Hobby Musings: Jeff Ballard Card & Autograph Anecdotes – I recently had the chance to catch up with major league pitcher Jeff Ballard. Like a number of other athletes, he has lent his autograph to support Signatures for Soldiers. Beyond explaining his decision to support the organization, he also revealed some pretty amusing anecdotes about his experiences signing autographs over the years.
KS: Mr. Ballard, how did you get involved in supporting Signatures for Soldiers?
JB: That’s a good question. I think Tim Virgilio reached out via Messenger. He was looking for players that would be willing to support his organization. It was an easy answer for me to say sure.
KS: Did you ever imagine you’d be able to utilize your signature for a good cause like this?
JB: No, just because I don’t feel like I’m really creating any market with my signature. It’s like a penny stock in that a card with my autograph is worth a penny. I had never really contemplated that my baseball card with an autograph on it could contribute to a worthy cause in any meaningful way.
KS: Do you remember the first time you were asked to sign an autograph?
JB: I don’t remember specifically, but I’m guessing it probably would have been when I playing baseball at Stanford. I think some kids used to come all the time, and I probably signed there. It wasn’t something that took a lot of time since not many people were asking for autographs at the college level. In the minors, I still didn’t get asked too much.
Once you reach the bigs, it’s a whole new level of demand. You get asked at the stadium more, and you get requests sent via mail. The Orioles used to have postcards made of every player for autograph sessions. They were basically a mug shot. I got one in the mail with a request for a signature, so I signed it. The one thing about my signature is it’s very legible. You can tell that it’s Jeff Ballard, because my handwriting is good. I take pride in how my signature looks, and I didn’t try to come up with a bad scribble mark to pass off as my autograph. Anyways, I got a letter back from the fan saying if they had wanted a stamped signature, they wouldn’t have sent the item. Because the autograph was so good, the fan thought it was stamped and not real.
KS: What is the strangest thing anyone has asked you to sign?
JB: It would probably be girls requesting to have their bras signed. That’s probably the strangest thing really, or signing on someone’s skin. I was in the bullpen after a game picking up baseballs. A girl asked me to sign a ball and add my number. So I added my jersey number, and she was like, no your phone number. I did not do that.
KS: How often do you get autograph requests now?
JB: There’s a rarely a day that goes by where I don’t have at least two or three pieces of mail come in asking for a signature. I’ve got a stack of stuff piled up now because I’ve taken a week off from signing. It adds up quickly. I’m amazed at how many still come in, and it never seems to go down. I don’t know who’s doing it for business or because it’s just what they’re into. I don’t mind signing, and I’m not worried about people making money off my autograph. I would rather just have them be up front about why they’re doing it. Instead, sometimes you get people who lie with a fake feel-good story about why you should sign for them. It’s hard to know in the letters. In the end, I pretty much sign everything that’s sent to me.
**Author’s note: Be sure to check back next week for Part 2 of my conversation with Jeff Ballard.**
Hobby Musings: Jeff Ballard Card & Autograph Anecdotes – More Resources
- Beckett Card Catalog – Jeff Ballard
- Secondary Market Pricing – Jeff Ballard
- Website – Signatures for Soldiers
- Facebook – Signatures for Soldiers
- Twitter – Signatures for Soldiers
- Instagram – Signatures for Soldiers
Kelsey’s ability to bring hobby coverage to the mainstream sports fan has been a true asset. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on collecting in Hobby Musings. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
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