Are you steering away from modern autographed cards?

[vwnut13]

Originally Posted by fabiani12333

It's like illiterate Shoeless Joe Jackson famously signing his name with an X.

At least the modern day illiterate players scribble instead of writing an X.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by BoSoxFan1999

I give credit to Curry. He signs a lot but his sig has stayed pretty much the same his entire career (seems like he's enlarged the "C" in his sig in recent years). Also has a nice looking sig as well, not some lame one you see many of the younger guys sign with these days.

2009 rookie year sig:
Attachment 568838

2024 Olympic Topps Now sig
Attachment 568839

Yeah, he even signs a lot for Leaf.

His best signature is still his rookie-year cards -- look at his Exquisite cards, for example -- but it hasn't changed much since then.

For comparison, look at Allen Iverson's signature -- it has been flat-out ugly since retirement. It looks like a couple of lassos:

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by awz50

Though most would call that a "scribble" and want him to write out the full Stephen Curry

I don't recall any other signature of his beside the ones with his jersey number.

[base set]

Bumping this on a tangent, didn’t realize it had slipped to page 2.

Where I think about “auto” cards the most is when I am presented with a touch screen to confirm the use of my credit card. I haven’t tried it yet, but eventually at some regular spot where the employee on the other side of the transaction knows me, I will “sign” the screen, athlete style, with just a single loop of digital “ink.” I doubt anything will happen, which in turn raises the question - why do we sign anything any more? Checkbooks are slowly going off with the DoDo birds. And the credit card signatures of people who can’t use cursive script in the first place - why?

[tyrith]

Auto quality matters to me. There are players that I would enjoy having some autos of as a collector whose cards I won't touch because the auto sucks. ELDC, James Wood, and Roman Anthony are some guys that I've actively stayed away from because of this. Yordan Alvarez's auto was bad and has gotten worse/lazier and I've stayed away from most of his non-RC autos because of it. Jeremy Pena's CPA auto is ugly and is different than his auto has been as a pro, which has pretty much sketched me out from buying any of his 2020 autos. This stuff matters.

[scal]

Enough of these current players have very unappealing autos. Too many are just block initials or a very short squiggle that gives no indication to who actually signed it. The amount of effort put into some of these autos is unappealing in its own right.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by scal

Enough of these current players have very unappealing autos. Too many are just block initials or a very short squiggle that gives no indication to who actually signed it. The amount of effort put into some of these autos is unappealing in its own right.

To some extent this is a function of the overall decline in handwriting in general, especially cursive. Most people now spend more time typing than they do writing by hand, and cursive is rarely taught in schools anymore.

Add in the fact that Topps/Fanatics often has these players signing hundreds/thousands of cards at a time, and it not exactly shocking that their autographs are virtually illegible.

[jduds]

Originally Posted by tyrith

Auto quality matters to me. There are players that I would enjoy having some autos of as a collector whose cards I won't touch because the auto sucks. ELDC, James Wood, and Roman Anthony are some guys that I've actively stayed away from because of this. Yordan Alvarez's auto was bad and has gotten worse/lazier and I've stayed away from most of his non-RC autos because of it. Jeremy Pena's CPA auto is ugly and is different than his auto has been as a pro, which has pretty much sketched me out from buying any of his 2020 autos. This stuff matters.

My handwriting sucks, and my sig looks very close to James Wood's despite being taught cursive in school and working with handwriting experts. I like to think he does his J the way I do for the same reason; because that's how Joan of Arc did it.

The only player I've actively stayed away from due to handwriting was Ronald Acuna Jr. for a bit because his autos were too faint. He's fixed that problem. A.J. Smith-Shawver's sig is literally ass (his intials), but that did make me think twice about buying one.

I think the fact that I typically only grab one auto per player makes me less picky about handwriting, along with my own illegible scrawl, leaving me no room to judge.

[jduds]

Forgot to add the worst auto in my collection. I do laugh every time I see it, so it’s never leaving the PC. Sometimes bad is good.


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[sauceboy]

Roman has a fine autograph. I just purchased this card myself: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/-hAAA...q/s-l1600.webp

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by mfw13

To some extent this is a function of the overall decline in handwriting in general, especially cursive. Most people now spend more time typing than they do writing by hand, and cursive is rarely taught in schools anymore.

Add in the fact that Topps/Fanatics often has these players signing hundreds/thousands of cards at a time, and it not exactly shocking that their autographs are virtually illegible.

