Baseball Autographs

You can buy a baseball autographed by a Hall of Famer.  You can purchase a team signed baseball.  Signed collectables from baseball can also include jerseys, bats, 8×10 or larger photos, baseball cards or programs.  Generally, flat items are going to be cheaper.  They’re easier for the athlete to sign and don’t have the premium attached to them that other items do when sports memorabilia companies enter into a contractual agreement with a player.  However, some prefer to make a splash with a larger framed autographed piece like a signed jersey or signed baseball collection you can display on shelves.

Football Autographs

Autographed footballs, of course, are very popular and they lend themselves to autographs better than baseballs because of their size.  Despite the pebble grain, a good Sharpie signature on a football (silver ink looks great, by the way) is a thing of beauty.  You can also buy footballs with special white panels to add multiple signatures (it is hard to buy a team-signed football because it’s difficult to write small on them.  Signed NFL jerseys are another hit with collectors.  You can buy jerseys with the signature on to the numerals.  Autographed helmets look great, too—full size or the newer mini helmets designed to hold just one or two autographs.  The mini helmets require a smaller shipping charge, of course.

Basketball Autographs

Signed basketballs are probably the most popular item in this category.  They’re great for individual signatures or for teams, since only about a dozen to 15 names are necessary.  Black Sharpie on an orange ball looks great.  Blue or another dark color works too.  Many collectors also like signed NBA jerseys because they are usually colorful and look great framed without taking up a huge part of your wall.  Again, 8×10 autographs are colorful, easy to store and very inexpensive signed collectables.

Hockey Autographs

NHL players are usually very generous when it comes to autographs.  You can have them sign a hockey stick, a photo, a jersey or even a hockey puck.  Signed pucks can easily be displayed and look great with a light or gold colored Sharpie signature on the top.  They usually answer their fan mail so signed hockey cards are easy to collect and very cheap.  Buying autographs from hockey via eBay or Amazon.com is easy and usually very inexpensive.

Be sure to do your homework and make plans when adding to your signed collectable collection.  It’s no fun having items you don’t have room to store, but it’s a lot of fun when you know what you’re buying is authentic.

The same holds true today and sports autographs are one of the most popular forms of collecting.  Athletes are center stage 365 days a year.  They’re more visible thanks to TV and the internet.  Collecting signed items is a little tougher than it used to be.  Aware of the value of their signatures, some athletes make themselves harder to find, even in public.  Not all are worth money, but superstars are deluged with requests from fans who want that special piece for their collection but also by part or full-time sports collectible dealers who are obtaining the signatures to re-sell.

Athletes should know, though, that most people who buy or chase after autographs are pure in their intent.  They love to have a tangible connection to their favorite teams, players and to the history of the games themselves by collecting relics both past and present.  It’s a memory preserved for all time and a colorful way to decorate an office, sports room or kids room.  They’re conversation pieces and anyone who is a sports fan appreciates the time and effort it took to track down that special sports autograph.  A baseball sporting the autograph of Babe Ruth is worth thousands of dollars today because there is still a greater demand than the supply that exists in the marketplace.  It’s a terrific connection to the game’s past.

While autographs of Hall of Famers and deceased players might cost quite a lot, the beauty of autograph collecting is that you can start with a small budget and still have a nice collection.  There are plenty of well-known players whose autograph is still very inexpensive on eBay or Amazon.com.  Some retired players sign thousands of items.  As famous as he was, Nolan Ryan autographs are generally less than $75 because the great pitcher has always been so agreeable to sign.  He did so in part to keep the value down so he wouldn’t have to deal with sneaky, overbearing dealers.

Sports autographs provide a way for a collector to turn a run-of-the-mill piece of memorabilia such as a card or 8×10 photograph into a special piece with increased value.  More than anything though, collectors just like to accumulate items that mean something to them.  It’s fun, it’s relaxing and it’s a challenge.  What more could you ask for from a hobby?

1) MVP Autographs – Baseball has been handing out it’s Most Valuable Player Awards for many years and collecting autographs of baseball MVPs is a way to ensure you’ll have great players in your autograph collection. Trying to attain some of the cards and/or autographs might be tough because some of the greatest players of all time have passed away in the nearly 70 years the modern MVP awards have been presented.  MVP awards have gone to the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Hank Greenberg, Stan Musial, Yogi Berra, Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Mike Schmidt, Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols.

2) Cy Young Award Winners- This baseball theme would present many challenges for any serious collector. The Cy Young award began in 1956 and there have been many multiple winners so you don’t need to buy hundreds of autographs to complete this collection. Only one winner was named from 1956-67 before the award was divided by league.  You can  have a blast looking for authentic autographs from Cy Young Award winners like Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson.

