As long as people have collected baseball cards, people have been collecting Autographs of baseball players. Whether on baseballs, bats, jersey, photos, helmets, hats, or cards, collectors have been flocking to autographed memorabilia for years.

Signed memorabilia with uniform or hat swaths and pieces of bats have been available for several years in multiple Topps baseball card products. Autographed cards have been included in packs ever since Upper Deck randomly inserted 2,500 signed cards of Reggie Jackson in the Hi-Series of their 1990 product. These autographed Reggie Jackson cards invented what is referred to by collectors as "chase cards", the type of cards that collectors spend big money on packs just to pull.

Over 30 years later, the options for autographed cards in baseball card products has exploded. Three years ago, a 2009 Bowman Chrome Prospects Superfractor Mike Trout rookie card with a serial number of "1/1" was sold by Goldin Auctions for $3.93 million. Currently, there are multiple listings on eBay for other autographed Mike Trout cards in the four, five, and even six figure range.

However, that is not the only way to obtain your favorite player's autograph.

Have you ever sent a letter to your favorite player asking for their autograph? If the answer is yes, you aren't alone. Every year, baseball players get hundreds, sometimes thousands of letters in the mail asking for their autographs. Some players will actually take the time to personally sign cards and send them back, while others either ignore the letters altogether or have someone else sign cards for them. Either way, it can be difficult to be certain that the cards that you receive back are actually signed by the player.

Back during in the early 1990's, I took a chance and sent a letter to a player on the Mets. Sometime later, I was surprised to receive a letter back with the Mets logo on in the top left. The card I had included was not signed by the player, but they did include a small 4-by-6 photo of the player. Typed on back was a message thanking me for my interest, but due to high demand, the player couldn't respond to every letter. I packed it away and forgot about it.

Then, I read an article in Sport Illustrated For Kids about a young collector that had had quite a bit of success obtaining autographs through the mail from baseball players. I didn't have any addresses for any teams, but remembered that letter I had gotten back many years before.

Sure enough, the envelope included the address for Shea Stadium. I ended up sending letters to a handful of Mets players: Edgardo Alfonzo, Tim Bogar, Rico Brogna, Jeff Kent, Jose Vizcaino, John Franco, and a few more. About a week later, I was a bit surprised when I received a few letters addressed to me in my own handwriting. I began opening the letters and found inside the cards I had sent out requesting autographs. By including a self-addressed stamped envelope, it made it easier for the players to return the cards signed.

I did this for a few years and amassed autographed cards for nearly every player that wore a Mets uniform in the mid 1990's, as well as some of the game's biggest stars.

At the same time, there were a few products that featured facsimile signatures from contracts players signed with the baseball card manufacturers, including the Silver and Gold Signatures in packs of Upper Deck's Collector's Choice product, which would give collectors an idea of what a players signature actually looked, providing an opportunity to compare what players were sending back.

Fast forward to today, and thru the mail autographs are still a huge part of the hobby, but not just for current baseball players. However, the way collectors are obtaining thru the mail autographs has changed drastically.

Most collectors now avoid sending requests to current players in season, claiming that players in the game today are too busy to respond to autograph requests thru the mail. Instead, collectors have begun sending letters to retired players at their home address. Websites like sportscardforum.com and startiger.com provide collectors this type of information, along with the success rate of collectors and if players require a fee to sign.

Personally, there is something about sending an autograph request to a retired player's home address unsolicited that feels a bit creepy. I don't think that is something that I would feel comfortable doing.

Nonetheless, I have discovered from other collectors that former Mets like Jesse Orosco, Kevin Elster, Kevin McReynolds, and Bruce Berenyi have all returned signed cards as long as a $5.00 fee is included for each card, and there are several other former Mets, such as Bill Pulsipher, Ed Hearn, Terry Leach, and Glendon Rusch, that are open to signing through the mail. Numerous collectors now just focus collecting autographs thru the mail for players for their favorite team or to complete team sets with autographs.

