Most Important Things to Getting a Perfect Autograph on a Baseball

Where do you get a great signature?

There are many ways to get autographed baseballs from your favorite players, but not all situations are ideal for getting a perfect autograph on your collectible baseball. In the old days, the only true way to get an autograph was to go to the ball park and hope your favorite player may make his way over to the stands an sign the baseball you brought to the park that day. Today, there are many ways to access your favorite players.

You can still get lucky at the ballpark on game day, or camping outside the player parking lot after the game, but the easier and much more effective way, is to go to a scheduled player appearance.

The advantage of attending a scheduled autograph appearance is that the athlete is sitting down in a controlled environment, and will usually be able to sign the baseball in a much more controlled and ideal situation ensuring a nice clean autograph on the sweet spot of the baseball. At the ballpark, the player is getting hounded by tons of people in a very condensed space, and these usually leads to small and sloppy autographs on strange spots on the baseball.

Which type of Baseball is best?

Once you have found the athlete appearance that will work for you, now you need to choose a baseball to get autographed. The key here is not to go "the cheap route." Sure you can find a used baseball in your room, or in your parents attic, but this will really ruin the overall value of the collectible piece you are spending your valuable time finding.

The key is to buy the exact type of ball they play with on the field. You have to find the Rawlings Official Major League Baseball. Anything else is frowned upon in the collectible community. The worst thing to buy is the cheap plastic baseball that say Official League on it. Not only does is sign badly, but the ink fades quickly on this surface. The cowhide of this Official Major League Baseball ensure a nice surface for the signature as well as holding the autograph fade-free for a much longer period of time.

Which Type of Pen do I use?

One thing that is an unwritten rule of getting autographs, is do not skimp on the pens. The pen is one third of the autograph, so making a mistake here is costly (literally). Do not try to get away with using an old pen, or using the pens supplied by the autograph signing promoter. Inside information, the pens provided are the old pens from the previous private signing the promoter had a few weeks ago.

For a baseball, you need to purchase a Bic Round Stic Blue Pen. This is just the best pen for baseballs, the signatures come out so crisp and clear. You may wonder why a blue pen is necessary. It is widely excepted in the Memorabilia industry that blue pen fades slower than any other color.

Just so you know, fading is BAD! Before letting the athlete sign the baseball, you need to write with the pen on a piece of paper or something similar to get the ink flowing. Failure to get the ink flowing could result in skips in the autograph, which in turn makes for a bad autograph.

Where on the baseball should the athlete sign?

Placement is as important as the pen used. If you get the athlete to sign an odd spot on the baseball, you have effectively destroyed the value of the baseball. The "sweet spot" on the baseball is the area on the baseball were the laces converge and basically create an insert here spot on the baseball. A nice sweet spot signature on a baseball puts a smile on any collectors face.

Brief Recap

So to recap what was discussed above, the keys to a perfect hand-signed authentic signature on a baseball are as follows:

Go to a scheduled athlete appearance where they are seated in a controlled environment.
Buy a Rawlings Official Major League Baseball to get signed. Anything else is just considered sub-par.
Buy a Bic Round Stic Blue Pen. These pens create a beautiful signature on the Rawlings Official Major League Baseball. Don't forget to get the ink flowing before the signature.
Get the autograph on the Sweet Spot. Anywhere else is just a shame. Unless it is a Rawlings Official Major League World Series Baseball. Then you must get the ball signed just above the World Series logo.

These are the keys to getting a great signature on a baseball. If you don't feel like getting the autograph yourself, there are plenty of beatiful signed baseballs for sale at www.757sc.com/pages/mlb-shop.