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Bill Havel ~  Owner  ~   At HOF Sports, we specialize in pre-certified 8x10 autographed photos of Hall-of-Fame players.  We buy from our network of reputable dealers, at auctions and at in-person signings. Because of the rampant autograph fraud  that has plagued our industry, we have decided to specialize in pre-certified items. Most of our items are certified by leading authenticators such as: PSA/DNA, Global GAI, JSA/Spence & Tri-Star. This pre-certification helps to protect your investment.  You may pay a little more – but you are assured you that your autographs are genuine. All of our autographed photos are guaranteed 100% – for life. Our eBay UserID is  hof-sport(sales@hof-sports.com)( 4693) . How It All Started Hello.  My name is Bill Havel, and I live in Clarkston, Michigan. I have been collecting sports autographs since 1953.  I started when I was about 12 years old.  In those days, a U.S. postage stamp only cost 3 cents ! During my free time, I would sit down and write 10-20 letters to professional sports players asking for their autograph (I often enclosed 1 or 2 of their Topps cards, a newspaper photo, or a blank 3x5 index card). I always sent the mail c/o their team at their stadium address. Most responded generously by signing my item(s), and many enclosed an autographed photo (postcard size).  The 8x10 photo was not common then. Trips to the Ballpark In the summer, my buddies and I would take the bus down to old Tiger Stadium a couple of times each week.  We would always purchase outfield bleacher seats (they were the cheapest seats, about 75 cents), and get down there about 2 hours before game time. During batting practice, we would always get 2-3 balls each game.  After the games, we would hang out in the stadium's players parking lot – waiting for the players to come out.  We usually got 5-6 autographs that way. Fire Destroys Collection There was a fire at our home in 1974 – and I lot most of my autograph collection (hundreds of autographs) ... and, of course, I had no insurance on my valuable collection. Re-Building My Collection Since then, I have been re-building my collection of sports autographs.  Many of my signed items are personalized "To Bill ...", etc.  Most I will never part with, and you will not find them in my eBay store.  I am running this store because I am retired now, love sports of all kinds, and really enjoy buying/selling sports memorabilia with other collectors. Looking for Something ? If there is a player that you are looking for, let us know, as we have many autographed photos in our inventory that are not posted in our store. Political Autographs My brother, Jim, has been collecting political autographs and memorabilia for 50 years. You can browse his website for political items at: HavelsHouseOfHistory.com. Thank you  for visiting our eBay Store – and we hope to see you again soon.

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