Carl Pavano Might Keep Your Card

A little snippet from the Akron Beacon-Journal is heartening...and disheartening... for autograph collectors.

Indians' pitcher Carl Pavano does answer his TTM autograph requests which makes him a decent enough guy, but he's also a collector on some level and sometimes takes a "tip" for his efforts. It seems he also believes there's a big market for his signed cards (and doesn't think collectors actually trade with each other).

Read on...

On one side of the locker room sits Indians right-hander Carl Pavano, dressed in street clothes on a day he's not scheduled to pitch.

With time on his hands before a recent game, Pavano, 33, sorts through letters from fans — most of whom request he sign the enclosed baseball cards and return them in the accompanied self-addressed envelopes.

Before signing, Pavano thumbs through the cards, curious about what stages of his career they represent.

On the rare occasion that he comes across one he doesn't have in his personal collection, he'll keep it and instead sign a bunch of others and include a note of explanation to the sender.

''Sometimes people will send a bunch of the same card they want signed,'' Pavano said. ''I'll sign a couple, but I know what they're doing with them.''