Sometimes, I don't believe what I don't do.
Whether it has something to do with my medical condition can be debated until its debaters are blue in the face, but the fact remains: Representatives from baseball's hottest team, the Tigers, will be converging within a mile of me. And I won't be going.
In twenty-three years of actively following the club through mostly losing years, I have only been to one autograph signing: that of former catcher Lance Parrish during the magical '84 run. I found out about that one through sheer luck, and my parents & I hurriedly changed clothes and headed out to the old Walt Lazar Chevrolet dealer in Taylor, where we stood in line for almost an hour. The experience actually had this budding baseball fan feeling a little flat in the end.
Parrish signed what I provided - a ballcap & club yearbook. But he looked to be the type to focus on the end of the line, hoping that end would come soon. The impression I received was that this was something he "had to do in order to foster good public relations." I shouldn't have been able to spot that on my own at age 13, and I didn't: he helped put the thought in my head.
Fast forward to this year, and the team is the hottest thing going. "Fanatic U" is the sporting goods store down the street from me, and they must have connections, because they've had no fewer than four different autograph signings there this year. If I read the marquee on the window right, four of them are to be there within the next week.
Why don't I go?
Frankly, I've actually had better autograph experiences with PBA bowlers. I've been to four of their events in the twenty-five years I've followed that sport, and you can tell they are gracious to be where they are, eager to sign the autographs & pose for the photos, all with legitimate smiles on their faces. The baseball players, meanwhile, don't seem to hide their disdain for the autograph ritual.
If you recall the aftermath of the 1994-95 baseball strike, you read where players were going to "make more of an effort to please the fan", in order to win them back. I would have to wonder if, now that the fan has been won back, they revert to their old ho-hum ways, and try to rush things through.
Oh, another difference: PBA autographs come complete with your admission price into the event. With baseball, you have to pay out-of-pocket for everything you want signed. And this for the sport that still pays players $20 million a year to do what they do?
First impressions, no matter how dated they may seem, are important, as are positive communication & sincerity.
I simply don't have the trust built up that ballplayers possess these traits. Their money always seems to do the talking for them.