I mean, it doesn't matter the reason for why the signatures are so poor -- it's not like the players signing them are handicap. What ultimately matters is the value the market and collectors put on them. If the players and Topps can get away with piss-poor quality signatures, they'll continue to do so. But if it gets to the point where values drop so much that they can't be successfully marketed as chase cards, you'll see a change.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by sauceboy

Roman has a fine autograph. I just purchased this card myself: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/-hAAA...q/s-l1600.webp

That should be the bare minimum. It used to be, at least.

[Bambino22]

Originally Posted by clocsta2323

Im shocked how many people are defending the signatures of athletes who scribble something in half a second

Im on the players side. The volume issue needs to be addressed first before quality can be improved.

Yordan did 22,600 Topps Rookie Autos. Add non Topps products, Memorabilia, in person autos...thats about 30k autos in 1 year.

Simply wrong to ask a player to do that.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by Bambino22

Im on the players side. The volume issue needs to be addressed first before quality can be improved.

Yordan did 22,600 Topps Rookie Autos. Add non Topps products, Memorabilia, in person autos...thats about 30k autos in 1 year.

Simply wrong to ask a player to do that.

They get paid by the auto, right? They can just tell Topps they don't want to sign as many.

But they probably want to maximize the amount they make from signing cards, so they compromise the quality of their signature to do so.

[Bambino22]

Originally Posted by fabiani12333

They get paid by the auto, right? They can just tell Topps they don't want to sign as many.

But they probably want to maximize the amount they make from signing cards, so they compromise the quality of their signature to do so.

I put the blame on Topps is my point. They could solve the quality issue by first reducing the number of autos and then implement better quality control guidelines to players.

My guess is Topps does not dare ask for nice autos because volume must be met first. And its too costly to get both volume and quality.

[JWBlue]

I don't autograph trading cards and even my signature these days is my initials.

Admittedly, my handwriting is atrocious so I have an excuse at least.

[ScooterD]

This has been touched on, but I think there’s an important distinction between a signature being illegible v. Lazy.

Ryne Sanberg was (I think) among the earliest pack-issued autos in 1991 Elite, and his signature (while consistent) was illegible. We accepted that… but started drawing the line at Jackson Merrill’s quick squiggle

[PuddleMonkey]

Originally Posted by ScooterD

… but started drawing the line at Jackson Merrill’s quick squiggle

I want this guy to be a bust just based on his squiggle and the fact that he has like 7 different versions of it (or someone else signing for him).

[tyrith]

Originally Posted by sauceboy

Roman has a fine autograph. I just purchased this card myself: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/-hAAA...q/s-l1600.webp

I'm pretty sure that's the best looking Roman Anthony auto I've ever seen. Even most of his CPAs aren't like that - they rapidly start looking like this -

https://www.ebay.com/itm/146999722196

But now most of them look like this, with just the R -

https://www.ebay.com/itm/326896115131

Originally Posted by jduds

My handwriting sucks, and my sig looks very close to James Wood's despite being taught cursive in school and working with handwriting experts. I like to think he does his J the way I do for the same reason; because that's how Joan of Arc did it.

The J isn't the problem, is that's the rest of the sig after it is one tiny, inconsistent scribble of a W (that frequently looks like a U) and that's it.

Originally Posted by ScooterD

This has been touched on, but I think there’s an important distinction between a signature being illegible v. Lazy.

Ryne Sanberg was (I think) among the earliest pack-issued autos in 1991 Elite, and his signature (while consistent) was illegible. We accepted that… but started drawing the line at Jackson Merrill’s quick squiggle

I really want the player's auto to both show a tiny bit of effort but also be connected to their actual name in some capacity. Greg Maddux is an example of an older player whose auto I can't stand. It's relatively consistent and it has at least a touch of effort involved, but it's essentially just a pair of squiggly lines that don't even anchor the first letter to his actual name regularly. Opposed to, say, Craig Biggio's auto, which is pretty ugly but you can at least tell what it is.

[BoSoxFan1999]

Originally Posted by PuddleMonkey

I want this guy to be a bust just based on his squiggle and the fact that he has like 7 different versions of it (or someone else signing for him).

I think he actually said in an interview he only signs his "full" signature for the "more expensive/rare cards"....otherwise the base autos aren't worth his time signing fully. Combined with him trashing a bunch of autos he was supposed to sign for Panini, he doesn't have a good track record.

[PuddleMonkey]

Originally Posted by BoSoxFan1999

I think he actually said in an interview he only signs his "full" signature for the "more expensive/rare cards"....otherwise the base autos aren't worth his time signing fully. Combined with him trashing a bunch of autos he was supposed to sign for Panini, he doesn't have a good track record.

I totally forgot about him being the guy who threw those Panini cards in the trash he was suppose to sign. He's officially my most hated player now. I really hope he ends up on the Yankees at some point.