Archie Manning's Autograph Demand

Question: What do good commercials, community involvement and two Super Bowl winning QB sons do to the Archie's autograph value?
Answer: Quite a bit!

I thought about this while at the Super Bowl Experience in Phoenix a week or so ago. I heard Archie was signing at the Burger King booth so I grabbed a spot in line. After seeing the line get huge in a matter of minutes I began to ask myself why it was such a huge line.

Archie was a good player, kind of exciting, and stayed out of trouble. But should he be commanding this kind of reception in an autograph line?

I'll admit, if Peyton or Eli never played in the NFL. . . I probably wouldn't know much about Archie Manning and probably wouldn't have jumped in line to get his autograph.

Is there another father in sports that has this same situation?
Ken Griffey Sr? The late Bobby Bonds?

Mitchell Report in the HOF?

This week’s poll question asked if MLB’s Mitchell Report belongs in the baseball hall of fame.

I believe it’s an historic document that helps to define the late ‘80s to the mid ‘00s era and belongs in the HOF. We can’t put *s on the records or backspace over the numbers that were calculated. However, I think we need to explain why the numbers ballooned faster than Rosie O’Donnel at a buffet.

The HOF should include the report as one of the reasons offensive numbers skyrocketed and why the Rocket Roger Clemens’ ERA stats plummeted. It should be recorded as the main bullet point of reasons why offense stats are higher in the era - other reasons include smaller ball parks and expansion.

I emailed the Baseball Hall of Fame to see if the report will be included and if so, where it would be displayed. I’ll provide their reply unless they post their answers here.

Bonds’ Memorabilia Market

So the Bonds indictment is here, Roger Cossack has a job again saying absolutely nothing, and some holding Bonds’ memorabilia are asking, “now what?”

I heard someone on ESPN radio over the weekend suggesting that the Bonds memorabilia value will decrease. I don’t see it happening.

The best historical example of memorabilia pricing following a baseball scandal this big is Pete Rose. Rose’s card values dipped when he was banned from baseball and subsequently sent to jail for tax issues. However, I think the betting on baseball scandal was somewhat of a surprise to many collectors. Although he was investigated for some time, the collecting industry (still in a somewhat premature state) didn’t react to the brewing scandal. When Giamatti finally made a decision and many were surprised… his value dropped.

Bonds’ link to steroid use isn’t a surprise to anyone. Bonds testified that he didn’t “knowingly” take them. Collectors knew what they started collecting if they bought Bonds memorabilia after 1998.

I don’t think anyone is surprised by the perjury charge regarding Bonds’ steroid use. And because no one is surprised, I don’t think collectors will look to dump their Bonds memorabilia. They’ll hold their cards and wait for Bonds to finally break down to Charlie Gibson on an upcoming “20/20” special.

Could the baseball off-season be a bigger mess?

What a mess! November and December are great months to see how your team is going to improve for next season. The decisions on what players will get signed and traded are mostly complete by Christmas.

And just when we should be gearing up for this hot-stove time. . . MLB once again puked all over itself. Like a bad dream where you can't move your legs in the middle of a busy intersection, MLB can't seem to dodge any of traffic heading right at them.

1. Former (d) Senator, George Mitchell's office claims that their 2 year, bloated witch hunt report is nearly complete and will name players involved in steroids before it was illegal.
2. PayRod's agent Scott Boras tries to steal the thunder from the World Series by announcing that Rodriguez will opt out of his deal.
3. Scott Boras is grilled in a New Yorker column called "The Extortionist" because of his grip on the game.
4. PayRod crawl's back to the Yanks and is going to be a 1/4 billion dollar paid athelete. It'll take him 2 innings of one game to equal the median US household annual income.
5. The MLB home run king, Barry Bonds, is getting indicted for lying about his steroid use and obstruction of justice during the Balco federal trial.

Now all we need is Pete Rose to admit to killing JFK. "I'm sorry I killed JFK" baseballs will be the hottest thing on the market!