Brant Alyea Return

As I mentioned yesterday, I received a nice return from Brant Alyea.  I sent him a 1972 Topps, a 1970 John Wheeldon print and $10.  He was kind enough to sign both of those items and also included a signed 1971 Topps for me.  He wrote a short note answering my question about his career after baseball and noting that since I was from Minnesota, I needed a card of him as a Twin, which is why he gave me the 1971 Topps.  How nice of him!

I'm pretty surprised that any players bother signing cards and returning them, much less when I come across a player who reads the letters, answers them, and even includes extras.  I once sent a letter to Johnny Schmitz and included 5 dollars since I was sending him four cards to sign.  Not only did he sign those four cards, he also included 4 signed 8x10s which he sent back in his own envelope and paid the extra postage.  Amazing.

Mr. Alyea hit a home run in his first major league at bat.  He had a great year in 1970.  According to baseballibrary.com, he played in just 94 games and hit 16 home runs with 61 RBI and a .291 BA.

I need to get going on these Wheeldon prints.  I have five of the 12 signed and can easily get some more including Luis Tiant, Killebrew (TwinsFest), Ron Perranoski, George Mitterwald, Rich Reese and Leo Cardenas.  Cesar Tovar is the only one of the twelve not still with us.