From about 1978 to 1983 I used to write to players in a non-stop quest for autographs. I'd research retired players to get their home addresses or I'd send to current players at the various stadiums. With many of the old timers I'd only send cards in rough shape, so if they didn't respond (which happened often) I wouldn't be out too much. Overall, I did pretty well, though, and have a bunch of autographed HOF cards to trade.
Let me make this clear. All of these cards except Brooks Robinson (card show on Long Island), a couple of the Reggie Jacksons (spring training game) and Steve Carlton (various card shows) were obtained through the mail (TTM). I don't have a single COA or anything of that nature, so I can't truly claim they're authentic. Of course, I got these at a time when autographs weren't such a cash crop business, so there was never a reason for me to doubt their validity.
To see all the scans of my HOFer collection, see this section of my bucket: http://s1226.photobucket.com/albums/...aphed%20Cards/
If you're interested in anything, LMK what you have off of my need list and let's talk. I'll be happy to answer any questions.
My Need List:
***1957*** (ex. or better, will consider vg if not too bad)
1 (Williams), 284 (Zimmer), 286 (Richardson), 328 (Robinson), 407 (Mantle/Berra) & All Checklists
***1958*** (ex.+) (Lower Priority)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 33, 35, 37, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 52, 54, 56, 57, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 67, 68, 70, 74, 75, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 84, 85, 87, 88, 90, 91, 93, 95, 97, 100, 101, 102, 105, 107, 108, 111, 112, 114, 123, 125, 131, 132, 135, 138, 140, 141, 142, 148, 149, 150, 153, 159, 161, 162, 164, 165, 168, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 183, 185, 187, 190, 193, 194, 196, 197, 199, 203, 207, 208, 210, 211, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 227, 231, 232, 234, 238, 240, 241, 242, 244, 245, 246, 248, 250, 253, 254, 255, 256, 258, 260, 262, 263, 264, 267, 269, 271, 275, 276, 277, 278, 280, 281, 282, 285, 286, 288, 291, 293, 295, 296, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 304, 305, 307, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 320, 321, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 336, 337, 340, 342, 343, 346, 348, 349, 350, 351, 353, 355, 358, 359, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 368, 370, 371, 373, 375, 376, 378, 380, 382, 383, 387, 389, 392, 393, 396, 398, 400, 402, 407, 413, 417, 418, 420, 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 428, 429, 430, 431, 434, 436, 438, 440, 441, 443, 444, 446, 448, 452, 453, 455, 458, 461, 462, 464, 465, 468, 470, 472, 474, 475, 479, 480, 481, 484, 485, 486, 490, 493, 494, 495
***1959*** (ex. mt.)
1 (Frick), 12 (Law), 14 (Whisenant), 18 (Urban), 25 (Hoak), 26 (Stobbs), 28 (Worthington), 29 (Bolger), 34 (Pitchers Beware), 41 (Martyn), 49 (Hall), 54 (Roach), 57 (Cicotte), 59 (Noren), 61 (Brown), 65 (Torre), 67 (Lawrence), 69 (Giants), 71 (Bessent), 72 (Renna), 74 (Directing the Power), 76 (Richardson), 80 (Minoso), 82 (Boyd), 89 (Gardner), 90 (Skowron), 107 (Larker), 113 (Phillips), 118 (Buzhardt), 121 (Conley), 133 (Lillis), 141 (Shipley), 146 (Zimmerman), 148 (McCormick), 157 (Mantilla), 160 (Groat), 161 (Baumann), 165 (Bruton), 181 (Porterfield), 182 (Graff), 183 (Miller), 185 (Busby), 186 (Grant), 195 (Repulski), 200 (Giles), 217 (Erskine), 221 (Bowman), 229 (Power), 236 (Bowsfield), 247 (Ferrarese), 250 (O'Dell), 251 (Boyer), 259 (Pisoni), 264 (Carrasquel), 266 (Held), 273 (Jay), 278 (Essegian), 286 (Stone), 300 (Ashburn), 339 (Face), 343 (Hoeft), 345 (McDougald), 376 (Naragon), 395 (Howard), 397 (Senators), 403 (Labine), 415 (Mazeroski), 424 (Aspromonte), 436 (Hamner), 459 (Tuttle), 514 (Gibson), 550 (Campanella), 554 (Skowron), 556 (Fox), 569 (Friend), 570 (Turley)
plus these variations:
40 (Spahn-Born 1931)
40 (Spahn-Born 1931, 3 partially obscured)
321 (Giallombardo-No optioned statement)
322 (Hanebrink-No trade statement)
336 (Loes-No trade statement)
362 (Nichols-No optioned statement)
