Autograph Hunting For Everyone!

Finding ways to get autographs for your collection can be expensive, time consuming and pretty frusterating!

You would think that anyone who counts on their fans to make a living would be happy to give someone his or her autograph. Not so! It seems that the more popular you are, the less likely you are to hand out your autograph.

I guess that once you're making millions of dollars a year, you get jaded and could care less what your fans think. But then, why shouldn't they feel that way? Look at some of the things our movie stars and sports stars pull, and we continue to feed their egos and help them continue to make millions.

Most "big time" stars won't even waste time opening their fan mail and many of those who do, sit around laughing at how dumb some of the fan mail sounds. So, don't even expect them to take time to send out an autograph.

Then there are a lot of sites on the internet that give or sell lists of addresses so that you can write to request that autograph. Forget about those "lists"! The addresses may have been good at one time but chances are real good that they are no longer valid. Once the lists have been published the stars get so much mail that these "mailing addresses" are changed quite often.

I found this website with celebrity emails and spent the next two days sending emails to request autographed pictures. Seven out of every ten emails that I sent, came back as undeliverable and after two weeks, I have not heard from any that did go through.

If you're interested you can find that site here! I imagine these people probably change emails as fast as new lists are published.

I ran across this site ( http://maurywills.com/MW/HallOfFame.aspx ) asking for people to help get Maury Wills elected into the Hall Of Fame. He was a great player so I decided to help out and signed his petition as well as putting an article and link on my Baseball Collectors site.

Then I decided that I would contact him for an autographed picture.

Guess it's ok to ask for the help of the fans while picking their pockets because here is a copy of the email that I received in answer to my request:

Have Maury sign your items through the mail!
You must include a SASE (Self-addressed Stamped Envelope) or appropriate return postage with each request, along with a check or money order for the signing fee.
Items that do not include a SASE will NOT be returned.
If you are sending valuable items, or have a question regarding return shipping, please contact the webmaster. Please include your email address or phone number with requests.

Baseball Cards and cards 3x5" or smaller: $8.00
Photos (& postcards) Larger than 3x5, Magazines, Cachets, & Books: $12.00
11x14" or Larger Flat Items, Hats, & Plates: $20.00
Baseballs (signed Maury Wills #30): $15.00
Bats & Jerseys: $40.00
Personalizations & Stats: $5.00 each (To Mike..., MVP NL 62, 586 Steals, etc.)

Baseballs will be signed in ball point pen, all other items are signed in sharpie. Items may take 6 - 10 weeks to be sent back to you. Please include your email address in case we need to contact you.
Make checks or money order payable and send to:

M & R Sports Marketing LLP
5 Dalton Valley Dr.
St. Peters, MO 63376

*******************************************************
Maurice Morning Wills (born October 2, 1932 in Washington, D.C.) is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and switch-hitting batter who played most prominently with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1959-66, 1969-72), and also with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1967-68) and Montreal Expos (1969). He was an essential component of the Dodgers' championship teams in the mid-1960s, and deserves much credit for reviving the stolen base as part of baseball strategy.

In 14-seasons career, Wills batted .281 with 20 home runs, 458 runs batted in, 2134 hits, 1067 runs, 177 doubles, 71 triples, and 586 stolen bases in 1942 games.

Scott Raymond Adams (born June 8, 1957) is the creator of the Dilbert comic strip and the author of several nonfiction works of satire, commentary, business, and general speculation.

Adams writes in a semi-satirical, often sarcastic way about the social and mental landscape of white-collar workers in modern corporations and other large enterprises. The style is reminiscent of other writers in this genre, for example C. Northcote Parkinson.

Prior to his success as a writer/cartoonist, Adams worked closely with telecommunications engineers at Crocker National Bank as a software developer in San Francisco between 1979 and 1986, and at Pacific Bell between 1986 and June 1995, and draws on their personalities for those of his Dilbert characters. Adams first published Dilbert in 1989, while still employed at Pacific Bell.

He is also the CEO of Scott Adams Foods, Inc., makers of the Dilberito & Protein Chef, and a co-owner of Stacey's Café in Pleasanton, California. Much of his interest in the food business comes from the fact that he is a vegetarian.

Stephan Pastis, creator of Pearls Before Swine, credits Adams for launching his career as a cartoonist.

In 1997, at the invitation of Logitech CEO Pierluigi Zappacosta, Adams, wearing a wig and false mustache, successfully impersonated a management consultant and tricked Logitech managers into adopting a mission statement that Adams described as "so impossibly complicated that it has no real context whatsoever."

Adams is an avid fan of the science fiction TV series Babylon 5. He appeared in the season 4 episode "Moments of Transition" as a character named "Mr. Adams," who hires former head of security Michael Garibaldi to locate his megalomaniacal dog and cat. He also had a cameo in a third-season episode of NewsRadio, in which the character Matthew Brock, played by Andy Dick, becomes an obsessed Dilbert fan. In the episode Review, Adams is credited as "Guy in line behind Dave and Joe in first scene".

He is a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Science.

When I requested an autograph from Mr. Adams, I received this email:

Hi Jerry,

Unfortunately I don't have the time to send out autographs, but I appreciate you for asking.

Scott Adams

Listed below are some of the stars who were nice enough to give me their autographs. I will not be going into detail or giving out any address, etc. because I do not want to be the cause of them changing their minds about being willing to do this.

However, I do want to publicly express my thanks to each and every one of them.

Randy Wells (ballplayer)
Jonathan Sanchez (ballplayer)
Gordon Beckham (ballplayer)
Fredi Gonzalez (manager)
Roy Oswalt (coach)
Mike Brown (coach)
Jay Triano (coach)
Jerry Sloan (coach)
Raheem Morris (coach)
Todd Haley (coach)
Tom Cable (coach)
Mach Brown (coach)
Andy Talley (coach)
Steve Kragthorpe (coach)
David Cutcliffe (coach)
Ben Jacobson (coach)
Kurt Busch (NASCAR driver)

I sent a news clipping to Tom Brady (Patriots) and requested that he autograph it and return it to me in the enclosed SASE.

I just received a letter back with my clipping unsigned. The letter said that Tom could not autograph my clipping but he would like me to have the enclosed fan pack. It had an 8x10 picture of the Patriots, a picture of Tom Brady, a Patriots button and pencil, plus some Patriot stickers.

Nice fan pack but he must have tossed my SASE and paid the higher postage on the "fan Pack" himself.

While I still would like his autograph on my clipping, I appreciate the rest of the stuff and can't imagine how sending all of this stuff could have been easier than just signing the clipping.

While I can't accuse Tom of "snubbing" his fans, I can wonder if he signed a contract that prohibits his giving out his autograph or if he is just being tight with it so that the value will rise?

Picture: Tom Brady with Randy Moss and Jabar Gaffney after throwing for record 50th td against NY Giants. From Wikipedia by Michigan10

Listed below are a few of the people who never replied or would only send autographs if I paid for them. I lost cards, stamps and envelopes on most of these.

This list could get pretty long but I want to allow plenty of time before adding names to it or get my card back unsigned. Naturally I'll add the names right away if I hear back that they are asking a price for their autographs.

Patrick Roy (Hockey player)
Johan Santana (ballplayer)
Albert Pujola (ballplayer)
Kobe Bryant (ballplayer)
Maury Wills (retired ballplayer) Will sign if you pay.