Let's Talk about Autograph's Through the Mail

One of the reasons why I enjoy collecting autographs through the mail is the challenge of building one of the biggest and best collections. I am only focusing on collecting Women hockey player autographs. I do enjoy watching their play and it will be interesting this season in the PWHL with the players drafted this year. I look forward to watching the first 2 picks in this years draft. The 2 players are Caroline Harvey and Abbey Murphy. It is always interesting to see how these players can do offensively in this league versus when they played college hockey and we got a taste of that earlier in the year when we had some college players playing in the 2026 Olympics.

First let me start off discussing the good part versus the bad part. What I love the most is getting up each morning around 4:00 A.M. to check the informed delivery to see what I have coming back for mail on that day. Mondays are usually better days for getting multiple back because the players sending them back usually send on a Thursday or Friday and with Sunday being a no mail day that usually indicates that the odds are greater getting more back on Mondays. The mail still moves on Sunday but no deliveries. If I send to a highly sought after player I usually put a certain mark on the address label which is an indicator of who it is from.

                                    1997-98 First Goal Card # 1

I have asked Julie Otto to sign the front of the card too, I may send one of those cards to Brittny Ralph asking her to sign the front by her photo. I do not have any double player autograph cards in my collection so this would be a very nice and important addition.

                       1997-98 First Goal Card # 1 Reverse

These are the 2 cards that I am waiting to get signed by Julie Otto. The other player to already signed them is Laura Tryba. The front of the card is titled: First Goal and on the front of the card is shows the first ever goal scored by Julie Otto and it shows Brittny Ralph celebrating. The back of the card has 2 inset photo's. On the Left is Julie Otto and the right is Laura Tryba. She signed her name then under her name she added the inscription 11/2/97 First ever assist.

I am hoping they come back this week and when they do I will be adding card # 1 on the page titled: 1997-98 Minnesota Lady Gophers Inaugural Season. I will show the front and back of that special card.

I do get upset when I get a few back in a week's time especially when I average 20-25 auto requests per week. This week including today’s mail (Saturday August 29, 2026) will give me a total of 4 this week. That is a weak number but getting 8 to 10 back a week is very good but it happens only a few times a year. Currently I have got back 155 successes and I usually put 2-3 cards per envelope. So I have added over 300 autographs this year with 4 more months to go which is a decent year for returns. 

These 4 auto's really made me very happy and one of them was one that I needed the other 3 I had asked the players to sign the front of the card because they earlier in the year signed the back because the front of the cards are a dark color but as you can see Kris Scholz signed hers in a blue marker and I am ok with that as it is visible. I sent each player a silver sharpie and I told them they could keep the sharpie. That can get costly close to $10 each time and I never did send a silver sharpie to Kris and I won't have to as the blue is ok.

Collecting autographs through the mail is risky. Risky because you may never see the card again and there have been times I have spent $60 on one card and never got it back. My letters to the players are always nice and I am always thanking them for taking the time to read my letter and sign for me. I know there are some players who won’t sign but I won’t name those players. I just keep the names in my head. This is the bad part of collecting autographs through the mail. The letters can get lost by the mail itself and I have had players take as long as 7 years. I have had some letters lost that show up on the informed delivery but never make it to me.

I Will be adding a new page Titled: Great Signers and on that page I will list the players who are great signers so stay tuned as I compile that list. I will also add some players that are tough to get through the mail and some that have never signed for me.

This is Hilary Knight's first card with the University of Wisconsin Badgers, her freshman year. I am hoping that someday I get this beauty of a card signed by Hilary. When I first saw this card I thought it said Quaker State like the motor oil because it is the same green color but it actually says  Quaker Steak & Lube along with Best Wings USA.

This is Hilary Knight's second year card as a sopohmore and again this is a nice card and it shows the outline as a shadow. This would be another one I would love to get signed but that will not be very easy but I will give it a try this upcoming PWHL season as Hilary will be with the Detroit team, this will be their first season in the PWHL.

There are some players that are sporadic and sign but not as quick as the ones listed. Hilary Knight has signed only one time for me but I have sent 3 other times to her with nothing back. My most recent one to her was a bubble mailer I sent her with 4 cards and I included a silver sharpie. Curious if I get those back signed. The thing I keep thinking about is why wouldn't these players want other fans to see them being positive with their fans. The PWHL is new and I thought the players would all sign to build a positive fan base and grow the game. I have and will continue to support Women’s hockey and mostly I love watching their game and watching the players improve each year.

I hope that other autograph collectors find the fun and yes there will be times when you feel bad. Just try not to let it stop you because collecting autographs through the mail is very challenging and to make yourself a better collector you must not let the obstacles get in your way. Remember collecting cards is only a hobby and in the collecting world today I see the cost just in wanting to open a box of cards. I know it would be nice buying a box and pulling a big card but in reality the chances of that happening are just against the collector. I keep telling myself to put the same amount of money towards cards that you want and this way you will enjoy the hobby for what it is and that is you the collector is the one responsible for enjoying the hobby. Just remember this: JUST HAVE FUN!!!