Question for team collectors

[Hawaiian BamBam]

for those that collect autos of their favorite team:

1. Do you collect only autos of players in uniform from your favorite team(Exlayer must be in a red sox uniform or player must be in a yankees uniform)

2. Do you only collect certified autos of players from your favorite team or ip/ttm autos as well.

3. do you collect on card autos only or also sticker autos?

4. What do you do about players from your favorite team that do not have a certified auto, for example with the dodgers i would say approx 90% of the dodger players that played in the 50's, 60's, 70, and 80's dont even have a certified autograph out there. so for me in particular, what to do about autos of players that arent names like sutton, koufax, wills, snider, garvey, cey.like the lesser known names.

just curious o see how you team collectors go by collecting your favorite teams autographs.

thanks in advance for any responses.

 

[BoomerSooner]

I collect mets, and the criteria I use is that the player must be pictured in Mets uniform on the card for it to be added to my collection. If he is pictured in another teams uni but with Mets logo on the card, I don't want it. Same criteria for certified autos and TTM autos, must be on Mets card. Prefer on card sigs but begrudgingly accept those stupid stickers.
As for the guys without certified sigs, that where TTM and trading TTM comes into play.I have, and I'm guessing, about 200 certified Mets sigs, and close to 1200 TTM sigs of Mets guys, all on Mets cards. The ones that are tough are the guys who played for the Mets but never appeared on any type of Mets card, about 45-50 guys over 50 years. Some collectors make their own custom cards to cover those guys, others take cut sigs and put them on a custom card of their own design.
If you're not a member of SportsCollectors.net, check into it, you can find TONS of TTMs for sale there and plenty of advice on how to get those tougher sigs.

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

thanks for your response, i appreciate it. i have almost the same exact criteria for my dodgers cards. i use to trade ip/ttm autos all the time, but not after hearing all the stories about how many fake autos are out there particularly on ebay, im a little hesitant to trade or buy anymore ip/ttm autos(only mail them out or get them myself) what are your thoughts/advice on the ttm/ip in regards to all the fakes out there?

 

[daveteach]

I collect several all-time teams and I will accept a card in any uniform. But it is going to get much harder now that Topps has the exclusive deal. There are so many more players who get called up without any regular Topps issue cards that I am going to have to rely on minor league team set issues to get players ( Example : Washington Nationals All-time list has Victor Garate on it without any major issue cards or Trevor Enders of Tampa Bay who doesn't seem to have any cards) For them it may be custom issue cards in order to get them for my set.

 

[BoomerSooner]

Like I said, check out SCN, a huge resource for TTM sigs. they have a database that tells you who to write to and who not to waste your time on. They have tested addys. They have a membership of collectors that trade & sell all the time and don't risk reputations on fakes. They have dealers who go & do private signings with no-names all the time and then flip the sigs.
As for fakes, well, you have to educate yourself to spot them. Using info at SCN is a good first step in doing that. And you have to be wary and smart- if something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

thanks for the info, ill go check out that site right now!