The problem isn't Richardson's signature. The problem is people paying thousands of dollars to chase the auto of a guy who's thrown 6 career touchdowns.
Seriously, price gouging from there ad revenue they get from their social media accounts… They don’t care about the value of the cards b/c they know they will make it up from the UA-cam paycheck.
Also influencers who get ad revenue from UA-cam and other social media platforms are forcing the prices up b/c they know they will get the money back from the video they upload.
@@SnitchNewsNetwork completely agree, these guys are filthy rich and can just keep feeding their collecting machine with the UA-cam money rolling in. Then they will play stupid and ignore the actual problem in the hobby.
It's his ceiling due to his physical traits, but thus far, he's lacking on the mental side of things on top of being mediocre and tapping out because he's tired from a 10 yard run.
Then we wouldnt have any live auto. I know for a fact some players dont sign during the season to focus on the game. So whats gonna happen with those? I hate sticker also but its the ‘’solution’’ to have some auto of our fav players / rookies
Of all the autograph cards/ merchandise i have my absolutely favorite above all is : King Richard Petty He has the most beautiful handwriting and when you see his autograph you for sure without doubt. I appreciate a nice signature i think it says a lot about the person's character. I think today's players are just being lazy......
Breakers aren't the problem, it's the people who clear out the entire store so they can make a YouYube video for themselves. Unless they are doing collectors a favor by compiling a complete value sheet with all percentages and dollar per, as far as parallalells, autos, etc, it's a selfish move. Stryker does a great job with this and he lets everybody know which format is best based on what you are chasing. Breakers aren't the problem, they give normal people a chance to hit a big card or build their PC with product they wouldn't be able to afford on their own.
@@danjay7the way economics work is the issue. Breakers spend millions and they don't care about the cost. They'll get it back plus some when they sell the slots. Because they spend so much and don't really care about the initial costs, Panini can continue to increase prices across the board.
@joeyhoy1995 That's why there's multiple formats available. Breakers buying hobby or breakers delight cases don't affect the pricing of most retail. I bought 3 boxes of Topps Chrome Update last week from gamestop for less than $50/box and it's the hottest release out. I literally keep buying Topps Update value boxes for $30 and hangers for $12.99 at Target. Some releases are just more high end than others. Your logic is flawed and also lazy. It's interesting how you mention economics without mentioning inflation, fuel/transport, storage/warehouse overhead and all of the logistics involve. My rent is up 40% in the last 4 years, groceries and gas close to the same. Inflation affects card prices more than breakers and it's not close. It honestly sounds like you're just salty and jealous.
@joeyhoy1995 Also, the fact that you believe breakers don't care at all about the price they have to pay really just shows how short-sighted you are. Critical thinking my friend...
There's too much of a focus on autos and too many autos out there. Years ago, when you pulled an auto it was super exciting, no matter who you got. They were rare and hard to get. It made them matter more, both to the collector as well as in terms of value. Nowadays, they have excessive autos and it leads to situations like this where people just scribble through them. They also have every player and prospect under the sun signing, so you get autos all day, but most of them are worthless.
I know sports cards have been taking off popularity wise over the past few years, but all of these scams and everything being about money is going to make this all implode at some point
It is already happening believe me and the junk wax era is going to save the damn card hobby and I'm glad it is! I'm sick and tired of people bashing the junk wax era because they are making more crap these days than the junk wax era ever thought about!!
I’ll take rare 90s inserts all day. I hate these modern cards and remakes. Sticker autos, multi versions of base parallels, way too many cards in sets 🤮 that Richardson auto is hideous.
I totally agree. When i watch a video with the person skipping thru the pack to the "color" I x out of the video. These "chase" cards are killing the market. And i have said it back in the late 90's. And i went out of the market around 2000. I just got back into the market last year. Seeing all the inserts (of the same card even) It is just crazy. And it has drove the price up of cards.
I think a big part of the issue that nobody seems to be bringing up is that players these days are being made to sign more autos than ever before. I mean, if guys are now signing like 5 to 10x as much as players did a few decades ago, I think they're bound to become more lazy with their signings.
Their being paid and paid good for the auto's. Would your work be ok with your work getting lazy because you have a lot to do, or are tired at the end of the week? If they can't handle the super hard job of signing a piece of paper a 100 times, then don't take the $$$???
@@Toronto_CardCollector my point exactly, it's not for fun when you're getting paid, it's called working, would you rather dig ditches flip burgers or get paid thousands of dollars to sign your name, even ten thousand times. I know lots of people that would love to get paid for using a pen, they need to do a good job if they're getting paid good money, simple as that...
@@rsuriyop Richardson could very well easily sign his ugly small initials, bigger and better, and it wouldn’t take any more of his time than the way he actually signs it. It’s not hard to develop a time and system for him to do it the right way.
@@Toronto_CardCollector they are getting paid thousands and thousands of dollars for those thousands of signatures. Let’s just say someone offered you $1 per signature. You’d be signing 24/7! He may not think it’s worth his time. Selfish and lazy. That way of thinking tends to translate to all other area, up to but not limited to his on field play.
The Fed Ex driver or people can tell by how much insurance you buy that something good is in there. I had a grading company give me insurance for my card and said do not buy fed ex insurance because they know something good in there!
