favorite thru the mail autographs

[Jim65]

I sent a bunch out in the late 1980's-early 1990's to NJ Devils players. I got everybody except Chris Terreri, he never responded.

My favorite was Patrik Sundstrom, I sent it to the team and it got mailed back from Sweden.

[laughlinfan]

As a teen in the late 70s I sent lots of requests out - still remember the excitement of seeing 1 or 2 SASEs back in my mailbox, and couldn't hardly wait to see who sent back. I had a blast! Some of my favorites - Satchel Paige, Al Kaline, Charlie Gehringer (what great penmanship!), Red Grange, Otto Graham, and Stan Musial stand out. I got back into it in the 90s sending to football HOFers to get Goal Line art cards signed. Will always be thankful for the kindness so many of these men shared - they could have just as easily tossed stuff in the trash or never responded. Still flip through them from time to time for guaranteed smiles!

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by laughlinfan

As a teen in the late 70s I sent lots of requests out - still remember the excitement of seeing 1 or 2 SASEs back in my mailbox, and couldn't hardly wait to see who sent back. I had a blast! Some of my favorites - Satchel Paige, Al Kaline, Charlie Gehringer (what great penmanship!), Red Grange, Otto Graham, and Stan Musial stand out. I got back into it in the 90s sending to football HOFers to get Goal Line art cards signed. Will always be thankful for the kindness so many of these men shared - they could have just as easily tossed stuff in the trash or never responded. Still flip through them from time to time for guaranteed smiles!

Marty, how many of the Goal Line cards do you have signed? That's one project I plan on starting up again in the next couple of years.

[milkit1]

Mailed to all sorts of people in the late 80s. This took well over a year but was worth the wait!

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[Duluth Eskimo]

If you ever sent stuff out TTM, you know the thing that makes your heart jump with excitement was coming home and seeing one or more of your SASE’s in the mailbox. It was literally like Christmas. I was on a stretch where I sent out quite a few and had very good success. I would target guys that I knew were signers so that helps. A lot of golf guys were and still are good. It always amazed me that a guy like Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus would take time out of their day to answer fan mail. Both these guy (Palmer in death) make millions of dollars in endorsements. Classy guys.

[jimtigers65]

Back in 2001 I was stationed in Southern Korea with the Air Force and decided to write to each baseball HOFer. My expectations were low as I figured I would get a price list or nothing at all. One day I get a package with the return address of the Dodgers. Inside was an 8#10 of Tommy Lasorda, a Dodgers T-shirt and a book titled True Blue history of the Dodgers.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Duluth Eskimo

It always amazed me that a guy like Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus would take time out of their day to answer fan mail. Both these guy (Palmer in death) make millions of dollars in endorsements. Classy guys.

I read Chris Rodell's recent book on Arnold Palmer last year. Like Palmer, Rodell, is from Latrobe, Pa. I always knew Palmer was wonderful to his fans, but Rodell's book has entire sections of amazing Palmer fan stories,

Palmer would spend approximately $100,000 each year out of his own pocket to send autographed photos to fans who mailed him autograph requests but did not send a SASE. Even at the end of his life, he would sit at a desk in his office and sign autograph requests until his hand fell asleep.

Palmer would read several different newspapers nearly every day, Palmer would send off handwritten notes to people he did not even know. Sometimes the notes were to people who had something bad happen to them and Palmer wanted to send a note to try and raise the person's spirits and sometimes the note was to someone who did something for someone else, usually of a charitable nature.

https://www.amazon.com/Arnold-Palmer...s=books&sr=1-2

[laughlinfan]

Originally Posted by mr2686

Marty, how many of the Goal Line cards do you have signed? That's one project I plan on starting up again in the next couple of years.

Hey Mike! I must have over 100 different if I had to guess. Back when I started, almost all of the living players signed through the mail for free. A few asked for a nominal fee ($5 or $10) - Don Hutson was 10, maybe Sammy Baugh was 5? I think Alan Page asked for a donation to a scholarship fund or charity, which I was happy to do.

The signed Goal Line cards are simply stunning!

[mr2686]

Originally Posted by laughlinfan

Hey Mike! I must have over 100 different if I had to guess. Back when I started, almost all of the living players signed through the mail for free. A few asked for a nominal fee ($5 or $10) - Don Hutson was 10, maybe Sammy Baugh was 5? I think Alan Page asked for a donation to a scholarship fund or charity, which I was happy to do.

The signed Goal Line cards are simply stunning!

That is so cool. I only have about 8 signed, but I was paranoid about sending them through the mail (didn't want to lose any of the numbered set) so I only got them when a player was in SoCal...which wasn't often.

[Bigdaddy]

I've been doing TTM on and off since the early '80s. I've gotten almost 140 Goal Line cards signed, most of them in the mail. Favorites are probably Grange, Gifford, Mean Joe, and Butkus. I think I stopped the Goal Line cards in '06 though.

I've also gotten Ben Hogan, Nolan Ryan (for a fee), Seaver, Koufax, Mariano, several Apollo era astronauts and a bunch of baseball and football players. I track them on sportscollectors.net. Stats on there show 662 successful returns in 828 mailings, for a 79% success rate since 2002. That figure includes a few paid signings.

As mentioned before, its always fun to get an envelope in the mailbox with your handwriting on it.

[Case12]

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

I've been doing TTM on and off since the early '80s. I've gotten almost 140 Goal Line cards signed, most of them in the mail. Favorites are probably Grange, Gifford, Mean Joe, and Butkus. I think I stopped the Goal Line cards in '06 though.

I've also gotten Ben Hogan, Nolan Ryan (for a fee), Seaver, Koufax, Mariano, several Apollo era astronauts and a bunch of baseball and football players. I track them on sportscollectors.net. Stats on there show 662 successful returns in 828 mailings, for a 79% success rate since 2002. That figure includes a few paid signings.

As mentioned before, its always fun to get an envelope in the mailbox with your handwriting on it.

I ask for mine to be personalized to add to that feeling....

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by mr2686

That is so cool. I only have about 8 signed, but I was paranoid about sending them through the mail (didn't want to lose any of the numbered set) so I only got them when a player was in SoCal...which wasn't often.

After a while, I started first sending a letter with a postcard inside asking if it would be OK to send a Goal Line card later on.

[Huck]

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

After a while, I started first sending a letter with a postcard inside asking if it would be OK to send a Goal Line card later on.

Over the years, I have dabbled with TTM, trying to get Sports Illustrated (SI) covers signed. I always sent a letter first asking it was okay to send the SI. I had a 61% rate of success. I had the most fun trying to get the 1968 Rookies SI signed. I tracked down Cisco Carlos (owns a cabinet biz in AZ). Then Don Pepper, had an NC address for him but he had moved to OH and a new job with Bob Evans. Next up Alan Foster. Finished the project with paid signings with Mike Torrez and Johnny Bench. Other notable TTM SI cover signings: Frank Lary added the inscription "Yankee Killer", Jim Nash (always personalizes), Bill Melton, Sonny Jackson, Steve Balboni, Lonnie Smith, Jon Peters (high school phenom), Doug Decinces (requests a fee for charity), Dick Groat, Dave Duncan, Pam Postema (female umpire) and William Iffrig (runner on Boston Marathon Blast cover - personalizes).

Players I never heard back from: Greg Vaughn, Wilbur Wood, Matt Williams, Bobby Bonilla, Jackie Brandt, Ken Harrelson, Dave Stieb, Wes Parker and Oil Can Boyd.