Jose Bautista, Joe Carter join online company selling digital autographs

For $50 a pop, Joey Bats and Jumpin’ Joe will send you a personalized voice recording on a topic of your choice — within reason (see below) — as well as an electronic signature, courtesy of Egraphs.

“It’s a new generation of autographs,” says Gabe Kapler, who spent 12 years as a big-league outfielder and is now leading Egraphs’ business development team. “The fan is going to receive something that nobody has seen before. The player is going to have an easier method of interacting and sharing a personal experience with their fans.”

The process is simple: you choose a player from Egraphs’ roster, select a picture you would like them to sign and send along a message — including the name of the person to whom the autograph should be addressed — and whatever you would like the player to say in his voice recording.

Former Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez shared with one fan his favourite place to get a lobster roll in Boston, while Philadelphia’s Jimmy Rollins gives a heartwarming message to a younger fan who gave him a new nickname.

Bah! Lefty Phillips once gave me his oxygen tank to watch over (Hudson oxygen regulator’s at the time had quirky On/Off malfunctions due to housing cap strippage).

But just because you pay your money, doesn’t mean you can make puppets of these MLB superstars.

All requests are first vetted by Egraphs’ staff and the players also have the option to reject any request.