18 August 2011

dot your i's, cross your t's, and put seams in your o's

when harmon killebrew passed away earlier this year, there was a lot of talk (at least locally) about how beautiful his signature was.  guys like joe nathan and michael cuddyer related stories about killer chastising them early in their career about their lazy and illegible autographs, inspiring them to sign with dignity, purpose, and above all, clarity.  apparently, killebrew also imparted his advice to joe mauer, but it didn't seem to stick.  anyway, for every killebrew there are legion scribblers.

some players do some fun stuff with their autographs, and i'm not talking about adding bible verses.  we've all seen pat neshek put seams in the 'p' in 'pat' and i am sure everyone knows about bill nahorodny and the way he dotted his 'i' with a baseball.  but what about short-term dodger victor alvarez?  are you familiar with his van halen-esque signature, complete with a 'seamed' o?
i wasn't until i stumbled across the 2002 donruss elite turn of the century auto (above) and the 2002 donruss studio private signings card below
alvarez pitched in 2002 and 2003 for the dodgers, amassing a career record of 0-2 in 9 games. still, his cards with the shiny stickers have to be worth something - at least in the novelty department.  i mean we're still talking about that 1980 bill nahorodny card 31 years later.  that's something for alvarez to be proud of and look forward to, right?

1 comment:

Orioles Magic said...

That's an awesome signature