Through The Mail

In the summertime, a used book store near my house was going out of business. My wife and I had frequently gone there some weekends to grab CD's, DVD's, and the occasional book or two. The last weekend they were open for business we decided to see what they still had left. While I was in the sports book section, I noticed they had a book called "The Baseball Autograph Collector's Handbook". Intrigued, I decided to buy it. What this book does is give the address for retired and current players so you can obtain autographs through the mail using a self addressed stamped envelope. So, as of today (December 31st), I have sent out 10 cards to be autographed. 2 of them came back within a few weeks stating that I had the incorrect address, but after the first week, I had already received my first response.

It came from a guy named Jack Heidemann. This guy in my opinion is a class act. He even sent his business card autographed back with the card I sent him (to the left of the Topps card is his business card - I have only showed the back of his business card, I wouldn't want Mr. Heidemann to receive phone calls because some guy in PA posted his personal phone #). If you don't know who Jack is, he was a former first round draft pick of the Cleveland Indians in 1967 (11th overall). He had a .211 Average, with 9 HR's and 75 RBI's. I sent Mr. Heidemann a card I had purchased off COMC for .43 which just so happened to be his rookie card and BAM...Autographed. Pretty awesome right?!

After a few months had gone by I still hadn't received another autograph back. I began to worry that everything I had sent had either gotten lost or the player just threw away the card I had sent along with my SASE. The day after Thanksgiving came and the wife and I decided to put up Christmas lights outside. The mailman came so I went to go grab the mail. To my excitement, I had received 2 more replies!

The first was from a player named David Clyde and the next from a player named Pete Broberg. Both had played pro ball in the 70's. Both autographs look like the guys used the same marker! Either way, I don't care, I was just excited to receive a response.




As of right now, I have 5 outstanding requests from J.T. Snow, Matt Brunson, Ben Davis, Mike Ivie and Jerry Reuss.




So far I am having a blast with this. I have already purchased more envelopes and stamps for future requests. I am going to hold off for now until I receive a few more responses from the players listed above, but I fully endorse this idea to anyone who has the itch to try something different with their collecting habits!