Speaking for myself, I mainly collect actor autographs, I like when they're accessible and I can personally get the autograph. There's some that never come where I can get the autograph. In that case I will purchase online, and some are so expensive I can get a Beckett or JSA authenticated signature cheaper online then in person. I also stay away from bad signatures, just watching/listening to you all talk about this growing issue, I have one particular autograph that comes to mind, one that I wanted although his signature is so bad anyone seeing it would most likely question as who it was, or if it's even real, John Cusack his recent autographs are sad. I agree that some pride needs to be taken when signing, people like myself who have a weekly budge have to decide what's important. If I'm paying money for an autograph I would hope to receive the respect from the person signing that they give me something that is worth paying for. Although the problem will continue as long as there's a demand, as a community if people start refusing bad signature the demand will drop and the quality will have to improve or they become non-relevant. I see that myself could be part of the problem if I choice to allow the bad signatures to be in my collection. That's my opinion on the subject,. Thank you for the great discussion content....
There needs to be a standard. 2 letters is not an autograph. Makes me wonder about the players work ethics. Pulled a Dylan Crews auto, full name and neatly written. Great penmanship.
Influencers: "Gambling and breaking hasn't ruined sports cards. Don't be silly!" Influencers: "Those players are lazy and are ruining cards with their autos. My cards are losing value."
@@christopherallen9476 gen Z huh? No dog what happens if you precious computer goes down, what if all of the sudden electricity goes away? The fact that you are ok not knowing how to write or even tell time on a non digital clock??? Kinda pathetic if you ask me, just another weakness added to the long list of gen Z weaknesses!!!
To me Topps has ruined the auto market Topps making athletes sign to many autos for almost every new product that comes out including many parallels. For example Shohei Ohtani had a very nice auto during his rookie year but after just 2 years of signing he had to change his auto to save time. Now his older auto is more desired & comes with a premium cost.
It's crazy how an autograph on acetate looks like the most beautiful card you've ever seen, and then you see a sticker auto and it looks like something you bought at Marshalls or Ross
How do you know it’s even his and not his mother now signing? Cause topps puts a few words on it saying it’s guaranteed? Same with all these other “authentic” autos by psa when it’s years of same player and none of the autos look alike. How do they know?? And Jackson Merrill likely doesn’t think to highly of us losers that spend big money on tiny pieces of cardboard with pictures of men on it 😂
When you have to sign your name 5k to 10k your rookie yr, then do it 3k-6k every year there after. Yes, after the first 2k, you are going to look for a simple, easier way to sign. Before the 2000s, yes, there were a whole lot fewer auto's. Now, with a dozen card types and multiple card companies demanding their auto's, there is no incentive to be neat.
Athletes get paid millions of dollars in their contracts, part of their contracts and responsibilities are to fulfill their agreements licensing agreements with companies like Topps/Fanatics (some of these guys are even exclusively signed by Fanatics, and therefore receiving even more money for their affiliation with the brand, and in turn, their autograph being paid for as a service). With that being said, it's simply unprofessional and lazy AF to be paid significant amounts of money for your auto, and then treating it so shittily. If you're paid to do something, it shouldn't be a lazy ass job. If you paid a contractor to do work on your house, you wouldn't care that he's built 400 decks that summer, if your deck is the 401st, you'd still expect the quality you're paying for just the same as they guy who paid for deck 1. It's weird how everyone is just "okay" with them being lazy AF with their signatures, but they wouldn't be that understanding in any other scenario in which you're paying for a service. (in this case, Fanatics is paying for the service, but you get my point).
When a player makes so many millions to play and a small token to sign stickers for people to buy and sell and make money off of them ... why should they care ? It's great if they do ... but I don't see why they should care. Complaining card dealers are a very small percentage of the fan base so if they are mad, it doesn't impact them. If the players give nice autos in person and crap on stickers ... that's fair by me. The personal interaction has much more value to the fan.
Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey JR, Derek Jeter, MJ, and the GOAT TB12 all have beautiful signatures. For the love of God, what in the world is Cam Reddish doing with that auto, I would literally throw that card in the trash because it literally looks like a baby drew something on it.
I started collecting autographs as a kid and not just sports heroes. I enjoyed watching a person sign their name and the pride they exuded during the interaction. I still chase autographs and love the in person experience!!
An "autograph" is supposed to be identical to the exact "signature" an athlete uses to sign his contract, driver's license, life insurance policy or child support payment agreement!
The lack of caring has increased over the years. It’s going to get worse. Also the fact that people think AR is going to be worth spending that amount is insane.
Has anyone here tried to pull a sticker off a card and have the athlete sign in person instead? If so, how hard is it to remove the sticker? Does it leave a residue? And what would the grading company's think about this practice? I'm asking because I am seriously considering trying this with a few cards.
Certainly any company paying an artist or athlete to sign anything should have a similar approved facsimile signature on file before making any agreements,imo.
I bought a hobby box of 1999 SP Authentic and pulled a Corey Dillon Player's Ink card that was suppose to have his autograph but didn't have one. Has anyone else ever had that happen.
I did this back in 99 or 2000. Cant remember the year. Was an 1999 Upper Deck SP Signature Edition i bought. Was an auto per pack i think it was. Maybe 1 auto per box. I can't remember. It was of Ken Stabler. I had one of the Stabler's auto already. So the dealer gave me a new box for the non auto card.
The guy who said having a great card of a player can make you a fan is spot on. Some players in baseball I follow now just because I have a card of there’s /10 or /5. I want them to be successful
Here in Florida, probably like everywhere, we have UPS and FedEx delivery drivers, who will alert people(family, friends or random crooks) about a delivery and that individual will conveniently show up at the delivery address seconds to minutes after delivery and steal the package right off of the porch and they all meet later that night to determine, who is going to sell the package, then they agree on an amount following the sell on the open market.
