New direction for the players

are u nuts?

freddy the beard said:
I am putting together an organization that will insure that the players get paid for their autographs. No more cue balls, shirts, photos, or sticks signed for nix. Every other sports celebrity in the world gets paid big money to sign sports gear, but not our guys. I am going to try and change all that. I talked to all the major players at the Olympics in Louisville this Nov. To a man they were all excited by the idea. To start it off I paid all of them -- in front-- to sign some cue balls and other stuff. I am going to have them, and other top players, from Efren on down, pre-autograph sports gear to be marketed from my booth at DCC and then on my website with the boys getting a cut of everything they sign -- in front. At Derby City I will be at a booth that will have, among other things, pre-autographed memorabilia, and the ability to provide -- on request -- autographs on whatever memorabilia the fans provide, their shirts, sticks, whatever. The players will get paid for every signature. I am then going to take it further and solicit the big billiard supply companies and allow them to advertise and sell, officially autographed memorabilia, balls, cues, clothing, etc. I'm also going to hit on the cuemakers and allow them to sell their sticks with a real autograph on them, not a machine print. Naturally, that would allow the cuemakers to charge a few bucks extra for a special edition cue. For this service they would pay our organization a fee. The players I talked to have agreed to not sign anything for free at DCC. They will refer all requests to my booth. To give an idea of what the marketing for this stuff might look like on a suppliers catalog page, I'm including a preview of some of the marketing I am going to do on my webpage where I am going to solicit requests for autographed cueballs and display cases. A fan can reserve an autographed cueball and trophy case and I will get his ball signed for him at Derby City in Jan.

The Beard
(exception: the Bugs signed cueballs on display below are not for sale)
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You seem to come up with one absolutely ridiculous post every few months! Wow! At least you made me smile today. I am sure that you will get rich from forcing fans of pool to pay for an autograph of their favorite player and then pay you a cut on top of it! These guys play pool for goodness sakes. You need to go write another fiction book and autograph it! Good luck
 
Whatever you decide to do, best of luck. My only advice is NOT to compare these people with professional athletes such as Ivan Rodriguez. The names and faces are just not comparable and therefore does not warrant the same kind of money, not even close.

Koop

Edited to add: I received several autographs from Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins players and have never spent a nickel on any of them. And, these are names that EVERYONE has heard of.
 
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Johnnyt said:
I believe Jeanette Lee sets up a portable booth at WPBA events and charges. Johnnyt
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I believe that she charges for the signed 8X10 photos which is understandable. I have never seen her charge a fan for an autograph on a tournament program or a piece of paper. She also poses for pictures for anyone that asks - free of charge. The signed 8X10 photos (usually glossy) are suitable for framing and worth the $10 bucks, IMO.
 
Blackjack said:
I believe that she charges for the signed 8X10 photos which is understandable. I have never seen her charge a fan for an autograph on a tournament program or a piece of paper. She also poses for pictures for anyone that asks - free of charge. The signed 8X10 photos (usually glossy) are suitable for framing and worth the $10 bucks, IMO.
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I never saw her charge anyone for signing programs either. Johnnyt
 
Autographs

I don't like this idea and now fans won't be able to walk up to one of their favorite pool players and ask them to sign a cue ball or a program because the players will be thinking they should be paid to sign anything. The players will be turning away friendly fans who only want a souvenir.

I took some cue balls to the US Open a couple of years ago and I got a number of the top players to sign the cue balls and I have them at home with a few pool related souvenirs. One player who wasn't friendly about signing a cue ball for me was Buddy Hall and I said "excuse me for asking Buddy" and I skipped his autograph when he acted like I should pay him to sign a cue ball for me. I was really surprised since i'd always been a fan of Buddy's and I didn't expect that type of reply from him with me handing him a ball and a pen to sign it with!

This is just my opinion and i'm sure some will agree and disagree with me.......

