Quote:
Originally Posted by bender07
Care to share any of the insane things? Sounds interesting!
|
You do whatever it takes within the law. In boxing, you check all their fights, which cities they fought in and what dates, then you look at the boxing card, and try to contact all the fighters that fought with that guy in that city on that date. i found someone who fought with manuel ramos in seattle area, and actually roomed with him that night, but he didnt have an autograph. but he gave me the name of another guy who was there too, so then you go to that guy, and the next guy. i ended up going to the wbc in mexico city, they found his brother, but his brother didnt have the autograph.
they found out he worked for the armada de mexico, the mexican navy as an office manager. they called in a favor and the navy scoured their records for a couple of weeks until they found his resignation letter. but before i got that far i contacted every boxing promoter, manager, organization on planet earth to try to find this guys autograph. that's the insane part, there is no end to it. it's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of leads, even the obscure ones, because i have found out that the obscure ones sometimes pan out.
i contacted everyone with the same last name that i could find. hundreds of them, you send out letters, you email and email and email, you write stacks of letters until you cant write any more. you offer rewards.
you google every key word you can think of, you have to know your way around ancestry.com , google, spokeo, all sorts of other search programs.
you run gov't records, wwi registration, census records.
and it's all a race against time, because every year, someone that knew him passes away, files get thrown out, signed checks get tossed.
you contact libraries, museums, halls of fame. gov't agencies, family members, friends, acquaintances, anybody, anything forever and ever, and ever, and if you are very lucky, you find 1 autograph.
this is what I did for many obscure boxing autographs, sometimes i got lucky, sometimes I didn't.
If the guy is living, but is a recluse, like leroy jones or jose roman, or alfredo evangelista, you have to read all you can about them, you have to try to get in their head, figure out what makes them tick, you have to try to think like them. you have to figure out what is important to them. it's obviously not signing autographs. you have to try to locate them. they don't want to be found. family members will cover for them, tell you he doesnt live here. you have to figure it out, find a side of them that you can reach, an empathy side. Or find a close relative that has sympathy for your cause that can get an autograph for you.
i wrote to evangelista and as far as i know, i am the only one to ever get a letter back from his with autographs. but i didnt go in cold. i didn't just ask him for an autograph. that request goes in the trash can. i wrote a long letter that worked up to an autograph request. i found out what his interests were, why he is the way he is. i made a connection.
he thinks everyone who wants an autograph just wants to sell it for money. he's apprehensive that way to sign for strangers. so i decided to not be a stranger, but it took time and a strategy. all this and more goes into find an autograph of a long ago deceased person, or a living person who doesn't want to be found or sign autographs. It's a crusade, it really is. Once you start, you enter a strange world, and you can't be afraid of insanity. It's like a really good private eye, only you are a collector so it is much more personal for you.