[ckrakowski]

People who have sent multiple cards at once to a player how did you do it? I have 16 cards for one player and 12 for another, I also have cards for 11 other players but none are for more then 10 cards. How do you ship them to the player? I assume you have to ship in a small box and if I do that how do I get them back? Should I include some money for postage or what? This is my first time doing this. If you want to know how many cards for each player I will post them.

[djohn]

Requesting autographs through the mail can be lots of fun. However here are a few tips:
1) Send a single item or 2, don't send a bunch of stuff to sign unless your sending a donation or payment along with the items.
2) Include a letter that nicely asks for the person's autograph.
3) Always include a SASE or some other form of return shipping method. Don't just send money for postage, as that means you're now asking the person to go buy postage for you on top of asking for their autograph.
4) Never ship something that you can't live without or something of high value, as it might never come back.
5) If condition matters to you, be sure to provide adequate supplies and instructions in your letter regarding using the supplies. Nothing is funnier than seeing a signed plastic case, because the player didn't know how to open an item so they just signed the case and sent the item back like that.
6) Be patient! Some players sign quickly, while others take months and months to get to their fan mail. Keep in mind, the more popular the player the more mail they get.

[jbissell]

I remember when I was a kid I requested autographs in the mail. All I did at the time (mid 80's) was write a nice letter and hope for the best. I never sent anything to have them sign...just the letter. I ended up getting an awesome Steve Garvey signed postcard which he signed while he was on the disabled list. I also had luck with Mark Grace and Ellis Burks. The best luck I had was when I wrote to Bo Jackson. He actually sent me a signed 1987 Fleer rookie card! The card was not in great shape, but the autograph looked great!

One other fun thing I did was I randomly pulled a common card out of my collection and then sent them a letter requesting an autograph. I ended up pulling Tony Fernandez, and he sent me a simple note card with his signature in ballpoint pen. It was a lot of fun.

[rjcj2017]

The other tip I could add ... get them while they're young!





Quite possibly my favorite card in my collection, got this back from South Jersey in November of 2012!

[zeprock]

Requesting autographs through the mail can be lots of fun. However here are a few tips:
1) Send a single item or 2, don't send a bunch of stuff to sign unless your sending a donation or payment along with the items.
2) Include a letter that nicely asks for the person's autograph.
3) Always include a SASE or some other form of return shipping method. Don't just send money for postage, as that means you're now asking the person to go buy postage for you on top of asking for their autograph.
4) Never ship something that you can't live without or something of high value, as it might never come back.
5) If condition matters to you, be sure to provide adequate supplies and instructions in your letter regarding using the supplies. Nothing is funnier than seeing a signed plastic case, because the player didn't know how to open an item so they just signed the case and sent the item back like that.
6) Be patient! Some players sign quickly, while others take months and months to get to their fan mail. Keep in mind, the more popular the player the more mail they get.

+1 on all points.
I would send one or two cards to a player. Once I sent three and I never got them back. Players would suspect if you send a box of cards for them to sign that you are probably just going to try and sell them and that's not ethical. I've seen players signing in person and they will sign one or two items but those people who try to get more are turned away. Be courteous and nice. You're taking up their valuable time. Back about 10 - 15 years ago, I sent cards out to 15 different Hall of Fame players and got signed cards back from all but a couple of them. Some even included extras but I wrote a nice letter to each of them.