When Max Scherzer talks, we listen. Max now has a charitable affiliation with a new concept in the memorabilia and autograph business called FanSigner. This new company is unique compared to the industry behemoths like Fanatics and Steiner Sports, and with Max’s involvement, the first athletes on their page are familiar to Nats fans as they have Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon, Ryan Zimmerman and of course Max.
Just launched https://t.co/O94rzDie7L Its the only place to get personalized memorabilia while supporting player's charities! @Fan_Signer
— Max Scherzer (@Max_Scherzer) May 9, 2017
The company was founded in part by Ryan Mitchell, and Ryan and Max Scherzer grew up together in the St. Louis area. They learned about some of the pitfalls and issues in the autograph business and thought this new concept would help athletes and their charitable interests at the same time while providing something unique to the fans. The website went live last week, and they had immediate sales. It also allows for personalized fan items to be sent in from your favorite game-used baseball to a piece of artwork to a photo you personally took at a game.
FanSigner takes only a flat fee – 10% – and they take care of all packaging, shipping, and logistics of getting the items signed. Proceeds from each sale also goes directly to the player’s charity of choice. For instance Scherzer designated the Humane Society that both he and his wife Erica are closely involved with. Rendon is raising money to support the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy. Ryan Zimmerman of course has his charity set for his ZiMS Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis.
From the FanSigner website
“We believe that FanSigner will be very popular with the athletes as well as the fans because our concept centers around the charitable interests of the players and getting fans unique and personalized autographs,” co-founder Cole Harper told us. “Fans are the life blood of the sports and entertainment industry, and it starts there.”
When you look at the prices for some of their in-stock inventory, the prices appear much lower than the large autograph sites, and the personalized prices for send-ins looks to be very fair at about $200. Since these particular charities are 501c3 approved, check with your tax advisor to see how much is tax-deductible on your purchases.
You probably want to ask what we asked, what about autographs for Bryce Harper? Unfortunately there are no immediate plans at this time Ryan Mitchell said. It is possible in the future, and we will write a follow-up to this article when there are some pertinent updates.
“Before FanSigner, there wasn’t a great way for fans to get personalized autographed memorabilia,” Ryan Mitchell told us. “If you wanted to get a gift for someone, like a photo with a special message from their favorite player, there wasn’t a good way to do that. They can do that now with FanSigner, and a good portion of that purchase will go to a good cause.”