3) Hall of Fame Members-It might also be fun to see how many autographs you can get from Hall of Famers. Out of the nearly 300 members, finding over 100 autographs might be a test for any baseball collector. Mustering over 200 would be another plateau.  Yet going this route  involves several attainable contemporary players that could put your collection off to a great start. Babe Ruth autographs aren’t cheap, but you can find a simple Ruth cut autograph—something affixed to a scrapbook or check for about the price of a nice one-month mortgage payment. Collecting autographs of Hall of Famers one at a time is a very rewarding journey through baseball history.

4) Team Themes-I am sure this is one of the most obvious themes baseball autograph collectors use. If you like the Yankees then it makes perfect sense to focus on Yankee autographs.  A Cub fan prefers Hack Wilson, Ernie Banks or Ryne Sandberg autographs. In some case, finding all of the autographs for a particular team for a given year might be as tough as some of the themes listed above.  You can collect team-signed baseballs from various seasons or collect individual signed items from players who suited up for the same team.

5) Autographs from One Authenticator- You can have a certain symmetry to your collection by obtaining only items authenticated by one specific company.  No matter if your choice is someone like James Spence Authentication or PSA/DNA or Steiner Sports, you’ll become familiar with the process and your authentication stickers and paperwork will have the same look.

Baseball autographs remain the most popular of any sport.  Fans have been chasing them for generations, at spring training, team hotels, the ballpark and through the mail.  How you choose to build your collection is entirely up to you.  A little creativity and organization can go a long way toward creating a collection that will stand the test of time.

People were getting scammed hard with forged autographs.

In fact, many baseball autographs are still faked these days for monetary gain and it’s made the industry as a whole very nervous and sometimes difficult to enter for a “newbie:. At the same time, it really makes you appreciate those items in circulation that are legitimate. But how do you determine whether or not an autograph is authentic?  It’s not really that hard and these days there are experts in the field to help separate the good from the bad and make your buying experience much more palatable.

Reputable companies who can provide proper authentication are in high demand due to the amount of non-genuine autographs that still exist; companies that can make the grade, if you will. There are many sports memorabilia authenticators on the internet who provide such a service but we’ve narrowed it down to a handful that are generally well respected in the industry. Here are some companies who can provide that exact expertise to help you avoid fakes and establish a serious autograph collection with as close to ironclad authentication as you can get.  Letters of authenticity are really letters of opinion.  But these companies have studied thousands of exemplars, and are familiar with common fakes, keeping mistakes to a minimum.

PSA/DNA- www.psacard.com Professional Sports Authenticator is a third party service that grades sports cards and autographs. It has also been called an “Industry Giant” by those in the know. The services they provide could tell you if a card is mint or not mint or whether a card has been trimmed or not. But they also certify autographs. PSA claims it has the hobby’s most experienced grading experts and it still stands as one of the most trusted in the biz. Their strict standards seem to put them over the top in the eyes of many sports collectors. Once a card or autograph has been certified, the item is marked with an invisible DNA laced link. It is naked to the human eye but it is verifiable through an infrared laser. If you are searching for items on EBAY and you see that an item has been certified by PSA/DNA then you can look it up by a specific number. A Certificate or Letter of A uthenticity also is provided by PSA.

James Spence Authentication- www.spenceloa.com

James Spence Authentication is another reputable company offering similar autograph authentication services. JSA provides authentication letters, standard certification and even a clause called “And When I Die”. That program is— you guessed it—centered around a collector’s last will and testament and what to do with a valuable collection once they pass away. James Spence Authentication says it will quickly eliminate the vast majority of non-authentic  autographs.

Global Authentication Inc. – www.globalauthentication.com

A Pre-Certified Authenticator for Ebay, Global Authentication is another player in the Baseball Autograph Industry.  This company was formed by two former PSA employees and is generally a fairly reputable authentication service.

Mounted Memories- www.mountedmemories.com

Mounted Memories is another reputable company that authenticates autographs. Just like PSA/DNA and James Spence, Mounted Memories is one of the most recognized names in the sports collectibles industry.  The company usually enters into agreements with the athletes for ‘private signings’ where a player signs a certain number of autographs for a free.  The items are then distributed in the marketplace with a COA.
Steiner Sports- www.steinersports.com

Steiner Sports boasts that it’s the top distributor of authentic sports collectibles since 1992. If you plan to buy from the website, each and every hand signed autograph is witnessed by a Steiner Sports representative.  Like Mounted Memories, Steiner has a large client base among pro athletes and is always adding to it.

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