Sports autograph seekers have aspirations of acquiring that rare sports autograph and adding it to their collection. However, for many collectors, these autographs are priced far out of their collecting budgets. These rare autographs can range in price from hundreds of dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars. There is no argument that rare autographs of sports celebrities are highly prized and sought after treasures.
The sports autograph can fall into two distinct categories; past and present. The factors that drive the market value of any autograph’s are as follows:
Age – Has to do with when and how long ago the player was alive and playing,
Scarcity – The amount of autographs actually signed by the player (many players were known to have only given their signature on rare occasions)
Desirability – More successful players are more popular players, which are more highly sought after, driving up the market value of a particular autograph.
Item Signed – For example, a Babe Ruth autographed baseball has a market value of $2500-$12000 while the bat that The Babe used to hit his first home-run in Yankee Stadium had recently sold for $126,500,000.
When discussing rare sports autographs, there are two periods to discuss, past and present. Rare past sports autographs include players such as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Muhammed Ali. Baseball legendBabe Ruth’s signature is considered the most important sports autograph in the sports autograph collecting hobby. The Babe’s signature can go anywhere from $2500 for a baseball in poor condition to $126 million for rarities such as his first home run bat.
The Bambino’s autograph’s changed during his career. In the early years, the Babe signed his name as Babe Ruth with the first name enclosed in quotation marks. George Herman Ruth changed this practice later in his career, at times signing with his full name George Herman Ruth or with GH Ruth.
Babe Ruth was never reluctant in signing autographs during his time. Even though Babe Ruth signed as many items as he could during his time, the mass appeal and highly sought after autograph is still in demand much more than the market can provide. This is based on the popularity of Ruth. Being able to acquire one of these autographs is thought of as the holy grail of sports autographs.
Mickey Mantle is a National Baseball Hall of Famer. Making his signature even more prized is that during his professional career, he rarely signed autographs for fans and did not answer mail from supporters. Mickey Mantle’s death in 1995 made his autograph skyrocket in value, since there will no longer be any memorabilia created with Mickey’s signature. The Mickey Mantle autograph is one of the most heavily forged autographs due to the extreme demand and lack of availability. An autographed bat of Mickey Mantle has a fair market value of $10,000,
Although baseball is America’s National Past-time, and drive’s the market for valuable vintage autographs, other sports have rare and valuable autographs as well. One such athlete is legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. Muhammad’s signature can be found in two situations, both when he was known as Cassius Clay and the later Muhammad Ali. The Cassius Clay autograph is much more rare. Driving the price of Ali’s signatures are the milestones he was able to accomplish throughout his career, such as being a three-time World Heavyweight Champion. In 1999, Sports Illustrated named Ali “Sportsman of the Century. In 1984, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, making it much more difficult for him to sign his autograph. Although Ali still signs memorabilia every so often, although the amount of autographs available can not meet the huge demand on the current market. An autographed boxing belt of Ali’s recently went foralmost $11,000 .
Some of the present day sports stars that have an autograph considered rare include Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Barry Bonds. Michael Jordan is considered by many to be the best basketball player of all time.
Michael Jordan’s marketability was above and beyond any of modern day sports celebrities, as Jordan effortlessly charmed fans. Because of this popularity, Jordan’s signature is widely believed to be the most sought after modern sports autograph. Unfortunately for collectors (and fortunately for collectors who possess his autograph), Michael Jordan’s autograph stock is very minute. Some reasons include the inability for Michael to make public signing appearances for the public due to his popularity causing safety issues for himself and his fans. Also, for many years, Michael only signed autographs exclusively for the company “Upper Deck”. He is also known to sign autographs for fans at events such as his charity golf tournaments. The lucky collector who finds himself with a basketball with Michael Jordan’s signature on it has an item worth around $2000 while
Unfortunately for many fans, Michael could not easily sign autographs in public because of the commotion it could create risking the safety of his fans and himself. And for many years, Jordan exclusively signed autographs for Upper Deck. He is also known to sign for fans in more peaceful events like his charity golf tournaments. A Michael Jordan autographed basketball could be worth almost $2000. A signed Michael Jordan jersey has a market value of $6,000. Tiger Woods is another of the rarest sports autographs sought after by collectors of present day sports celebrities. Tiger Wood’s is ranked the number 1 golfer in the world, and commands a huge following of fans. He rarely signs autographs in public and is another athlete that exclusively signs for Upper Deck. According to Tiger, this is his way of protecting fans from buying fake sports autographs.
With the perfect mixture of fame and rarity, Tiger’s autographed items are some of the most sought after and rarest merchandise in all of sports collectibles. A Tiger Woods signed sports card was priced over $16,000 in 2008 while an autographed match worn shirt can be worth over $25,000.
When it comes to signing autographs for fans, there are few more notorious for not doing so than MLB Center-fielder Barry Bonds. Bonds is known just as much for the steroid scandal as he is for holding the legendary record of most home runs in an MLB career, and is the only current player that is a member of the 500-500 club . Although Bond’s lack of signatures is often disappointed to his supporters, the few collectors who do possess his signature are reaping the rewards, as the lack of signatures makes his autograph all the more valuable. Just an autograph alone on a piece of paper has a market value of over $5000.
Sports autographs are big business, and the market is flooded with forgeries. Companies that certify sports autographs are an important staple in the sports autograph collectors field. One of the largest and most trusted of these companies is theProfessional Sports Authenticator’s (PSA). Per the companies website: PSA has processed over 16 million cards and collectibles with a cumulative declared value of nearly a billion dollars.
Founded by PSA in 1998 in response to widespread counterfeiting, forgery and piracy of autographed collectibles, PSA/DNA is the world’s leading third-party authentication service for autographs and memorabilia.
Businesses like this continue to push the market of rare sports autographs into the right direction. Many enthusiastic collectors become enthralled, almost obsessed, with finding that prized autograph that will make their collection complete, but due to rarity and extreme pricing, few will ever acquire it.
