I grew up in a golden era of Pittsburgh sports - I saw the Pirates win the 1971 and 1979 World Series, and the Steelers capture four Super Bowl championships.  Not too long after that, I was able to watch the Penguins bring home two Stanley Cups.

Today, I have two young sons who are becoming as passionate about sports as their Dad.  We remain huge Pittsburgh pro sports fans (thanks to Fox Sports Net - Pittsburgh) and I'm helping my sons to enjoy sports in ways that I didn't even know about when I was a kid.  That is - the many ways available to collect sports autographs and memorabilia.  We collect stuff through the mail, in person and through the internet.  I've just really started to collect in earnest here in 2004 and am slowly building our collection.

We mostly collect Pittsburgh teams and players, but living in south-central Pennsylvania, we thoroughly enjoy heading off to watch the Harrisburg Senators and Hershey Bears.  We have had great success in collecting today's minor league prospects in person (especially players from the Senators and the Pittsburgh Pirates' AA affiliate - the Altoona Curve). 

It is such a terrific pleasure to collect autographs from minor league baseball players, especially in comparison to the difficulties I've encountered trying to collect Pittsburgh Pirates' autographs in person.  I know that signing autographs isn't something that players must do, but my sons appreciate all sports a whole lot more after meeting and talking with players while getting autographs.

One of my bigger projects that I'm taking on is trying to collect signed baseballs from as many members of the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates as I can, in addition to other baseballs signed by other notables Pirates from the past.    I've recently had a very satisfying success from one of my all-time favorites - Pirates' HOFer Bill Mazeroski on a OMLB (pictured to the left).  I've got 23 signed baseballs from that '79 team already.  The 25th anniversary reunion of that team at PNC Park this past July included a terrific autograph signing session prior to the game and it was a mob scene.  Check out my autographed baseballs from the '79 Pirates.  Thank goodness I acquired a Willie Stargell signed baseball a while ago - he died way too young.  Unfortunately, John "The Hammer" also died early and I am lacking a signed baseball from him.

I am a unabashed Mario Lemieux fan and my home office is adorned with an autographed Lemieux jersey, bobble heads, prints and other Lemieux collectibles.  I especially enjoy collecting game-used Lemieux memorabilia cards, such as the game-used complete package card pictured to the right.  Mario has long been one of my favorites and I've been following his career even before he was drafted by the Penguins.  I wish he was much more accessible for autograph collectors, but I can understand that he is no doubt wallowing in such requests. 

It's been terrific for me and my two sons to keep track of those autographs that arrive in our mailbox every so often.  It's a great way for a dad and sons to enjoy sports more together.  My boys are enthusiastic in-person collectors and they love meeting the players in person and asking for an autograph. 

I hope you'll enjoy my site and find the information here helpful to you if you are a fellow collector.  If I've had a success and you'd like information on how I was able to get that autograph, I'll be glad to share that information and consider sharing address information upon request.  I do use Harvey Meiselman's book of addresses and he's put a lot of effort into that resource and I feel collectors should support him in that endeavor. Send me an e-mail.

While I haven't been that interested in making any trades up to this point, I've finally collected enough cards to make posting a trade list worthwhile.  Please feel free to check out my trade list.  All of the items I've posted on my trade list have been collected in person by me and my sons, so you can trade with confidence knowing you're getting the genuine article.  I'm mostly interested in getting back cards from Pittsburgh sports teams, although I will consider all offers.

I'll be updating the site from time to time with my successes, both TTM and in person.  I do track my requests on SportsCollectors.net, but I'm not all that interested in posting my success rates on this site.  That's more work than I intend to do.  It's fun to make requests and share successes on the web, but doing more than that feels a lot like work.

Thanks for checking out my site and I hope you'll check back from time to time to see how my collection is growing.  If you're a fellow sports autograph collector, all the best to you as you seek to build your own collection.