When I first read about through the mail autographs (TTM), I could not believe I had never thought of doing this myself. I am such a huge sports fan and have been my whole life. I find the stories and career arcs of players to be totally enthralling. Having a card signed by a favorite player of mine makes me feel closer to the game. I am also a huge player of fantasy sports, so i have a broad horizon of players i am a fan of.
When writing an athlete for TTM, I typically send a fan letter, a card to be signed, and a self addressed stamped envelope. I want the process for the athlete to be as seamless as possible and non-intrusive upon their time. Sometimes I go all out and decorate the letter in all kinds of graphics and logos and other times I keep it simple. If I hear a player curse a lot on the field; I might curse a lot in their fan letter. I tend to use the SHOTGUN method when sending the letters out. I will ship out 5 or 6 at a time. On average I get about 30% percent back signed and about 10% returned unsigned. It is not a terribly good success rate, but every time get an autograph in the mail it only fuels me to send more out. It is almost better to forget you sent them out entirely and be totally surprised when one comes in the mail. NEVER ASSUME YOU WILL GET AN AUTOGRAPH BACK!
Here are some of my successes from April 2013 to April 2014
Billy Beane - Oakland A General Manager
Andy Pettitte - New York Yankees Starting Pitcher
Andrelton Simmons - Atlanta Braves Short Stop
I will be posting my current TTM successes as they appear in my mail box. I do get my fair share of failures and "return to senders". However I will not be posting anything about my failures, as I do not want to single anyone out.
FanMail.biz is a great resource for mail addresses
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