Writing to ball players..........

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Posted By: T206King

Just wondered instead of collecting cards, does anyone collect autographs through the mail? I just recently write to Bob Feller and got a great signed card from him. any stories out there also??

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Posted By: Charlie O'Neal

Back in the early 90's I did that quite alot. Ended up with over 200 auto's from players including Hank Aaron. The biggest thrill I got out of it was when I got a signed card returned to me 7 years after I had sent it out with the original note that I had written to the player. My hand writting sure was different when I was 12.

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Posted By: Kyle Leeds-Tilley

Ive collected about 85 signed cards from the 1961 Topps set from sending through the mail. Just a fun side collecting thing along with my others.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

When I was a kid I wrote to players via team addresses I got from a magazine. Signers included Earl Campbell, Lynn Swann, Gorman Thomas, Ken Singleton. The Campbell was on a 79 Topps card I sent. Even though the cards had minimal financial value at the time, my biggest concern with sending cards was not having them returned. Irrelevant to $$, it was a prize to pull the card of a star like Walter Payton and you didn't want to lose it.

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Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

Charlie -- did you say it took 7 years to get a response from a player? Please tell that story....

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Posted By: DJ

The first person I ever wrote was Sandy Koufax in 1978. He sent me back a postcard sized signed photo. I thought this was amazing and added to the fact that I was already heavy into trading cards. I wrote to EVERY Hall Of Famer shortly after and received in signed form (usually a trading card of some sorts and HOF Gold Plaque) by I would say 95%. The only ones I don't remember getting were Mantle and Mays but I did get T. Williams, H. Aaron, Greenberg, J. DiMaggio (authentic) and others.

I then started up a friendship with many non-Hall Of Famers like Ferris Fain, George Pipgras and George Uhle who probably thought it was neat to get mail and they were happy to write me full page handwritten letters discussing the 'good ole days'.

I have over the past ten years corresponded a little with Old Time Ball players and the Non-Hall Of Famers are actually still quite happy to sign via the mail and will usually go out of their way to include some extra goodies.

I wrote former Cardinals pitcher Jack Fasholtz a letter a few years ago and he filled that envelope up. Cot Deal was equally generous to a point of going back and forth on e-mail for many years. I sent several cards to be penned by former Red Sox pitcher Mike Fornieles and using an outdated Jack Smalling book, his wife told me that he had passed away the year before but she was including a 1961 card he signed shortly before his death.

Outside of a hand full of Hall Of Famers, almost all either refuse or have pricing lists so I don't very well bother with them but hear players like Doerr, Snider, Kaline and Feller still sign for free via the mail.

I once wrote Rudy Law, Dodgers player a letter in 1983 and it came back to me in signed form in 1996. That's my record.

Thought I'd share a little...
DJ

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Posted By: hrbaker

You have hit on my other passion along with collecting prewar. I have since 1986 been writing to current and retired players. Along the way I have accumulated over 10,000 signed cards. In the early 80's through mid-90's I would run about a 90% success rate. In the past several years it has trailed off to about 60%. You obviously have to pick your spots, you are not going to get A Rod back! Most retired players will honor your request but quite a few have started charging a nominal fee. Just recently I got a card back from a retired Pirates pitcher with a note that said, "I don't want to see this card on ebay!"

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Posted By: Charlie O'Neal

In 1992 I was 14 years old and sending out cards to some of my favorite players at the time to get auto'd. I ran across a magazine that had the mailing address of some of the baseball greats. So I amailed out a couple of letter to payers like Hank Aaron, Willie Stagell, and some players that had passed away that I did not know about. When I wrote to Mr. Stargell I had the date on the letter along with my age. My view at the time was that if the player didn't return the card within a year then it was a lost cause.
When I was in college my mail was still being sent to my parents address and while I was home one day going thru the mail I saw the type of SASE that I used to send out for auto's. When I opened the mail it had the orginal letter that I had written to Mr. Stargell so many years ago. I was thrilled at getting his auto after so many years and suprised that the U.S post office would deliver it since the cost for a samp had gone up so much since then. After reading the letter that I had wrote to him I felt like such a dufus b/c it was slopy and hard to understand what I was saying.

