Man this was cold. I know the older NFL players are trying to make a buck, as well they should. But when I send out my autograph requests, I am very flattering about their career and state that I would like the card personalized to me, just to let the player know that I don’t plan to sell the card. That this card (which is custom made I might add), will be passed on to my offspring. So I sent a request to Lance Alworth, HOF receiver for the San Diego Chargers from 1962 – 1972. He was a good player, but relatively unknown to a lot of people. I got this letter in the mail:
My guess is that Lance never even read my letter. He probably never touches anything until his son Rian gets the check. It’s kind of sad, that these guys don’t even read their fan mail. I understand most of the items prices on here, but a card (a single card) for $50? That seems outrageous to me. Maybe I am way off, maybe I have no right to complain, but I think if you get a card, a custom made card, and the person wants his or her name personalized on it, what the hell, give the person a thrill and sign the card.
I know this won’t be the last one I get, but it sucks getting one of these back. At least he sent my card back. Of course he used my SASE to do it. Let me know what you guys and gals think.
A quick look at eBay and you can have one of these cards for $10 and under:
I think Mr. Alworth needs to redo his pricing.
When I get a letter like this back from a player (or their reps), it lessens the player in my eyes. I certainly understand that some players (current and past) get more than their share of requests. So much, that it becomes a burden. I can live with that. When a player sends out a price list (even if it is for charity), with astronomical prices, it makes me want to stop being their fan.
At least I’m not alone.
Yea. OK Lance, I’ll pay 50.00 for an autographed card of you, If that includes you taking me out to dinner and maybe mowing my lawn!
That is really lame. Does this guy have any auto’d inserts? If so, maybe a $10 card? Anyway, looked him up on ebay. Four or Five Items. He should be greatful anyone cares who he is.
Here’s a plus side to a similar story…
My brother-in-law wrote a letter to Stan Musial requesting that he send an autograph to my son, a huge six year old Cardinals fan who understands the significance of the #6 in Cards history.
Go to http://www.stan-the-man.com to see what he charges for customer supplied item autos: http://www.stan-the-man.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=70&zenid=6ea9b703288695f88b85194afc682e1b
Did he ask either my bro-in-law or my son for $100? No he (they) send an autographed two sided postcard. Granted, its not personalized and is frequently exchanged on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/STAN-MUSIAL-Signed-Card-Autograph-COA_W0QQitemZ8814453865QQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116
BUT – It was a nice touch to send my son the auto’d postcard as well as my bro-in-law’s original letter.
A classy method for the overwhelmed-by-requests players is to have a stack of presigned postcards or whatever and send one back in the SASE along with the original unsigned card. Stan Musial, Nolan Ryan, and some current players, such as Joe Mauer, have done that. No problem, and all our kid knows is: cool mail! But a letter like that simply reveals the player sending it is a self-serving delusional egomaniac, and so you should stop being a fan.
I don’t mind the trend towards this, but Lance has taken it to the extreme. If the money was going to a charity that you could make your check out to, then I can live with that. But this is just cold.
As with you, I am also concerned and annoyed that Lance most likely didn’t even read the letter.
Having never been in their shoes, it’s easy for us to complain, but this just seems extreme. As a Chargers fan, this saddens me even further.
Oh well, there are plenty of other upstanding athletes that we can write to.
I’d maybe pay that for Lance Armstrong…
I just found this site and love it…I agree, and love that you pointed out the price of the cards on ebay