Sending baseball card help

[DeeWib]

Hello everyone! I am starting my first TTM requests since I was about ten and sent some cards to Barry Sanders, Brian Jordan, and Ruben Sierra. Only Ruben Sierra came back signed. That was about 20 years ago. I am planning on sending a couple of cards plus donation to Brooks Robinson. Do I send cash? Also, do you put cards in penny sleeve or top loader? Seems like that would be a hassle for the athlete to deal with. I read the stickied thread on advice for TTM but couldn’t find this info.Thank you and look forward to getting into this hobby!

[arfmax]

I personally do not put cards in pennysleeves or toploaders. I take two index cards, and tape one of the short sides together, and put the card or cards I am asking to be signed in between them. I have had almost no problems with this, only a handful have smeared from being put back in the envelope or between the index cards too quickly. A bonus to this is sometimes the athlete signs the index cards as well!

I have seen instances where a player signs the toploader or the sleeve, instead of the card!

But, at the end of the day, everyone does it their own way. Someone on some other boards uses folded over cardboard with photo corners on them, it's whatever you are comfortable with.

As for the cash versus check, I usually send cash, but some athletes specifically request a check to their charity. Again, it all depends on the athlete. Most will not reject cash, but may not want the audit trail that goes with a check. I believe cash is fine for Brooks Robinson

Best of luck,

-arfmax

[DeeWib]

Thanks for the feedback. I am eagerly waiting for my first return now! I see that you are working through the 87 Topps set and have most of them. Just curious, but were you able to get Dwayne Murphy. I was named after him and that is one that I would love to get! Thanks again.

[doniceage]

@arfmax
Question on your 87 set.

DON

[arfmax]

Yup, I have Dwayne Murphy. There is no note on the back of the toploader, so I must have purchased it in a lot on ebay. If I do it through the mail, I put a sticker on the toploader that says TTM and the date returned, and if I get it in persons, I put the date, the place, and the city and state on a sticker on the toploader.

[DeeWib]

Ok. Thank you @arfmax . I really appreciate the feedback!