Commissioner Rob Manfred was seen signing for fans who, inexplicably, wanted his autograph Commissioner Rob Manfred was seen signing for fans who, inexplicably, wanted his autograph

Among the many baseball luminaries on hand at Thursday’s Field of Dreams game between the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds was commissioner Rob Manfred. Something he did during the game got the attention of a lot of viewers — Manfred signed autographs.

Fox cameras spotted the commissioner signing the baseball of some “lucky” fan. But before signing the ball, Manfred seemingly pointed at his signature that’s already on all official balls — because that’s a completely endearing thing to do.

Pointing out his own signature aside, this seems like a nice gesture on the commissioner’s part. Manfred wasn’t exactly popular before the lockout that halted spring training and delayed the regular season. While that’s long been resolved, it certainly did nothing to bolster his popularity. So, being out there signing autographs for kids during one of MLB’s showcase events makes sense from Manfred’s perspective.

But there are two people involved in an autograph. One is the person signing the ball, the other is the person asking for the signature. And it’s hard to understand what exactly the people in the latter group were thinking.

So, there was one natural question from the MLB world to come out of this. Who in the world wants Manfred’s autograph?

Perhaps there was an ulterior motive of some sort.

That would certainly be a high-level move. Or, perhaps it was something waiving (or at least limiting) all of the blackout restrictions MLB has throughout the country and especially in Iowa. If that wasn’t what it was, we hope that the next autograph seeker is on the case.

[Photo Credit: Fox]

About Michael Dixon

About Michael:
-- Writer/editor for thecomeback.com and awfulannouncing.com.
-- Bay Area born and raised, currently living in the Indianapolis area.
-- Twitter:
@mfdixon1985 (personal).
@michaeldixonsports (work).
-- Email: mdixon@thecomeback.com
Send tips, corrections, comments and (respectful) disagreements to that email. Do the same with pizza recommendations, taco recommendations and Seinfeld quotes.