Saturday night is Jeff and Graig Nettles bobblehead night at Commerce Bank Ballpark. Both are available to sign autographs, Jeff for free and Graig for $5 per signature with a maximum of three per person. The charge has raised some eyebrows since the Patriots mission is "affordable family entertainment" and charging for an autograph seems very major-league, not minor-league.
That said, $5 for a Graig Nettles autograph is a steal considering his autographed baseball is selling on steinersports.com for $80.99. He is signing all items, too, not just Patriots-endorsed products, so the value will not be tainted.
Here's what Patriots president and general manager Patrick McVerry said:
"It's a nice thing with Jeff having been here, being the face of the Patriots. Fans who remember seeing Graig play always say 'He plays like his father.' Graig played 22 years in the majors and he's a friend of Sparky's."
"It was a neccessary decision (to charge) because he is only available to sign for a limited amount of time and we want to control it to the best of our ability. We don't want a line around the entire ballpark where fans are at the end with no chance to get an autograph."
"A fan can get an autograph or a picture with him and it cuts down a lot of the borderline fan who is not as excited about it but just wants an autograph because he is here. Some people may come out here just for his autograph and we don't want them to be denied."
I've been told this is not the first time the Patriots have charged for an autograph but no one can verify it.
UPDATE: I just heard that proceeds from the autograph signing will be donated to a children's charity. If this is true, then forget everything I said. They should be charging more than $5. Of course, I think it's weird that I've been asking about this for days and no one mentioned that opinion-swaying fact.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
what was the charity?
Post a Comment