Failure #26: Craig Biggio

One of the more recent members of the Hall of Fame, catcher/infielder/outfielder Criag Biggio, apparently does not accept forwarded mail. I sent this request to the Hall, which was then forwarded to the Astros organization, who labeled it RTS which sent it back to me several days later. 

After the most recent inductions I sent out another wave of TTM requests. Only time will tell if any are successful!

Failure #25: Pedro Martinez

One of the newest members of the Hall of Fame, pitcher Pedro Martinez, apparently does not accept forwarded mail. I sent this request to the Hall, only to get it back in the mail several days later. The upside is that I also sent out 7 other requests to the Hall, and none of them have come back to me as unsuccessful attempts (so far).

Failure #23: Ozzie Smith (again)

I already made the mistake of trying to contact Ozzie Smith through the Baseball Hall of Fame, but for some reason I forgot to look in my notes for that bit of information and foolishly sent off a through-the-mail request last week. Hopefully I have learned my lesson.

Failure #20: Ernie Banks

Another day, another unsuccessful attempt at getting an autograph through the mail.

This time it was a RTS (return to sender) from Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks. I'm not sure if I have the wrong address, or if he is just not willing to sign or open small stuff these days.

Failure #19: Ralph Kiner

Just like Stan Musial (but in a different way), I received my second failure from the same player when Ralph Kiner sent me back my envelope marked with Return to Sender on it.

Like Musial, I will take the hint, and stop trying. My last Kiner failure was also a RTS... Oh well.

Failure #14: Ralph Kiner

Ralph Kiner is the 6th oldest living Hall of Famer out there.  He has a storied career and has even spent time in the broadcast booth as an announcer for the New York Mets.

Today i got a somewhat curious envelope return.  You see, I had originally addressed this envelope to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.  They received it and then covered up the address with a personal address for Mr. Kiner.  It then arrived in Florida and was marked "Return" in bright blue ink, and proceeded to be sent back to Pasadena to my mailbox.

Wow.

My first thought was that Kiner had pulled the same move as his fellow Hall of Famer, Red Schoendienst (remember the detective work I did?), but a Google search seemed to reveal that this envelope was most likely not written on by Mr. Kiner.

Anyway, this is my 14th failure to only 12 successes.  I'm craving something good to show up in the mail soon.

Failure #11: Ozzie Smith

Yesterday I was super excited to see that two of my envelopes had returned, and saddened to find that both were failures.  Ozzie Smith - all star shortstop, Hall of Famer, and acrobatic player - "DOES NOT ACCEPT FORWARDING" (see the two stamps on the envelope?).

I had heard a rumor that this was true from another website, so this was far from unexpected, but it is still disappointing to see another failure in my quest to get an autograph from every living Hall of Famer.

Failure #7: Red Schoendienst

As previously mentioned, we were away on vacation for a week.  We returned home to a big pile of mail - including three envelopes from players who I have recently tried to obtain autographs from.  I'll share the other two over the next few days.

I wasn't expecting much when I sent out the letter request to Mr. Schoendienst - apparently his health is in decline, and many autograph seekers had shared that he was no longer signing through the mail.  I tried anyway, hoping for the best, but after waiting for a few weeks, I got back this "Refused, Return to Sender" letter.

Sad, but I guess it is what I had expected.

Failure #5: Bruce Sutter

Ugh.  The string of failures continued today with the arrival of a Return To Sender from Bruce Sutter.  This was only the second time I've received one of these.  At least when a player sends back a request for money you know that it arrived at the right place.  This one however, leads me to believe that either the address I have is wrong, or Mr. Sutter just isn't accepting mail right now.

Failure #1: Bill Mazeroski

This was the first failed attempt at an autograph.  I received this letter in my mail box 13 days after it was originally sent.  Bill Mazeroski apparently does not accept fan mail at his address.  The envelope was unopened and marked RETURN TO SENDER.  I had heard that some people will return your SASE with a price list requesting that if you want an autograph, you need to pay.  Apparently "Maz" just isn't signing through the mail these days.