James
 
I'm working On A Signed Smorgass Bored Holographic Limited Edition "Refractor Card"

Now, I'm thinking about starting a pool autograph 'authenticating' business.
Doug
( and rating the memorabilia on a 1-10 grading system )


* I have some GEM MINT Smorgass Bored autographs (in a plastic holder) for half price to the first 25 customers in line at my next public appearance
:) :) :)
 
lol

JimS said:
I have no idea whether this is a good or bad idea but I would NEVER ask a player to give up part of his time (which is his LIFE!) to sign an autograph on anything.... not without paying him/her for it.

It is a part of their LIFE I'm asking for and I have no right to ask for that.... no right to ask and certainly no right to EXPECT that they will do it for me. I think it's terribly rude and presumptious to ask for an autograph.

I like to get close and thank them for their hours of labor in reaching such an incredible skill level and I'll buy stuff that helps to support them but to expect them to do something for me because I'm a "fan" is just crazy... imo.

I'm a fan of Ray Martins and I have his book. He offered to sign it if I want to send it to him and I will be getting his address and sending it to him but I don't want it done for free. He deserves to be paid for the championships he's won and for the time he'll take to sign the book and mail it back to me.

They ALL deserve to be paid if you want a piece of them and signing an autograph is wanting a piece of them
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what ever. i could understand if you asked for his autograph 1,233,332,557,554,332,446,664,445,443,789,000 times, but for one signature get real but what do i know, (decillion )
 
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Charging for an autograph of pool players isn't going to fly. This would be like trying to charge for the autograph of a Skeet or Trap shooter. Where is the demand? What is the value? You may find a few who will pay but in the end it won't be worth your time nor the players time.
 
I've got a like new tooled INSTROKE cowboy case which has been autographed by a ton of the top pro's.

After seeing this thread I was going to put it on the BAY and get myself an S-55AMG or Angelina Jolie for Christmas. Looks like I may have to do without again...:(
 
ShootingArts said:
"The players I talked to have agreed to not sign anything for free at DCC."

Freddy, that is cut and pasted from your first post, the one you used to start the thread. Naturally people reading assumed that you wrote accurately. Not signing anything to me means not signing anything.

Before the autograph itself is worth anything, the person has to have a reasonably high profile. If I display a dozen cue balls signed by male pro's at a non-pool related business, not one in fifty of my customers would have a clue who any of them were. The 1958 Heisman is on display at a local restaurant. Fifty years later, most customers know who won it before they know more than that it is there.

Selling signed shirts, cue balls, and whatever is fine, but are the players really going to tell lil' Johnny they can't sign the shirt he is wearing, go find a piece of paper? Having collected dozens of lil' Johnny jokes I can predict exactly what he will say to that!

Hu
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I think Freddy knows exactly what he wrote, and what he meant.

Sometimes we need to take a few steps back and get some independent feedback before we make final decisions. Sounds like Freddy is doing exactly that.

I, too, think that it is a non-productive idea for pool and the players involved.

Something like a tee shirt with a pro's signature being sold for more than the unsigned tee shirt is totally understandable, but having the players refuse giving fans a free autograph on their own property is a pretty good way to put another nail in the coffin known as pool. JMHO

Jim
 
I doubt it will ever fly. I'ts just the nature of the game that too many pool players are not roll models but unsavory characters not above dumping matches from time to time. Who would pay money for a dumpers autograph??? Comparing pool players to sports legends is ridiculous. They make Barry Bonds look like Mother Teresa.
 
0054.jpg
 
id rather have a frauded autograph for free you know its worth more than what you paid for it.....besides $50 for an allison rim 4 ball geeez be real
 
Koop said:
Whatever you decide to do, best of luck. My only advice is NOT to compare these people with professional athletes such as Ivan Rodriguez. The names and faces are just not comparable and therefore does not warrant the same kind of money, not even close.

