Contents: Baseball, Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame; The philosophy of collecting; The history of writing materials; The autograph collector's language; Acquiring baseball autographs; Autograph variations; Forgery detection; Collection organisation and display; Autograph preservation; Hobby ethics; Baseball autograph values; Collecting Hall of Fame plaque postcards; Collecting Perez-Steele postcards; Collecting autographed baseballs; Collecting autographed bats; Hall of Fame autographed gallery; Gallery of Superstars; Market update and current trends; Footnotes; National Baseball Hall of Fame Members; Frequently requested addresses.

Provides a complete analysis on how to recognize authentic autographs and expose forgeries. Learn how to authenticate and price the autographs that interest you with insights from Mark Allen Baker. Variations also shown for signatures.

Completely revised and updated, this new edition provides entries for all players, managers, coaches, and umpires from the 1910 through the 1998 Major League baseball seasons. Players are presented by Major League debut year in alphabetical order, each listing features a player's current mailing address, last known address, or date and place of death. Smalling also offers a section on how to collect autographs as well as a glossary of terms.

This second edition handbook provides readers with advice on obtaining autographed baseball memorabilia (balls, bats, photos, etc.), whether through in-person or through the postal service. It also provides insight into the booming online market for memorabilia, with information on online auctions as well as working with fellow online collectors. The author discusses designing a personalized memorabilia room and display, in addition to the most successful ways to authenticate memorabilia and a handy guide to acquiring the signatures of each living member of the Hall of Fame.

"With over 57,000 entries, this two-volume set is the most comprehensive non-electronic, non-database, print bibliography on any American sport. Represented here are books and monographs, scholarly papers, government documents, doctoral dissertations, masters' theses, poetry and fiction, novels, pro team yearbooks, college and professional All-Star Game and World Series programs, commercially produced yearbooks, and periodical and journal articles"--Provided by publisher.