Roger Neilson had already been diagnosed with cancer when he was nominated for induction into the Hall of Fame in 2002.  I asked him if he was willing to do a public appearance when in town for Induction Weekend and he let me know that he would not have the strength for such an undertaking.  He did though, tell me to send him whatever I needed signed and he would do it over a period of time.  I emailed regularly and every so often received a reply with a status update.  I was shocked to read of his passing in June of 2003 and sent my condolences to his associate.  He let me know that all my items had been signed and he would send them off to me as soon as possible.  A few weeks later, the package arrived, albeit short about 25% of the photos I had originally sent.  I did not complain.  These are the only photos Neilson had ever signed in quantity and we are still selling them to this day.  When my bank statement arrived the next month, I saw the check I had sent Neilson close to a year earlier had finally been cashed, six days before he passed away.  That was a pretty emotional moment.  I still have the cancelled check.

 

As he got up in age, Frankie “Mr. Zero” Brimsek’s did not do personal appearances.  The HOF goaltender had lost a leg to illness and seldom ventured from his Minnesota home.  But shortly before he passed away in 1998, I spoke to Brimsek on the phone and he told me he would sign whatever I wanted for the fee of $5 per autograph.  Of course, I procrastinated right up until the time I read his obituary in the newspaper, and am still angered today at the opportunity squandered.  In hindsight, I should be grateful for the fact that he was willing to sign, as some players just do not want to affix their autographs to anything, regardless of what dollar amounts are thrown at them.  Brimsek signed photos and pucks today sell for around $250 each.

 

Leo Boivin is a little-known HOF’er.  He is so seldom seen that HOF curator Phil Pritchard has never even met him.  He is apparently well-known in his hometown of Prescott, Ontario, near Ottawa, and an arena was named in his honor last year.  At one time he was a willing signer through the mail, and may still be.  He would also graciously sign for collectors that showed up at his door.  But he will not sign for Frozen Pond.  I have called him multiple times over the past few years and have never received a return call.  I have had others leave messages for him, which also proved to be exercises in futility.  I have asked him to do public signings and I have asked him to do private.  But he obviously is not interested.  I do not know why.

 

George Armstrong does not sign autographs.  His son once told me if you walked into his home you would never know he played in the NHL, let alone was a HOF superstar and captain of the last Leafs Stanley Cup team.  Armstrong does not understand why people fawn over him or why they would want his signature in the first place.  He used to sign sparingly, but that has been reduced to rarely.  I used to watch him turn down children’s autograph requests in the lobby of Maple Leaf Gardens.  He has been known to do some autographing for Native charities, but I don’t know if this has happened in the past several years.  After some pressuring, he signed a pile of HOF Legends cards and some miscellaneous pucks and photos for a Michigan promoter in the mid-1990’s, and has done a couple of different limited-edition pieces over the past decade.

In late-1998, I purchased most of the stock from the aforementioned Michigan promoter, and advertised Armstrong autographs in an issue of The Hockey News.  What a surprise it was one day when Armstrong walked into our retail location and asked to see the signed merchandise we were selling.  When it was presented to him, he commented that it was indeed his signature, and that we did not have his permission to sell it.  He nicely asked us to take it off the retail floor and then left the building.  Needless to say, we did not abide by Armstrong’s request, but it kind of gives some insight into his disdain for our hobby.  I sent a letter to him in care of the Leafs, explaining that since he was paid to sign these pieces he really has no say in what happens with them in the aftermarket.  I did not receive a reply.

 

I could go on about Ken Dryden for hours.  A deeply personal and intense individual, Dryden has never done an autograph appearance of any kind.  He used to be a willing signer in person and through the mail, but those days are long gone.  Dryden probably learned his signature was selling for $150+ and decided just to shut it down completely.  He even had a representative call NHL.com and ask that none of his merchandise be sold on the site.  The problem is that Dryden is a public political figure, and when a constituent asks for a signature when Dryden comes campaigning to the door, Dryden has no choice but to abide.  Well – that is if he wants their vote.  Some enterprising collectors have left quantities of merchandise at homes in Dryden’s riding, and then pay the homeowners once they get them signed.  Where there’s a will…

 

The strange thing about Dryden is that he’s a very charitable man and could be using his status to raise boatloads of money for various philanthropic enterprises.  Any such signing, public or private, would be ridiculously profitable since just about every collector needs Dryden items, at whatever price is asked.  But Dryden still refuses to this day, turning down huge sums of money on a regular basis.  I can not condemn the man, but I can disagree with him.

 

Paul Kariya did an autograph appearance at a Blues fan fest this summer, which may have been a first for the deeply-introverted star.  We have been after him for years, and got turned down again as recently as last month.  Again, some guys just do not like to sign.

 

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In a sign our business is not averse to the current problems in the financial marketplace, Upper Deck recently laid off 60 employees.  Published reports also show that UD had already laid off 50 employees earlier this year, something that neither myself or any other hobby friends had heard about.  Upper Deck is a leader in the sports collectible marketplace and their financial problems could have far-reaching effects in the hobby, especially to card collectors.

 

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It was also nice to see that the NFLPA was ordered to pay $28.1 million to 2,000 of its former players.  It seems the union and EA Sports conspired to do everything possible to prevent NFL veterans from getting paid, even though their likenesses were arguably being used in the John Madden video game series.  With the money the current players make, is it really worth trying to screw the legends out of deserved royalties?  The NFLPA is not going to get a lot of sympathy here.

 

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Finally – if you’d like to see something funny, whether a Carolina Hurricane fan or not, you may enjoy this version of “Caniac”.

 

 

 

 

Tags: Hall of Fame, Leafs

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 11:39 am and is filed under The Industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.