Collecting Autographs in the good old days

[RichardSimon]

I started collecting autographs TTM about 27 years ago.
My son and I found old timers addresses in Baseball Hobby News (remember that one?) and it seemed like a fun thing to do. At that time I was only collecting baseball cards and autographs seemed more intimate and interesting to me.
I kept logs outlining who we wrote to, when we wrote to them and when they returned the autograph.
I kept the logs all these years and thought the results would be of interest to the board.
Bobby Thomson took 11 days from my mailing to my getting his autograph back.
Hubbell 14, Joe DiMaggio (yes he signed TTM back then,but only 1 at a time) 31 days, Durocher 8, Maglie 8, Mize 12, Snider 24, Irvin 8, Greenberg 8, Berra 17, B. Robinson 7, Wilhelm, 7, Aaron 76, Terry 7, Spahn 9, Gehringer 32, Feller 5, Reese 9, Koufax 28, Slaughter 7, Alvin Dark 99, Alston 7, Boudreau 39, Hoyt 7, Appling 260, Kell 10, Mathews 8, Dickey 18, Roush 12, Sewell 11, Roberts 7 (made up for him shooting me down as a kid outside the Polo Grounds), Judy Johnson 6, Drysdale 7, Musial 10.
There were many more but those are the highlights.
---

[shimozukawa]

.

[David Atkatz]

I started collecting TTM in 1965. Back then you could obtain complete checks of Ty Cobb, Mickey Cochrane, and Eppa Rixey, and check cuts of Mel Ott, and Home Run Baker from their widows.

[theshleps]

I received all those checks too, signed cards by Jackie Robinson etc. Wish I hadn't sold them all for college spending money in 1969. Sold to a collector/dealer named Max in NYC. Would love to buy them back

[HRBAKER]

I started in the mid-60s by writing to the Cardinals only. By the end of a few summers I had quite a stack of those team issued B&W PCs signed by many of them. Most of the players then signed on the back.

[cdn_collector]

This isn't nearly the same, but back in 1992 [I was 12], myself and some friends mailed a letter to Kelly Gruber asking him to autograph 5 cards for us [one for each of us; 2 for the guy for whom Gruber was his favourite player]. We mailed them to the Toronto Blue Jays corporate office, and shortly after we did he was traded to California.

A few months went by and they never came back, so we started to give up hope. In August of '93, my family moved so I was sure that was the end of that experiment.

The one day in early 1994, a letter shows up at the new house addressed to me [old address, but mail forwarding hadn't quite run out yet] from Kelly Gruber's home address. In it? All five cards, completely unharmed and autographed.

I realize that is apples to oranges, comparing with the likes of Cobb, Robinson, Aaron, Snider, etc., but I was always impressed by the fact that after all that time -- and no longer even in the majors -- Gruber took the time to respond.


Regards,

Richard.

[EARLSWORLD]

I remember my first experience with TTMs in 1977. I was a Sophomore in high school then. I met a classmate who collected as I did. However, he showed me many of the cards he had that were autographed. I was so amazed when he told me how easy it was to get autographs through the mail. From that moment on, I was hooked! Back then, I sent all my requests to the organization the player was with. I remember getting back my first returns. What an exciting time it was! I can still remember the feeling of opening each return from Garvey, Yaz, Brooks Robby and many other now HOFs! It seemed like just about everyone signed back then...not for cash either!