***1961*** (ex. mt.)
2 (Maris), 49 (NL Strikeout Leaders), 160 (Ford), 265 (Kubek), 287 (Yastrzemski), 344 (Koufax), 400 (Law), 401 (Ruth), 415 (Aaron), 417 (Marichal), 425 (Berra), 430 (Mazeroski), 449 (Bolin), 461 (Burgess), 464 (Thomas), 465 (McMillan), 472 (Berra MVP), 480 (Campanella MVP), 484 (Aaron MVP), 489 (Dropo), 528 (Ramos), 531 (Coates), 544 (Thomas), 549 (Smith), 567 (Murtaugh AS), 576 (Maris AS), 577 (Aaron AS), 578 (Mantle AS), 579 (Mays AS), 580 (Kaline AS), 586 (Ford AS)
***1962*** (ex. mt.)
180 (Allison), 392 (Boyer), 423 (Rival Relief Aces), 427 (Wood), 441 (Checklist--check boxes are yellow), 445 (Power), 455 (Arroyo), 459 (Bailey), 464 (Jackson), 465 (Reds), 570 (Stafford), 577 (Nicholson), 591 (McDowell)
***1963*** (ex. mt.)
4 (AL HR Leaders), 7 (NL Pitching Leaders), 8 (AL Pitching Leaders), 32 (Gonzalez), 51 (Alusik), 78 (Throneberry), 80 (Gilliam), 89 (Stigman), 92 (Lopez), 111 (Jackson), 127 (Tuttle), 129 (Bell), 150 (Podres), 157 (Segui), 158 (Rookies), 162 (Twins), 202 (Red Sox), 226 (Javier), 233 (Stengel), 243 (Leppert), 246 (Strange), 268 (Demeter), 270 (Alou), 275 (Mathews), 282 (Del Greco), 300 (Mays), 302 (Herzog), 320 (Spahn), 323 (Mazeroski), 336 (Bauta), 341 (Baldschun), 345 (Robinson), 353 (Williams), 360 (Drysdale), 374 (Osteen), 377 (Orioles), 384 (Tillman), 389 (Sullivan), 402 (Vernon), 414 (Cline), 417 (Giants), 446 (Ford), 449 (Tartabull), 466 (Rookies), 475 (Triandos), 485 (Landis), 487 (Roseboro), 496 (Rookies), 503 (Braves), 508 (Savage), 517 (Woodeshick), 530 (Mossi), 533 (Shantz), 537 (Rookies)
***1966*** (ex. mt.)
43 (Landrum-Dark Button on Pants Partially Airbrushed), 543 (Craig), 561 (Coleman)
