Hobby Musings: Tim Virgilio, Signatures for Soldiers – Interview
Hobby Musings: Tim Virgilio, Signatures for Soldiers – Interview Transcript
Editor’s note: Some text has been changed from original audio for grammar and clarity.
KS: Hey everyone, welcome to another edition of Hobby Musings. I’m Kelsey Schroyer here with special guest today Tim Virgilio of Signatures for Soldiers. Tim, thanks for joining us.
TV: Thanks, Kelsey for having me on. Always great to talk to you. It’s great to see you again.
KS: You too man. So, there’s been some pretty big updates with SFS lately. What’s been going on with it?
TV: What hasn’t been going on? I think is the question. My wife and I made a major move, from Florida to Texas. So, that’s kind of been the big thing, our personal relocation. So, we’ve gotten back into fundraising again and, the need to help homeless and disabled veterans continues to be out there.
We still continue to get a lot of requests and that’s probably kind of the biggest news. Right now, we’re just getting ready to head to the National.
KS: Well, speaking of the National, you’ve been advertising the auction you have going on there. What more can you tell me about that?
TV: So, again this year, we’re going to partner with, Heritage Auctions. They’re going to run, they’re going to host some of our items in their weekly auction the week of the National. And then we may have some items in their platinum auction. And what Heritage is going to do is 100% of the bid price is going to come back to, Signatures for Soldiers so we can continue to help homeless and disabled veterans.
We’re getting a lot of really cool items donated right now. So we’ll probably have a good, I don’t know, 4 or 5 dozen items or so, if not more, up for auction, that week.
KS: Can you give us a little bit of a sneak peek, let us know some of the cool things you’ve gotten in so far?
TV: Yeah. So, one of our biggest supporters is Spencer Strider, pitcher for the Atlanta Braves. Unfortunately, last year he was on the I.L. because of elbow issues. But he had a pair of cleats that were made for him to wear during July 4th of last year that unfortunately, he did not wear. But he signed those and donated those to us. So, we have those.
We’ve got a whole bunch of other, Spencer Strider items, that are going to be in there. We have a really unique piece of art that was done by one of our supporters. It’s Baltimore Orioles logo that’s signed by the 2024 team. So, we’ll have that in there. And actually, probably this piece will probably be in the platinum auction.
We have a, advertisement from 1962. ‘Safe at Home’ starring, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, and it’s signed by Mickey Mantle.
KS: Oh, sweet!
TV: Yeah. Yeah. So, we’ve got some higher end stuff, and then we’ve got some stuff for the everyday collector. I always try to make sure that we kind of have the full range in there. And then we’ve got a bunch of graded cards that are going to be in there as well. We’ve had, Gary Vee was generous enough to donate a, 1993 Topps Gold, PSA ten, Derek Jeter.
So, we have that and, he also donated a PSA… I want to say a PSA nine LeBron James. So got a couple, like I said, good stuff. Sorry about that. Got some, got some cool, items that are. That’ll be up for auction and, you know, really looking forward to it.
KS: So, if anyone wanted to donate more items to the auction, what would be the best way to do so?
TV: They can reach out to me directly and have them sent directly to me. My email is signaturesforsoldiers@yahoo.com. That’s probably the easiest way. Or any of our social media or our website. That’s kind of the easiest way to get ahold of me.
KS: You touched on some of the graded cards you have for auction, shifting gears on that a little bit. Another recent announcement you made was a partnership with CGC, what more can you tell me about that?
TV: One of the things I’m always looking at is new ways to offer kind of unique items to collectors, that we can get into their hands and, just kind of fun ways to partner with a lot of the great companies that support what we do. And CGC they were kind enough that we got into some conversations and they’re now grading autographed cards for us. So basically cards that we get signed, they’re taking them. Not only are they authenticating them, they’re also grading the card and grading the autograph, which is really cool.
It’s just kind of taking it to the next step. And especially with a lot of the signers that we have it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a lot of fun to get those graded and get them into the hands of collectors.
KS: You say, ‘taking it to the next step,’ what exactly does that mean, though? Like, what do you think that means for the ability to donate, what you can get for them, and just the overall impact on Signatures for Soldiers?
TV: You’re familiar with the backstory, of Signatures for Soldiers. When I started in November of 2014, the original goal was to raise, raise $500 and really the thought process there was I was going to get cards signed and sell them for, you know, $2 or $3, maybe $5 a piece and raise, take some time, raise $500 and it’s just the natural evolution. We’ve gone from just signed cards to balls and photos to equipment to now doing unsigned cards. So, it’s just kind of that next evolution, if you will.
We have a lot of collectors who really still like the raw cards signed, that type of thing. But then, we do have a lot of collectors that like the slabbed cards. Again, it’s just kind of taking it to that next step, that next evolution of it. And obviously with that, that will allow us to raise more money. So now instead of a $20 autograph card, perhaps I get $60 for it.
Basically, what that does is it just allows us to have that much further of a reach once we raise the money to help more and more disabled and homeless veterans.
KS: You talked about the auction at the National. Are you actually going to be set up at the National this year with table and offering merchandise?
TV: Yeah, we are, we’re really excited about that again. Ripping Wax, who sponsors the Breakers Pavilion, again this year is going to be donating space to us to set up at the National. I’m planning to be there with our full inventory, and we’ll be set up in the Breakers Pavilion. As of today, I don’t know exactly where we’ll be in the Breakers Pavilion, but we’ll be there. As soon as I know the exact location obviously, I’ll share that via social media, so hopefully people can find us a little easier.
We’re looking forward to it. Obviously, every year the National is our largest fundraiser. Probably brings in two thirds of the money that we spend throughout the year. I’m excited about that. It’ll be great to kind of get back to that and see a lot of familiar faces and a lot of friends. And then also just kind of continue to get our name out about what we do. Raise awareness about issues that homeless and disabled veterans are facing.
KS: Looking a little more immediately, are you going to be set up at any other events in the near future?
TV: Between now and the National? No. Like I said, that’s our biggest fundraiser. So that’s kind of where my focus has shifted. Now that we’re less than 90 days away. But then, after that thankfully here in Texas, there’s a gentleman who runs a show. They set up twice a year at the, Texas Sports Hall of Fame in Waco, Texas. He had us there, he donated space to us a couple months ago.
The other show he’s putting on will be in October. The second weekend of October. So he’s invited us back, so we’ll be there for that. And then after that, we’re just we’re in discussions with some other folks about possibly doing some local shows and seeing what we can do. Again, just to continue to raise money and raise awareness.
KS: So as of last count, how much have you raised since starting Signatures for Soldiers?
TV: As of last count? Let’s see. It’s, we are now up over $377,000 since we started in November of 2014. At the National I’m hoping we’ll be able to pass $400,000 in total money raised at the National. So that’ll be a nice hallmark, a nice highlight to hit when we’re there.
KS: I was going to say quite a bit more than that initial $500.
TV: Just a few, just a few dollars. Even now I talk about it almost 11 years later and it’s still mind boggling that we’ve been able to do this. The people that have gotten behind it, from collectors to companies to athletes, it’s just, it’s been amazing. I’m still kind of speechless about it.
KS: Now that all sounds wonderful. Tim, hope to see you in Chicago. Thank you for joining us today.
TV: Thanks, Kelsey. I appreciate it, as always.
Hobby Musings: Tim Virgilio, Signatures for Soldiers
Kelsey’s ability to bring hobby coverage to the mainstream sports fan has been a true asset. GTS is happy to feature his thoughts on collecting in Hobby Musings. The opinions expressed are his and do not necessarily reflect those of GTS Distribution.
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