Koop

Edited to add: I received several autographs from Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins players and have never spent a nickel on any of them. And, these are names that EVERYONE has heard of.
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If you received the autographs, then they were most likely signed by the trainer or locker room boy.
 
watchez said:
If you received the autographs, then they were most likely signed by the trainer or locker room boy.
Click to expand...

I work for a professional sports team... that is definitely not true.
 
freddy the beard said:
I am putting together an organization that will insure that the players get paid for their autographs. No more cue balls, shirts, photos, or sticks signed for nix. Every other sports celebrity in the world gets paid big money to sign sports gear, but not our guys. I am going to try and change all that. I talked to all the major players at the Olympics in Louisville this Nov. To a man they were all excited by the idea. To start it off I paid all of them -- in front-- to sign some cue balls and other stuff. I am going to have them, and other top players, from Efren on down, pre-autograph sports gear to be marketed from my booth at DCC and then on my website with the boys getting a cut of everything they sign -- in front. At Derby City I will be at a booth that will have, among other things, pre-autographed memorabilia, and the ability to provide -- on request -- autographs on whatever memorabilia the fans provide, their shirts, sticks, whatever. The players will get paid for every signature. I am then going to take it further and solicit the big billiard supply companies and allow them to advertise and sell, officially autographed memorabilia, balls, cues, clothing, etc. I'm also going to hit on the cuemakers and allow them to sell their sticks with a real autograph on them, not a machine print. Naturally, that would allow the cuemakers to charge a few bucks extra for a special edition cue. For this service they would pay our organization a fee. The players I talked to have agreed to not sign anything for free at DCC. They will refer all requests to my booth. To give an idea of what the marketing for this stuff might look like on a suppliers catalog page, I'm including a preview of some of the marketing I am going to do on my webpage where I am going to solicit requests for autographed cueballs and display cases. A fan can reserve an autographed cueball and trophy case and I will get his ball signed for him at Derby City in Jan.

The Beard
(exception: the Bugs signed cueballs on display below are not for sale)
Click to expand...
We could also pay for them looking in our direction at a tournament that we paid the spectator fee. Bluntly, how do you think this promotes pool? Adds to the vast customer/end user base? Charging for an occasional autograph? Maybe if they were putting on an exhibition, and were handing out signed "head shots." What if I catch Efren at Taco Bell? If he tells me it'll be five bucks, I'm gonna take my fiver back and buy more burritos. Then, the next time he's playin' on ESPN2, I'm switching it to Desperate Housewives. Eva Longoria didn't charge me.
The money needs to come from winnings and appearances, and sponsorships, period.

The more I thought about players referring people to "a booth" to get a generic signature from a "non-give a crap" player, the more I see a ridiculous angle trying to be taken here. What happened to a signature for a ten year old boy named Gene who is just learning the game?
"No kid, go to booth twelve. You can get one of the hundred others that are just alike. I think it's ten bucks." Might as well kick the kid too. Come on. As if pool doesn't have enough "angles" being taken already. It's not the cleanest of images we have, is it?
 
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Was not there just recently hear an auction of a $250 Jack Justis case with 90% of the top pros signed it and it auctioned off for less than the case price alone?? I think the market will tell ya the value of these autos real soon.
 
I have remained mum on this thread, for fear it might be met with dissent.

Personally, I like the idea. Some -- not all -- of the opinions expressed have been cruel to pool players in general, IMHO. It was why I was hesitant to post up my opinion.

I think the way Freddy has posed his idea has merit. It could be a win-win for all, the players and the pool enthusiasts. I agree with Billy Incardona that hearing some ways to make it happen in a positive way is a good thing.

Years ago, somebody came out with some pool player cards, much like the baseball cards that folks like to trade and collect.

Autographed pool player cards might be one direction to take this. Print a limited amount of cards, like -- oh, I don't know -- 250 for each player, kind of like a Limited Edition, and then have them autographed.

Who knows, someday these pool players card could be worth something to the pool enthusiast.

Just a thought! :)

JAM

THANKS FOR THE EDIT, SMORGIE! LOL
 
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