VOLUME 2, NUMBER 192
**HOT**BUTTON**STORY**
(DON'T BE COLLECTOR-SHY WITH TWINS PITCHER, HE IS AN AUTOGRAPH HOUND!!!)
** UPPER DECK & TALE OF TWO AUTOGRAPHS, SAME GUY
** TWINS PITCHER IS BIGGEST AUTOGRAPH HOUND OF ALL
** NEW ARCHIVAL STORAGE BOXES JUST WHAT IS ORDERED
** KANSAS CITY COLLECTOR GETS REAL FOOTBALL TREAT
** AUTHOR OF CHILDRENS BOOKS TAKES ON BROOKLYN 1955
** FAVRE CARDS JUST THE THING FOR UPSET STOMACH, REALLY
** MOUNTED HIKES FAVRE PRICES, 18,000 ON EBAY
These stories and more in today's TBR: The Brill Report...
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(UPPER DECK AUTOGRAPHED STICKERS END UP IN CONFUSION)
Michael Griffin of the Tennessee Titans may have a little variance in his signature but what collectors are seeing is something out of the ordinary in Ultimate Collection from Upper Deck. Two cards submitted to The Brill Report by a collector show two drastically different autographs on the exact same card. Not to mention these packs sell for $100 each, it is obvious something is wrong.
Upper Deck got back to us quickly with the explanation after doing some research. It seems as though the player decided to change his autograph on his own despite being warned not to.
(Griffen's signatures on these two cards are enough to confuse any collector who saw them both.)
"As I had suspected all is well with regard to the authenticity of the signatures," Upper Deck official Chris Carlin told the Brill Report. "We have confirmed both signature types are 100-percent."
Carlin provided a statement from the agent who witnessed the signing.
"He told me he had a few different signatures when we signed and I told him to sign them all the same," said the signing agent. "He signed differently after awhile, which I think was to speed up the process."
When players sign with Players INC they are asked to provide a signature they will use when they autograph cards and other licensed products. Often players signatures change over the years but they are not supposed to make wholesale changes, especially early in their careers. Doing so could lead to financial setbacks.
"We (Upper Deck) have a policy on consistency and legibility on signatures that we share with athletes," added Carlin. "Violation of those policies could be cause for us to work with different athletes in the future."
Often these autographs are provided by Players INC from spring signing sessions. Carlin indicated the autograph with the fuller version and circle is the more preferred.
"It just seems hard to believe they are signed by the same person," said Dave Rodriguez who found the cards. "I would think, if it is a small amount, UD would discard them rather than use them all since they were obviously different and could cause confusion."
Rodriguez is a hobby store consultant and autograph expert who owns Signatures.com. He brought the signature differences to the attention of TBR.
"What would they do if this was a major player?" Asked Rodriguez. "It would probably end up being considered a 'rarity' and sell on eBay for thousands more like the Hillary card or the Alex Gordon card from last year's Topps baseball."
This is not the first time UD autographs have come into question. During his rookie season the Patriots Ben Watson had three very different autographs on cards in both Donruss and Upper Deck products. Both card companies agreed it looked bad but deferred to the agent and the player.
Both the player and his agent Pat Dye Jr., were adament all the signatures, no matter how different, were signed by Watson himself. The agent explained to TBR some may have been signed at a table, others on a book while watching television and still others with a phone in his ear talking to his girlfriend.
We submitted all the variations to two respected forensic experts to judge not if they were signed by Watson, but if they were signed by the same hand. Our two experts agreed the signatures came from the same person, whomever he was. It seems Watson was consistent in his inconsistency.
There have been other cases. In the late 1990's Enrique Wilson signed two completely different versions for Pinnacle. His agent claimed WIlson is amadexterous and signed some right handed and some with his left hand. In 1995 Signature Prime autographs of one player were recalled by Signature Rookies when it was learned the player gave some cards to his brother to sign.
In still another case former Steeler Center, the late Mike Webster, actually never returned some of his cards he was given to sign. Instead it was reported Webster actually sold the cards at trading card shows.
These two Ben Watson autographs are more similar than the Upper Deck Griffen autograph from the 2007 product. The Watsons were confirmed legitimate despite the drastic differences which were attributed more to sloppiness than anything else.
The moral to the story is often players don't take the hobby/industry seriously enough to be as consistent and as concientious as we believe they should be. Too bad because it makes them look bad and causes questions to arise among collectors.
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(NEW ARCHIVAL SAFE STORAGE BOXES GOOD FOR PAPER COLLECTIBLES AND MORE)
Your Family Legacy is offering a newly designed acid free storage box for everything paper collectible from deeds, to autographs to clippings to cards to family heritage stuff. The containers are about $15 and even have a pull string so they can easily be slipped off a shelf into your waiting hands.
(Archival safe box designed to prevent acid aging for 200 years.)
Promoted as acid and lignin-free, the dust resistent box is developed to standards set by US National Archives and Records Administration. The box has a couple of different liners, closes securly and might be just the thing for hobbysts who collect signed documents.
Tests show the paper will prevent acid migration for at least two centuries. This should be long enough for any hobbyst since the oldest known baseball items come from around 1869. The box as shown is just a tad over 10" x 15" by 5 inches deep.
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(TWINS PITCHER HOUNDS OWN TEAMMATES AND OTHERS FOR AUTOS, COLLECTORS PUSH)
Pat Neshek is a pretty good set up pitcher for the Minnesota Twins. His 7-2 record, 2.94 ERA and his 1.00 WHIP should attest to this. However, he's just as proud of his autograph collection telling the Naples, Florida Daily News he has just about every player in the big leagues and the only ones he needs to get are the new guys coming up. He's not shy about asking teammates either as he keeps stacks of cards in his locker.