***1967*** (ex. mt.)
6 (Simpson), 13 (Sparma), 28 (Latman), 30 (Kaline), 45 (Maris), 49 (Face), 85 (Callison), 128 (Spiezio-Part of his name on front is missing), 129 (Roof), 130 (Regan), 131 (Yankees), 154 (WS), 193 (Cardinal), 198 (Hiller), 202 (Edwards), 205 (Groat), 211 (Twins), 212 (Zachary), 214 (Kelley), 216 (Bengal Belters), 219 (Carroll), 223 (Ryan-No dot on the "i" in his signature), 275 (Whitfield), 296 (Beckert), 302 (Orioles), 336 (Azcue), 458 (Thomas), 460 (Killebrew), 466 (Wine), 476 (Perez), 485 (McCarver), 492 (Pirates), 496 (McFarlane), 516 (Giants), 521 (Bird Bombers), 527 (Ribant), 535 (Clendenon), 538 (Martin), 545 (Grant), 553 (Yankee Rookies), 563 (Adcock), 564 (Astros Rookies), 567 (Hamilton), 569 (AL Rookies), 570 (Wills), 573 (White Sox), 575 (Boswell), 577 (Short), 578 (Boccabella), 579 (Henry), 580 (Colavito), 581 (Seaver), 584 (Piersall), 585 (Bunker), 590 (Richert), 595 (Rojas), 596 (Cisco), 602 (Pizarro), 603 (Athletics Rookies), 604 (Red Sox Team), 609 (John)
***1968*** (nr. mt.)
these variations: 49 (Brinkman-Yellow Team Name), 66 (Cox-Yellow Team Name), 400 (McCormick-White Team Name)
***1969*** (nr. mt.--this is an upgrade set)
20 (Banks), 31 (Mets Rookies), 48 (Alyea), 50 (Clemente), 51 (Fryman), 54 (Carlos), 58 (Gladding), 70 (Helms), 79 (Pappas), 84 (Humphreys), 117 (Fairey), 119 (Rader), 120 (Rose), 130 (Yastrzemski), 190 (Mays), 198 (Smith), 207 (Face), 215 (Petrocelli), 218 (Roseboro), 221 (Shamsky), 224 (Angels Rookies), 241 (Brewer), 246 (Coleman), 252 (Cottier), 258 (Hernandez), 264 (Landis), 268 (Spangler), 270 (Lolich), 275 (Davalillo), 280 (Johnson), 287 (Tartabull), 289 (Shirley), 292 (Downing), 299 (Belanger), 309 (Williams), 326 (Sutherland), 327 (Crawford), 328 (Horlen), 338 (Unser), 343 (Frisella), 345 (Linzy), 350 (Allen), 357 (Taylor), 368 (Roznovsky), 375 (Killebrew), 381 (Kranepool), 383 (Cox), 423 (Campaneris A.S.), 456 (Harrelson), 459 (Boswell), 461 (Epstein), 472 (Price), 478 (Buford), 480 (Seaver), 483 (Abernathy), 484 (Gordon), 495 (Campaneris), 498 (Pizarro), 516 (Weaver), 517 (McCormick), 527 (Lopez), 530 (Tovar), 551 (Granger), 569 (Harris), 586 (Cullen), 589 (Pepitone), 591 (Hedlund), 595 (Maye), 598 (Amaro), 601 (McGraw), 607 (Bosman), 611 (Braves Rookies), 616 (McMahon), 620 (Chance), 622 (Osinski), 624 (Rookie Stars), 625 (Jones), 628 (Red Sox Rookies), 630 (Bonds), 637 (Padres Rookies), 643 (Cowan), 647 (Wickersham), 653 (Rodriguez), 655 (Hershberger), 660 (Smith), 661 (Merritt), 663 (Radatz)
plus these ‘white letter’ variations: 440 (McCovey), 441 (Higgins), 447 (Houk), 452 (Ferrara), 454 (Phillies Rookies), 464 (Marshall), 468 (Pirates Rookies), 470 (Stottlemyre), 471 (Savage), 473 (Arcia), 476 (Red Sox Rookies), 482 (Gosger), 485 (Perry), 491 (Twins Rookies), 500 (Mantle), 511 (Segui)
***1971*** (nr. mt.)
576 (Cubs Rookies)
If you have nothing from this list, I am also looking for starter sets in 1954 Bowman, 1964 Topps stand-ups and I could always use HOF'ers and high numbers in nice shape from most years.