Greedy, Stinky, Obnoxious Autograph Hounds - and Reggie Jackson

Reggie Jackson is/was a famous baseball player. But that's not important. It's not about Reggie Jackson, and whether you've heard of him, or like him.

It's about this: that today greedheads will accost any celebrity for an autograph. Some stars consider it "the cost of doing business."

The greedhead dealers often stake out famous restaurants like Spago's knowing that the odds are good a celebrity or two will be dining. "Aha, Tina is here, aha, Gina is here..." and they go back to their cars and grab the manilla folder with the celeb's name on. Usually they're tipped off who's made a reservation, so they have PLENTY of 8x10's.

Quite a few stars get an ego blast out of this shit, so they sign a few 8x10's, and ask with a laugh, "How much am I worth?"

I know an author who makes a joke of it when he gets a few books pushed at him: "Do I make it out to EBAY?"

But a few days ago, Reggie Jackson was sitting in a restaurant and DIDN'T want to spend an hour signing shit for opportunists and greedheads.

Reggie apparently indulged a greedhead, but when another photo was shoved at him, said "I signed one item, now go to the back of the line," and things got ugly.

Dealers are easy to spot. Aside from having a surprising amount of photos or cards or memorabilia to ambush a star with, the dealer will say "Just sign your name." A real fan is delighted to hear, "Who should I make it out to?"

Reggie's talking to Mike Lupica, because Lupica is a veteran Daily News writer who'll put out Reggie's side of the story. It's about damage control, because paparazzi and greedheads will deliberately provoke stars and then laugh about it and badmouth the star. Often they'll even feign being assaulted, to shake down the star for a settlement.

Celebs work hard to become famous, but they still get abuse: "Ha ha, I have the power, not YOU. If you get mad at me, I snap the picture and I've got a great photo to sell of YOU losing your cool." "If you don't sign for me, I tell everyone you're a rat. I win, YOU LOSE!" People who thought that being a star meant they didn't have to eat a lot of shit, find out that "the cost of doing business" is being nice to utter pricks. It involves being used and accepting it, and that's hard, because it's not about the money, it's about the nasty attitude. A star can make a million dollars a picture, and the autograph might only be worth $50, but who wants to be forced to sign, and treated like crap by some grubby autograph hound?

Jackson, at this point, does memorabilia shows. Pay him $20 or $30 and he'll sign something. He's definitely a LOSER when some jerk shoves a bunch of cards and photos at him and demands free signatures. He has to be "nice" and sign some items or get a bad reputation. Too bad the greedheads always push away the real fans and want MORE MORE MORE.

I've seen this at the stage door of Broadway shows. A few fans want to get a Playbill signed. A few others, who can't afford a $100 seat, show up with a precious 8x10 or an old magazine. But both groups are shoved out of the way by aggressive DEALERS who show up with a Sharpie pen, a manilla folder of 8x10's and a feverish mantra of "sign this, sign this, would you sign this..." without even a "please" or a compliment to the star.

Jackson is neither the nicest nor the nastiest superstar baseball player out there. But what he said is the truth.