren then they can have them and they could do what ever they want with them.

[RJB44]

Has anyone ever got a real bad autograph and had the urge to say something (to the player)? Although I don't collect autographs, but I would think that if you are paying top dollar at a signing or have a real nice piece of equipment, that you expect a high quality signature. Suppose you have a nice bat or jersey, and the player, being an ass, just "scratches" something on it. I can only think that at professional signings, you might have some recourse through the sponsor. If at the at the park, hotel, or other "at the moment" situation, your pretty much at risk, meaning you get what you get. While looking through my collection of old programs, I happen to come across one for a 1982 Oakland A's game against the Red Sox and saw that it has Wade Bogg's autograph on the cover. The typical hastily written on field signature, but nevertheless its is Wade Boggs. I was interested in the just the program and paid like $4 for it on eBay a few years ago. No mention of the Boggs signature, maybe they didn't realize, heck I did 't even realize until just recently.

[yankees.stub]

Just another point about the PAID autograph versus FREE autograph, if you are saying it doesnt matter and dont care about authenticity of the item AND re-selling the item has NEVER crossed your mind ... I think that is all but a joke!


You spend time and energy to get the FREE autograph, I hope you dont end up with a no-namer or bench warmer.. now that would be really waste of time.


If you spend money on an autograph (like myself), reselling the item does cross my mind. But I would like to enjoy it for a bit and just to make sure that it is liquidate-able in case of emergency.


So spend money = make money, Free money = ...?