Unfortunately there are a lot more athletes who treat signing autographs for card companies like Anthony Richardson & George Pickens than there are Josh Jung & Anthony Volpe
The increasingly poor quality autos are clear evidence that more and more players think we are a bunch of fools that will take their abuse. Looks to me like they are right.
Sadly, todays athletes missed out on cursive; it was removed from school many years ago, and the kids are certainly not taking it upon themselves to write in cursive. Couple that with the card manufacturers mass producing their product and you get an idea why the autos suck.
Autographs should not be collectable.. the reason fans get an autograph is getting proof that you met this athlete. not as an "INVESTMENT". why should they care about "Investors". even if an athlete sign a letter for a fan it is still cool.. it should not be as if it is a stock or a financial instrument
we are talking about walmart if its from Walmart its CRAP what do you expect, most important walmart is ok with the signature,the companies need to put the hammer down and say NOT GOOD ENOUGH. I think everyone would agree your 500th signature will not look like your first unless you are getting paid.
Jordan always took pride in his autograph. Even when he simplified it. Always looked great signature. To standardise it… Tell athlete you sign the signature you signed on the contract.
Hands down #1 issue…..outrageous prices bringing out more scammers and greed lust influencers only out to make money. The last coming collapse that the hobby will never recover from is in the making
We are always talking about the inconsistencies on autographs, but nobody ever talks about napkin patches being put on cards numbered to 10 or 25 or even lower. The card companies need to start doing better
I watched the Caitlin Clark $100,000 dutch auction live on Panini Instant. It was more than just 1 tick down to reach $97,000+. I don't remember exactly how many ticks, but it was around a dozen give or take I believe.
I'm not sure that it's laziness, per se. Example: NEITHER of my kids (ages 24 and 22) ever really learned to write cursive. So, the first time they were asked to "sign" something, they were like ... huh? I encouraged them to "practice" writing their names over and over again, trying to get used to "this" being "their signature." When I started seeing the ridiculous "scribble "autos" on cards, my kids having no idea how to write their names was the first thing that crossed my mind.
I been collecting for about 12 years now. I stopped about 3 years ago. With the terrible autos, bad customer service, Hobby box prices. I think sports cards as a whole are losing more intrest year by year. Sellers are taking over the market and it's no longer for actual collectors.
Autos everything are ruining the hobby the same way now it is grade everything! The hobby will hate a mark (symbol) vs a full cursive auto regardless of condition of ink and such. How long before PSA is on board with an Auto grade based on a full signature or a mark! I understand most of us want an Auto! Maybe we need to cut down on the quantity and make it more special to pull one! The more they make the less the auto is worth as well. Most of us cant afford a $8000 box of cards. As a kid nothing was more exiting at the lower economic level than knowing you had a chance in low cost packs to pull the rare auto card (the golden ticket). I can see everything becoming Auto as base cards are tossed.
The issue is making athletes sign so much. If you think about it with the AR autos in college, he didn’t have to signs thousands of stickers and cards because he was only in a couple of sets. Now with how many sets and autos he has to sign, he rushes it. Athletes are people too
There's a lot of problems with sports cards. Pricing is probably the biggest problem, quality is another one, lack of hits (not just talking about more autos, I really just want stuff like jersey, game used objects, arena memorabilia etc. cards to come back - too much base & crappy inserts makes me feel like I got severely scammed & not wanting to buy anymore), too many parallels, upper deck employees stealing big hits, some boxes have 3-4 big hits while other boxes have absolutely none, redemptions taking too long to come in & card shops using CT scanners to find hits before customers have a chance at them. All this has led me to pretty much give up the hobby. Take a look at San Jose Shark's Nico Sturm's autograph. The guy probably will never be an NHL superstar but in terms of calligraphy the guy has it down pat. I never heard of the guy until I noticed his autograph pop up online. I bought it just because I knew he put some effort in it, not just some chicken scratch like a lot of other "elite" players.
Sean Casey has said that when he first got up to the big leagues, he would ask various players to sign a ball for him. After having collected many balls, he went to look at them and he could not tell who signed the 75% of them. Contrast that to the autographs on cards in the 50s where you could virtually read every autograph. So pathetic today. Have fun collecting modern cards.
It is a shame. Look at caleb Williams early leaf autos he signs cwill13. Now his auto is cw with a circle. Pickens is a disgraceful auto. No one expects a ken Griffey jr auto when they sign 1000 cards but more than a letter or initials should be the standard.
Growing up I practiced my autograph for my whole childhood, filled hundreds of notebooks just in case. Needless to say the dream didn’t come true….but boy does my signature look immaculate 😂
The problem is each sport have exclusivity to a certain company. Which should be illegal. Prices were better when there was competition, upper deck, Topps, donruss (panini) and every other company was able to get a license to produce cards. No competition means outrageous prices.
Maybe this could help someon in the future USPS is by far the best shipper I've had packages stolen and as long as you can prove value and show their own tracking I have never had to fight them and I'm talking cards from literally 1$ to 900$. Fedex is AWFUL do not ever use them, as someone who worked in fedex warehouses for years i have seen literal hundreds if not thousands of items stolen by all level of employees. Yes including management. And they will outright refuse to refund you on their insurance. You will have to contact the BBB and then they pay right away.
