How Did I Begin Collecting Autographs?

I guess the roots to this blog can be traced all the way back to 1976. To completely understand my interest in autographs, it is necessary to go back to the first autographs I ever received. I was only 4 years old at the time, but it marked the first time I had ever been in the presence of "greatness". In this case the celebrity was Doug Flynn, a back-up infielder for the World Champion Cincinnati Reds. My parents had taken my sister and me to a newly opened Bank One that was celebrating their grand opening. I remember meeting Mr. Flynn, who was quite nice and gave each of us a ceramic coffee cup emblazoned with the bank's logo on the side. While I did not request any autographs on this particular occasion, it certainly created an impression on me as this one of my earliest childhood memories and this celebrity encounter still remains vivid in detail over 33 years after the fact!

My first autograph would technically be that of Darth Vader - not of David Prowse, who famously portrayed the villain in the "Star Wars" trilogy - but "Darth Vader" dressed in full regal costume, meeting and greeting young fans at a car dealership in Montgomery, Ohio. Being at the height of "Star Wars" mania, I can still recall the chaos of couple hundred mothers with children in tow, who were in equal parts awe and scared out of their daylights at the prospect of approaching "the" Darth Vader. The thought of being in the same room as the evil Darth Vader was numbing in itself, let alone mustering up the courage to find the words to ask Mr. Vader for an autograph. As if this wasn't terrifying enough, Darth Vader was accompanied by a couple of Jawas, also in full costume. Sinister, glowing amber eyes gleamed from under their hoods as the Jawas stared back at us in silence. The photo that I got signed that day is long gone but I still remember the inscription, "Greetings Earthing! Darth Vader". I remember that it was a black and white photo of Darth Vader, signed in a black marker of some sort and it seems like the "Greetings Earthing!" portion of the autograph was pre-printed on the photo already. For a kid in the late 1970's it didn't get any better than this - if Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker was the hero of "Star Wars" then Darth Vader was certainly the star of the show.

Like any other All-American boy, my interests soon revolved around Major League Baseball and specifically, my hometown Cincinnati Reds. The star pitcher at the time was future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, who lived not 5 minutes from my home, in the luxury condos located on the Jack Nicklaus golf course in Mason, Ohio. At some point during the 1981 season, I put pen to paper, writing my first fan letter to a celebrity and asking Mr. Seaver for an autograph. I do know that I knew early on the include a SASE (Self-Addressed-Stamped-Envelope) but I do not recall including an item for Tom Seaver to sign. I anxiously sealed the envelope and rushed the letter to the mailbox at the end of the driveway, where it was picked up by the postal worker who started my first TTM (Through the Mail) request on it's way. I am sure that at the time it must have seemed like years or even centuries of waiting for a response but after a few weeks, lo and behold - I had a piece of mail from Mr. George Thomas Seaver himself! I carefully ripped into the envelope and there was the treasure that I had desired - an index card boldly autographed in blue sharpie by Tom Seaver. I remember carrying it around with me for hours on end, even taking my newly acquired prized possession to school to show my friends and classmates. Now I had an autograph book that I would routinely present during my in-person autograph opportunities with members of the Cincinnati Bengals at one of their in-store appearances or one of the local television newscasters who would appear in my 3rd grade classroom to read a book to us during "Right to Read Week". But what to do with my through the mail acquired Tom Seaver autograph that wasn't signed directly in the autograph book? After putting great thought to the issue, I smeared a glob on paste on the backside of the index card and pressed it flat with my fingers onto a blank page within my autograph book. Now my first baseball autograph and TTM success finally took it's rightful place in my autograph book along with the likes of Bengals greats Louis Breeden, Steve Kreider, Dave Lapham, Glenn Cameron and local Cincinnati sportscasters Donn Burrows and Dennis Jansen. A hobby had been found and a lifelong passion for the study and collecting of autographs was born.