Rich Hanson's Autograph Corner

the Autograph Corner

TIME TO PUT IN A PLUG FOR HARVEY MEISELMAN

Those of us who have been writing to sports figures for awhile owe a great debt to R.J. Smalling. His baseball autograph book comes out every couple years, and when I first purchased it it was like piloting the Enterprise with my own research. The purchase of his address book hurled my autograph successes and my interest in the hobby into "Warp Speed." I still order Smalling's baseball address book every time it comes out. I like the format better than Harvey's lists. I use it as a checklist and to mark whom I've sent to, changes in addresses, and even prices charged for signatures. The heavy binding on Smalling's book allows me to subject it to alot of usage without pages becoming loose. I also enjoy being on Jack Smalling's mailing list for his auction catalogue that he sends out. Regrettably, with either Smalling's or Meiselman's address lists, I find that I have to use a magnifying glass to read the small print.

If R.J. Smalling is the Captain Kirk of autographing, going where "no autographer has gone before" to provide us with an excellent address list, Harvey Meiselman has found new technology to hurl us into the hyperspace of pursuit of autographs by mail. (Alright. I agree, enough of the cheesy Star Trek similes). Harvey is now taking orders for his 2006 autograph lists. Check out www.sportsaddresslists.com. Harvey Meiselman has gone beyond baseball, and now offers lists for sale that provide addresses for not only baseball, but football, basketball, hockey and golfers as well. Or you can opt to buy all four of the lists in an "Ultimate" package. Harvey takes pride in his research, and does his best to provide updates if an address changes. He's a collector himself, sending out close to a hundred autograph requests a month, and belongs to a very active "autograph ring" in which members share information with each other and Harvey can record their results as well. He's a Yankee fan, but I'm mature enough not to hold that against him. As a history buff, I especially recommend his "Men and Women of Note" list. It ranges from political figures to writers and artists, through astronauts and scientists of note. Even some entertainment figures, although Harvey's age shows here with its lack of addresses for younger cultural icons. Still, this is the list of his that I've had the most fun with, collecting well over a hundred signatures of Medal of Honor recipients, writers such as Margaret Atwood, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and Herman Wouk, and even actors who have played in series that I admire, most notably Patrick McGoohan (the Prisoner) and Peter Falk of Columbo fame. If you younger autographers are unfamiliar with Harvey, I suggest that you check out his website above for more information.

Some addresses that Harvey doesn't provide though, that I'd really appreciate if someone has had success with any of the following are: Pete Seeger (of "Where Have all the Flowers Gone?" and "Knee-Deep in Big Muddy" fame), Grace Slick, Neil Young (Why can't he write another song like "Ohio" and help bring down THIS President?) and Robert Conrad (of Wild Wild West fame). Oh yeah. JK Rowling would be nice too, but I've got to be somewhat realistic.

FANTASY LEAGUE FUTILITY

You haven't heard me bragging about my football fantasy teams this season. Good reason. The fantasy team in the money league that I play in is a woeful 6-9. Kerry Collins didn't light up the scoreboard with Randy Moss as I'd hoped he would. My first round pick, Priest Holmes, is injured, as s my 8th round pick, Cedric Benson. Joe Horn has played hurt most of the year as well. Rudi Johnson has done alright, but Drew Bennett got hurt on me. My best wide receiver has been Arizona's Fitzgerald with SF's Lloyd a distant second. Trouble is, when you play in a 12 team league, the waiver wire doesn't offer much solace when you have to replace an injured player.

I was in second place in the "pick-em" league that I was in until my computer crashed just before Thanksgiving. 8 days and a new hard drive later, I'd missed 2 Sundays pick deadlines and sank like the proverbial rock in the standings. I AM in 2nd place in the other fantasy league that I'm in, but it's only a 7 player league, and I owe my good position to a waiver wire that I've played well and to the presence of this year's roto-God, Ladanian Tomlinson, on my team.

GETTING READY FOR NEXT SEASON

For those of you who order minor league sets for the upcoming season, I suggest that you order your sets soon if you order from the teams directly. I'm finding that many of the minor league teams have sold out already, which necessitates ordering sets from minor league dealers and paying their mark-up. Minor league sets are getting priced more and more outrageously too. The worst being Everett's $15 a set plus $6 S&H. They're cashing in on the presence of Jeff Clement in the set, of course. My Bees were almost as bad this year, charging $12.00 plus tax for a set that really didn't have any big name prospects in it. My thing has been trying to pick off autograph inserts from the 2004 UD SP Prospect set. It's a beautiful set, and thus far I've collected 108 of the autograph inserts, including a triple autograph card, 11 dual autograph cards, and players such as Matt Tuiasosopo, Michael Ferris, Grant Johnson and Eric Patterson.

You know how quick I am to bitch about e-Bay scammers and outrageous mail-mark-ups. You've got to watch some of the dealers on eBay closely. I should take some time to mention some of my favorites though, instead of just rant all the time. I highly recommend "Mr Mem,"(Mehmet Nouri)and "tntnorthnj" both of whom I've done a lot of business with. The latter, especially strives to keep shipping down, keeping it at $2 no matter how many items you purchase from him. I recently had a dealing with Leo Pullar on e-Bay that I have to recount. He sent me the 4 cards that I'd successfully bid on and included a couple extra signed insert cards. This was during the 8 day period that my computer was down, so I sent the two cards back with a note explaining that they weren't mine. He got back to me and said that he'd sent them as an apology for a late mailing (which I hadn't even noticed as such) and even though I'd entered positive feedback already and told him that sending me the cards wasn't necessary, he followed up by sending them a second time. How many E-Bay dealers would've done that?

While we're on the subject of getting ready for next year, you might wish to go to the www.usabaseballfundraiser.com website. Team USA puts out some outstanding sets, and they're taking pre-orders for a 2205 National Team box set, featuring Ian Kennedy, and a 2005 Jr National Teams set featuring Grant Green. Each set is $29.95 and each contains an autographed card, a dual autographed card, a jersey card and an acetate card. Get the guys who'll be featured high in the 2006 draft and the youngsters you haven't heard of yet but soon will. These sets are ESSENTIAL to autographers who get cards signed in minor league stadiums, especially at the class A level.

RYNO'S AT IT AGAIN
As you've probably guessed by now, Ryne Sandburg is not one of my favorite athletes. If there's a posterboy for money grubbing athletes, he'd be my pick. I mean, this guy is a borderline Hall of Famer. His career ended too soon (by his choice) for his stats to really be that impressive. Still, the Cubs have a nationwide fan base, and he's cashing in on it big time. This month he appears at Bob Feller's Museum in Iowa. He's asking $50 a signature. Much to my astonishment, he sold out at this grossly inflated price. For $50 you'd expect that a fan would be able to getting anything they wanted signed, but Mr. Sandburg has restricted signing to baseballs, photographs, posters or books. No doubt he figures he can get more money down the road signing bats, jerseys, gloves and other equipment. And what of baseball cards? The standard autograph of choice in most autographers collections? No mention, of course, is made of those. I don't understand this man. It looks to me like a case of "gouge the fans for what I can get." I know I won't pay it.

Anyway, I've rambled on long enough. Take care and have fun with the hobby. It IS, a lot of fun, and I sure have it with it.

~Rich Hanson