How about looking at it from the athlete's perspective. Every where they go they have some guy shoving a pen in their face rudely telling them to sign this. The guy can't even eat dinner with his family with out having his balls b broken. People who get a free autograph and then go on line and sell them suck. Would you like people forging your signature on something and selling it? You'd be pissed and rightfully so. The vast quantity of fans have no manners and the players are tired of it. They don't owe the fans anything.
You mentioned that the players aren’t willing to put the time in to make their autos nice. My question is, aren’t they being paid? If so, and I believe that they are, it’s essentially a job. The athletes need to be held accountable for the WORK they put into their JOB. Also, Jalen. Carter. Awful.
I recently lost two packages, one express and one priority. Two Yamamoto auto's...I have made decision to start including apple air tags in my shipments of big cards
You have Chris Webber to thank he was the first lazy auto in the hobby back in the 90’s when you’re getting paid to sign pages of stickers and cards imagine they think the faster the better for them.
IN the October 25,2002 issue SCD Stan Musial stated ' WHY SIGN AN autograph if you can't tell who it is ? Mantle ,Williams SCHOENDIENST AND I HAD GOOD LEGIBLE AUTOGRAPHS .I THINK THAT'S VERY IMPORTANT .
One of the culprits is Jarren Duran....most are just his initals, some have his initals with a squiggly line after each inital, and then his Panini Flawless has his full cursive signature.....
PSA has also been a lot harsher on their grades over the last few months, then I have seen earlier this year and previous years. I think a lot of the cards that used to get sent in, lot of base crap, PSA has been hammering those and you have no value. So maybe people are actually are being a bit more selective?
The amount of autos out there is getting out of hand. The amount of players that do not know cursive is crazy. If the card companies are going to produce this product then they need to do a better job for the collectors. I do however love a in person auto. It is 100% more fun. Wemby does a great job signing.
Stupid question: when a company like Beckett grades the auto, are they basing it off placement on the card, size, or the quality of the signature, or all of the above?
This is so true I opened a 2023-2024 elite basketball box and pulled a Clyde Drexler auto and a Kiki Vandeweugh auto and it actually looked like they put effort into the autographs
I agree with T Pot. Autos on cards represented an interaction with the player, it was cool. It’s just not the same getting it in a pack or with a crummy sticker on it. I also hate all the different versions of the same cards. It’s getting to be super unoriginal. It’s like the slam dunk contest. Bring back ALL the companies, topps, fleer, upper deck, score, etc… bring back the 90s!
The problem isn't Richardson's signature. The problem is people paying thousands of dollars to chase the auto of a guy who's thrown 6 career touchdowns.
exactly !!!!Why should players care about how nice their signatures , when collectors become gamblers chasing cards
The problem is a card company paying a player 50k to sign 3 or 4 million dollars of cards...
Justin Fields bandwagon needed a new champion in AR
@@Mr012366its business
EASY! Those people pay my bills
Influencers are destroying more than players.
Seriously, price gouging from there ad revenue they get from their social media accounts… They don’t care about the value of the cards b/c they know they will make it up from the UA-cam paycheck.
Yep. It’s all the game
If Sports for example...
Autos suck tho 😂
No, Fanatics is destroying sports cards with outrageously expensive product.
Also influencers who get ad revenue from UA-cam and other social media platforms are forcing the prices up b/c they know they will get the money back from the video they upload.
😂 both comments are correct thanks for sharing 😂 but Geoff don’t care he is one of them 😂
@@SnitchNewsNetwork completely agree, these guys are filthy rich and can just keep feeding their collecting machine with the UA-cam money rolling in. Then they will play stupid and ignore the actual problem in the hobby.
@@Run_It_Backyou would be shocked how little ad revenue creators actually get from UA-cam. It doesn’t pay for even 5% of our expenses.
Lol
What is the fascination with Anthony Richardson?! Dude is a mediocre injury-proned QB
It's his ceiling due to his physical traits, but thus far, he's lacking on the mental side of things on top of being mediocre and tapping out because he's tired from a 10 yard run.
On card auto’s should be standard. Stickers suck.
💯
Then we wouldnt have any live auto. I know for a fact some players dont sign during the season to focus on the game. So whats gonna happen with those? I hate sticker also but its the ‘’solution’’ to have some auto of our fav players / rookies
This ! I refuse to buy any sticker auto, to me its worthless
Agreed
@zachsabbath9 that is why I said to me. Man you gotta read bro
Used to be for the kids
Now pumping out boxes worth thousands is a pure money grab
Of all the autograph cards/ merchandise i have my absolutely favorite above all is :
King Richard Petty
He has the most beautiful handwriting and when you see his autograph you for sure without doubt. I appreciate a nice signature i think it says a lot about the person's character.
I think today's players are just being lazy......
Breakers and resellers are the problem.
Facts.
Breakers aren't the problem, it's the people who clear out the entire store so they can make a YouYube video for themselves. Unless they are doing collectors a favor by compiling a complete value sheet with all percentages and dollar per, as far as parallalells, autos, etc, it's a selfish move. Stryker does a great job with this and he lets everybody know which format is best based on what you are chasing. Breakers aren't the problem, they give normal people a chance to hit a big card or build their PC with product they wouldn't be able to afford on their own.
@@danjay7the way economics work is the issue. Breakers spend millions and they don't care about the cost. They'll get it back plus some when they sell the slots. Because they spend so much and don't really care about the initial costs, Panini can continue to increase prices across the board.
