One of the biggest drivers of the baseball card collecting world (as well as baseball memorabilia) is the player autograph. Collecting autographs goes far back in time with roots in artists, political figures, and stars of the stage and screen. By the time the 20th century rolled around, athlete autographs exploded onto the scene and became as sought after or even more so than the traditional subjects of years past.
While most collectors seek out the cards of the best players, both their base as well as their autographed cards, that doesn’t mean the best players have the “best” signatures. For me, the “best” signatures can be anything from artistic to bold to fun and everything in between. Presented below is my completely subjective list of baseball players’ signatures that I, and some fellow collectors, find as some of the “best” in the hobby.
Iconic
Iconic Signatures. No real explanation needed.
Mickey Mantle - At the top of the list, partially for his iconic place in the baseball card hobby, but also for the simplicity, readability, and notoriety of his signature, is Mickey Mantle.
Artistic
Elevating an autograph to a work of art.
Todd Helton - More than just something you would find in the Swoops and Loops category below, Helton’s signature has that artistic flair to it. Probably some of my own bias came into play here, but Helton would not have been someone I pegged as falling into this category prior to seeing his autograph.
Ichiro - He has such a distinctive autograph that you immediately recognize it when you see it, even if you have no idea what it actually says. Almost by default it becomes an impressionist work of art as you try and fail to interpret the signature and the assumption of letters hidden within.
Pro Penmanship
Not quite calligraphy, but the next best thing.
Mariano Rivera - Immediately recognizable with a nice flow and balance. No shortcuts taken.
Andre Dawson - Bold start to the first name and then a nice symmetry with the first and last letters of his last name.
Andruw Jones - All about his first name and has a nice balanced finished with the first letter of his last name. Extra points when you see where his auto started out as a prospect and where he ended up at.
Aaron Nola - A strong start, a strong finish, with nice tailing flows across the bottom.
Andrew McCutchen - Sticking with the theme, bold and distinctive with great balance and flow. Not sure if the signature came first or the nickname, but either way, I applaud the nickname-based signature angle as well.
Swoops and Loops
I enjoy these signatures mostly for their fun swoops and loops.
Derek Jeter - Likely an iconic autograph already, but I felt like Mantle should be in his own category. The epitome of swoops and loops, there isn’t a straight line to be found in his signature.
Ozzie Smith - A strong set of circles and loops at the beginning of his auto along with the immediate recognition of who it is when seeing the signature meant there was no way I could exclude the Wizard of Oz from this list.
David Wright - Drops some letters in the middle of his first and last name just to focus on the nice swooping letters makes this a pleasant autograph.
Dennis Eckersley - Ignore the Rollie, we’ll get to him later. Similar to Wright, Eck focused on a few letters and went BIG and BOLD with them while ignoring the majority of the other letters in his name (there are quite a bit, so I don’t blame him).
Felix Hernandez - Without the large circular loop surrounding his name, it likely wouldn’t have made the list. But with it, it fits perfectly into this category and gives it that distinctive quality.
Kirby Puckett - Another decent autograph that is elevated by the main circular loop created by the first letter of his first and last name and the swoop that comes off the end of his last name.
Brandon Crawford - A somewhat Giants fan homer pick, he sticks with just a few of the main letters in his name and goes with big loops for each of those creating an appealing signature.
Luis Patino - A big “P” to start dominates the signature. A nice diagonal slant, readable last name, some additional loops along the way, and a nice underline across his name make this an easy inclusion in the list.
JJ Bleday - One of the few prospects that make the overall cut, he gets an easy setup with the first three letters in his signature giving him the opportunity to have some bold loops. An easy signature to recognize and hopefully it gets even better over time.
Steele Walker - Another prospect, he keeps it short and sweet with some nice cross elements juxtaposed against the looping “S” and “W”.
Honorable Mention
The best of the rest.
Will Clark - As a Giants fan, I had to include Clark. Easy to read and often including an inscription of his jersey number, 22, or even better, his nickname, “Thrill” or “the Thrill”.
Andres Galarraga - Nice angular flow with some bold uppercase cursive letters lead to his inclusion in the list.
Andy Pettitte - Nothing too special with the first name, but the last name is very recognizable and nicely done.
Rollie Fingers - The second half of a nice dual auto card with Rollie and Eck, Rollie has a nice loop to start it off and flows well throughout even if the letters are not easily deciphered.
Keith Hernandez - Easily readable, nice strong starting letters for each name and a strong finish with the lower-case cursive “z”.
Randy Johnson - Strong start and a pleasing flow throughout.
Larry Walker - A nice looping start with a strong vertical finish, although a bit unbalanced.
Jay Buhner - First letter of each name is big and bold, with a big circular loop that overcomes the lack of detail around the rest of his autograph.
Juan Soto - Distinctive and readable with the “J” being the star of the show lead to Soto’s inclusion as an honorable mention.
Randy Arozarena - Hard to exclude Arozarena from any list right now, and his signature has some distinctive elements with the underline and dropped down “A” for the end of his name. But mostly the happy face to kick off the signature is what pushes him onto the honorable mention list.
Harold Castro - I like a lot of the lines and angles going on here. I think Castro is just signing his first name here, but that lack of readability keeps him from being somewhere other than the honorable mention list. Still, an attractive autograph overall.
Shervyen Newton - Strong design elements, especially around the beginning of the signature with the dollar sign and surrounding design get him included. I have seen him tend to scribble it and be inconsistent with his signature, so he will need to work on that to elevate above the honorable mention list in the future.
Hunter Greene - Nice flow, a strong initial “H” and a bold dollar sign in place of the “G” at the beginning of his last name give Greene’s signature that distinctive quality.
Tucupita Marcano - Nice balance and readability with each “T” getting the bold treatment along with a full underline make this an overall nice auto.
Signing Off
A great auto versus a mundane auto doesn’t really change the monetary value of a baseball card. On the other hand, a card with a great auto, even if it is from a player with very little value in the collecting world, has a lot better chance of finding a place in my personal collection than the one with the mundane auto.
Let me know what players’ autographs you enjoy, who you think I should have included, and who you think shouldn’t have made this list. You can find me over at the Prospects Live Discord in the Baseball Card channel.
Special thanks to fellow collectors @JoshCantPlay, @DiegoP44, @RySox5, @snake16Doctor, @TheMrDanza, @Cjo44245, @wp_2004, and @34_colin for the suggestions and feedback.