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Best Pen/Marker for baseballs and photos

I have researched the best pen for getting autographs on the official MLB baseballs, and I found a few different answers. Some people like BIC, etc., but I found that some people like the Uni Ball Jetstream in blue ink. I purchased some Jetstream 101 pens by Uni Ball as that is all they had. Will that work just as well?

Also, I have an 8x10 I want autographed. Should I use black or blue Sharpie? I thought blue Sharpies faded worse than black, but I don't know much about it.

Thanks so much for the help. I'm going to a ballgame this coming weekend so I'm trying to get everything in order.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on April 13, 2011 at 8:15am

Jessica, I wish I'd paid attention a couple weeks back, but Pete Rose signed my baseball in a blue ballpoint pen that looks much more distinct and dark than the other the baseballs I have on my shelf. I'll look through some photos I took of him and see if I can somehow figure out what it might be.

As far as the "which sharpie to use" question, I think it really comes down to preference. We have a local sports franchise called Legends of the Field out here in Wisconsin, and they deal primarily with Packers, Bears, Cubs and Brewers signings. When they have players in the store, they tend to have them sign many photos in both blue and black, just to give customers a choice.

Here's an example:

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Permalink Reply by Jessica on April 13, 2011 at 9:06am

Thank you. The Jetstream blue color is a deeper color so he might have used that. I've heard some companies do use these pens.

I have always used black Sharpie, and I think it looks the best. I didn't know if the blue worked better or not.

Thanks again. I appreciate the help.

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Permalink Reply by Rich on April 13, 2011 at 10:15am

Also, keep in mind that if the photo is dark enough, gold or silver paint pen may be more ideal.

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Permalink Reply by David Catlin on April 19, 2011 at 8:14am

NEVER use a sharpie on a baseball over time it will bleed into the ball. Ballpoint pens are the best for balls and sharpies work best on photos.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on April 20, 2011 at 8:28am

Right. Although, I recommend a medium point ballpoint pen with bold blue ink.

I have a few balls signed with a fine tipped ballpoint with lighter shade of blue ink. They've been stored in a ballcube, inside of a box, inside of a dark, dry cabinet. Yet, the signature is literally disappearing on a few of them. The ball is snow white and the signatures seem to have almost evaporated. Very annoying.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on April 20, 2011 at 8:43am

BTW, what type of pen is the Uni Ball Jetstream?

Is it a ballpoint, gel or rollerball?

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Permalink Reply by Jessica on April 20, 2011 at 2:19pm

It is a rollerball. It seemed to work good on the baseballs, and it was a vivid blue color ink.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Zarelli on April 21, 2011 at 5:33am

I've always wondered how rollerball or gel ink would work, however my concern is that the ink would take a while to dry and be prone to smudging until it was completely dried.

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Permalink Reply by David Catlin on April 21, 2011 at 6:29am

My concern with anything other than a quality ballpoint pen in signing baseballs would be bleeding in the future. It may take awhile but some bleeding I would think would occur. I get these these metal HOF football cards signed and a black sharpie works fantastic on them but for some reason a blue sharpie will eventually bleed. These cards are made out of aluminum.