@joeyhoy1995 That's why there's multiple formats available. Breakers buying hobby or breakers delight cases don't affect the pricing of most retail. I bought 3 boxes of Topps Chrome Update last week from gamestop for less than $50/box and it's the hottest release out. I literally keep buying Topps Update value boxes for $30 and hangers for $12.99 at Target. Some releases are just more high end than others. Your logic is flawed and also lazy. It's interesting how you mention economics without mentioning inflation, fuel/transport, storage/warehouse overhead and all of the logistics involve. My rent is up 40% in the last 4 years, groceries and gas close to the same. Inflation affects card prices more than breakers and it's not close. It honestly sounds like you're just salty and jealous.
@joeyhoy1995 Also, the fact that you believe breakers don't care at all about the price they have to pay really just shows how short-sighted you are. Critical thinking my friend...
There's too much of a focus on autos and too many autos out there. Years ago, when you pulled an auto it was super exciting, no matter who you got. They were rare and hard to get. It made them matter more, both to the collector as well as in terms of value. Nowadays, they have excessive autos and it leads to situations like this where people just scribble through them. They also have every player and prospect under the sun signing, so you get autos all day, but most of them are worthless.
I know sports cards have been taking off popularity wise over the past few years, but all of these scams and everything being about money is going to make this all implode at some point
It is already happening believe me and the junk wax era is going to save the damn card hobby and I'm glad it is! I'm sick and tired of people bashing the junk wax era because they are making more crap these days than the junk wax era ever thought about!!
I’ll take rare 90s inserts all day. I hate these modern cards and remakes. Sticker autos, multi versions of base parallels, way too many cards in sets 🤮 that Richardson auto is hideous.
I totally agree. When i watch a video with the person skipping thru the pack to the "color" I x out of the video. These "chase" cards are killing the market. And i have said it back in the late 90's. And i went out of the market around 2000. I just got back into the market last year. Seeing all the inserts (of the same card even) It is just crazy. And it has drove the price up of cards.
Keep supporting this nonsense channel and you’ll keep getting stockers. They go together
Funny you bring this up , I went to potentially purchase a R.R card about a week ago and after I saw how bad the auto was I completely lost interest.
I think a big part of the issue that nobody seems to be bringing up is that players these days are being made to sign more autos than ever before. I mean, if guys are now signing like 5 to 10x as much as players did a few decades ago, I think they're bound to become more lazy with their signings.
Their being paid and paid good for the auto's. Would your work be ok with your work getting lazy because you have a lot to do, or are tired at the end of the week? If they can't handle the super hard job of signing a piece of paper a 100 times, then don't take the $$$???
@Gram72534 I think the issue is that it's not 100 times, they're signing thousands of stickers. Not my idea of a good time 🤷♂️
@@Toronto_CardCollector my point exactly, it's not for fun when you're getting paid, it's called working, would you rather dig ditches flip burgers or get paid thousands of dollars to sign your name, even ten thousand times. I know lots of people that would love to get paid for using a pen, they need to do a good job if they're getting paid good money, simple as that...
@@rsuriyop Richardson could very well easily sign his ugly small initials, bigger and better, and it wouldn’t take any more of his time than the way he actually signs it. It’s not hard to develop a time and system for him to do it the right way.
@@Toronto_CardCollector they are getting paid thousands and thousands of dollars for those thousands of signatures. Let’s just say someone offered you $1 per signature. You’d be signing 24/7! He may not think it’s worth his time. Selfish and lazy. That way of thinking tends to translate to all other area, up to but not limited to his on field play.
No Fanatics is destroying the hobby with cash grab issued products...
The Fed Ex driver or people can tell by how much insurance you buy that something good is in there. I had a grading company give me insurance for my card and said do not buy fed ex insurance because they know something good in there!
That makes sense. Definitely not just random.
Jordan always took pride in his autograph.
Even when he simplified it.
Always looked great signature.
That’s another reason Ken Griffey autos hold up. One of the best signatures ever
Speaking for myself, I mainly collect actor autographs, I like when they're accessible and I can personally get the autograph. There's some that never come where I can get the autograph. In that case I will purchase online, and some are so expensive I can get a Beckett or JSA authenticated signature cheaper online then in person. I also stay away from bad signatures, just watching/listening to you all talk about this growing issue, I have one particular autograph that comes to mind, one that I wanted although his signature is so bad anyone seeing it would most likely question as who it was, or if it's even real, John Cusack his recent autographs are sad. I agree that some pride needs to be taken when signing, people like myself who have a weekly budge have to decide what's important. If I'm paying money for an autograph I would hope to receive the respect from the person signing that they give me something that is worth paying for. Although the problem will continue as long as there's a demand, as a community if people start refusing bad signature the demand will drop and the quality will have to improve or they become non-relevant. I see that myself could be part of the problem if I choice to allow the bad signatures to be in my collection. That's my opinion on the subject,. Thank you for the great discussion content....
There needs to be a standard. 2 letters is not an autograph. Makes me wonder about the players work ethics.
Pulled a Dylan Crews auto, full name and neatly written. Great penmanship.
Influencers: "Gambling and breaking hasn't ruined sports cards. Don't be silly!"
Influencers: "Those players are lazy and are ruining cards with their autos. My cards are losing value."
Yeah ppl like these guys and others are the reason the hobby is getting out of hand… Just greedy
@@Run_It_Backyup thanks for sharing 😂
@@SnitchNewsNetwork 💯
They no longer teach cursive in school signatures are in cursive ???
