Best decisions/biggest regrets as autograph collectors?

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

The one regret that comes immediately to mind was being offered the absoulte finest known autographed examples of the '33 Goudey Ruth and Gehrig. The Ruth was $15K, Gehrig $10K. If I could only have predicted the autographed card explosion a handful of years later. Remember, a signed '52 Topps Jackie could have been had for next to nothing at that point. I felt the dealer's prices were too high for that era (and they were), so stupidly passed. I could have turned my $25K into $2.5M.

[theshleps]

Agree with Billy. Signed cards I need that I passed up for being $2000 or so not that many years back are 10,000+ now and I will never fill those holes in my collection
I am glad I bought that Bowman rookie from Keating maybe 6 years ago for $4000. Alittle paper loss on front but who knows what it would go for now. That was the most I ever spent at that point.

[ClementeFanOh]

I was at a National in the 1990s in which Wilt and Bill Russell were both
signing. I am a huge Wilt fan, and I passed up both players because the
lines were long and I prioritized looking for cards. Whoops... Trent King

[Kzoo]

Regret selling a few of my signed cards about 10-12 years ago when my interests somewhat changed. After waking up to what I truly love in the hobby, I've been back on the signed card hunt for the last 7-8 years and I sure miss my signed '47 Tip Top Berra and Spahn (^^I think Michael has it now^^), and my '52 Topps Mays.

I'm definitely thankful I didn't sell my '51B Mantle and '34G Greenberg.

This thread feels like a therapy session, as it's good to discuss our losses.

[theshleps]

Originally Posted by Kzoo

Regret selling a few of my signed cards about 10-12 years ago when my interests somewhat changed. After waking up to what I truly love in the hobby, I've been back on the signed card hunt for the last 7-8 years and I sure miss my signed '47 Tip Top Berra and Spahn (^^I think Michael has it now^^), and my '52 Topps Mays.

I'm definitely thankful I didn't sell my '51B Mantle and '34G Greenberg.

This thread feels like a therapy session, as it's good to discuss our losses.

I have the Berra. never had Spahn

[Scott Garner]

Great thread!

Many of you on net54 may know that I have collected tickets to no-hitter games and perfect games for many decades.
Currently I have tickets to almost 250 different games dating back to 1901.

I also love autographs, but for many years, I was uncertain that I wanted to get the pitchers of these no-hit games to sign their tickets, and instead keep the tickets in original condition. Tough collecting dilemma.

Along the way, I made the decision to get all of the perfect game tickets signed by each pitcher.

When opportunities existed, I chased down no-hit pitchers at Anaheim Stadium, Comerica Park and Jacobs Field and had them sign the tickets to their no-hitters.

I recognized that several no-hitter pitchers passing closed the door on the opportunity to get some of my no-hit tickets signed....
HOF'ers Warren Spahn and Hoyt Wilhelm as well as Lew Burdette come to mind.

A watershed moment occurred in 2006, when MAB Sports in NJ announced the Pitcher Perfect show.
Over 30 pitchers that pitched no-hitters and perfect games would be signing at this show.
The chance to secure so many no-hit autographs in one weekend was too much to pass up, so I flew to NJ and had a great time meeting all these pitchers.

I also became a huge TTM collector and sent letters to many of the no-hit pitchers and asked if they would sign their no-hit ticket.
Amazingly, this worked out very well.
In addition to subsequent shows that featured no-hit autograph signers, I am happy to report that of the 248 different no-hit game tickets in my collection, 174 of these are signed by the pitcher.
40 of these tickets are signed by pitchers that have unfortunately passed over the last 18 years.

Best decisions: Getting the no-hit tickets signed
Biggest regrets: I wish I began this quest sooner, as I missed some opportunities to get some of the older pitchers when I had the chance.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by theshleps

Agree with Billy. Signed cards I need that I passed up for being $2000 or so not that many years back are 10,000+ now and I will never fill those holes in my collection I am glad I bought that Bowman rookie from Keating maybe 6 years ago for $4000. Alittle paper loss on front but who knows what it would go for now. That was the most I ever spent at that point.

When I used to set up at shows with Kevin, I felt sorry for him sometimes when he would get almost nonstop and borderline abusive price resistance from collectors and he would spend hours trying to explain to them how rare a lot of this stuff was, how hard if not impossible it would be to replace it in his inventory, and that they should jump at the chance to buy it if they really liked it. Today I doubt there are many guys who paid attention and pulled the trigger who have any regrets about it.

[bnorth]

For me it was getting this extremely rare Promo P4 Diamond version signed by Billy Ripken. This is not the B1 version one found in the comic book. Sadly I can't remember who the amazing fellow member was who made it happen. Over the years I have posted some silly rare 89 Fleer Billy Ripken cards. Because of that the awesome gentleman PMed me and said he was going to an event with Billy and asked if I would like him to get a card signed for me. Not only did he have Billy put my name on it he would not take anything for doing it for me.

[Topnotchsy]

Biggest regrets:

1) I was able to get a 1931 US Tour of Japan ball for a great price. The ball had a beautiful Lou Gehrig signature. A few years later, I sold the ball for a $1000 profit. I've sold many items I owned and find that I miss almost none of them. At the top of that short list is this one.

2) A few years back at the Atlantic City Nationals, a dealer randomly asked me if I wanted to buy a Gehrig signed photo. I think it was $2950 or so. It was a great looking piece. I'm not sure whether it was a Type I photo but it was obviously vintage. I passed instinctively as I was thrown off by someone randomly offering me an item. I'd love to have that one.

The positives remain to be seen. I bought a few items with eyes towards players making the Hall of Fame. Still waiting...

[prewarsports]

I sold a handwritten letter from Bud Fowler to Charles Comiskey in about 2019 for $10,000 thinking "If this guy was ever going to make the Hall of Fame he would already be in." They changed the election rules and he made the Hall of Fame the next year. At least it is on display now at the Negro League Museum so people can enjoy it, but it hurts a bit.

[Topps206]

I think another good decision I can add was getting Pete Rose on a Sports Illustrated cover in Cincinnati in November 2023. He left us not even a year later.

He was on a bunch of them, and I'd have liked to have gotten others signed, too, but his April 8, 1974 edition is not only my favorite cover of his, it's my favorite SI cover period.

R.I.P., Pete.