What is it like to do an Autograph Signing With Larry Bird?

Welcome to the Powers Sports Memorabilia Show, where we delve into the world of sports signings and meet the legends behind the autographs. In this episode, we're taking you behind the scenes of what it's like to do a signing with none other than basketball icon Larry Bird.

Imagine stepping into a hotel conference room early in the morning, anticipation buzzing in the air. Larry Bird, the legend himself, is about to arrive. But this isn't your average meet-and-greet. There are rules to follow, and the atmosphere is all business.

Before Larry Bird even walks in, payment is settled. No exceptions. As he enters, there's no time for small talk or background music—just a focused, efficient session. Each piece to be signed is meticulously counted beforehand to ensure no one tries to sneak in extra items.

Larry Bird is a man of few words during signings, preferring to let his signature do the talking. But don't mistake his quiet demeanor for aloofness. He's all about the task at hand, making sure each signature is perfect. He'll sign where you want, change pens, and ensure your memorabilia is top-notch.

Despite the strict atmosphere, Larry Bird's signature remains highly sought after. His autograph is legendary, and fans know they're getting a piece of basketball history when they leave with his signature.

And just when you think it's all business, Larry surprises with a personal touch. He might record a birthday video wish or pose for a photo at the end of the session—and yes, he does crack a smile.

Join us as we explore the unique experience of doing a signing with Larry Bird, where professionalism meets basketball greatness.

