the Autograph Corner
MAYBE IT'S TIME TO "OUT " THE
DEALERS
First of all, before I get into
an article that addresses a subject that I'm sure we've all
thought about, let me apologize for the long time since my
last article. Basically it was a lack of communication
between Stu and I. Very first of all, let all of us
congratulate Stu on his recent marriage. I had sent an
article to Stu a couple of months ago. When he failed to
post it I wasn't concerned. I assumed that his recent
marriage had led him to set aside his web site for a while,
and understandably so. Meanwhile, Stu's computer had
crashed. He lost my article during the catastrophe. He
felt a little embarrassed about having to ask me for a new
one, and I hesitated to ask him why mine hadn't been posted
figuring I knew the answer. Anyway, 2 months later we're
finally getting our act together and again, my apologies.
My apologies to Maxwell Kates too, who had sent me some
great personal insights into what cards players will not
sign. I deleted his letters after I finished the article,
otherwise I would gladly use his information again in this
article.
I believe that we've all noticed
a significant downturn in the responses that we get from our
mail autograph requests. Whereas I could usually look for a
65 to 70% response rate from the letters I send out for
spring training, this year I was lucky to crack 55%.
Football autograph request responses have really dried up.
Even in the Class A level of baseball that I predominantly
watch, I've noticed more and more players act begrudgingly
when it comes to signing autographs. Two kids this year who
started off as good signers were Bobby Zimmerman from Cedar
Rapids and Adam Jones from Wisconsin. By the end of the
year they were much tougher autographs to get. Many players
look suspiciously at you now if you hand them a blank index
card to sign, and I've run into players who will not sign
the "Sweet Spot" on a baseball. I have been an autographer
for 18 years now, and I've come to the conclusion that we've
a few persons and places to blame for this trend. I know we
all have gotten mail back from retired players who refuse to
sign autographs by mail anymore because they are sick and
tired of seeing the items that they've signed on e-bay a
week later. I've talked to players who've signed jerseys or
balls for fans and have seen that same item posted on e-bay
for sale the next day. Can you blame the players for being
a little suspicious? I can't.
I enjoy e-bay.
I enjoy surfing it, and with the demise of card shops and
card shows around the land it's about the closest thing to a
card shop or show that a rural fan such as I has. Yes,
I buy autographs on there, too. I'm more and more to
the point now though where I try to buy autograph insert
cards. E-bay is also a great source for cards that I
want to buy to get signed during the season. I'm
always surfing for jersey cards of players that I'll be
seeing in the Midwest League. With the demise of card
shops and shows I really don't want to cut the nose off my
face by refusing to patronize e-bay, but I can understand
where players get the idea after awhile that everyone's a
dealer.
Steiner. Yes, we've all seen
his ads. I think that his prices are outrageous. The big
stars and many of the top young prospects work through him
though. After awhile the attitude becomes "why should we
give away our signature for nothing when we get paid big
money signing at shows or for him exclusively?" I don't
mean to just single out Steiner, I'm sure you've seen ads
for other similar companies. I think he's just the most
visible. It makes it pretty tough for the collector to
touch a McGwire or Bonds autograph now a days though when
they're priced high enough that the Yuppie stockbroker or
attorney can look at them as status symbols to put on his
office wall. Like e-bay though, there's not much we
can do about this recent phenomenon either.
Local Dealers. Now this is
something that we all can address. Every park has them and
every autographer knows who they are. They are the guys who
have their cards all neatly laid out in books and think
nothing of asking the player to sign 2 or 3 pages of nine
cards each, often just multiples of the same card. Now even
the dimmest bulb of a ballplayer can figure out that Joe
Dealer doesn't need 18 of the same card signed for his
personal collection because he's a "Big Fan." The trouble
is, that pretty soon the ballplayer becomes suspicious
that anyone who asks him to autograph anything is a dealer.
In our league we have a couple who work in tandem. Nice
guys on a personal basis, but when I look at their e-bay
transaction reading of over 6,000, (and that's not counting
repeat customers) I know why players like Zimmerman and
Jones get turned off by autographers. Especially when they
hand them 20 pictures to sign and let them keep 1, or
get people in other parks to work for them as well. Sure,
it's a nice little money machine for them, but they're
ruining the hobby for us autographers. I think that we
can deal with the dealers on an individual basis. Give
the player a heads up. Go up to the player later and
say "Hey, this guy is a dealer, not a collector." If
possible, download the dealer's transaction sheet from e-bay
to show the player. You can bet that the player will
be leery of signing for the guy again. Let's face it,
our hobby is being abused, and the best way to save it is to
begin to police ourselves. Let me know what you think
on this one? Am I out of line with my comments or are
you in whole-hearted agreement? I'll print some of
the responses from both points of view in my next article.
E-Bay Scams.
When's the last time you've seen
a dealer on e-bay offer you the option of sending a self
addressed, stamped envelope for a single card? I'll bet it
has been awhile. You've really got to watch the shipping
and handling games that many of these guys play. My
favorite one is $3.00 for the first card and $1.00 for each
additional card. Hmmm. Any idea how quick that adds up?
They know. I see a lot of people now asking $3.00 or $3.50
shipping. Needless to say I don't do business with them. I
give similar short shrift to the assholes who insist upon a
money order, cashiers check or pay pal. Hey, I thought
business on e-bay was suppose to be based on trust. If they
don't trust me enough to take my check, I don't trust them
enough to do business with them. They can look at my
transaction history. Perfect in over 1,100 transactions.
If they still refuse to take a check, I hope they have to
eat their item. Moral of the story, look at the shipping
and handling charges and methods of payment demanded before
you bid on an item.
My son got a job in Des Moines
the end of July after having graduated with his Masters from
the University of Iowa. What that means to me is that I've
discovered Sec Taylor Stadium (I guess they're renaming it
Principal Park now) and the great autographing there. I
went up there the end of August for two games when Memphis
(the Cardinal AAA franchise) was playing there. Since I
collect minor league cards, I have a lot of DIFFERENT cards
for many players. For the most part I found the AAA players
to be very amenable for signing autographs. With my son
helping me we got 283 cards signed, including 5 different Bo
Hart. I talked to Adam Wainwright and found him to be the
nicest kids I've met in a long time, as is David Kelton for
the Iowa Cubs. Better yet, I found the autographers at Sec
Taylor to be very friendly and helpful. It wasn't the every
man for himself atmosphere that you find at a lot of
ballparks. I'm really looking forward to getting there
several times next year.
Next year is going to be a
little different in the Midwest League too. We lost the
Yankees and the Brewers who moved to the SAL League. In
return the Devil Rays have a minor league affiliate for the
first time in the Midwest League at Battle Creek, and the
Blue Jays come to the League via Lansing. It's going to be
strange not having the Brewers in the league; it seems like
an unfortunate geographic anomaly. Still, new teams mean
new coaches. I'm already ordering minor league feeder sets
for the upcoming season.
Before I sign off, I've got a
couple 8x10 collage pages that I've put together of
Burlington's Chris Lubanski. He was kind enough to sign
both of them for me. If you are the seventh or the
fifteenth reader to e-mail me back, I'll respond back to you
and send you one. Otherwise, thanks for reading.
Meanwhile, have fun with the hobby. I sure try to.
~Rich Hanson
