favorite thru the mail autographs

[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.