Question about autograph collecting?

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

How can you be sure that the cards you obtained through the mail are real? When I was a kid I sent cards to all kinds of players after I read in Baseball Card magazine that you could just send your requests to the stadiums. I even sent cards to Wrigley of Ron Santo and Fergie Jenkins and got both of them back signed even though they were retired at the time. My team has always been the Red Sox and I was always a little upset that NOT ONE SINGLE card of mine, mailed with a SASE was ever returned from Fenway Park. Nearly every other card I sent out was signed and returned. Sometimes with extras. I even got Darryl Strawberry back signed on the reverse which kind of shocked me because I had heard that he never signed through the mail. Pete Rose sent back a flyer for his new book along with what I assume was an auto penned card. Now I want to search for all those cards...I have them somewhere, but I haven't a clue at the moment where they are.