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Happy Veterans Day, Virgil Trucks

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The WWII vet is still looking up!
 
He served the U.S. Army in World War II.
 
He threw two no-hitters.
 
He honored fans and collectors with untold autographs for more than a half-century.
 
Virgil Trucks is a hero on so many fronts. That’s why this last curtain call must be so hard.
 
The fabled hurler suffered a broken leg this year. Sadly, his time away from signing is becoming permanent. The update is from daughter Carolyn Beckwith:
 
“I had a long visit with Dad on Monday. He was sleeping in his recliner when I got there. He looked good and said he felt pretty good. We talked about fan mail and autographs. He has carpel tunnel in both hands and his fingers don’t have feeling in them. He has been dealing with this for quite some time. It has gotten to the point now it is hard for him to hold a pen in his hand. His autograph is not good and he feels it is time for him to end what has brought him a tremendous amount of joy, hearing from his fans.
His greatest wish has always been to be inducted into Cooperstown. He asked me to tell you, if the fans want to send a letter to Bud Selig, he would appreciate that so much.
 
Thank you Tom and please thank all of the fans for the cards and concern for my Dad.
 
Sincerely,
Carolyn”
 
Please, no more autograph requests to his Alabama home. The family has been RTS-ing mail since the injury. For those of us who received signatures, letters and encouragement from Mr. Trucks, we are grateful.

Bill Kearns Collects Maine-ly Players

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“The Original One” is a
unique subset in Bill’s collection!
 
Bill Kearns is a great online ally. He provides early-breaking news on deaths for the Baseball Player Passings site on Facebook. He’s mentioned which deceased players signed for him. I wanted to know more about his unique hobby background. I’m grateful he’s provided this e-interview.
 
Q: Do you remember who (and when) your first TTM autograph came?
 
 
A: Yes it was George Bamberger. He has since died, so he gets added to that list.
We started this hobby about 11 years ago and we had about 50 baseball cards to our name. That card of Mr. Bamberger was given to us by a friend (along with about 70,000 others) and we have still beeen feeding from that large collection ever sense. But it recent years we have graduated to making photos (those that you see in BP are actually a 4×6 photo, made to make like a baseball card.)
 
 
Q: Tell me about the Maine players collection, please!
Great set…Maine certainly is not a hotbed for baseball stars but we seek them out. There are 19 living ML’ers from Maine and we have them all. The saddest is of Dan Walters, as we learned, became a San Diego police detective and was shot an paralyzed while off duty, told to us by his mother who gave us a signed card. Tought way to learn of such a tragedy.
We have many minor leaguers too. They are harder to find but keep searching
 

Q: What’s a typical letter like for you? Typed or handwritten? What do you ask to get signed? Ever ask specific questions?
A: We do so many its a standard letter, with areas to change player info, both signed by us. Son Jon will write occasional on the “real important ones” and used to write many as part of his “homework” as a youngster.

 Q: What kind of notes or letters have you gotten back?
A: We get lots of notes and letters back. We keep all of them. It kinda authenticates them. We have a pen pal Frank “The Original One” Thomas and we must have 300 multi page letters from him

Q: I saw the breaking news about Pascual Perez. Some collectors might ask, why pay attention to obituaries? It’s too late for an autograph!
A: Yes, put its good to know and often will brink back memories and perhaps that is baseball’s best quality. LIke when I read that Bob “Hawk” Taylor died this past June, I had to go for a long walk. He was my 1st baseball hero, I was about 6-7…and yah, it hurt.

Q: What advice do you have for setting hobby goals or collection types?
A: I tell all younger collectors that I know and have known, have fun, go with players that inspire you but try to do the hobby in “set” or “subsets”. For example, if you like the Red Sox, have a set of Red Sox that you can continue to work on. Like the Maine born players, players born your birthday, players that share your name, school or even subsets of players that achived a rare event…like home run 1st at bat, or even better, player 1st pitch home run…it brings in the reserch realm.

