Our boy wants to work on some TTM's this winter.....anyone want to post free HOF/Star players? Vito

goose3 · November 19, 2009 11:41AM

He was just saying today that he wanted to do some more mailings.

I told him I'd figure out something for him to work on.

Any suggestions here?

DrJ · November 19, 2009 11:46AM

If he likes Basketball I have had a ton of luck with older retired players including many HOFers. New guys are hit and miss but there are a bunch of stars including Dirk Nowitski, Jason Kidd, Brandon Roy, and Pau Gasol who sign regularly TTM. Usually the younger guys and Rookies are also gracious signers during their first couple years in the league as well.

VitoCo1972 · November 19, 2009 11:56AM

<< <i>If he likes Basketball I have had a ton of luck with older retired players including many HOFers. New guys are hit and miss but there are a bunch of stars including Dirk Nowitski, Jason Kidd, Brandon Roy, and Pau Gasol who sign regularly TTM. Usually the younger guys and Rookies are also gracious signers during their first couple years in the league as well. >>

I echo the basketball theme. Older NBA players are by far the most wiling signers. Most do not charge. Older football players are also good signers though many require donations. Hockey players are also very good and usually free. If you want to keep this low-cost, I would avoid baseball. Most Hall of Famers charge fees for signing anything.

Here's what I would recommend. Figure out his favorite team in 2-3 different sports then find a photo or their field or arena and start sending to each of their former stars...then you can work your way up to today when you attend games and so forth. If you go the card route, buying rookie cards gets expensive. Under this scenario, your financial commitment is minimal and having a couple of pieces to hang in his rooms for the forseeable future are attainable. You'll be able to have 3 pieces out in the mail at once so you're not waiting on one piece and trust me, the thrill of multi-signed items BY FAR outweighs cards. Take it from someone that owns several multi signed golf flags, a 1957 World Champion Celtics team signed ball, a 1958 World Champion Hawks signed floorboard, a 1977 World Champion Blazers Media Guide, a Notre Dame Heisman Winners mini helmet and is working on a 1972 Bruins signed program...almost universally done TTM.

Edited to add: the other benefit of multi-signed pieces are that the signers are many times more willing to sign something already signed by someone else...like when I got Oscar Robertson TTM because I had 3 other Cincinnati Royals players on my floorboard, and Bill Walton on my Blazers Guide that was signed by 8 other players.

storm888 · November 19, 2009 12:13PM

The oldest guys; whatever sport appeals.

Dboneesq · November 19, 2009 12:37PM

I have sent out quite a few TTMs during the past year and have enjoyed every moment of it. I sent out cards from the 60s and 70s (just took some from my raw collection randomly) and then started to concentrate on a couple sets. I bought a 1982 Donruss baseball set for less than $40.00 and sent 5 or 10 at a time. I have over 200 signed to date. I also had a raw '69 Football set and I sent out quite a few of those ... to date I have received back 65 signed. I did not have to pay for any of the autos, including Pete Rose and Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

I suggest a hand written letter to the player which includes a line or two either stating why you like the player or quoting some of his stats or awards that he has won.

Good luck ... it should be a great father/son project.

Please keep us updated on your results.

goose3 · November 19, 2009 12:43PM

is there a list somewhere of HOF'ers (in any sport) or "stars" that do sign free?

What can I say, he's a kid and enjoys receiving stuff from the likes of both.....

Vito, your idea is a great one and your stuff is fantastic. I'd be too worried that someone might not return such an item.

VitoCo1972 · November 19, 2009 12:46PM

I'll take basketball and list them here in this post in a few minutes.

edited:
Free basketball HOF signers:
Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Nate Archibald
Rick Barry
Walt Bellamy
Adrian Dantley
Joe Dumars
Wayne Embry
Harry Gallatin
Gail Goodrich
Tom Gola
Cliff Hagan
Bob Houbregs
Bailey Howell
Dan Issel
Earl Lloyd
Ed Macauley
Slater Martin
Bob McAdoo
Dick McGuire
Robert Parish
Bob Pettit
Frank Ramsey
Arnie Risen
Dolph Schayes
Bill Sharman
Jack Twyman
Lenny Wilkens
(I have received signatures in the mail from all of them) - That's 27 guys that are legit free signers

Some guys sign TTM but charge. They are...

HOFers that charge:
Bob Cousy ($35)
Elvin Hayes ($15)
Clyde Lovellette ($10)
Nate Thurmond ($15)

If other board members are willing to do lists, I would love to see them so I can cross reference if I'm missing any!

Good luck Goose!

goose3 · November 19, 2009 9:51PM

Great idea!

I'll let him check this thread out as it (hopefully) progresses.

goose3 · November 20, 2009 12:06PM

anyone else?

MeteoriteGuy · November 20, 2009 12:15PM

While not quite as cool as some of their players current managers are usually pretty good signers. If you tackled the top three sports that would be about 100 TTMs.

al032184 · November 20, 2009 12:23PM

I don't know if you can see this w/o registering with the site, but this forum has a real nice free TTM database...
TTM

SCF boards

VitoCo1972 · November 20, 2009 12:34PM

Between Nick and I, we have received successes from the following baseball HOFers:

For free:
Wade Boggs
Don Sutton
Paul Molitor
Bobby Doerr

The following are free football HOF signers:
Raymond Berry
George Blanda (will personalize)
Harry Carson
Willie Davis
Bill Dudley
Jim Langer
Larry Little
Tom Mack
Mike McCormack
Ozzie Newsome
Ace Parker
Joe Schmidt
Charley Trippi
Steve Young

leathtech · November 20, 2009 1:46PM

here are some of my better hits that have not been brought up:

Chris Chelios
Brett Hull
Don Larsen
Bobby Thomson
Robin Roberts ($10)
Gale Sayers ($10)
Mark Grace
Fernando Valenzuela
Mike Bibby
Joey Votto
James Lofton ($15)
Mike Ditka - hit or miss
Joe Nathan
AJ Pierzynski
Jason Kidd
Dirk Nowitzki
Ryan Dempster
Dan Fouts
Jim McMahon
Gary Fencik
Bill Gadsby
Herschel Walker
Jordy Nelson
Tom Boerwinkle

NickM · November 21, 2009 2:06AM

Go to nba.com and nhl.com and get the lists of former players who are now broadcasters, assistant coaches, or in other front office positions (you can do nfl.com too, but their season ends for most teams in less than 2 months, so hurry if you're doing that).

Many of them are very nice about signing TTM.

Nick

20CAG · November 21, 2009 8:24AM

Heres a suggestion you might want to try

Go to the webite - www.thebenchtrading.com

On the main screen, you'll see the header bar - towards the right it has the category "TTM Addresses" which you will want to click on.

The next screen with ask for a player's name. Skip that and go to the left side of the screen where it says "Master List". I'm sure you can figure out the rest from there. Its pretty up to date and members leave responses if something about a player changes. I don't think you need to be a member of this site to get to the Master list either.

Hope this helps

Jantz

Our boy wants to work on some TTM's this winter.....anyone want to post free HOF/Star players? Vito

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