Still, you take a big chance by sending autograph requests thru the mail because you never truly know if what you are receiving back is the real thing. While researching how collectors go about obtaining player's autographs thru the mail, I found one website that serves as a way to connect autograph seekers with former professional athletes.

PastPros is a company founded in 2013 by former baseball player and Met Ellis Valentine and Expos fan Colin Greer. By using PastPros, fans can send items to be signed by former players with the cost based on the type of item or you can purchase autographed memorabilia straight from the PastPros collection. They also advertise private autograph signings for former athletes where fans can mail in items to be signed.

The PastPros roster includes nearly two dozen former Mets from Bernard Gilkey, Jeromy Burnitz, and Timo Pérez to members from the 1986 Mets such as Keith Hernandez, Wally Backman, and Doug Sisk. For each former player on past pros, a price is set by the item and 100% of the cost goes directly to the player.

Do you have a baseball card of Keith Hernandez that you want signed? For $25.00, Hernandez will sign cards from the Cardinals or Mets ($35.00 for cards from Cleveland; all memorabilia from Cleveland costs more). I have found several collectors that have used PastPros, especially to obtain an autograph from Hernandez, with zero negative results.

Although sending autograph requests through the mail can be risky, you can never go wrong with meeting players in person. If you ever been to a minor league baseball game, I'm sure you've seen dozens of kids lined up to get players autographs, as well as the obligatory old "binder" guys.

I was always one of those kids with a case of cards trying to get autographs. Growing up near the Mets former AAA affiliate Tidewater/Norfolk Tides, I got my share of autographs at both Met Park and Harbor Park. From Todd Hundley and the late Chuck Carr to Generation K to Rey Ordóñez and Carl Everett, summers at the ballpark on the Elizabeth River in downtown Norfolk was always a great time.

Living near a AAA affiliate also had some added perks, and not just seeing the guys from the Mets on rehab assignments. The best part was when the Mets would make their yearly trip to Norfolk for an exhibition game. Whether it was Dennis Cook playing second base, Mookie Wilson pinch hitting, or Dwight Gooden winning the Home Run Derby, the players would sign autographs for nearly an hour before the game would start. As fun as those games were, none compared to the game that was a week after the Mets acquired Mike Piazza.

Those types of opportunities are not available for everyone, but meeting players in person at local card shows are always worth the time. Card shows are a great way to get autographs of players you may be interested in. There is always a cost involved, some payers will chat with you briefly and may indulge you with your request for a picture with them. Some of these conversations with the players may be a bit eye opening. One former Mets player that played for the team in the mid to late 1990's very openly discussed their hatred for Bobby Valentine and Steve Phillips, and went so far as to say that Valentine forced Phillips to trade former outfielder Lance Johnson refused to take more walks after hitting over .330 (Johnson hit .333 with a .362 OBP in 1996 and was traded to the Chicago Cubs during the 1997 season). Another former Mets player claimed after being complimented on his signature that "kids today no longer know how to write their names because of computers." Then there is recent Mets Hall of Fame inductee Howard Johnson that wore his 1986 World Series ring and seemed genuinely surprised to be asked about his grandson's recovery from multiple foot surgeries from a freak accident. You really never know how former players will react to questions or what they will even say.

Of course, you always have the option of purchasing autographed cards or memorabilia from places like eBay. Although these can also be risky purchases, the dearth of certified autographs on the market makes it easier to compare an autograph that you are purchasing to the real thing. There are also multiple eBay sellers with listings for autographed cards that includes a Certificate of Authenticity, eliminating much of the risk from buying on eBay.

There are always more traditional ways of obtaining autographs. Numerous websites, including MLB.com, sell autographed memorabilia, however, at a steep price. Current players will also make autograph appearances during the season, some with exorbitant costs for an autograph. There really is no right or wrong way to go about obtaining autographs.