Who knows when we as a society decided that having someone sign their name to an item would increase it’s value? Millions of dollars are spent every year in auctions, shows and conventions, all for ink. Autographs have become a huge part of Americana.

In the “Good Old Days” the only way to get an autograph from your favorite player would either be:

1. To stand outside the locker room or dugout hoping for that moment to talk with the player himself.
2. Send a letter to the ball club care of the player, in hopes of a response.

In both cases came a sense of nostalgia because you got to interact directly with the player. Case in point:

In 1988 when I was 14, I sent a letter to the Minnesota Vikings in care of former Sun Devil standout and NFL rookie, Mr. Randall McDaniel. In it, I wrote that I was a big fan of his since ASU and asked if he could sign two cards I had included in the envelope.

Not knowing if I would see my cards again was a gamble, but back then you could take a chance on a 25 cent card. About half a year went by and I had somewhat given up on getting the cards returned to me.

Then I received a really cool hand-written note by Randall McDaniel in the mail. It was even on his letterhead. He signed both of my cards which I have to this day. At 14 it was a pretty big deal.

Unfortunately, in the early 90′s the card manufacturers decided to randomly insert “certified” autographed cards into their base sets. This addition did two things: 1) It destroyed the market for autographed cards that were not “authenticated” and 2) It increased the overall product cost.

I always wondered what it would be like for a player to sit down with a stack of hundreds of his cards in front of him that needed his autograph. I asked former ASU Running Back and future NFL Rookie, Marion Grice, a few questions regarding the process of signing for one of these big card companies.

Q: Did you ever collect cards as a kid?

Marion Grice: No I did not collect cards as a kid, I had friends that were into collecting cards though.

Q: How did the card companies reach out to you to let you know that they wanted your likeness in their 2014 product?

Marion Grice: The companies reached out to my sports management group and agent, and expressed their interest in me.

Q: Were you allowed any creative input into the final product?

Marion Grice: Actually I didn’t have any input on the final product but all of the designs that I did see came out really good. That’s a tribute to the designers that were in place at those companies.

Q: In regards to the AUTOGRAPHED cards that you signed, what was that process like?

Marion Grice: The process was really tedious and required focus for long periods of time.

Q: What was the most fun part of the process, and what was the least fun?

Marion Grice: The most fun part of the process was sitting there thinking about how surreal it was for people to be that interested in me. The least fun part was the amount of time it takes, but it’s definitely an honor to have the opportunity.

My advice on collecting: Seek out what you like. Fads and “hot” cards will come and go, collect what you want to have in your collection, not what someone else claims is valuable. That’s why I have such a large collection of Sun Devil cards.

Many thanks to #SunDevil4Life, Marion Grice, for taking the time to share his experience. We’ll be tracking him in the draft and look forward to watching him play on Sundays.

He’re are a couple of my favorite autographed former Sun Devil trading cards:

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Check out the complete collection of Sun Devil trading cards.