Q: How are you keeping up on addresses and other autograph news?
Many sources, addy books, on line ask friends ask players

Q: Guys who scribble their “names.” Guys who charge, or never respond. Lots of people have lists of what’s wrong with this hobby. What’s RIGHT about this hobby right now?
A: It is fun and challenging. We do alot of the older players because, they are better signers. And it brings the history factor. We go to alot of Portland SeaDogs games and hound the RedSox prospects and the in-coming teams. This past summer we got about 1,000 autographs of the SD’s (overkill) not at all because we “gift” many of them to friends in the hobby instead of trading.

Q: What’s your hobby game plan for 2013?
A: Love the old guys love the Sea Dogs…adding more autographs to sons and friends “baseball scrapbooks”. Imagine a scrapbook of autographs chalk full of players that share your name, birthday, Maine born and much more….
 

Coming Monday: News from Virgil Trucks

Hometown Motivation From Virgil Trucks

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“Fire” inspired new ideas
for a fan letter appeal.

I think I’ve connected the dots.

My wife just began her 35th year of piano teaching this year. She was honored with a lovely feature in a monthly local magazine.

Everyone who knew her provided their copy. “I thought you might like an extra one of these to share.”

Rewinding my memory, I recalled a telephone conversation last year with Virgil “Fire” Trucks. I had asked about the typical letter he gets from fans and collectors.

“They try to tell me about parts of my career. They’ve looked it up. They may think I don’t know, but I know.”

I’m going to try the same.

No, not articles about my favorite piano teacher. I will see if the retired player I’m writing to has been featured in print (or online) in the last month. I’m guessing that most former athletes in their 50s or up aren’t surfing the ‘net to see their headlines.

However, that doesn’t mean they don’t care. I’ll print off the first page, then say, “If you haven’t seen the whole thing and are interested, let me know. I’ll send you the rest.”

Another guess? They may write back, only because their wife/kids/grandkids/etc. would like to see it.

My wife has a collection of the same clipping about her career milestone. She’ll love sharing every copy, knowing that the clipping came from someone who cared. Chances are, the person you’re writing for an autograph will do the same.

Coming Friday: Collector Bill Kearns shares his hobby.

Winter Ball For TTM Collectors Means Asking!

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Good luck, “Tusk!”

Ever wonder why players don’t just work out in the off-season? Why do they head to other countries for a second season of winter ball? (Washington Nationals pitching hopeful Ryan Tatusko announced his departure for winter ball in Puerto Rico via facebook last week!)

I think one reason is the bonus of learning from each other.

I’m guessing many of you have been sending the identical letter for years in your requests. Some of you write in spurts, sending one tons of requests at a time. You assume there’s a best time of year to get autographs.

Is there one best way to collect? I do know that comparing your style to other collectors will never do any harm.

Whether online or face-to-face, it’s likely that you have regular contact with another collector. Instead of gabbing about the weather or politics, ask about their recent collecting successes and setbacks.

1. Who’s signed for you by mail recently?
2. How long did it take?
3. What address did you use — and where did you find it?
4. What was your letter like?
5. What did the signer sign?
6. Who’s the next name on your hobby wish list?

Hobby pals might assume you know what they know. In college, a professor told me, “If your mama says she loves you, check it out.” Asking is free. (It wasn’t in college…)

Coming Wednesday: a homegrown secret to win over any signer.

Invest In Your 2013 Collection: Harvey Meiselman’s Taking Orders For New Address List!

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Beep beep. Blasted drive-thru line!

Yes, we’re all accustomed to instant service. But the best things are worth waiting for.

Harvey Meiselman’s yearly Baseball Address List is the best tool any collector, researcher or fan could have. Setting a good example for the U.S. Postal Service, Harvey is NOT increasing his prices.

His new list will cost $35, same as last year. Bigger, better, but same price.

Sorry, Santa. Harvey is not shipping until Jan. 5.

Can’t I order later? Yes, but…

Harvey will have a first-come, first-served policy. If you get in line now, you’ll be the first to get new addresses. I wish I could be Mister Optimism and say that autograph signing habits will never change.

History begs to differ. With new addresses, newly-discovered names may sign until they’re overwhelmed. They may choose to start charging, or they may stop signing completely.

Find out more at www.sportsaddresslists.com. No, I’m not a paid affiliate. I am a fan of Harvey.

Coming Monday: A winter league for collectors?