For those that collect Team auto's, what's your method?

[mr2686]

What I mean is, how do you collect them and how complete are you? Do you collect only on available baseball cards for the team, do you collect only the main starters, or do you collect all players that put on a uniform, coaches, batboys, GM's, etc?
For me, it kinda depends on the team/year. I had always wanted to do a 1971 - 1975 Oakland A's project since they won the division in 71 and 75 and the WS 72-74 and had a lot of the same players over those 5 years, but I never realized how many changes ol' Charlie Finley had made during those years. I ended up going with just the players that were on the roster for the playoffs and WS...which were quite a few. If I had done everyone that played during those years I would have added a lot more to an already large project that takes up a big portion of one of my walls. Now, I'm two away from completing the 60 pirates and 3 away from the 34 Cardinals, but I chose to go with all the players and coaches for those years, as well as Branch Rickey for the Cardinals, and the owner, GM and announcer for the Pirates. These will still end up being smaller projects than the A's, but will be fairly large anyway. Just curious how everyone else does it.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

It's all a matter of personal preferecne. Personally, I attempted to collect one signature of every player for every team in MLB history. They were all of equal importance to me. I nearly reached the 2/3 plateau (somewhere around 10,000 different players).

As to key teams, some folks want to acquire a signature of every player to don a uniform that season, others prefer to stick to the regular lineup, while others just want the men who saw post-season/World Series action. There are no set rules, other than the ones which you as a collector impose on yourself.

[prewarsports]

One thing I have noticed which seems a bit odd is that people want the items on flats. Team signed balls with a tough name can sell for almost nothing while the same names on a sheet of paper can sell for huge multiples of the ball. For example a team signed minor league ball with a Joe Giard might sell for $500 but a team sheet with him on it might sell for $5000 or more. I know people like to frame them, but there are people who keep a hole in their collection rather than fill it with a signed baseball, even a single!

[canjond]

I've been working on a 1960 Topps Yankees team signed set for years now. I'm pretty much done (except for the Maris/Mantle AS cards although I have the regular cards).

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Yes, some collectors will accept a tough signature on a baseball until a flat comes along. Others absolutely refuse to do so, mainly citing space/storage issues. I still have perhaps 20-25 players only in team-signed ball format, simply because the signatures in question have been impossible to procure otherwise. Yes, I'd rather have a flat, but sometimes it's a ridiculous notion to be so particular. Take what you can get; upgrade later. With a few years of careul study, you will soon learn who the truly tough signatures are.

[mr2686]

Jon, that's a great accomplishment on those 1960 Yankee cards. I happen to be biased for anything 1960 baseball since it was the year I was born. I started out my 1960 pirate project by trying to get as many of the 1960 signed topps Pirates cards as possible. I didn't do too bad...I have 24, but since I am doing the whole team, there are some players that didn't have a card and some I just couldn't find (or too much money...like Clemente or Umbricht). Fortunately I've found some 59 and 61 cards as well as 3x5's and cuts to go along with the 60's.

[HexsHeroes]

.
. . . to fill in (temporarily, I hope) for a player's autograph in my collection. I kinda lump this idea with using a signed team sheet or postcard, which may have multiple autographs on it, to fill several names for me.

It can be a humbling hobby, especially when one views the diminutive scale of my collection versus those of other collectors. Jodi's efforts, and many like him, far surpass my small holding of autographs, as I seek to attain an example from each of the 560 or so former ballplayers to don a Detroit Tigers uniform, prior to 1946. But it is the meager reach of my task that also keeps me both hopeful and sane.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

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But it is the meager reach of my task that also keeps me both hopeful and sane.

Don't sell your efforts short, my friend! It only takes one look at this man's want list to understand what I mean. I think I might have three things on said list, and perhaps 10-15 others which are already sold.