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Posted By: Adam J. Baxter

I took a chance a couple of years ago and mailed some 3 X 5 unlined index cards and baseball cards to a few retired pre-war and Red Sox players.

These were the guys:

Frank Crosetti (received my 3x5 and a signed b&w photo)
Johnny Pesky (received my 3x5 and a signed businees card)
Eldon Auker (3x5)
Mel Harder (3x5)
Charlie Devens (3x5)
Walt Dropo (3x5)
Jim Lonborg (baseball card)
Carl Erskine (baseball card)
Mel Parnell (baseball card)
Rich Gedman (3x5)

All of the 3x5's/Cards came back in the mail very quickly. A couple of the players sent extras (Pesky & Crosetti).

As a PCL fan, I was most thrilled with receiving Crosetti's autograph. Unfortunately, he died about 2-3 months after I received my autos from him (Accidental fall at home). Getting Pesky again (I'd previously acquired his John Hancock at a show) was also a big plus for me as he is one of the NICEST guys in Baseball.

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Posted By: jay behrens

I used to send letter to Negro League players in hopes of getting a brief letter and autograph from them. I'd always enclose a $5 check with the request. The check served a dual purpose, of giving them some money for their time and giving me an autograph even if they never wrote. This was back in the days when the bank sent back your cancelled checks. Because of this little trick I was able to get a "Ted Radcliff" signature on a check to go with his standard "Double Duty" that he signed most of the time. The best letter I got was from Mahlon Duckett. I got a manila envelope with a great letter and photocopies of a number of newspaper articles from his playing days.

Jay

I've just reached Upper Lower Class. I am now officially a babe magnet for poor chicks.

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Posted By: jamie

I started collecting autos through the mail last year for my son Alex. I figured it would be a neat thing to give him when he's old enough to appreciate it- a binder full of personalized autographs from the game's greats. There's plenty of websites out there to help you (email me if you want a few links).

Here's my list of successes for the last 12 months, just to give you an idea of the caliber of guys still signing (the only one I paid for was Banks):

C= card, IC= index card

BASEBALL
1.Al Kaline (C)
2.Duke Snider (C)
3.Harmon Killibrew (C)
4.Don Zimmer (C)
5.Hank Bauer (C)
6.Sparky Anderson (C)
7.Andre Dawson (C)
8.Jim Beckett (C)
9.Mark Prior (C)
10.Kerry Wood (C)
11.Mike Mussina (C)
12.Barry Zito (C)
13.Adrian Beltre (C)
14.Miguel Cabrera (C)
15.Hank Blalock (C)
16.Mark Texeira (C)
17.Phil Niekro (C)
18.Jason Varitek (C)
19.Jim Bunning (C)
20.Bobby Doerr (C)
21.Luis Tiant (C)
22.Garrett Anderson (C)
23.Pat Neshek (C)
24.Joe Morgan (IC)
25.Stan Musial (5x7)
26.Mike Schmidt (5x7)
27.George Steinbrenner (8x10)
28.Bob Uecker (8x10)
29.Lee MacPhail (IC)
30.Monte Irvin (IC)
31.Robin Roberts (IC)
32.Don Larsen(IC)
33.Arod (autopen) (5x7)
34.Bud Selig (Bus. Card)
35.Goose Gossage (C)
36.Bobby Thompson (IC)
37.Ernie Harwell (IC)
38.Bernie Williams (C) (ghost-signer?)
39.Frank Howard (C)
40.Jim Abbott (C)
41.Nolan Ryan (5x7) (auto-pen)
42.Bill Mazeroski (C)
43.Don Sutton (C)
44.Billy Williams (C)
45.Mel Stottlemyre (C)
46.Morgan Ensberg (C)
47.Ernie Banks (C)

