Pitcher Al Worthington’s autograph comes with an honest, caring letter

Collector Tom Rydel shared some useful information with fellow autograph collectors recently.

Reported first on www.sportscollectors.net, Tom shared a letter from former pitcher Al Worthington. In the note, Worthington apologizes for misplacing Tom’s cards. (In reality, all were returned in one week!)

Tom made the great suggestion that other collectors mark the backs of their cards with their name and address. That way, a misplaced card could rejoin its SASE faster. He suggested a post-it note.

The idea inspired me. I think those small return address stickers would fit on a post-it note. Avoid writing and rewriting your address by hand. Plus, those stickers will be easier to read than bad handwriting (such as mine!).

I asked Tom about his autograph collecting roots. He replied:

“While living in the Detroit area the Tigers won the world series in 1984 and my love for the game grew. The following season my dad taught me how to write letters (TTMs) to players on the Tigers. My favorite players were Alan Trammell and Cal Ripken Jr. I still have all those autographs today and have grown my collection 36 years later. I still send out TTMs today and enjoy the hobby very much. There is nothing like getting an autograph in the mail. I mostly collect baseball, basketball and football. I’m living in Minnesota now where hockey is very big and in-person autographs from hockey players is always fun when visiting teams play the Wild. If I have an item of someone (sports, politician, Olympian or actor) I will try to get it signed if at all possible.”

Tom’s a thoughtful collector who employs a main belief of mine: collect anybody and anything you want.

Tom’s thoughtfulness is catching. I wanted to ask all the readers if they could expand on Tom’s idea. Worthington and his wife, in their letter, noted that they were trying to develop a system to better keep track of which cards go in what envelope.

At age 91, Al Worthington deserves supportive teammates on Team TTM. I’ll mail on any other suggestions, Tom’s and otherwise, to the couple.

Lastly, there’s another message here. If someone in their 90s gets confused about keeping cards sorted, couldn’t a retiree in his 40s get mixed up, too? Try the return address post-it note for anyone you contact. Thanks again, Tom Rydel.