Best Ways to Make Your Autograph Collection Unique

It’s easy to get trapped in the cycle of getting baseballs and mini helmets signed with HOF and ROY inscriptions. It’s only natural when you’ve seen hundreds of them on eBay and online stores.

But do you want your collection to look like something anyone could have bought on eBay? Or do you want your collection to be different, something that you put extra time into, and has a story?

I’ll expand upon some of these points in later posts, but here are four great ways to make your autograph collection unique.

• Make the item you are getting signed different. My earlier posts with Helmet Hut and the catcher’s gear are two examples.


• Get a unique inscription. Instead of getting HOF with the player’s name, try getting a score of their winning Super Bowl, gold glove numbers, or the offensive stats of their best season.


• Have a theme. MAB Celebrity does a great job at providing themed autograph shows. I was recently at the Magic Moniker show where “Pudge” Rodriguez, “Hurricane” Carter, and “The Big Unit” Randy Johnson were signing. You could also create a 500 home run club, gold glove, all star game MVP, or Super Bowl MVP collection.


• Have your item tell a story. Beckett did a story about this a year or so ago with someone who gets a story on his baseballs. For example, you could get Bobby Thompson to sign, “I got good wood on that one” and Ralph Branca to write, “Lucky shot” or something like that. I’m in the process of doing one of these with Pete Rose.
  
  The point is, to think a little differently with your autograph collection and don’t fall into a routine. Make it unique to you – you’ll probably get a lot more enjoyment out of doing it.