Collecting Autographs Via Mail from Professional Athletes is Pointless

Collecting autographs from professional athletes via mail is a lost cause. There is a chance of receiving a few genuine responses but the odds are overwhelmingly against especially from baseball players. The low return percentage is not worth the investment of time and effort not to mention escalating postal rates and frustrating over authenticity.

Baseball players have always been much sought after and major stars poor about responding. Very rare indeed has there been a Kirby Puckett graciously answering his mail. Decades ago star players engaged in the practice of hiring clubhouse attendants and family members to sign for them. This brings up the biggest reason of them all not to bother writing to active players: Authenticity. It used to be that the lesser players not receiving as many request could be counted on for the genuine article. Not anymore.

Up until about 25 years ago you could figure at least a 50 percent success rate from baseball and even higher from football, basketball and hockey. Diminishing responses can be correlated with the growing popularity of autograph collecting. If players were inundated with autograph requests before, they are now overwhelmed and cannot be blamed for not spending valuable time dealing with it.

There is one gigantic reason that has turned off players from signing autographs through the mail. Commercialism. The players are aware of the autograph marketplace and what eBay is all about. Naturally, they do not appreciate what is freely given ending up for sale. It is a fact that a large percentage of material sent to be signed is for resale purposes. The distinction between fan and entrepreneur is blurred. A caught home run ball in the bleachers used to be a souvenir and is now an ebay auction item.