Lol! So true
@@christopherallen9476 gen Z huh? No dog what happens if you precious computer goes down, what if all of the sudden electricity goes away? The fact that you are ok not knowing how to write or even tell time on a non digital clock??? Kinda pathetic if you ask me, just another weakness added to the long list of gen Z weaknesses!!!
fact
Nope.
Leftism decided that cursive wasn't important and too difficult for kids to learn...
Only the old timers have full legible autos - Elgin Baylor - Jerry west etc
Any junk wax era card with on card is more appreciated than this modern era crap there pushing now
To me Topps has ruined the auto market Topps making athletes sign to many autos for almost every new product that comes out including many parallels. For example Shohei Ohtani had a very nice auto during his rookie year but after just 2 years of signing he had to change his auto to save time. Now his older auto is more desired & comes with a premium cost.
It's crazy how an autograph on acetate looks like the most beautiful card you've ever seen, and then you see a sticker auto and it looks like something you bought at Marshalls or Ross
You should see Jackson Merrill’s new autograph. It’s absolutely pathetic. He seems to have switched it mid product
How do you know it’s even his and not his mother now signing? Cause topps puts a few words on it saying it’s guaranteed? Same with all these other “authentic” autos by psa when it’s years of same player and none of the autos look alike. How do they know?? And Jackson Merrill likely doesn’t think to highly of us losers that spend big money on tiny pieces of cardboard with pictures of men on it 😂
@@pk3739 sure dude
When you have to sign your name 5k to 10k your rookie yr, then do it 3k-6k every year there after. Yes, after the first 2k, you are going to look for a simple, easier way to sign.
Before the 2000s, yes, there were a whole lot fewer auto's. Now, with a dozen card types and multiple card companies demanding their auto's, there is no incentive to be neat.
Athletes get paid millions of dollars in their contracts, part of their contracts and responsibilities are to fulfill their agreements licensing agreements with companies like Topps/Fanatics (some of these guys are even exclusively signed by Fanatics, and therefore receiving even more money for their affiliation with the brand, and in turn, their autograph being paid for as a service). With that being said, it's simply unprofessional and lazy AF to be paid significant amounts of money for your auto, and then treating it so shittily. If you're paid to do something, it shouldn't be a lazy ass job. If you paid a contractor to do work on your house, you wouldn't care that he's built 400 decks that summer, if your deck is the 401st, you'd still expect the quality you're paying for just the same as they guy who paid for deck 1. It's weird how everyone is just "okay" with them being lazy AF with their signatures, but they wouldn't be that understanding in any other scenario in which you're paying for a service. (in this case, Fanatics is paying for the service, but you get my point).
When a player makes so many millions to play and a small token to sign stickers for people to buy and sell and make money off of them ... why should they care ? It's great if they do ... but I don't see why they should care. Complaining card dealers are a very small percentage of the fan base so if they are mad, it doesn't impact them. If the players give nice autos in person and crap on stickers ... that's fair by me. The personal interaction has much more value to the fan.
2:41 Cam Reddish….😂😂😂
A freaking line! 😂😂😂
I’m sorry, 200k worth of cards…I’m buying a plane ticket…end of story smh
Yeah, really. If you can afford to spend that much on cards, you can afford a plane ticket.
@@BlueToronto facts…who tf is cool with a 200k transaction through the mail? Person to person at that lol
@@BlueToronto they mess up my $20 eBay purchases 🤣
@@stan8252 Lol.
Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey JR, Derek Jeter, MJ, and the GOAT TB12 all have beautiful signatures. For the love of God, what in the world is Cam Reddish doing with that auto, I would literally throw that card in the trash because it literally looks like a baby drew something on it.
I started collecting autographs as a kid and not just sports heroes. I enjoyed watching a person sign their name and the pride they exuded during the interaction. I still chase autographs and love the in person experience!!
An "autograph" is supposed to be identical to the exact "signature" an athlete uses to sign his contract, driver's license, life insurance policy or child support payment agreement!
The lack of caring has increased over the years. It’s going to get worse. Also the fact that people think AR is going to be worth spending that amount is insane.
Has anyone here tried to pull a sticker off a card and have the athlete sign in person instead? If so, how hard is it to remove the sticker? Does it leave a residue? And what would the grading company's think about this practice? I'm asking because I am seriously considering trying this with a few cards.
Wemby auto just sold for 15k with a streaky auto. No mention of that because it’s Topps product
I have not bought auto cards specificly due to a crappy autograph...if I can't tell who it is strictly based on the auto, I lose interest.
Supply and demand. There’s way too much supply of autographs and the demand doesn’t match it.
Certainly any company paying an artist or athlete to sign anything should have a similar approved facsimile signature on file before making any agreements,imo.
Rudy Goberts auto is absolutely disgraceful
I bought a hobby box of 1999 SP Authentic and pulled a Corey Dillon Player's Ink card that was suppose to have his autograph but didn't have one. Has anyone else ever had that happen.
I did this back in 99 or 2000. Cant remember the year. Was an 1999 Upper Deck SP Signature Edition i bought. Was an auto per pack i think it was. Maybe 1 auto per box. I can't remember. It was of Ken Stabler. I had one of the Stabler's auto already. So the dealer gave me a new box for the non auto card.
The guy who said having a great card of a player can make you a fan is spot on. Some players in baseball I follow now just because I have a card of there’s /10 or /5. I want them to be successful
Here in Florida, probably like everywhere, we have UPS and FedEx delivery drivers, who will alert people(family, friends or random crooks) about a delivery and that individual will conveniently show up at the delivery address seconds to minutes after delivery and steal the package right off of the porch and they all meet later that night to determine, who is going to sell the package, then they agree on an amount following the sell on the open market.
