From about 1978 to 1983 I used to write to players in a non-stop quest for autographs. I'd research retired players to get their home addresses or I'd send to current players at the various stadiums. With many of the old timers I'd only send cards in rough shape, so if they didn't respond (which happened often) I wouldn't be out too much. Overall, I did pretty well, though, and have a bunch of autographed HOF cards to trade.
Let me make this clear. All of these cards except Brooks Robinson (card show on Long Island), a couple of the Reggie Jacksons (spring training game) and Steve Carlton (various card shows) were obtained through the mail (TTM). I don't have a single COA or anything of that nature, so I can't truly claim they're authentic. Of course, I got these at a time when autographs weren't such a cash crop business, so there was never a reason for me to doubt their validity.
To see all the scans of my HOFer collection, see this section of my bucket: http://s1226.photobucket.com/albums/...aphed%20Cards/
If you're interested in anything, LMK what you have off of my need list and let's talk. I'll be happy to answer any questions.
My Need List:
***1957*** (ex. or better, will consider vg if not too bad)
1 (Williams), 284 (Zimmer), 286 (Richardson), 328 (Robinson), 407 (Mantle/Berra) & All Checklists
***1958***(ex.+) (Low Priority)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 70, 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95, 97, 100, 101, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 120, 121, 122, 125, 129, 131, 132, 133, 135, 136, 137, 138, 140, 141, 142, 144, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 156, 157, 159, 161, 162, 164, 165, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 185, 187, 190, 191, 192, 193, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 203, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 220, 221, 223, 224, 228, 231, 232, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 244, 245, 246, 248, 249, 253, 254, 255, 256, 258, 259, 261, 262, 264, 267, 269, 271, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 281, 282, 283, 285, 286, 288, 289, 290, 291, 293, 294, 295, 296, 298, 299, 300, 301, 302, 304, 305, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 334, 336, 337, 338, 340, 342, 343, 346, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 354, 355, 358, 359, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 366, 368, 370, 371, 373, 375, 376, 378, 380, 382, 383, 384, 387, 389, 390, 392, 393, 396, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 404, 405, 407, 411, 413, 417, 418, 419, 420, 422, 424, 425, 426, 428, 429, 430, 433, 434, 435, 436, 438, 440, 443, 444, 445, 446, 448, 449, 450, 453, 455, 458, 461, 462, 464, 465, 468, 469, 470, 471, 474, 475, 477, 479, 480, 481, 482, 483, 484, 485, 486, 490, 491, 492, 493, 494, 495
***1959***(ex. mt.)
1 (Frick), 12 (Law), 14 (Whisenant), 15 (Drott), 18 (Urban), 25 (Hoak), 26 (Stobbs), 28 (Worthington), 29 (Bolger), 34 (Pitchers Beware), 41 (Martyn), 49 (Hall), 54 (Roach), 57 (Cicotte), 59 (Noren), 61 (Brown), 65 (Torre), 67 (Lawrence), 69 (Giants), 71 (Bessent), 72 (Renna), 74 (Directing the Power), 76 (Richardson), 80 (Minoso), 82 (Boyd), 89 (Gardner), 90 (Skowron), 107 (Larker), 113 (Phillips), 118 (Buzhardt), 121 (Conley), 133 (Lillis), 141 (Shipley), 146 (Zimmerman), 148 (McCormick), 157 (Mantilla), 160 (Groat), 161 (Baumann), 165 (Bruton), 181 (Porterfield), 182 (Graff), 183 (Miller), 185 (Busby), 186 (Grant), 195 (Repulski), 200 (Giles), 217 (Erskine), 221 (Bowman), 229 (Power), 236 (Bowsfield), 247 (Ferrarese), 250 (O'Dell), 251 (Boyer), 259 (Pisoni), 264 (Carrasquel), 266 (Held), 273 (Jay), 278 (Essegian), 286 (Stone), 300 (Ashburn), 339 (Face), 343 (Hoeft), 345 (McDougald), 376 (Naragon), 395 (Howard), 397 (Senators), 403 (Labine), 415 (Mazeroski), 424 (Aspromonte), 436 (Hamner), 459 (Tuttle), 514 (Gibson), 550 (Campanella), 554 (Skowron), 556 (Fox), 569 (Friend), 570 (Turley)
plus these variations:
40 (Spahn-Born 1931)
40 (Spahn-Born 1931, 3 partially obscured)
321 (Giallombardo-No optioned statement)
322 (Hanebrink-No trade statement)
336 (Loes-No trade statement)
362 (Nichols-No optioned statement)
***1961***(ex. mt.)
2 (Maris), 10 (Robinson), 35 (Santo), 49 (NL Strikeout Leaders), 160 (Ford), 180 (Richardson), 200 (Spahn), 215 (Bell), 228 (Yankees), 265 (Kubek), 287 (Yastrzemski), 344 (Koufax), 350 (Banks), 371 (Skowron), 400 (Law), 401 (Ruth), 405 (Gehrig), 408 (Mathewson), 415 (Aaron), 417 (Marichal), 425 (Berra), 430 (Mazeroski), 449 (Bolin), 461 (Burgess), 464 (Thomas), 465 (McMillan), 472 (Berra MVP), 478 (Maris MVP), 480 (Campanella MVP), 484 (Aaron MVP), 489 (Dropo), 528 (Ramos), 531 (Coates), 541 (Sheldon), 542 (Twins), 544 (Thomas), 545 (Wilhelm), 548 (Wills), 549 (Smith), 554 (Pirates), 563 (Cerv), 567 (Murtaugh AS), 571 (Mazeroski AS), 576 (Maris AS), 577 (Aaron AS), 578 (Mantle AS), 579 (Mays AS), 580 (Kaline AS), 581 (Robinson AS), 582 (Battey AS), 583 (Crandall AS), 585 (Friend AS), 586 (Ford AS)
***1962***(ex. mt.)
180 (Allison), 392 (Boyer), 423 (Rival Relief Aces), 427 (Wood), 441 (Checklist--check boxes are yellow), 445 (Power), 455 (Arroyo), 459 (Bailey), 464 (Jackson), 465 (Reds), 570 (Stafford), 577 (Nicholson), 591 (McDowell)
***1963***(ex. mt.)
466 (Rookies)
***1966***(ex. mt.)
43 (Landrum-Dark Button on Pants Partially Airbrushed), 543 (Craig), 561 (Coleman)
***1967***(ex. mt.)
128 (Spiezio-Part of his name on front is missing), 223 (Ryan-No dot on the "i" in his signature), 466 (Wine), 485 (McCarver), 516 (Giants), 521 (Bird Bombers), 563 (Adcock), 573 (White Sox), 580 (Colavito), 581 (Seaver), 604 (Red Sox Team)
***1968*** (nr. mt.)
these variations: 49 (Brinkman-Yellow Team Name), 66 (Cox-Yellow Team Name), 400 (McCormick-White Team Name)
***1969***(nr. mt.)
31 (Mets RC), 516 (Weaver), 601 (McGraw), 660 (Smith)
plus these ‘white letter’ variations: 440 (McCovey), 441 (Higgins), 447 (Houk), 452 (Ferrara), 454 (Phillies Rookies), 464 (Marshall), 468 (Pirates Rookies), 470 (Stottlemyre), 471 (Savage), 473 (Arcia), 476 (Red Sox Rookies), 482 (Gosger), 485 (Perry), 491 (Twins Rookies), 500 (Mantle), 511 (Segui)
***1971***(nr. mt.)
576 (Cubs Rookies)
If you have nothing from this list, I am also looking for starter sets in 1954 Bowman and 1958 Topps.