Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Saul Pachman on November 3, 2014 at 5:43pm

My advice to you is to save the postage and protect your baseball card collection Most professional baseball players are under contract to sell their autograph and generally, your TTM will go unanswered. How do I know?

I work for a MLB team. However, there are many ways you can still get autographs.

1. Going early to a game and during batting practice, you should be allowed to file down through the field level tier and within shouting distance of a player.If they are not real busy, they generally will sign

2. Some teams havel promotions that if a homer is hit by a home team player, "Fan Servicews" will have the player sign the ball and return it to you.

3. Take a tour of a ball park, and with luck you may encounter a player who will sign if your group isn't too large

4. Attend a charity event - the Phillies for example, have a once a year ALS event where certain players sign autographs.

5. Sometimes teams have book signings by their Merchandising Division and special promotions like Fan Appreciation Day or camera day where you can get autographs.

6. Standing outside the players' entrance after a game, some players will stop their car for traffic and may sign.

7. Some teams include an autographed photo in their game day program.

Like I said previously in previous postings, I would NOT pay for an autograph unless you are a millionaire like a professional athlete.

My experience has been that the vast majority of players are generous and gentlemen  but some are not.

Two players especially that I have encountered that are nasty are Pete Rose (will not sign unless you pay him and buy merchandise), Billy Wagner who carries a large "chip" on his shoulder and Yogi Berra whose family will use your stamped return mail to send you a flyer of prices of their merchandise  and keep whatever item you sent them..

Good luck!! I hope I have helped you.

Permalink Reply by VolFins on November 3, 2014 at 7:38pm

Thanks for the info Saul and it breaks my heart to hear that about Pete, I really like him. Unfortunately I am unable to attend any events you mentioned due to my health. I only live 2 hours away from my Braves, but I couldn't even make the trip last year for the players reunion they had. For the most part, the signatures I want are by little known players from the 1995 Braves and the 1972 Dolphins. The cards I would be sending the Fins players would be cheap, but the baseballs are not. 

Permalink Reply by randy briggs on November 4, 2014 at 10:46am

Hi Rhonda , I have 40 baseballs signed and cards from football, baseball and basketball ttm , I simply take my ball place it in a sandwich baggy then put that with your fan letter and s.a.s.e. together and mail it , as fare as a pen to use most of my returns I let the player use what he wanted to they get lots of mail and should have there favorite pen ,, cards I use plain size mail envalope fan letter then mail it with s.a.s.e. ,, have close to 100 cards , some players will charge a little but you always get a great low price , just google ur player or fan mail . biz to find these guys ..I have mostly older players HOF ones , good luck ...

Permalink Reply by VolFins on November 4, 2014 at 12:06pm

Good deal, thanks Randy.

Permalink Reply by Null on November 3, 2014 at 7:52pm

TONS of players still sign TTM, retired players more often. I have gotten some very high name players TTM: Boggs, Clemens, Sandberg, Larsen, Whitey Ford, Peyton Manning, Goose Gossage, Adam Vinatieri, Tommy LaSorda, Kershaw, Andre Dawson, Jaime Moyer, all Indiana Pacers, etc. Just gotat do your research on who signs, who requires small donation, and who never signs so don't waste your stamps!

Permalink Reply by Mike White on January 2, 2015 at 8:52am

Claiming to work for an MLB team doesn't back up your (obviously false) assertion that "Most professional baseball players are under contract to sell their autograph".

Most means "50% +1"

Now, even if we ignore the fact that "professional baseball players" includes minor league players that nobody has ever heard of or will ever hear of (let alone pay for their autographs), there are plenty of players in the majors who will never be known outside of their team's fans & whose autograph couldn't even fetch the price of the item it's signed on.

But, of course, that's all negated when you say that players may sign outside the park after the game. So their contracts say that they can't sign mail because they have to sell their autograph, but they can sign for free as they're leaving the park? Remind me not to hire the lawyers who wrote those contracts!

PS I got Yogi Berra TTM years after he started charging.

TL;dr? You're full of crap.

Permalink Reply by brian kithcne on April 10, 2015 at 8:57pm

You work for the Rangers? The Tigers? Some teams will let people get zero mail autographs.  

Yes watch out for the contract guys they will not sign.  But they are often NY players, sure fire hall of famers, they are not the vast majority of players.

Relief pitchers are often half way decent through the mail autograph signers.

Permalink Reply by Null on November 3, 2014 at 7:46pm

Handwritten, no pen with cards just 1 card, 2 envelopes, nice letter, 2 stamps. Blue ballpoint BIC pen you can throw one in with a ball. I put ball in self addressed bubble mailer, then that in a small box. Do your research on who signs 98%+ before you waste a ROMLBS on them. Cards are way cheaper. I do 8x10s a lot which requires 7 stamps total, and I print my own 8x10s at SAMs/CVS for $1.50, cheap enough gamble. Good luck!

Permalink Reply by VolFins on November 4, 2014 at 8:40am

Thank you for all of the advice Ryan, I appreciate it ! There are only two living Dolphin players I am going to send cards to and just three Braves players I'm wanting to send the blank baseballs to for the moment. I have a collection of single signed baseballs by each member of the 1995 Champion Braves including coaches, announcers, GM and Ted Turner. Some are on regular official baseballs and some are on official 95 WS balls. I only lack ONE name to complete my collection, but I'm also trying to get all the players I can on official 95 WS baseballs. 

As far as who signs and who doesn't, can you point me in the direction of good resources ?

Permalink Reply by Null on November 4, 2014 at 9:10am

sportcardsforum.com and fanmail.biz are the only two places you need. Don't waste your $ on paid sites, they aren't that great. You can search a player's name and then it'll show an address and the "success %". As a general rule, don't send anything highly valuable that you may not get back! 

Permalink Reply by VolFins on November 4, 2014 at 12:07pm

Sweet. Thank you !

Permalink Reply by Ryan Maxwell on November 10, 2014 at 2:07pm

Agree with Ryan. I also work for a baseball team and most players WILL sign some if not all TTM requests. Now, for a guy like Derek Jeter, you might not have any luck, but he does sign exclusively for Steiner and receives thousands of requests. But little known players or older retired players often sign TTM. I send baseballs all the time TTM and have had over 50% success rate. I have awful penmanship, but I think they do like personalized letters so they can see that you are not sending out mass mailings and reselling the balls. I would expect a 100% success rate from what you have stated and not knowing the players, but you should do very well. 

I send a box with a pre-printed Priority Mail label they can attach to the box to return. I also include a pen. Use the paper mate pens others have discussed on here. Works the best. If you do not include a pen, they will use whatever they have handy (typically a sharpie) and you don't want that on a ball. 

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

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