Bud Selig’s crusade against Alex Rodriguez has hurt his hobby marketability – to the point where many autographed items are going unsold on eBay and Steiner-certified signed baseballs could be had for $60 or less.
The market for Roger Clemens autographs doesn’t seem much better, although fewer pieces seem to be listed. One Steiner-certified baseball sold for $51 on July 26.
Nevertheless, MAB Celebrity Services is counting on Yankee fans excited about the upcoming 15th anniversary of the team’s 1999 World Series Championship to spend big for a few seconds of “The Rocket’s” time next January.
The autograph show promoter sent out an email this afternoon promoting Clemens’ scheduled appearance at the January 25th, 2014 “Pinstripe Perfection” event. Start saving now if you want to add Clemens’ autograph to that special item you’re working on.
Autographs will cost:
- $199 for flat items up to 11″ x 14″ and baseballs
- $249 for larger flat items, mini helmets and equipment
- $299 for bats, jerseys and jersey numbers
Inscriptions are an additional $99.
My guess is that he’ll be a big draw despite the price – Clemens has not done any New York-area autograph shows recently, and there are a lot of Yankee fans (and Red Sox fans) in the area who need his autograph for team-signed items, plus all of the collectors with 300-win, 3000+ strikeout, Cy Young or Rookie of the Year projects.
It would have been fun to watch Dwight Gooden and Clemens in the same pitching rotation in the 1980s, but now I’m glad Clemens decided to go to college instead of signing with the Mets so I don’t need his autograph for my collection. (I have to admit, I’m less than thrilled every time I see one of my Lenny Dykstra items these days.)
Do players like Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and Jose Canseco still have a place in your sports memorabilia collection?
PaulHadsall.com 
Most of the roid / PED guys were the most exciting at their peak and I ended up chasing and clamoring for their autographs in-person or through other means like they were air – now that they’ve been outed, it sorts of deflates the moments when I got them to sign something or picked up something with their autographs,
Still, I guess I’ll be stuck with the autographs I’ve gotten, so might as well keep them in my collection.
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I’m not a fan of what a lot of these players did… but to answer your question… yes, they still have a place in my collection. They are all a part of baseball history… whether we like them or not. And with that being said… part of the reason I collect is to preserve memories (whether they be good or bad).
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I agree – I have more than a few baseball cards and autographs of players that I don’t particularly like, but I keep them because they were part of my favorite team.
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Dykstra is going to be at two signings this weekend: One at a card show in White Plains and the other @ a sports vault store in the KOP mall.
I wonder if there will be a line.
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I really hope he’s sitting there staring at whoever is supposed to be collecting the autograph tickets most of the time.
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The whole outrage over PEDs is far too hypocritical for me to take seriously. As though the “greenies” Mickey Mantle (and everyone else in that era and beyond) was popping like tic tacs were “OK” and didn’t enhance performance. Please. And as if all the high and mighty sportswriters and broadcasters wouldn’t take similar pills/shots to enhance their own skills and performance if such existed for their profession. Please. Now, Dykstra, I never liked. He always struck me as a jerk who would end up in jail. But there’s only really one player who I would treat as a parriah in my collection and that’s Ty Cobb–the biggest racist ever to play the game. Now THAT I find unforgivable, no matter what he did on the field, and I would have him evicted from Cooperstown if I had that power. Nothing Clemens or A-Rod or Barry Bonds or Pete Rose ever did is as bad for baseball as someone like Ty Cobb.
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Cobb was a POS as a person, it still doesn’t take away .367 lifetime average. Cobb had no say about who played and who didn’t. LANDIS went out of his way to keep the game white.
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I won’t collect Cobb (which was relevant to the question). Give me an autograph and I’ll rip it up. People like Cobb are/were bad for the game. Pete Rose bet on his team…to win…as a manager. Does that take away HIS records? Apparently, it does. Shoeless Joe was completely innocent. He took the money, but he didn’t know what it was for and he surely didn’t throw the Series. The Mick (and everybody in his era) was popping greenies like candy. But Tejada gets 105 games? Players like McGwire and Sosa and Clemens essentially saved baseball. Made a ton of money for Selig and his cronies while they looked the other way. THEN they get treated like criminals? The stuff wasn’t even banned at the time. They can talk about “integrity”, but not while Cobb is revered. They can talk about “cheating”, but not while Perry is in the Hall. Do you know that Ripken was clean? Do you? Are you absolutely positive? Baseball has been picking their winners and losers for over a century and it has nothing to do with what’s right or even what’s true. It’s all marketing. They’ve used A-Rod for decades and, now, when his career is nearly over and they can’t squeeze any more out of him, they kick him to the curb. Who are the bad guys, here? The players? Honestly? I’d say the bad guys are Selig and his boys. They’re just a bunch of thugs. Only without the charm.
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I would not keep a Ty Cobb autograph, but I would sell it off rather than destroy it. Bud Selig’s autograph would be headed for the fire.
Dykstra, Canseco and several other lesser players who have admitted using or have been linked to steroids are represented.
Dykstra bothers me, but it’s because of the off-field legal issues more than the steroids.
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