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What is it like to do an autograph signing with Larry Bird? Over the course of my years in this industry, I've been fortunate enough to take part in about a half a dozen so Larry Bird signings and been fortunate enough to attend two of them. So what is it like to be at an autograph signing with Larry Bird? Well, first off, when you do a signing with Larry Bird, it is a rather large requirement for autographs. It's not like you can take in a hundred pieces and get them signed and go on your way. It's usually 600 plus pieces. So there is a big requirement for autographs and of course money to pay for those autographs. And typically with Bird, he needs at least uh oh 30 to 45 days out to schedule the appearance. And it's always a private signing with him. He does not do public autograph signings, but could you imagine Larry Bird doing a public autograph signing? Oh my gosh, that would be just absolutely insane. But it's not his cup of tea. So uh typically how it works with Larry is you've got to come to him wherever he is currently at. Uh, he does live in a couple different states, so you just bring all your items directly to a hotel in his local area. I usually set it up in a conference room for him, and he generally shows up pretty early, which is great. And the reason why he shows up early or why it's good for him to show up early is you can usually catch a flight later on in the day and usually be in and out of the city there in less than 24 hours. So it's very nice that he shows up, typically about nine o'clock in the morning, and he can crank out usually about 600 plus pieces in about 90 minutes. So he moves really quick. Uh, right when he shows up, he literally starts signing the minute he shows up. So it's all business for Larry, which is perfectly fine. Uh, he does not say much during these signings, if anything at all. And it's it's not like he's you know being difficult or anything like that. He's just quiet during the signing. There's no music, there's no talking. It's literally just signing items back and forth and back and forth for about 90 minutes. And again, he signs pretty quick. He does have a nice autograph, uh, much better than the guys that are currently playing, I would think. So uh, you know, Larry's uh he's just really quiet and he's not gonna have a conversation with you, which is fine. And he's not being you know mean to you or anything like that. He does say hello. Uh at the end of the signing, he will take a picture with you. And yes, I I've seen the comments. Yes, Larry does smile. He is a happy go-looking guy. Um, but again, when you see you know what uh athletes are like out of signing, or if you see pictures on social media, it's it's not typically the full story of what an athlete athlete is uh when you see them in person. So uh every time I've seen Larry, it's always been a great experience. Again, I've been able to take a couple photos of him. Uh, but again, we're both there to have stuff signed. I'm here to get my customers' pieces signed. Larry's there to sign items, and yes, he's making money off of the signing. But that's what both of us are are there for. And uh Larry will sign exactly where the customers want, he will change pens. Uh, he doesn't do inscriptions, which I know a lot of customers really want, but for you know the signing, it runs really smooth when he doesn't have to do inscriptions because everything moves a lot quicker. Well, we don't have to give as much instruction on there. But again, Larry is really great to work with. He he shows up on time, he moves quickly, and um and most pieces I have always turned out really great. He knows where to sign, he knows how to sign, he's got a great looking graph. Um, and again, doesn't do inscriptions, but hey, that for the the time frame on that signing, it moves really, really quickly. 90 minutes for a signing is actually a very fast time because you can get all your stuff packed up, get it over to UPS, and you can get out that same day. Uh, I did notice at the last signing we did with him uh last week. At the end of it, he actually did a happy birthday video uh wish for a kid. So there you go. There's an example of maybe what you hear about what happens or what kind of person he is. Maybe it's not the truth. So um he did a nice little happy birthday wish for a young kid there. So that was kind of cool to see. I wish I would have got one for my kid for the future, but uh, but then thanks for Larry for doing that. But it was a great signing. I I I really enjoy doing the bird signings, mainly because uh we get to kind of uh chop it up with some of the uh you know other vendors and other dealers that are there, kind of hear their war stories about everything. And it's it's really a fun signing because we get to help each other out with our pieces, because typically you've got to have someone there with Larry saying, you know, sign here. Someone's got to bring the next piece, someone's got to take away the one that's just got signed. You don't want to have it smudged, so you got to make sure you put it in a good spot, especially the cards, because that's the majority of items that Larry is signing. So you'll see a lot of 81 tops, 86 flears, and a bunch of other different uh um you know varieties of sets. But you don't want to make sure that the cards get signed. So Larry will sign them, he'll push them away, and you want to make sure when you grab them that uh there's no smudging being done there. So it does take a little bit of logistics while you're there, nothing too complicated, but it is nice to have a bunch of people there. And then once your pieces get done, then the next vendor can do their pieces and you can help them out with their stuff, uh, get them fresh pens if they need it. Uh, maybe you have a pen that they don't have and they need right away. So it's really fun. I really do enjoy doing the signings and being there with not just the athletes, but the vendors and what as well. So um I don't know when the next Larry signing is. He does sign every few months or so. And what's funny is a lot of people say that Larry signs too much. And here's my argument for I think he signs just enough. If Larry is signing roughly, let's just say 600 pieces and he's doing 10 signings a year, that's 6,000 autographs, which doesn't really sound like a lot in the grand scheme of things when you think about how many people in this industry are dealers that are selling Larry Bird autographs, how many people want Larry Bird autographs? Do you think every year there are 6,000 people that want a Larry Bird autograph? I would say so, if not more. So I think he does sign more than the typical athlete, but there is more demand for Larry Bird. I mean, it is Larry Bird, but it's so funny with some some collectors. It's it's like they they get pissed if guys sign too much, they get pissed if guys don't sign enough. It's like there's never there's never an actual number that's uh a happy medium. It's like when you talk to people that want to raise taxes on you. It's like, okay, what's what's the specific number we need to be at? And they can never tell you the exact number because it's just a made-up number. So um I think Larry signs just enough there. He makes a good living doing it, obviously. And every time we do a signing, it's like we just did one six weeks, eight weeks ago, and it's like, I don't know if we have enough pieces this time. And every time I'm shocked, we put out Larry Bird and we get enough pieces every single time. So that tells me that the demand certainly is there, and people have specific stuff that they want to get done from Larry. They've got those uh, you know, the uh SI magazines from the Indiana State ones with him, one with him and the cheerleader on there. By the way, those ones, oh my gosh, they are notorious for coming undone at the spine there. Oh my gosh, these magazines are what are they 44 years old now? I kid you not, people have sent me, I can remember vividly, at least three of them where we've opened the box and the magazine has come undone inside the packaging already. It's already undone when we opened it, and so we know we always reach out to the customer when something comes in damaged. And I kid you not, everybody blames us. I it's so we've started videotaping these things when people have sent us in the 1979 SI because they are just crap. I mean, it's 43-year-old magazine, it's not in great condition. But um, so if you do send us one of those, just know that they don't always come back in great condition, it's just because of the the way the post office handles them. I don't know, but um, it is a great magazine to get signed if you do uh are able to locate one of those things. So uh again, I I again I love working with Larry. If you ever get the chance to send something in for Larry, uh we can do typically photo proofs. We started doing those at this signing where we can take a photo of your exact item being signed. So I think that's pretty cool because Larry signs a lot of items that a lot of collectors do have, for example, a jersey or that magazine, for example. But getting a photo sign of him signing your exact item, I think is actually pretty darn cool and kind of a nice little piece that uh you can put with the item to have it there forever. So, but that's how it is doing a uh a signing with Larry Bird. He moves quick, it's all business, but again, he's he's a nice guy, takes photos with you. Yes, he will smile. Um, and and yes, he is happy to be there. He's getting paid to do that. But again, our main job when we're there is to get your item signed, not to have a personal conversation with the guy. We would love to, but it's just not how he works, and that's totally fine. I totally get it. Um, Larry has you know kind of been burned by some dealers in the past, so he's kind of leery of the industry. So a lot of people have been kicked out of the signings because they're trying to uh put extra pieces in there that he they haven't paid for. And if you want to work with Larry, you got to do things the right way. If you say you got 600 pieces, you pay him for 600 pieces, they come in and they do their count. There's 600 pieces there. Larry comes in and signs, everybody gets paid, everybody's happy, and Larry just wants to get paid for the items that he is signing and as far as well as he should. So we do things the right way, the people that we work with do things the right way, and that's why we've been able to continue to work with Mr. Bird because we pay him for exactly what he is signing, and we say we are gonna do what we are going to do. So, looking forward to the next one with uh Larry. Again, he's it's super fun. I I always enjoy when every time he walks in, uh, I'm always amazed at how tall he is, too. I mean, he's six foot nine. Some of the people have made comments on the post there, too, about how how scrawny he made me look. I mean, I'm only six foot one, but it's you see him walk in, you're like, wow, playing this guy in the NBA would have just been a nightmare. I mean, because he was again, people say he's not the most athletic guy out there. I I don't know. I think he's a pretty darn good athlete. I mean, the guy knows how to move his body, playing basketball, and you can see like my gosh, can you imagine trying to like guard this guy at this height that can dribble, pass, shoot, do everything. Uh, it would have been amazing to play against him in like a little one on one when he was uh in his prime there. But uh anyway, hopefully we'll have a next uh bird signing here in the next couple months. Again, you guys can visit the website powersportsmobility.com and see all the current signings that we have coming up. And uh, I will see you guys on the next episode.