TTM Niche growing?

[indyreds]

It has always seemed that IP and TTM collecting has been an after thought just on the fringe of the hobby? I had gotten my Sports Collectors Monthly in the mail a few days ago and just looked it over tonight. I was shocked at how often TTM was referenced in the magazine! There was a cool write up on Hockey Olympians who sign for fans on page 5! Page 9 spoke about Rich Goosage and how he signed for free until he was elected to the HOF and suggested to get potential HOF members before they get in. Page 10 was the reason I first subscribed and that is the monthly Who Sign Via Mail page! The Pulse on page 14 was written by an SCF member and it speaks briefly about the TTM section of Tuff Stuff helping to get him back into the hobby? Page 16 was an Danica write up. It was not about TTM, but she still does sign TTM! Autograph pricing started on page 18 and ran to page 20. It seemed the whole front half of the magazine was geared to our crowd! I hope that trend continues and wanted to say thanks to them. I also hope that this is a sign that autograph communities like ours are getting more attention from the hobby. It could lead to possible seeing cards and sets that we would be more interested in. I love those 1997 Fleer matted cards for autos or the way great TTM guys like Bobby Doerr have been included in newer sets. They might be paying more attention to us than we think! Best of luck with your mail and lets hope Topps reads this and issues the nonchrome cards in their sets as a nonglossy for us one of these years!

[ChrisR]

^ I wish it didn't happen. It exposes the hobby to to many folks. It's hard enough to get guys now, if the letters increase every month it makes it even worse.

Yes it's cool the hobby has grown, but growth isn't always a good thing. You have to keep in mind ebay and dealers. They abuse the heck out of the good signers and that will get worse as more find out it's possible to build inventory for the cost of two stamps and the cards they have sitting around.

Another big negative is the folks who are not even fans, they see someone here post a success or in a magazine and now a guy who has been a great signer for years get's 100 letters in oen week and it's over.

[Cardsfan4ever]

I agree with ChrisR.

[Sawks14]

As somebody new to the hobby(within the past year) I think there are pluses and negatives to my kind reaching the hobby.

I think it's good because it gives the hobby more information to collect and follow and allows for more support to exist for one another.

I definitely see the downsides though. When I'm on ebay looking for a card or something I see ttm "freebies" listed there for insane amounts. The Stan Musial signed bio card is listed all over ebay for insane prices meanwhile it was obtained for 88 cents. I see the Robin Roberts induction/stat card listed for $5-10 when it also was likely obtained for 88 cents.

As for quantity and abuse I understand where that sentiment comes from but at the same time get the feeling that they could stop signing at any time as it is so send now and that it really depends on the player. Somebody like Rollie Fingers signs for $10 and if you sent him 100 items and $1,000 then I think there is no harm no foul since he approaches ttm like a business. On the flip-side sending somebody like Bobby Doerr 100 items would be ridiculous- especially is you didn't even offer any money.

[DeadHorse]

Once again, my feeling is that people that send 3-4-5 + items or continually mail someone over-and-over-and-over again are the ones killing the hobby....Admittedly, I have sent 3 cards to two different athletes with specific requests for personalization to me and my kids. However, I would absolutely never sell an autograph. After investing 88 cents, the person taking the time to sign my card does make it priceless to me. Further, seeing people sell for money what they only invested 88 cents into is disgusting.

[Sawks14]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

An example of a Musial ttm postcard for sale.

[pantherfan82]

its good and bad. brings more attention to it but takes away from the people that will sign. like somebody said. if you get 100 request in a week all the sudden you will probably stop.

[lizard-jd]

It's the dealers that are messing up the graphing hobby (both TTM & IP!). I spent a great deal of time this year trying to get my favorite players during ST at Roger Dean Stadium and it was ridiculous to see the dealers come with boxes of cards, bags of books, bats, balls, etc. They would open up a book with 9 cards per page for some of the Marlins to sign and some of them would actually sign 18 cards! After seeing Dan Uggla sign 9 cards for this dealer, I finally said to him that those cards that he just signed would be on eBay before he left the field that day. He started wising up. The only saving grace was that by the 3rd week of ST, most of the Marlins players knew who the dealers were & started signing only 1 card, ball or pic. Some just started skipping by the dealers. The security/staff guys began telling the players who we were (the real fans) vs. the dealers.

It was much tougher for the dealers to try it with the Cardinals on their side of the stadium because they don't even sign for their fans that come down from Missouri... The Cardinals that I got to sign was by pure luck, having incredible patience, learning the practice time for the various fields and habits of what player will sign where. Believe it or not, McGwire was probably one of the more easy graphs to get and he was still very hit or miss.

Bottom line, the dealers are real snakes in the grass that will do anything. I saw them paying 8, 10, 12 year old kids $2-$3 to get graphs for them. I heard an 8 year old kid bragging that he had made $85 yesterday. Do you blame the kid? Heck no! Successful graphing will continue to get tougher every year.

[JVazz29]

I saw them paying 8, 10, 12 year old kids $2-$3 to get graphs for them.

That is sickening. Corrupting the kids, for at one point, like all of us at one point, this kid was an innocent, wide-eyed lad looking up at these ballplayers like they were superheroes. Now, instead, he or she sees varying rates and dollar amounts floating above each player.

I am newer to this hobby. It has brought me back to a time when I wrote letters as a kid, with my father, to our big league heroes. I came back to it twenty years later, not because I read of values or the growing popularity, I came back to it because I had a wonderful talk with my nephew. I told him about how I was in the crowd and watched Muholland pitch his no hitter and Morandini turn his unassisted triple play. While searching for a video of the triple play (my nephew was real curious to see what one looked like since my explanantion obviously does no justice), we found a site on TTM. Then I got to break out an album of my old TTM signatures - telling stories to my nephew of Warren Spahn, Hank Aaron, Brooks Robinson, to name a few. For a kid who didn't care to play baseball (though he loves the Phillies), and seems more interested in his xbox and rock n roll fantasies and girls...he was blown away. The following day he was wearing my glove and begging me to play catch in the yard with him. My chat with my nephew brought me back to a simpler time when I loved baseball, studied it, and respected its history. So, by getting back into TTM, I guess I was hoping to hold onto a small golden moment of my childhood.

Deep man....Deep.

[TheGrapher]

Yeah there are a bunch of monsters.

I will say that I am guilty of writing to a few people two or three times. I wrote to Kell five times before he passed away. To justify though, I am still a huge Kell fan as he is one of my all time favorites.