As I understood it, kids were then turning around and selling the autographed cards.

Originally Posted by: nerdmann 

While I think kids should be given the benefit of the doubt, it is true that some parents would have their kids obtain the autographs for them to sell.

Personally, I would rather take the chance of making some kids day than worry about someone making a buck off my ink. The impression you have the opportunity to make on someone that young is priceless. The amount of money someone could make off the ink, very limited.

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

Lots of athletes do not like to sign for this reason. Others will insist on personalizing the authograph ie: to Johnny, my #1 fan because personalized autographs generally are not as desirable to autograph collectors. I agree with zero. I would rather sign 100 autos destined for ebay rather than miss 1 kid who truly wanted one for himself. yes, many parents will have their kids get autos to resell and many adults will pay kids to get things signed but that is the nature of the beast. If you are popular people will want your autograph.

One way to diminish this is not to sign fewer items but to sign more. Get 100,000 of your cards, sign them and have someone sell them them on ebay for enough to cover shipping or simply give them away. Flood the market with them. If a card company wants you to sign cards for a product sign a ton of them. The more signatures that are out there the less they will be worth.

Another way is to start a rumor that someone forged many thousands of your signatures on items that can be purchased through places like ebay. Yeah, its dishonest but that will ensure that the only way for people to know for sure your signature is real is to get it in person.

Personally I have never seen the appeal of an autograph, especially one purchased from a second hand source like those on trading cards. The only way I would consider an autograph for myself is if I saw the person at a game or a function not specifically set up to provide autographs like if you saw the person out on the town (even though approaching them then may be rude and presumptuous) I remember many years ago when Favre hurt his foot and during the bye week he was signing at a Scheels sporting goods store in Eau Claire. People were lined up from one end of the mall to the other and half way back at 9:00 in the morning and the signing wasn't set to start until 10 or maybe even 11. I can not think of a single person that I would wait in line for more that maybe 10 minutes to get an autograph from unless I was getting the autograph for a gift for someone. I might wait an hour or so to get someone like Brian Urlacher to sign an item for my nephew (Urlacher was his favorite player) but for myself, no way. It just means nothing to me.

If I were famous I'd like to think that I would sign sign sign, anything and everything that came my way as long as the request was within reason (not being rude or invasive or things like that)

Originally Posted by: sschind 

Let
s nnot confuse character with talent, thogh. When I was a kid, Jose Cardinel was one of my favorites. Great guy, class clown and totally fan friendly. But he batted about .235.

Sterling Sharoe always had a reputation as a dick, but I am ok with that as long as he's not a clubhouse cancer because he could play.

I have little doubt some of these guys are jerks...I bet I would have nothing to say to a Colt Lyerla, but if someone can keep out of trouble, can keep frombeing disruptive to the team and can play a little football, let's see him play!

Think about Randy Moss. Some wanted badly to bring him here but I hated him from his college days and even as a pro tried to run over a meter maid. yet no question a lot of people still thought to bring him here.

Brett Favre turned disruptive Prima Donna at the end of his tenure here so I was glad to see him go but I bet he didn't turn that way over night. And I for one was glad that, unlike the Bears, Vikings and Lions, I didn't have to worry about who my QB was for like 20 years.

Originally Posted by: OlHoss1884 

Let
s nnot confuse character with talent, thogh. When I was a kid, Jose Cardinel was one of my favorites. Great guy, class clown and totally fan friendly. But he batted about .235.

Sterling Sharoe always had a reputation as a dick, but I am ok with that as long as he's not a clubhouse cancer because he could play.

I have little doubt some of these guys are jerks...I bet I would have nothing to say to a Colt Lyerla, but if someone can keep out of trouble, can keep frombeing disruptive to the team and can play a little football, let's see him play!

Think about Randy Moss. Some wanted badly to bring him here but I hated him from his college days and even as a pro tried to run over a meter maid. yet no question a lot of people still thought to bring him here.

Brett Favre turned disruptive Prima Donna at the end of his tenure here so I was glad to see him go but I bet he didn't turn that way over night. And I for one was glad that, unlike the Bears, Vikings and Lions, I didn't have to worry about who my QB was for like 20 years.

Originally Posted by: OlHoss1884 

Moss had a formative incident in his youth that made him what he was.

Originally Posted by: nerdmann