TTM Insight/Concern! Look SCF!

[deeakay]

Here is an excerpt from an e-mail a friend of mine sent me, (he does signings through 'Anderson Authentics'. He said the following in response to me telling him I am really into the TTM Hobby:
"I hear ya on the TTM collecting. Get as many as you can right now, as quite a few of the players I have talked to are starting to get fed up with the requests. Billingsley for example, he told me he gets "for my kids" letters all the time, and he will sign them in certain places or a certain way, and keep track of how many are put on eBay."

He's done signings with Mat Gamel, CC Sabathia, among others (and is currently planning one with Yovani Gallardo).

He added this too:
"I honestly believe autograph collecting is going to get a major overhaul soon, with the amount of players being locked up in exclusives that don't allow them to sign for fans, period."

I've replied and asked him to expound on both topics.

[indyreds]

You can not blame players for getting upset seeing stuff they signed being sold for a profit. I personally have TRADED many autographs for others that I do not have, but have not sold them. The fact remains that once a player get tired of it they stop autographing. Who can blame them? You named Chad Billingsley. Billingsley is actually from my hometown and is a good guy. He donated a signed AA jersey to be raffled off for our local little league program a few years back. It is awesome to see him doing so well!

[propete23]

As i have said before, I used to live in Phoenix and frequented the spring training games. I used to take vacation in march just to be able to go to brewers, mariners, and cubs games. I had my little kids with me and got to know this one security guy at the brewers facility. Nice guy and we got to talking about the "fans" that were there every day. I mean as soon as rickie weeks, ryan braun and fielder would leave the field, they had 5 mini helmets, 6 bats, and pages of their cards for them to sign. Of course there were some kids and dads there with a glove,photo, or something. that something was 1 thing...

I am sure that a player can spot an ebayer from a true fan. Although, these guys were pretty aggressive and did not care about the kids that were trying to get the same players autograph.

anyway, enough about my rant I just hate to see how things are getting. Seeing it first hand makes me sick

[C&C Collecting]

I agree. Who can blame players for getting upset. When you get requests for 4 and more cards or items at a time it gets tiring. Especially when you see your stuff ending up on eBay. I would be super angry if I were signing and this was what was happening. I have been asked by some AAA players if I am going to put all the stuff they are singing up on eBay. My reply is always the same, they can come over and look at my collection anytime. Usually this leads to a discussion about my collection and the hobby in general. Some of them collect as well.
Propete, I know exactly what you're talking about. When I am at a game I always stand back and let the kids go first. I am usually among the last to get my stuff signed when a player comes out. These things don't go unnoticed by the players. I also never go up to a player if his hands are full or if he is with his family. Patience and common courtesy go a looooong way sometimes.

Whether or not the hobby changes there will always be a player or two who sign. You never know what happens when you are honest in your letter. For those that deceive players and strictly sell the stuff on ebay, thanks for nothing. In the meantime I will be keeping my fingers crossed.

[palantri]

i always go to the PGA tournament that is held near where I live, and the reason I go is to get autographs, which i keep or trade for autos of players I dont have. I agree with everything you guys are saying regarding fans vs. ebayers. This one shady guy always shows up with tons of 9x11 photo paper, and he tries to get the golfers to sign the bottom of it- so he can then print a picture on it and sell it. Its funny watching the golfers, cause they arent idiots- they will write all sorts of stuff as they sign. The best last year was Zach Johnson, who signed this guys stuff "How much is this worth on ebay? Sincerely, Zach Johnson"
Zach then had security escort the guy out, he claimed the guy threatened him, even though he didnt- zach just cant stand rude people...it was kinda funny really, we all cheered

[fbfreak 99]

same thing used to happen at the Phila Flyers practices, guys would show up with stacks of 8x10's of the same player in the trunk of their car hmmm huge fan or business man that is the question

[Craan]

It can be a little crazy:

I was at a Yankees game last year. We always get there early for BP, trying to snatch a sig or two. Usually only take a couple OMLB's with me. Anyways, as we were waiting in line outside the gate, I was next to 4 teenagers, and one older guy. Each teenager had a binder full of 8x10's of all the Yankees and of the Oakland A's. I was kind of dropping in on their conversations, and the older guy was assigning each kid a different part of the park. (example one to a's dugout, one to the Yanks, and bullpens etc..) Once the gates opened they all split, running to each spot. One of the kids happened to go right where I went. (Yankees dugout) I just observed the kid, he had like 4 different color sharpies, and the binder was chuck full with protective sheets with 8x10's in each sleeve. Each page in the binder was labeled with the players name and number with masking tape. The number was written really big, indicating to me they were not totally familiar with everyone on each team. (funny, they had a couple of players labeled wrong, they had edwar rameriz, as Edwin, and one of the other bench players labeled wrong as well, but I could tell they did this quite often) The older guy came and checked with him about every 20 minutes to see what he had signed. When the older guy came to check on the kid right next to me, he got a phone call from one of the other kids who had just gotten Mariano. But it totally seemed like a business to me.

If I was a player and I saw what they were doing, there is no way I would sign. Or maybe I would sign for them, but write someone else's name, or just a straight line or something to ruin their little scheme.

Funny story really quick. Have gone up to Seattle a couple times. Once when Randy johnson was on the team, once after he was traded back to the d-backs. Both times, an old lady came down and was carrying a Randy Johnson calender, and yelling at Joe Kerrigan (former bullpen coach of yankees). She kept yelling "Randy", "hey Randy Johnson". Joe Kerrigan has a mustache, but really bears no other resemblance to the Big Unit. I was busting up the whole time. I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't Randy, and you could tell Joe and some the Yankees heard her as they were stretching and stuff, and they seemed to be laughing about it as well. It was especially funny the second year, when he was not on the team anymore, and she seemed to have no idea.

[Biggums7]

I think the BIG NAME players shouldn't care if we make $40 off of a item we got them to sign, i mean we pay the multi million dollar contracts, but that doesnt give the right for people to bring 20 items to a game to get sign, also NO ONE SHOULD EVER push kids out of the way to get an autograph "which i've seen" no matter who the player is.

[Racer64X]

funny thing about the thing about true fans. i went to a marlins game to see dan pitch one time on my trip to florida last summer, there was some guy posing as a fan who couldnt even say his name right, lol. if hes your favrite player you should at least know how to pronounce their name!

but anyways i never sell, if i have only one autograph of one player i dont trade it, if i have a double i may trade it for someone i dont have, but never sell

[tikitomoka]

wow you guys nailed this on the head. i am a kid and you wouldnt believe what jerks grown men can be to a 13 year old kid lol. another thing with people selling em, earlier this season when the magic came here one kid got dh12 to signd 14 jerseys and another got him to sign 15 and every single on went on the bay the next day