Steiner Sports Sues Cards’ Yadier Molina for Breach of Autograph Contract
The deals that athletes sign for companies to market their autographed sports memorabilia don't seem too complicated on the surface. Players are paid a specified amount of money in exchange for a contracted number of signatures, appearances or the like. Simple, right?
Perhaps the arrangements aren't as cut and dried as they appear, because several of them in the past year alone have ended in disputes involving legal action. St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina is the latest player to go this route, with industry giant Steiner Sports filing suit against him earlier this week. Steiner is seeking $175,000 from Molina for allegedly breaking his autograph and appearance contract with them.
According to the suit filed in the state of New York, Steiner Sports has had Molina under contract since 2006. The company renewed the deal last October and advanced Molina a little more than $90,000.
Now Steiner claims the All-Star backstop stopped living up to his end of the bargain and won't return the money.
"He owed us autographs and appearances, but he was not willing to do that," Steiner Sports CEO Brandon Steiner said to the Associated Press. "He thought he could blow us off."
Molina is hardly the highest profile athlete in the Steiner Sports stable, as the company works with big names in just about every sport. But it has had some success finding a market for his autographed items, and the Steiner online store currently has signed photographs, baseballs and even a mini home plate for sale.
Other notable players involved in memorabilia-related lawsuits in recent months include Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, who believed Dreams, Inc. unjustly terminated his deal when he was injured in September, and NBA superstar Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat, who was sued for his role in a proposed memorabilia and restaurant chain that went bad.
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Eric | Oct 15, 2009 | Reply
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