LaRussa is the Man

I got these from Tony LaRussa today.

3 More Today

I received these all after 39 days.

I received these all after 39 days.

Most Returns in One Day

Today I got the most returns ever in one day for a total of 3. Yeah I know it's not much considering I have heard of some people receiving 17+ in one day. Since I like to send out mostly photos, it cost me more to send out then if I was just sending a couple baseball cards.

I did decide however to send out a few baseball cards of some older guys that I am having a hard time finding photos of. Whitey Herzog was one I sent out and received after only 3 days. It helps that he lives nearby. I sent him a total of 8 cards and asked that he signed only what he wished and keep the rest. He returned these 4 along with one unsigned and kept 3.

My other returns were 2 Chris Young 8x10's that took 37 days and the Reggie Willits 8x10 that took 32 days. Great Guys Great Returns. Thanks Guys!!

I Never Expected to See These Again

I mailed these two out sometime last spring training. I put it at about 373 days. They were part of my first group of mailings that I ever sent out TTM. I didn't record the exact day I sent these out and don't really remember who or how many I sent out. I do know that the only ones I received back before today were two from Chris Perez.

A Little Surprise

Got this back today after 2 Days. I wasnt planning on sending to Chris Carpenter this spring because I didn't think I would get it back. I was going through my pictures and realized I had an unsigned photo of him and a few extra stamps and thought I would take a shot and I am glad I did.

1 More Today

Took 19 days to get this one.

1 Successful Return 1 Failure

I got this back from Johnny Damon after only 13 days. This is a great success for me and adds to my ever growing Yankees TTM autographs. Amazingly the Yankees have been my most successful team.

I also received a Return To Sender from Matt LaPorta. It is marked as Moved, Left No Address. I will have to check to see if the address I put on is correct.

Great 2nd Return of the Spring

Manny Parra returned my request today and he filled out my questioner. Check it out.

1st Spring Training Return

I received my 1st return from Spring Training this year. I got this 8x10 in the mail today from Cardinal Pitching Prospect Clayton Mortensen. He didn't return my questioner but I didn't expect to many returns of the questioner.

2/21/2009

I got this one in the mail today.  It's not baseball but he is one of my favorite poker players to watch.  I requested this thru email about 2 months ago.

Autograph Request Tips TTM

Spring Training is here and this may be the best time to try and get a
few autographs from your favorite players TTM (Through The Mail). I
believe the earlier you mail your request out the better your chances
are that you will get them back. The games haven't started yet and
the players probably have a little more free time on their hand to sit
down and go through their mail.

The first thing I like to do is make a list of players I want to send
request to. I like to send to players that I have a good chance at
getting the request back with an occasional iffy (but these are
usually my favorite players that I am hoping to get back). There are
a few websites that you can find out this information. One of the
best players to start with is Pat Neshek of the Minnesota Twins.
Neshek is a big collector of autographs himself and really connects
with the fans in their search for autographs. He even has a blog that
talks about his fun with autographs.

Once you figure out who you want to send to you want to figure out
what to send to them. I like sending 8x10 photographs. They are easy
to send and easy to store. The postage is a little more expensive
then sending a baseball card but cheaper then sending a baseball. I
don't send out to many baseball cards to be autographed because I
figure that if I am doing all this to get the autograph I am going to
want to have it on something a little more substantial then a baseball
card. If you do decide to send baseball cards you want to try and
send a card that is a non-glossy card. Cards like Allen & Ginter and
Topps Heritage are probably the most popular. If you do go with a
glossy card you are going to want to either rub it down with baby
powder or take a pencil eraser to the glossy finish. If you don't,
the auto will bubble up and becomes easily smear-able.

Now that you got who you are going to send to and what you want to
send to them you need to sit down and write a quick letter to the
player asking for the autograph and make sure you are polite by saying
please and thank you. Don't make the letter to long as the player
most likely will not read it. Most of the players have tons of fan
mail and they don't have time to sit down and read every letter. I
like to include a questioner just asking the player a few things about
his career. I know most of these will not be returned but it is worth
a shot and I get to know a little more about the players.

The last and most important thing is you want to include a Self
Addressed Stamped Envelope big enough to return what ever it is you
are sending. Yes the players make alot of money but they are not
going to waste their time or money on postage for your free
autograph. You put the envelope along with the item you are sending
in another envelope and mail it off to the player and wait. Hopefully
you will get some nice returns to start your TTM collection.

Email Returns Part 2

Here are my email returns for Football Coaches.

Email Returns

Here is what I have received from various Basketball coaches by sending an email request.

More

Here are some more autographed photos I have received TTM.

Previous TTM's

Over the next few days I will be sharing with you some of the autographed items I have received TTM (Through The Mail) over the last couple of years.