Products are actually being watered down with autos
Unfortunately there are a lot more athletes who treat signing autographs for card companies like Anthony Richardson & George Pickens than there are Josh Jung & Anthony Volpe
The increasingly poor quality autos are clear evidence that more and more players think we are a bunch of fools that will take their abuse. Looks to me like they are right.
Anthony Volpe's signature on his chrome rookie card is fantastic
"He should take some more time in the film room. " -Heel TPot is the best TPot!
So cool to see a video on this! I don't want to collect Cam Ward for this exact reason!
Sadly, todays athletes missed out on cursive; it was removed from school many years ago, and the kids are certainly not taking it upon themselves to write in cursive. Couple that with the card manufacturers mass producing their product and you get an idea why the autos suck.
Autographs should not be collectable.. the reason fans get an autograph is getting proof that you met this athlete. not as an "INVESTMENT". why should they care about "Investors". even if an athlete sign a letter for a fan it is still cool.. it should not be as if it is a stock or a financial instrument
Im an artist who took tremendous pride in my autograph. Spent a LOT of time experimenting and profecting it. A ton of pride was put into it.
Topps and Panini complete joke.Not only the price is ridiculous but they have card. auto's will never buy cards again
Imagine yourself at Walmart and the credit card signature screen pops up 500 times in a row. What's the quality of your signature going to be like?
Are they paying you to sign at Walmart?
I pay Walmart, they don't pay me
we are talking about walmart if its from Walmart its CRAP what do you expect, most important walmart is ok with the signature,the companies need to put the hammer down and say NOT GOOD ENOUGH. I think everyone would agree your 500th signature will not look like your first unless you are getting paid.
Depends, is Walmart paying me hundreds of thousands of dollars to sign?
Arnold Palmer always made sure his auto was nice. Got on Jacobson one time. Made him resign it
I hate how the biggest guys to chase arent even in the products
Jordan always took pride in his autograph.
Even when he simplified it.
Always looked great signature.
To standardise it…
Tell athlete you sign the signature you signed on the contract.
Jordan, Kobe, Kareem, Bill Russel, Magic, Bird, Jerry West… Basketball GOATs with GOAT autos.
The first topic I completely agree with Wilson. It sucks getting the initial auto or some lazy auto
omg that Cam Reddish signature made me bust up. dude literally signed a line. lol
Hands down #1 issue…..outrageous prices bringing out more scammers and greed lust influencers only out to make money. The last coming collapse that the hobby will never recover from is in the making
We are always talking about the inconsistencies on autographs, but nobody ever talks about napkin patches being put on cards numbered to 10 or 25 or even lower. The card companies need to start doing better
I watched the Caitlin Clark $100,000 dutch auction live on Panini Instant. It was more than just 1 tick down to reach $97,000+. I don't remember exactly how many ticks, but it was around a dozen give or take I believe.
That’s bad 😮crazy autos 😅 thanks for protecting our hobby ❤
I really appreciate players with nice autos. It can be simple, but still look like it was written with care and not lazily written.
60% price, 30% quality, 10% others like signature.
6:30 thats a sick burn 😂
😂😂
I'm not sure that it's laziness, per se. Example: NEITHER of my kids (ages 24 and 22) ever really learned to write cursive. So, the first time they were asked to "sign" something, they were like ... huh? I encouraged them to "practice" writing their names over and over again, trying to get used to "this" being "their signature."
When I started seeing the ridiculous "scribble "autos" on cards, my kids having no idea how to write their names was the first thing that crossed my mind.
It’s also the agents, the autograph ls changing from full name to simplified. Look at Alexa Bliss in the beginning to current.
I been collecting for about 12 years now. I stopped about 3 years ago. With the terrible autos, bad customer service, Hobby box prices. I think sports cards as a whole are losing more intrest year by year. Sellers are taking over the market and it's no longer for actual collectors.
Autos everything are ruining the hobby the same way now it is grade everything! The hobby will hate a mark (symbol) vs a full cursive auto regardless of condition of ink and such. How long before PSA is on board with an Auto grade based on a full signature or a mark! I understand most of us want an Auto! Maybe we need to cut down on the quantity and make it more special to pull one! The more they make the less the auto is worth as well. Most of us cant afford a $8000 box of cards. As a kid nothing was more exiting at the lower economic level than knowing you had a chance in low cost packs to pull the rare auto card (the golden ticket). I can see everything becoming Auto as base cards are tossed.
Base cards = trash. Throw them in the garbage with the packaging
I always use signature required on high-end purchases on mailing items
The issue is making athletes sign so much. If you think about it with the AR autos in college, he didn’t have to signs thousands of stickers and cards because he was only in a couple of sets. Now with how many sets and autos he has to sign, he rushes it. Athletes are people too
There's a lot of problems with sports cards. Pricing is probably the biggest problem, quality is another one, lack of hits (not just talking about more autos, I really just want stuff like jersey, game used objects, arena memorabilia etc. cards to come back - too much base & crappy inserts makes me feel like I got severely scammed & not wanting to buy anymore), too many parallels, upper deck employees stealing big hits, some boxes have 3-4 big hits while other boxes have absolutely none, redemptions taking too long to come in & card shops using CT scanners to find hits before customers have a chance at them. All this has led me to pretty much give up the hobby. Take a look at San Jose Shark's Nico Sturm's autograph. The guy probably will never be an NHL superstar but in terms of calligraphy the guy has it down pat. I never heard of the guy until I noticed his autograph pop up online. I bought it just because I knew he put some effort in it, not just some chicken scratch like a lot of other "elite" players.
