Collector's Corner: Autographs

This week I take a look at the autographs of Timber Rattlers through the years.  This column will focus on 1995 to 2005 and I'll go over 2006 to present in a future column.  I intended to do it all as one, but it was getting pretty long so I thought it best to split it up.  You can tell some people really put a lot of effort into their signature, and others just want to get it over with as quickly as possible.

Most card autographs nowadays are done on stickers, then placed on the card.  The player gets a sheet of stickers and they sign their name on each one on the page.  Then they repeat this a few hundred times, or until their hand falls off, whichever comes first.  I can't imagine what my signature would look like if I had to sign it 1,000 times in one day.

At some point, I'll do a column on the best ways to get autographs at the stadium, cool things to get autographed, and some autograph hunting etiquette.

Do you have a favorite signature from this era that I didn't cover?  Shoot me an email and I'll put it under the microscope.

Gil Meche

A nice looking autograph, but I can't quite figure out what is up with his "G". I'm not even sure what kind of shape that is.  It kind of looks like a nose, or maybe a sail, or a smiling hamster with no eyes.

Ryan Anderson

The Timber Rattlers card is a pretty sloppy sig that I got in person at a game and does not really show how awesome his signature is.  The "Little Unit" added a little flair to his autograph by adding a tail to the "n" in Anderson that swoops around and underlines his last name.  As you can see in the facsimile autograph, for his formal autograph he adds his middle initial, which appears to be a "w" on top of a tear drop, but is actually a "Y".  His middle name? York 

Matt Thornton

It's not unusual for someone to chop a few letters off their signature (do you really think I put all the letters in my last name every time I sign?) so I'll give him a waiver for only having "Th__" for his last name, although the "T" looks more like a "J".  But it seems a bit lazy to cut off letters of from your first name when it is only four letters long. (Full disclosure: I often just sign J, but seriously, it's pronounced the same, it's not lazy, it's efficient)  Unless his mother signed these for him, then I'm fine with it saying "Ma Thornton".

J.J. Putz

His autograph has gotten a little sloppy over the years, but JJ has a really cool autograph when he takes his time.  I especially like how the tail of the "z" comes up to cross the "t".  When he hurries, the "P" gets a little lost, which makes the whole last name a little hard to figure out. (Also, Clint Nageotte's auto on that card is awful.)

Chris Snelling

One of the nicest and strangest autographs in Timber Rattlers history.  The big "C" in "Chris" underlines his first name.  The "S" to start his last name is even bigger than the "C", with the bottom swooping down to encase something I'll discuss in a little bit.  The "g" at the end of his last name curls around his number in his early cards, but he stopped adding his number at some point, probably because he kept changing numbers in the Minors and Majors.  So what is that under "Chris" and circled by the bottom of the "S"?  Snelling is a huge fan of the Star Wars movies, with his favorite character being Yoda.  He was quite obsessed with Yoda during his time with the Rattlers, including keeping a stuffed version of the green guy in his locker.  (A story for another time:  Don't mess with the Yoda in his locker.  Bad things, man, bad things.)  It is fairly rare to add a nickname to your full name (for instance, you may see an Ivan Rodriguez or a Pudge Rodriguez, but probably not an Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez autograph), but especially strange to add a nickname that no one calls you.  Keep in mind, he was paid by the company to sign these cards.  So even though nobody called him Yoda, he signed it on virtually every autograph I have seen.  The only time I have seen it without is the signature that Bowman and Topps used as a facsimile autograph on cards.  That signature was taken from his original Topps baseball card contract and, as with most autographs taken from that, it features his full name, Chris Doyle Snelling.

Evel Bastida-Martinez

Probably the ultimate in name shortening, as he not only eliminates the second half of his hyphenated last name, but he doesn't even bother with his first name.  I kind of like the pointed "d" he uses.  It's a big change from the illegible facsimile autograph that appears below it on the card.  If you survive a raft ride from Cuba, you can sign anyway you want (but you can not charge the mound with a bat).

Michael Garciaparra

I could easily forgive Garciaparra if he wanted to skip a few letters in his last name (his brother Nomar does), but Michael does the hand writing equivalent of enunciating.  The card shown is a contract signature, which is normally done a little more cleaner and formal than someone's typical autograph.  But I have a baseball autographed by Michael (it didn't photograph well) that looks very similar.

Matthew Hagen

As strange as it was for Chris Snelling to sign an unused nickname, it is almost as odd to put a bible verse on a card (unless you are Tim Tebow).  It is not uncommon to add it to in-person autographs, but rare to have it on during a paid signing.  At some point he switched, presumably because he had been signing for 7 hours and was only half way through and needed to streamline the operation.  Also, the crossing of the "t's" in "Matt" and the swooping from an anonymous letter in his last name smear his name on that surface, which kind of ruins the auto.

Bobby Livingston

I really like his autograph, even though you can't really make out his last name.  His autograph is very consistent on the different cards I have, even though it is fairly complicated.  I think it would be really easy to get sloppy with it after repetition.

Wladimir Balentien

A rather odd autograph, as he abbreviates his first name with just a "W", then writes his last name as three words.  He connects the "W" with the "Ba" of his last name and doesn't bother to cross the "t".

Matt Tuiasosopo

Much like Garciaparra, I would fully understand if Matt left a few letters out of his name, but he sticks it out to the end and the result is a very sharp autograph.

Jeff Clement

Not sure if it is because he felt space constraints on the card or what, but it is not very common to see a signature with the first name on top of the last name.  It is not quite clear on the autographs I have, but it appears that he uses the down-line of the "J" as the "l" in Clement and they are not just overlapping.

Marshall Hubbard

Even though the card says "Thomas", he signed his middle name "Marshall", which he preferred to go by.  Kind of odd that he didn't request them to use Marshall on the card.  I really like the style of his "M" and "H".

Rob Johnson

I really like how his autograph looks, but I can't figure out what is going on with his last name.  You can see the "J", then an "h".  Then a "y"?  Then a line to represent any letters he may have left off, I guess.  (On a side note, the best part of not being a Mariners affiliate anymore?  Not having to see those ugly Everett Aquasox tie-dyed uniforms as much.)