The 26-year old right-hander from Madison, WI, says if he wasn't playing ball he'd be with the rest of the collectors outside the stadium pushing for signatures of every player. His prized possession right now is a ball signed by the entire 1952 NY Yankees team. He says he stopped counting the number of cards he has at 6,000 in 2006.
His web site, one of the several the pitcher uses often talks about his collection. For instance this entry;
"Well, lots to talk about today. We got stuff about a chiropractor and a vegan meal, a Joe Mauer autographed figure, a good & bad letter from the mailbag and also a Japanese Package!"
(The Joe Mauer autographed figure signed on the outside of the packaging by teammate, nay batterymate of the pitcher.)
With this kind of access he will have the greatest autograph collection of all time and should never refuse -- well never say never -- but should rarely refuse a fan request for a signature. After all he's probably gotten a few stares from players he's played with and maybe even gotten a few turn downs along the way.
Either way, he should be an easy and fun signer to get.
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(KC COLLECTOR TUCKS NIGHT OF AUTOGRAPHS AWAY IN STYLE)
Stephen Bean didn't realize when he moved out of Southern California to Kansas City, Missouri, he might actually have a better chance to meet some of his favorite football stars in his new home town. Bean, left California about a year ago after retiring and as an avid collector just loves football cards. His wife, also retired, but working a new job at her own desire, hooked up her hubby with a couple tickets for the NFL 101 After Party (black tie event).
(Collector Steve Bean and Colts defensive star Bob Sanders)
While newly retired Brett Favre and a few other key players didn't show, Bean was happy to meet and get autographs from Herm Edwards and Bob Sanders among others.
"This was real cool, just real cool," Bean told TBR. "I was surprised at how short Sanders was because we stood eye to eye there for a second."
Bean had hoped to get a few cards signed but ended up with a nice batch of 8 x 10 photos and a program signed by all the attendees.
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(KEEPING SCORE NICE TOUCH FOR EVERY DAY BASEBALL FAN)
A New book called "Keeping Score," will noly only endear itself to Brookly Dodger and NY Giants fans but it will likely bring a few cultures somewhat closer together. The book, written by 48 year-old Korean-American author Linda Sue Park, is the account of a small girl living in Brooklyn writing to a soldier in the Korean War. Her daily accounts include the box scores of the 1955 Dodger games through the Playoffs.
Park, a huge baseball fan who grew up outside Chicago, is the author of several children's books but the latest venture takes her readers to a more adult realm. It is a book of hope smothered in baseball as only baseball can smother anything -- via the statistical world.
Among her other books are "When My Name was Keoko," "Project Mulberry" and her award winning "A Single Shard."
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(FAVRE AND THE PAIN RELIEVER CARDS)
Before he retired Brett Favre inked a deal to put cards into packages of one of the products he endorses, Prilosec. Prilosec is an over the counter heartburn relief medicine, something every NFL quarterback needs at some time or another.
The Upper Deck cards, six of them, include shots of a very young Favre including of his rookie season in Atlanta. The cards are very basic but they do come free with limited edition packages of the stomach equalizer you might say.
You won't get rich with them. The six card set has sold for as high as $11 but averages about a buck a card on eBay now the word has gotten out.
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(MOUNTED TAKING MAJOR HIKE OF FAVRE AUTOGRAPHS TODAY)
Announcing Friday it was the last chance before prices go up, Mounted Memories shocked dealers by taking a $30 price hike on autographed photos of Brett Favre. The old price for 8 x 10 photos signed was $109 and is going up today (Monday) to $139. The new price on 16 x20's is $169, up from $139.
No explanation was given for the sudden increase but demand is the likely reason. The company announced it only had a few left in stock at the same time.
Meanwhile, some are dumping their Favre items. Sports Displays.com in California announced it was cutting the price of it's in-stock Authentic Favre jerseys (unsigned) from $269 to $115, calling it a "Retirement Sale." Meanwhile the quarterback's merchandise continues to sell on eBay with a search showing as of Sunday night there were approximaley 18,000 items listed on the auction site bearing the name of "Brett Favre."
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(TALKIN' SPORTS GOES TO BABE RUTH'S HOME)
Randy Cook of Talkin' Sports has a real treat for listeners this coming week. On March 10 the first of two broadcasts will take place from the Ruth birthplace and Museum in Baltimore. The live broadcasts begin at 2 PM Eastern Time, with the second broadcast taking place on March 12.
You can find the live internet broadcasts and repeats by going to www.talkinsports2000.com.
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(NAXCOM OFFERING 31 DAYS FREE SHIPPING)
Win an auction for $5 or more and the shipping is free. At least for the month of March. This is the latest from NAXCOM in trying to boost it's auction site. The company went into full auction mode a few months ago and began capitlizing when eBay announced it is hiking fees. NAXCOM even allowed eBayers to transfer their feedback over to NAXCOM's site.
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(IN THE GAME SUPERLATIVE SECRET)
In the Game is slowly leaking out word on it's newest high end product; Superlative Hockey. So far the company says there are seven reasons to collect the seven card packs. Among them; no redemption cards, all jerseys and patches are off "game used" jerseys and not from photo shoots or old timers games and all autographs are on "cards" not stickers or what the company is calling "Hard Signed."
Details as we get them. We have to admit some of the the items such as those to the left present some pretty sic cards as the youngsters like to say. A series of older players using both goalie pads, sweaters and patches is a pretty awesome combination.
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