Sean Casey has said that when he first got up to the big leagues, he would ask various players to sign a ball for him. After having collected many balls, he went to look at them and he could not tell who signed the 75% of them. Contrast that to the autographs on cards in the 50s where you could virtually read every autograph. So pathetic today. Have fun collecting modern cards.
It is a shame. Look at caleb Williams early leaf autos he signs cwill13. Now his auto is cw with a circle. Pickens is a disgraceful auto. No one expects a ken Griffey jr auto when they sign 1000 cards but more than a letter or initials should be the standard.
Junior is my favorite and his auto is nasty.
Growing up I practiced my autograph for my whole childhood, filled hundreds of notebooks just in case. Needless to say the dream didn’t come true….but boy does my signature look immaculate 😂
The problem is each sport have exclusivity to a certain company. Which should be illegal. Prices were better when there was competition, upper deck, Topps, donruss (panini) and every other company was able to get a license to produce cards. No competition means outrageous prices.
Maybe this could help someon in the future
USPS is by far the best shipper I've had packages stolen and as long as you can prove value and show their own tracking I have never had to fight them and I'm talking cards from literally 1$ to 900$.
Fedex is AWFUL do not ever use them, as someone who worked in fedex warehouses for years i have seen literal hundreds if not thousands of items stolen by all level of employees. Yes including management. And they will outright refuse to refund you on their insurance. You will have to contact the BBB and then they pay right away.
How about looking at it from the athlete's perspective. Every where they go they have some guy shoving a pen in their face rudely telling them to sign this. The guy can't even eat dinner with his family with out having his balls b broken. People who get a free autograph and then go on line and sell them suck. Would you like people forging your signature on something and selling it? You'd be pissed and rightfully so. The vast quantity of fans have no manners and the players are tired of it. They don't owe the fans anything.
Exactly. F these whiners
Does anyone know why PSA Grading Memberships have went up in price
You mentioned that the players aren’t willing to put the time in to make their autos nice.
My question is, aren’t they being paid? If so, and I believe that they are, it’s essentially a job. The athletes need to be held accountable for the WORK they put into their JOB.
Also,
Jalen. Carter. Awful.
Bobby Witt Jr practiced his auto on his math tests in elementary school. Teacher wasn't too happy.
I recently lost two packages, one express and one priority. Two Yamamoto auto's...I have made decision to start including apple air tags in my shipments of big cards
the issue is that they are making players sign too much stuff. when you have to sign millions of things you are going to make it as quick as possible
This stock market approach is what's ruined it. Too bad kids can't enjoy like we did prices are through the roof from these "investors" sad
You have Chris Webber to thank he was the first lazy auto in the hobby back in the 90’s when you’re getting paid to sign pages of stickers and cards imagine they think the faster the better for them.
This is pathetic. I'd never buy any product of a player with their auto like that. I guess Richardson is signing as well as he's playing. Garbage.
Less autographs, better ones! (talking about the ones i've had: Chris Webber, MJ, Clyde Drexler and Kareem Abdul Jabbar ones are just amazing!)
So many horrible autos out there but the Richardson autos are disgraceful.
I liked that AR, it’s simple and dead center, well balanced signature. Looked cool when I saw him open it
IN the October 25,2002 issue SCD Stan Musial stated ' WHY SIGN AN autograph if you can't tell who it is ? Mantle ,Williams SCHOENDIENST AND I HAD GOOD LEGIBLE AUTOGRAPHS .I THINK THAT'S VERY IMPORTANT .
One of the culprits is Jarren Duran....most are just his initals, some have his initals with a squiggly line after each inital, and then his Panini Flawless has his full cursive signature.....
Why doesn't Brinks get into the home delivery service? They are around hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash daily. They aren't swayed to steal.
I feel bad for the guy where Tom Brady allegedly devalued his memorabilia with a sloppy signature at a meet and greet.
Great content…agree on too many poor autos
PSA has also been a lot harsher on their grades over the last few months, then I have seen earlier this year and previous years. I think a lot of the cards that used to get sent in, lot of base crap, PSA has been hammering those and you have no value. So maybe people are actually are being a bit more selective?
The amount of autos out there is getting out of hand. The amount of players that do not know cursive is crazy. If the card companies are going to produce this product then they need to do a better job for the collectors. I do however love a in person auto. It is 100% more fun. Wemby does a great job signing.
Stupid question: when a company like Beckett grades the auto, are they basing it off placement on the card, size, or the quality of the signature, or all of the above?
any deal over 100k you should just hire a friend to fly and hand deliver them..
Schmucks McGhee!!!!!! Just pulled a National Red Ink 1/1. Come on man!
This is so true I opened a 2023-2024 elite basketball box and pulled a Clyde Drexler auto and a Kiki Vandeweugh auto and it actually looked like they put effort into the autographs
I agree with T Pot. Autos on cards represented an interaction with the player, it was cool. It’s just not the same getting it in a pack or with a crummy sticker on it.
I also hate all the different versions of the same cards. It’s getting to be super unoriginal. It’s like the slam dunk contest.
Bring back ALL the companies, topps, fleer, upper deck, score, etc… bring back the 90s!
Definately agree, they're should certainly be less autos. We don't need 2000 autos. 500 might be good