Hank Aaron will forever be remembered by baseball fans as the man who broke Babe Ruth's all time home run record. He is a figure who has many fans, and many enemies (those angry with him for breaking Ruth's sacred record for instance). Aaron's home run record was surpassed just a few years ago by Barry Bonds (although many still consider Aaron the rightful record holder because he was never linked to performance enhancing drugs the way Bonds has been).
Today I recieved the above photo - a quite striking black and white image of Aaron's historic home run. It is signed - but sadly, this signature is just a printed autograph. I did not receive my original 3x5 note card back, nor did I receive this item in my SASE.
I have mixed feelings about this one. For starters, its been weeks since I received my last through the mail autograph, so it was quite a thrill to get some mail today. I've also read plenty of web forums that indicate that Aaron does NOT sign through the mail and any signature you get back will no doubt be a fake. This one is somewhere in between. It appears to be his actual signature, but it is clearly a mass produced item that Hammerin' Hank certainly did not sign.
I've come to realize that I appreciate whenever I get at least something back in the mail. Whether it is a price list showing what it costs for an autograph, or just a fan photo, I appreciate that something is sent to me. Currently I've got 25 requests sent out that I do not know if I will ever see again. That sense of unknowing is sort of scary in a collection like this. Did my mail get lost? Did the player simply throw away my request? Is their stack of incoming mail so large that I may receive something a few years from now?
Sadly, I have no way of knowing.
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