How to Get Your Baseball Card Autographed by the Pros Without Attending a Game

Do you still have a fascination collecting baseball cards or other sports memorabilia? Do you live in Southern California but consider the Yankees the best team ever, yet you can't get ARod's autograph because of the 5-hour flight?

This is a viable solution. Learn how.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Two envelopes and sufficient postage
• Hard plastic card holder

1. Card collecting is a great American tradition mainly for adolescent boys who love the game of baseball or any other relevant sport. However, many grownups collect baseball cards and even set up businesses around buying and selling these cards. There is big difference in price for autographed versus non-autographed cards. It can be as much as a hundredfold in price difference (maybe more).

2. Find a decent card in your collection of your favorite player. Do not send a rare or valuable card because you might not get it back.

3. Write a brief letter containing a few basic sentences on why you would like his autograph. Traditional approaches work best:
   
   Dear Mr. XYZ,
   
   You are my favorite baseball player. My name is Mikey and I'm 12 years old. I saw you play last month against New York and make that great catch.
   
   Signed Mikey (handwritten signature)

4. Since you can't find the player's address, it's customary to send fan mail to the baseball stadium or media contact(s) of your favorite player's team. Make a note on the envelope saying something like "Please forward to player XYZ."

5. Since this is going through the mail, it's likely to get treated fairly harshly. Any collector knows how important a card in mint condition really is, so make sure to protect it in a hard plastic sleeve. Many people often bubble-wrap them before inserting them in the envelope.

6. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) so the player has little work to do in returning your card. Professional athletes receive lots of letters and autograph requests, so it's likely the player will not even read your letter and go straight for the autograph first.

7. Mail your letter with the protected card, the letter and SASE in a small box or large envelope.

8. Sit back and wait, because these types of requests can take weeks or months.

Tips & Warnings

• The plastic protector should protect the card, but wrapping it in bubble wrap cushions any drops or kicks during the shipping process.
• Do not send a valuable rookie card or a hot market card (like ARod), because it could be lost in the mail, opened by an office worker who pockets your card or just ignored by the player. It's a risk, but it's minimized by choosing the less valuable card.
• Some autographs aren't signed by the player himself but by a colleague or friend. Check for an authentic autograph by searching for player XYZ's real autograph online in a trade magazine or several other services.

[grouch]

on 1/26/2008 Great tips. I am sure you could expand your collection using this method.