Autograph Requests By Mail

[SetBuilder]

I wanted to share a method for obtaining autographs that I used as a kid.

I used to own a dozen albums stuffed with modern cards throughout my childhood and my biggest fantasy was getting them autographed. At first, I would prepare a small bundle of cards to take to the games I attended at the stadium. If it was the Marlins vs. Braves, I would take as many cards of each player on the ATL and FLA roster that I could find and wait before and after the game for autographs. This rarely worked and it was pretty discouraging.

Then I uncovered a website (I don't recall the URL) that outlined a process of getting autographs by mail. It listed the address of each player and the likelihood that each player was going to respond to the request. For example, Barry Bonds had one of the worst ratings, as he would never respond to auto requests. On the other hand, a player like C.J. Nitkowski had one of the highest ratings as he would always respond to autograph requests. In fact, Nitkowski kept a blog to interact with fans.

I started by gathering cards of players that would likely respond to the requests. The players that I can remember off the top of my head that I sent letters to were: A.J. Burnett, Mark Mulder, Mark Kotsay, Mike Mussina, and others. The process was simple. I would write a hand written letter introducing myself and include a postage paid evelope addressed back to me. The requests would take anywhere from 1 week, to 6 months. At one point, I sent off about 50 different requests and I would have a blast keeping track of their status. Checking the mailbox everyday after school was like Christmas.

A few months into this hobby, I found a book on Amazon that listed players' home addresses. I then sent off another round of requests to retired players, like Enos Slaughter, who signed a card I sent him with a small thank you note.

These are great memories of mine.

Did anyone do this as a kid?