Kerri Walsh Visits Stanford

This was a good week to get an autograph.

Where in the world is Bob Barboza this week?

Some thoughts that ran through my head as I witnessed Karri Walsh and the Stanford Women’s Volleyball Team signing autographs last weekend.

LOOKING BACK: Stanford played its first matches on The Farm last week, and put up a perfect sweep of the competition at the Stanford Invitational. Former Cardinal great Kerri Walsh made an appearance at the home opener Thursday, and the team put on an impressive show for her with a sweep of New Mexico State. After routing UC Santa Barbara on Friday night, the Cardinal hit .429 to crush Santa Clara in three sets in the tournament title match. Sophomore Alix Klineman led Stanford offensively in all three matches, and was named the Stanford Invitational MVP.  The entire team stayed after the volleyball game to sign autographs.  Each fan received a poster signed by the Stanford Women’s Volleyball Team.  


Many celebrities still enjoy signing autographs for free for fans, keeping it an interesting hobby. Hilary Duff has publicly lashed-out at other teen idol stars who avoid autograph collectors.[citation needed] Art Carney also enjoyed signing autographs until his death in November 2003.[citation needed]

Many people are not willing to distribute their signature—at least not for free. Sports personalities in this category include most baseball players, including the majority of the New York Yankees, Joe Dimaggio, and most notoriously, Barry Bonds. Other sports stars who try to avoid signing whenever possible are Bill Russell, who does not sign at all in public and only sparingly at private signing sessions. Michael Jordan, would not and could not sign for most of his career because people's safety was at risk due to frenzied attempts to get his signature, which is worth hundreds of dollars. Jordan has frequently signed at more peaceful events, such as golf tournaments. It is also difficult to get Michael Jackson's autograph. A typical scenario is hundreds of fans in a crush waiting by Jackson's hotel, with Jackson signing five or ten autographs as he rushes to his vehicle.

Realizing the potential profit in the sale of pop culture autographs, many dealers also would wait for hours for a celebrity to emerge from a location, present several photos for the celebrity to sign and then sell most of them. Some dealers would locate a celebrity's home address and write to them repeatedly asking for autographs. The celebrities soon grew tired of the practice and limited their responses. Because of the many autographs a celebrity might sign over time, some check requests against a record of past requests. Boxer George Foreman, for instance, records the names and addresses of every person requesting an autograph to limit such abuses.