Overview

Autograph seekers. They are a part of every professional – and often amateur – athlete’s life. They are a fixture at sports teams’ training camps, hotels and stadiums, or anywhere these signature collectors know that athletes will have to pass through on their way to or from an event. They also are a part of the well-known athlete’s every move, as autograph seekers can make it uncomfortable, even impossible, for them and their families to enjoy a meal in public or a trip to an amusement park. Many of these autograph hunters are kids, looking to get that one autograph of the pro baseball or football star they admire – the one whose poster they have hanging over their bed. However, some of the signature hounds are also adults, looking to have literally any athlete they can sign any team item – a ball, a bat, a helmet, a jersey, etc. – in order to turn an ordinary item into a collectible.

The motivation of many of these autograph seekers is innocent. The kid who admires his or her favorite sports star – whether it’s Tiger Woods, Brett Favre, Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez or David Beckham – can have a lasting memory not just from the signed item, but from their brief encounter with a sports legend. All too often however, the motive for kids and adults alike is money as the chance is there to cash-in on the athlete’s celebrity. The worst of the lot – grown-ups who hire children to seek out stars’ autographs on a paid basis – work on the premise that the “cute kid factor” might entice the sports star to stop and sign an item for a 9 year-old that they wouldn’t for a 40 year-old man.

Yet, the real truth of the matter is that while a signed article can be a point of personal pride, even perhaps a family heirloom, the actual value of the item to knowledgeable sports memorabilia collectors is very limited. That is because of the need to provide verifiable proof of the autographed item’s authenticity. Yes, you may have been at the New Orleans Saints’ training camp in Jackson, Mississippi, and personally witnessed star running back Reggie Bush autograph a football.

However, if you were to want to sell the ball, as opposed to displaying it on a shelf in your son’s room, there’s no irrefutable proof that could assure the first buyer, let alone subsequent buyers in the future, as to the validity of Bush’s signature. Not that this stops autograph seekers from trying day after day to get that elusive personalization of basketballs by LeBron James, footballs by Peyton Manning, baseballs by Derek Jeter, and item after item by a myriad of stars. So disruptive to athlete’s lives are some autograph hounds that teams today commonly limit access to their players. And, some athletes, such as Michael Jordan, make it publicly known that they will not sign an autograph except through the special events (and often private signing days) for agencies they have contracted to represent them in what has become an increasingly lucrative market for athletes, supplementing, or even exceeding, what they make on the field by simply signing their names. The sports memorabilia market today is a global marketplace, estimated to generate revenues in excess of $5 billion annually. However, it is a market unlike any other, due to the giant presence of counterfeit items.