The Detroit Red Wings can be grouped into an elite class with teams such as the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots. All are very successful franchises that have had their fair share of wins, but what puts them into the same class is for the headaches they can bring collectors.

For the past decade, these teams have consistently been extremely difficult to obtain signatures from for collectors across the country. In Minnesota, we experienced that with the toughest team in the NHL to chase, the Detroit Red Wings. We walked away with some of the stars, but it still took many tries to collect what we did.

If you ask any autograph collector who the nicest signer of all time would be, you would probably come up with a list of dozens of generous athletes and celebrities who all go out of their way to help collectors.

For every bad signer, there are plenty of great ones out there who continue to make the hobby so much fun. Yet there is still not many, if any, that are any better then the legendary John Wooden. The former UCLA head basketball coach, who is considered to be the greatest college basketball coach of all time, is far and away one of the greatest with the Sharpie, as well. The man has been as kind and gracious with his time toward fans as he has been successful on the court. Wooden guided the Bruins to seven national championships during his tenure and has four undefeated seasons on his resume.

If you are a fan of the NFL, then it was probably hard to watch the last month of the season and not root for the Washington Redskins. They rebounded from a mid-season slump to finish the season strong and make it to the NFL playoffs.
Their comeback and playoff push was fun to watch after the tragedy that happened in November when star safety Sean Taylor was murdered.

Washington was the final football team to come through Minnesota, and the entire team was quite the treat for autograph seekers. It had been a few years since the Redskins last traveled through town, and they left with us hoping they would come back soon.

With the strange current schedule alignment in the NHL, teams in the opposite conference will come to a city and then not be in town again for three years. This is a major disadvantage for autograph seekers, since it can be quite some time until another visit from these teams.

Luckily, in Minnesota, the Wild has the Atlantic Division from the NHL’s Eastern Conference on the schedule this year, which means appearances by some of the league’s superstars. One of those teams in the East that is loaded with stars is the New York Rangers. Not only do the Rangers have many veteran stars, but they also have built up a nice mixture of young talent that look to be stars for years to come.

Mordecai Brown received the name “Three Finger” because he lost part of his index finger in a corn shredder when he was 7 years old.  Against all odds, he became arguably the most dominant pitcher in the major league’s in the early 20th century. His only rival was Christy Mathewson.

Even though NFL training camps are much shorter than baseball’s spring training, it is still possible to write a letter to them during camp.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels  are on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to their willingness to sign autographs for fans at major league games.

Barry Bonds may be the new home run king, but Babe Ruth shows now signs of slowing down when it comes to clout among collectors.