About that Max Muncy post...

Within these hobbies – card collecting and through-the-mail autograph collecting (I’m a member of both groups) – there’s a lot of discussion, and some very ugly takes on the following Max Muncy post:

That is an absurd amount of autograph requests. Somewhere in the stack of envelopes, there’s one from me.

A few quick thoughts:

Muncy is absolutely within his right to not sign from home. Since his post, many TTMers have taken a “disrespectful to his fans” view or have posted that Muncy is ungrateful. That’s nonsense. It only fuels the narrative that we’re entitled harassers.

TTM senders are not stalkers. The more popular sentiment is – in defense of Muncy – that mail to an athlete’s home is a gross violation of privacy; with some, like social media lunatic Aubrey Huff, going as far as to liken TTMers to stalkers.

I wouldn’t dream of harassing a famous face in public. And the senders didn’t have to shadily sleuth for Muncy’s address.

This was very avoidable. Most of that stack of fan mail – certainly my own – was sent because Muncy was responding to TTM requests to his home. If I had an athlete’s home address, but he didn’t reply to other TTMers, I would respect his clear desire not to be bothered and not send. But that’s not the case here: Muncy had been signing through the mail for a solid month after the season. My Twitter and Facebook feeds have showcased many successful returns.

That seems to me like a clear Opt In; an invitation to others. If Muncy doesn’t want to be bothered outside the stadium – as it’s his right – he can simply not reply to requests made to his home. Take Huff’s advise and toss them in the trash. TTMers will get the message.

(According to SCN, Huff too used to sign through the mail via his home).

This is why we can’t have nice things. Back to the Muncy’s original post… that is an absurd amount of requests.

I was excited when I saw Muncy returns coming back. It was an opportunity to get one of my favorite cards of 2019 signed.

Alas, we took advantage of a nice thing and ruined it. Even while Muncy was signing I see on SCN people sending 3+ cards. We bombarded him with an absurd number of requests. We deserve to lose him.

It’s unfortunate. I’ll have to replace that Muncy Stadium Club card. Then again, the first rule of TTMing is not to send anything you might not get back.

May I suggest a second rule: don’t abuse the athletes that make this hobby possible.