Top 10 Through the Mail Returns

 I did not put any of my through the mail autograph collection in the Top 10 list I posted a couple days back so it got me thinking. I wanted to try and formulate a list of  my ten favorite requests I've had returned to me over the years via the through the mail process. That means everything on this list was sent by me directly to the athlete, and I did not use a third party and participate in a signing. Much like the last list, the criterion I used to come up with this list can vary due to provenance or the story behind it, and it could also just come down to frankly what I thought my chances of getting my item back or the status of the athlete themselves. 

Please check my Through the Mail Tracker on this very blog to see every success I have ever had. 

To date, I have 141 successes. I have six failures. I had to pare those 141 successes down to the list below.

Let's get to it!

1. Peyton Manning

This autograph was a slam dunk to make my list because Peyton Manning is so big, and because the success percentage on requests to Manning is not really that high. It only costs a $5 donation to his foundation, but the chances of getting this return back are poor. I tried twice before and failed, so when this bad boy came back in the mail I was pretty excited about it.

2. The Sedins

Getting both Daniel and Henrik Sedin was cool for me, because I am a huge LA Kings fan and these guys played their entire careers for the Vancouver Canucks, a team the Kings went up against in the playoffs and developed a rivalry with. I watched the Sedins get drafted and the entirety of their careers, and I hated when they played the Kings because they were so good. The most iconic play in the Kings 2012 Stanley Cup run was when Dustin Brown laid Henrik out with a clean, heavy hit. In my letter of request to the Sedins, I actually wrote all of this to them. I'm never one to sugarcoat my requests to the athletes. It was really awesome to see both of the Sedins respond by signing my cards, despite what I wrote. Just like I told them, the twins were excellent hockey players that always had my respect. 

3. Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk makes the list because the photo I sent him was my first foray back into the TTM game, and getting the photo sent back signed by him got me back on the track of adding hundreds of athletes to my collection. TTM seems like a difficult task to get done, but it really is easy and if you send to the right people, you'll have solid success. I've sent to Dirk twice.

4. Bobby Witt Jr.

Bobby Witt Jr. is easily the youngest player on this list, and very early in his career trajectory, but he makes the list because this one was a complete gamble as I sent it to his dad's house (who was also a major leaguer) and hoped for the best. This one took three months to come back, and usually when waiting that long without a return means the chance of it coming back is greatly reduced. Suffice it to say I was pretty happy when my daughter walked in with an envelope one day from the mail and this was part of it.

5. Roger Staubach

An all time great NFL QB, Roger Staubach, is next up on my list for a couple of reasons. One, obviously he is a well known NFL legend. Two, when I was a kid I missed out on an opportunity to meet him when my dad and my brother ran into him down here in San Diego and the Hotel Del Coronado. 

6. Jack Nicklaus

We go outside of the big 5 sports for this next TTM success. Jack Nicklaus, probably on the Mt. Rushmore of golf, sent me a signed 8x10 that I sent to him as part of the request. It took me a couple days of deliberating which photo to purchase and send him before I settled on this one.

7. Bobby Orr

Another Mt. Rushmore of their sport, NHL legend and all time great defenseman Bobby Orr came through with a signed Upper Deck card I sent to his foundation with a donation. It also came with his certificate of authenticity. 

8. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

I don't think I really need to explain how Kareem gets onto my Top 10, but I will say the only disappointing thing about this return was that he did personalize it to me. Typically I wouldn't mind, but the donation it took to get this done was the heftiest of any of my TTM requests to date, so my preference would be that it was done without my name. That being said, it's still really cool to add a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar signed card to my collection. 

9. Brett Favre 

I sent an Upper deck rookie card to Brett Favre, and it came back signed relatively fast. The weird story behind this one was that somehow or another the company that handles the Brett Favre TTM requests underpaid for the return package, so when our mailman rang the doorbell, he held my card hostage until I covered the couple bucks the were short. I clearly was willing to pay the bail for this card, and it makes my top 10 as a result. Pretty much any time you can get an autograph from one of the great QBs in NFL lore, it's a contender for this list.

10. Martin Brodeur

We are going to round out my list of Top 10 TTM autographs with one of the greatest NHL goalies of all time, Martin Brodeur. This one was definitely not guaranteed at the time because I sent it to the New Jersey Devils team offices before a time that a lot of people were doing so and before he was really returning requests on a consistent basis. He does so now, but at the time it was a gamble and it paid off. What makes it also pretty cool is that I sent his 1990 Score rookie card, where the photo they used is his draft photo. 

BONUS Tony Esposito

Tony Esposito was named to the NHLs all time great 100 team as one of the better goalies to have ever played the game. However, that's not why he is on this list. He is on this list because I received this card just two days after it was announced that he had passed away. The shipping time for the card was three days, meaning that if he signed it and then put it right into the mail, it was likely the very last thing he ever signed. In fact, on the site I use to pick people to send to, I was the last success listed before everyone that sent after me got return to senders. It was a somber reminder to me that some of these athletes that I am sending items to are very old, or sick, and continue to do things for fans and collectors anyway. They don't have to do this. They could ignore requests like most other athletes do. But there are many of them out there that take time out of their days to do this type of thing and I for one, will never take that for granted. 

Friendly reminder to please check out SportsCollectors.net for a list of all athletes that sign, what percent of success people have with them, how much it might cost if anything, where they live, etc. It's $15 a year. It will far surpass that value with just successful request. 

Thank you for reading!