![Can you ever have enough of these? By Evan-amos (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.baseballbytheletters.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/256px-Sharpie-marker-types.jpg)
Just in case you’ve escaped every commercial and advertisement during August…
It’s Back to School Time.
Sharpies. Index cards. Post-it Notes.
All kinds of supplies are available at great prices. EVERYWHERE.
Don’t let kids have all the fun. Remember, our hobby is educational, too!
Babe Ruth may have hit 714, but Bill “Billy” Pierce signed just as many.
The former hurler, a major leaguer from 1945-64, died last week at age 88. The ever-impressive www.sportscollectors.net credited Pierce for signing 95 percent of requests, a coincidental 714. His 95 percent success rate would have been higher, but his final replies were logged for May. Plus, a few collectors seemed to realize that the senior signing machine might not crank out autographs forever.
Here’s what Mr. Pierce shared with “Baseball By The Letters” in 2010.
![Reggie greets his public in 2008. By Rubenstein (Reggie Jackson) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.baseballbytheletters.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Flickr_-_Rubenstein_-_Reggie_Jackson.jpg)
Guilt by association?
Some collectors have despaired after the headlines of Reggie Jackson confronting a supposed autograph hound/possible dealer.
The odds are stacking against real fans, honest collectors and sincere researchers.
Our only hope?
Stand out.
Don’t look or sound like them, whether it’s in-person or in the letter you send.
There may be more at stake than your own success.
No called third strike. Brad Balukjian went down swinging.
However, was it really strike three?
The author gave a Hall of Fame effort trying to get a conversation from Carlton Fisk. That’s an effort any collector or letter-writing researcher can find inspiration from.
Mr. Fisk, give Mr. Wax Pack a chance!
This adventure keeps getting epic-er and epic-er.
Change is coming.
Baseball won’t remain an all-male sport forever.
Change is happening fast. America’s women’s baseball team is stunning world competition in the Pan Am Games. One of the mainstays on the team, Tamara Holmes, played previously for the Colorado Silver Bullets, managed by Phil and Joe Niekro.
Another (Sarah, the daughter of former pitcher John Hudek) has earned an NCAA baseball scholarship. Yes, MEN’S baseball.
I predict women’s baseball will become an Olympic sport. There will be baseball cards to get autographed. These are not mere players. They are pioneers.
Don’t be surprised when you learn of an American women’s professional baseball league, either.
It happened before.