FOOTBALL
48.Ozzie Newsome (C)
49.George Blanda (C)
50.Gino Marchetti (C)
51.Joe Montana (C) (ghost-signer?)
52.Kurt Warner (C)
53.Jim McMahon (IC)
54.Art Donovan (8x10)
55.Joe Theisman (8x10)
56.Ed “Tool Tall” Jones (IC)
57.Herschel Walker (IC)
58.Issac Bruce (C)
59.Bernie Kosar (IC)
60.Don Shula (IC)
61.Don Meredith (IC)
62.Lynn Swann (IC)
63.John Madden (IC)
64.Ken Stabler (IC)
65.Emmitt Smith (5x7)
66.Bob Lilly (IC)
67.Charlie Joiner (IC)
68.George McAfee (IC)
69.Chuck Bednarik (IC)
70.Roger Staubach (IC) (auto-pen)
71.Joe Jacoby (IC)
72.Raymond Berry (5x7)
73.Gayle Sayers (IC)
74.Phil Simms (IC)
75.Lawrence Taylor (IC)
76.Marc Bulger (5x7)
77.John Elway (C) (auto-pen?)
78.Mike Singletary (IC)
79.Willie Mcginest (C)
80.Jake Delhomme (C)
81.Tom Brady (5x7) (pre-print)
82.Steve Young (IC- auto-pen)
83.Will Shields (IC)
84.Charley Trippi (IC)

BASKETBALL
85.Jerry West (IC)
86.Red Auerbach (IC)
87.Joe Dumars (C)
88.Jason Kidd (C)
89.Paul Arizin (IC)
90.Bob McAdoo (IC)
91.Steve Kerr (C)
92.Dave Cowens (IC)
93.Dave Bing (IC)
94.Gail Goodrich (IC)
95.Bob Pettit (IC)
96.Walt Bellamy (IC)
97.Lenny Wilkens (C)

BOXING
98.Joe and Marvis Frazier (bus. Card)
99.George Foreman (5x7)
100.Muhammad Ali (auto-pen) (5x7)
101.Jake LaMotta (IC)
102.Gene Fullmer (IC) (no sig, just a personalization)

HOCKEY
103.Wayne Gretzky (C) (auto-pen?)
104.Rod Langway (C)
105.Gordie Howe (adv. flier)
106.Johnny Bower (C)
107.Jean Beliveau (5x7)
108.Guy LaFleur (C)
109.John LeClair (5x7)
110.Rick Nash (C)

OTHER SPORTS
111.Freddy Adu (5x7)
112.Arnold Palmer (8x10)
113.Mario Andretti (C)
114.Nadia Comaneci (8x10)
115.Carl Lewis (5x7)
116.Danica Patrick (5x7)
117.Jimmie Johnson (C)
118.Jack Nicklaus (8x10) (auto-pen)
119.Annika Sorenstam (IC)



EMAIL RETURNS
1.Shaun Alexander
2.Harlem Globetrotters
3.Nick Faldo
4.Rick Reilly
5.Roger Federer
6.Amanda Beard
7.Troy Aikman (auto-pen?)
8.Coach K
9.Greg Norman

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Posted By: davidcycleback

The recently deceased through-the-mail autograph collector, T. Roy Pitts of Alabama, obtained over 250,000 autographs during his lifetime. I beleive he started collecting in the 1940s, and obtained the signatures of everyone from Presidents to baseball Hall of Famers, Nobel Prize winners to movie stars. He was well known as a collector, and if you ask Mike Gutierrez or Jimmy Spence, he'll known the name.

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Posted By: Daniel Bretta

Back when I was a kid I used to send out requests with cards all the time. I would usually send two or three cards and tell them they could keep the extras....The ones that I remember getting back were:
Pete Rose (along with a bunch of stuff about his recently released book. this was in the early 80's)
Tim Raines
Tom Seaver
Darryl Strawberry
Pete O'Brien

and lots of others I can't remember now, but I still have all those cards packed away.

I NEVER once got back a card from any Red Sox player and I sent a bunch of them.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

my most recent success (posted on my web site) was an Exhibit of Julie Newmar. I've gotten via mail in the past: Walter Payton, Karl Malone, Pete Rose (prob. secretarial), Don Nelson, Rick Auerbach, Graig Nettles, Ferguson Jenkins.

