Monday, December 8, 2008

My Weird Hobby: Autographs Through The Mail



A few years ago I started reading up on folks that collect autographs through the mail. It sounded kind of cool and a relatively cheap hobby. Basically, you take common cards of players, mail them off with a return envelope already stamped and addressed back to you and write the player a nice letter. Some come back return to sender, but mostly I have had great luck with this. I joined a site that hosts a bunch of people like me (sportscollectors.net) and they supply addresses either for the teams or sometimes someone finds a home address (mainly for retired players).

Lately I have gotten a little greedy and decided sometimes, the cards are not enough. I have been buying 8x10's on Ebay and sending those. Costs much more than just the cards but sometimes you get back something really cool. Best one I have received back so far is Coach Bill Cowher, personalized to me. It looks so cool hanging on my wall.

I put up a photo of my latest success. Steelers tight end Heath Miller. I was really thrilled to get these back. He is such a great player. So from here on out, when I get one back in the mail, I will post a picture of it to share with everyone. I think the best part of this hobby is getting a surprise in your mailbox...other than an enormous bill!

Some of the folks I have acquired over the past few years are; Hines Ward, Ben Roethlisberger, Steve McNair, Shaun Alexander, Alex Smith (QB San Fran), Dominic Rhodes, Cowher, Jay Cutler, Bobby Labonte, Mark Prior, Mark Grace, Brian Urlacher, Andre Reed, Jim McMahon, Larry Johnson and Mike Golic.

If you have a few spare sports cards around, you should try it out once. It's a fun hobby.

2 comments:

Grumpy said...

Not crazy at all. That is a great way to get autographs from people you are never going to meet in person. Just curious, has anyone ever failed to return your card or photo?

Unknown said...

Oh sure, I have been waiting on Issac Bruce, Marc Bulger and Trent Green for years. I sent Romo an 8x10 back in July and still don't have it back...not sure it will come back. Drew Bledsoe, Ahman Green and Joey Porter sent theirs back return to sender. It took over a year to get Urlacher back. But it was worth the wait!