Memorabilia Collections?

[KeLLy1278]

Hey all.  
 

Anyone into collecting signed sports stuff?

Bills, Sabres & Red Sox fan here and I like to get an occasional signed 8x10, card or bobblehead.. not just from my favorite teams but from individual players I like e.g., Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Rob Ray, Jaromir Jagr,

Teemu Selanne, Steve Young, Magic Johnson, Carl Yastrzemski, etc.. I think I spent a little too much over the years, lol.  Should do a headcount of my collection sometime.. what about you guys?  

[Johnny Hammersticks]

I was big into collecting autographs when I was a kid.  I had a collection of 30-50 cards/photos.  Lots of late 80s-early 90s Bills/Sabres, but also many of my other favorite players.  Some “authenticated” and some not.  
 

This past Christmas while I was home I finally found my collection after digging through the attic.  Fortunately, all of them were pretty well preserved in hard cases.  I ended up giving my collection to my son who is big into sports cards/autographs.  Every once in a while I’ll bid on something on eBay.  Mostly hockey autographs now for some reason.  Still, I give them to my son.  

[Augie]

I’ve never been into autographs. Nothing against anyone who does it for fun or even investment purposes, but someone else writing their name just isn’t my thing. I have a buddy who is SUPER into it and does backstage access at concerts, essentially paying a FORTUNE for a photo and an autograph. Makes him happy, good for him, but just not my thing.

 

In fact, a tennis buddy is an electrician and helped me out in a time of need. I had a short in the backyard outlet which kept tripping the breaker for the back of the house (knocking out all cable and internet). He followed me home and spent half a day finding and fixing it, then he wouldn’t let me pay him. The next day I took him a tennis racquet he had liked…..I won it at a Bryan Brothers exhibition. It was not only signed by both of them, but they had used that racquet and Wimbledon that year. (Their coach worked at our club.) It was taking up space in my closet, and the incredible joy on his face when I gave it to him was priceless, so I guess they can have enormous value. 

 

EDIT: To demonstrate my stupidity I took it to the courts and hit with it. Yes, they really did use blue Tournagrip, and that was where the signatures were. One of my friends shrieked like a little girl that I was going to damage the signatures. I didn’t want that, but I really DID WANT to hit with it. They jacked up the weight something crazy! 

 

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Edited February 13 by Augie

[Augie]

As for general memorabilia beyond autographs, in the man cave I have a couple seat cushions from the Bills/Redskins SB, and a collection of framed Bills program covers from the early 60’s. 

[dhg]

Big card collector when I was a kid. Mainly NHL cards. Complete sets from 73 through early 80's, Topps and O-Pee-Chee. Did a lot of that buying a couple packs at a time. Also collected MLB and NFL but not as much as the hockey cards. My favorites are Gretzky rookie card and a autographed 1976 Nolan Ryan card.

 

I also used to mail cards to teams and asked for autographs. Almost every team would send me the autographed card back along with other stuff like autographed photos, schedules, team photos, etc. It was a fun hobby when I was a kid. 

[Another Fan]

1 hour ago, dhg said:

Big card collector when I was a kid. Mainly NHL cards. Complete sets from 73 through early 80's, Topps and O-Pee-Chee. Did a lot of that buying a couple packs at a time. Also collected MLB and NFL but not as much as the hockey cards. My favorites are Gretzky rookie card and a autographed 1976 Nolan Ryan card.

 

I also used to mail cards to teams and asked for autographs. Almost every team would send me the autographed card back along with other stuff like autographed photos, schedules, team photos, etc. It was a fun hobby when I was a kid. 

I'm still waiting for my autograph back after writing to Jim Kelly saying I still loved him even though he lost in the Super Bowl 😅

[May Day 10]

I got into collecting baseball cards a bit during Covid, but stopped.  Too much clutter, and the industry in general is very cumbersome.  There are great products out there, but also, just too many variations, and so many base-cards to get to any sort of keepers.  

 

I morphed that into vintage baseball cards.  Love that.  Cards from the '50s and '60s.  Would love some older stuff, but that's high-roller territory.  

 

 

I also have a bunch of autographed stuff.  Mini football helmets and pucks mostly.  Best helmets I have are a nice Herbert, a Barry sanders, and a chrome Drew Brees.  I have a full sized Ricky Williams ravens helmet autographed and inscribed with 'smoke weed every day!".   Also have a full sized autographed Ozzie Smith Cardinals and Freddie Freeman braves helmets. 

 

 

In my garage I have a bunch of old pennants from when I was a kid in the 80s and early 90s.