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Posted By: Marc S.

in the 1980s and early 1990s. I was a teenager at the time - and there wasn't too much interesting going on in the card world those days to keep my interest [I lived in a small town - and the wonders of pre-war generally eluded me]. It was cheap, easy, and a fun way to stay in the hobby. Plus - I got some really nice correspondence from some ballplayers. Joe Brovia sticks out in my mind as one of the few people who actually wrote me a whole letter back. Things like that I shall never forget.

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Posted By: Anonymous

hey jamie,
did u get the addresses from that red book? i cant remember what its called....

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Posted By: jamie

theres two good address books out there- harvey and meisselman. theres also a nice site for tracking autos and has a lot of addresses as well (sportscollectors.net).

if you want any of the addresses i used for any of the players on my list, email me. id be happy to provide

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Posted By: Anonymous

hey jamies,
can i have your email address lol mine is enforcer505@hotmail.com. i would like to get some other addresses off yeah:)

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Posted By: Anonymous

Like to thank Jamie for the help you have given me!!

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Posted By: Mrc32

I did this a lot back in the late 80s. In fact there used to be a book that was published with all the retired ballplayers addresses in it.

I was working on a team set of 1976 Cincinnati Reds cards autographed thru the mail and still have them someplace...I got most of the commons.

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Posted By: Anson

Many years back , I sent Nolan Ryan a card to be signed. About three weeks later, I opened my SAE and found an unsigned card. However, included was a very nice B&W team-issued, oversized card of Ryan with a pristine signature on it.

I've also had success with mailing to players but I think those days are long gone. The older stars might be easier but today's players have a little too much attitude to sign through the mail.

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Posted By: Anson

I also had a fun experience selling on Ebay. I had sold an autographed card of a hockey star and, in copying down the winning bidders info, I noticed that they had the same last name as the player. So, I emailed him that the card was going out and inquired on whether he was related. It turns out that he was the player's father and I ended up getting the payment for the card, along with an autographed 8X10 picture.

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Posted By: Richard Masson

I started writing to retired ballplayers for their autographs in the late 1960s. The Hall of Fame used to have a current address for most former major leaguers and would forward the letters. For about five years I received 10-20 returns a day, 3x5s, pictures, cards.

Jack Smalling of Ames, Iowa was the godfather of autograph completists back then. He devised a system for checklisting all major leaguers, alphabetically by debut year. You can still come across 3x5s with the penciled numbers on them corresponding to Jack's checklist.

Two stories stand out, if you don't mind me blabbering on. The first concerned Swede Risberg, one of the Black Sox and notorious non-signer. I appealed to his inner greed and sent him a check for $20. He cashed it and endorsed the back. My parents thought that was pretty clever.

Second was Mike Marshall, the reflief pitcher for the Dodgers, also a notorious non-signer. I heard he was a chess fanatic and instead of asking for an autograph, I sent him a chess problem from the newspaper and asked if he had another solution to the problem. He returned my letter and his response to my question and signed it.

First letter received-a signed 1969 Topps Mayo Smith. I thought I had discovered how to turn lead in to gold!

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Posted By: Richard Masson

Fast forward more than a decade. I took my wife of 20 years to a show at a hotel near LAX in the mid-80s (first National?) and we came across a guy who had about 300 of my return envelopes with the players' return addresses. She was, of course, unenthused and hasn't been to a show since.

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Posted By: jamie

anson,
i hate to be the bearer of bad news but the nolan ryan card you received is an auto-pen. hes been sending those out for years.

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Posted By: DJ

Not necessarily...Nolan sent out authentic ones as well. I wrote to Ryan in the early nineties and got that same postcard penned in blue sharpie. I wrote him again a few weeks later and got a different blue sharpie signature and personalization.

DJ

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Posted By: Anson

Yep, mine was also in blue sharpie and I can see the stop points in the auto. Not an auto-pen.

It's sad that he has been doing that, however.