Friday, September 30, 2011

1965 Twins World Series Tickets

Today I received a couple of Ebay purchases: Twins tickets to the 1965 World Series, games 1 and 2.

I don't know much about collecting vintage tickets, but these will go well in my 1965 Twins display case with the banners, bobblehead, signed balls and pictures.


They're punched with "Void" on them.  Apparently they are "proofs".  I'm assuming that means they were test prints before they printed the real ones.  I've seen the actual tickets go for a couple hundred dollars.  I didn't pay anywhere near that much, I'm sure because these aren't "real" tickets.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

My Last Joe Nathan Autograph?

We had great seats to the Twins game last night.  Dangerous, but nice.  The line drives come pretty quick right above the dugout!

My older son got a ball tossed to him by Trevor Plouffe after the first inning as he was heading back into the dugout.  Thanks Trevor!  Plouffe ended up being the hero of the game, knocking in the winning run.  I think my son will get Plouffe to sign that ball at TwinsFest next year.

Before the game, Joe Nathan was signing autographs by the dugout.  We weren't prepared for autographs so we had nothing to have him sign.  However, I did get a 2011 Topps Heritage in the mail from Joe yesterday as well. The Twins have an option for Nathan next year but it's not a guarantee that they'll exercise it.  I may have gotten my last Joe Nathan autograph.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

June 16, 1967 - Cleveland 2, Twins 1 in 10 Innings

I'm waiting on a few ttm returns from some Twins before the season ends.  I sent to Capps, Nathan and Pavano back on the 12th of September, hoping these decent ttm signers would send a few back before the season ends.  So far, nothing.

A few weeks ago I visited The Ballpark in Apple Valley and bought a few vintage scorecards.  One of those included this score card from the Cleveland Indians versus the Twins.

The date was June 16th, 1967.  It was my Mom's birthday.  She was about 8 months pregnant with me.  The Monterey Pop Festival opened in California and the Twins lost to the Indians 2-1 in 10 innings.



The Twins only run came on a Rod Carew home run in the 6th inning.  Killebrew was 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.  Jim Merritt pitched nine good innings for the Twins, striking out six and walking two, giving up just one run.  Al Worthington came in for the 10th and struck out one, but gave up three hits to lose the game.


Luis Tiant, then with the Indians, pitched all 10 innings for the Tribe, striking out nine and walking one.  He gave up eight hits but just one run.  No wonder the Twins acquired him for the 1970 season.



You can see the entire box score here.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Vern Law and More Paid Signing Returns

A full mailbox today for once. First, I got a great return from Vern Law, who signed a 1961 Sports All Stars magazine. He also added a couple of inscriptions which I didn't even request. How nice! I included $10 with my request.



I got back three more cards from Chris Potter signings.

Richie (Dick) Allen signed a 1965 Topps.


Denny McLain signed a 1972 Topps.


And Ralph Kiner signed a 1949 Bowman.




I haven't received my 1991 Twins bobblehead set yet so I called the Twins.  They said I should get it the first week in October.  Bummer.  Terry Leach is signing this weekend in Roseville and I was hoping to get him to sign his.  He hasn't done a signing here before so who knows when I'll see him again.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Willie Kirkland Return From Paid Signing

Today I added a couple of very tough cards to my 1958 and 1965 Topps sets.  Chris Potter Sports had a signing with Willie Kirkland.  I have been watching for an opportunity to get these cards signed for several years so I'm very happy to finally get these done. 


I haven't made much progress on either of these sets this year.  I'll have to take another look at my sets and see if there are more I can go after.

You can see my 1958 set here.

And my 1965 set here.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Returns Starting to Come Back

I sent out a few requests last week and now they're coming back.

Yesterday I received a 1952 Sport Magazine signed by Al Dark.  I included $10 with my request.


Yesterday I also received a couple of 1972 Topps rookie cards.  Bob Reynolds signed his card, already signed by Jerry Bell (the card has the pictures of Bell and Porter switched, so he signed his picture).


And Tom Ragland signed a 1972 Topps already signed by Bill Fahey.


Today I received a 1958 Topps signed by Charles "Whammy" Douglas.  I already have this card signed by him, but he had been a very tough signer for years and I had an extra card laying around so I sent it out.  I included $5 with my request.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Bobby Valentine - 1972 Topps

I received another 1972 Topps in the mail on Friday.  Bobby Valentine signed his card for me in a little over two months.


I went to a couple of Twins games this weekend, Friday night and this afternoon.  The weather wasn't great but tolerable.  The Twins played pretty poorly.  Jason Repko got beaned which was pretty scarey.  I think it's time for the season to be over.

A Rainy Day at Target Field

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Nick Punto Return

I was really surprised to see a return in my mailbox today since I just sent out a few requests this week for the first time in several weeks.

I was more surprised to see who it was from.  Nick Punto, who isn't a very good ttm signer.  I sent to him last April after seeing a success posted on sportscollectors.net.  I had long ago given up on this one, but was happy to see that he signed all three of my Topps Heritage cards from 2008, 2009 and 2010.




The Twins could sure use Punto these days.  He's been hurt a lot this year, but his batting average is about .268 and his defensive is excellent, something the Twins have struggled with lately.

Punto's 2010 Heritage brings me up to 10 signed from the Twins set for that year.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

A Few Purchases - Bauer, Scheib and Williams

I received a few Ebay purchases yesterday and today.

First, I bought a couple of PSA/DNA authenticated 1953 Topps signed by Carl Scheib and Davey Williams.  I bought each of these for about the cost of having them authenticated.



I also received a Ron Lewis print signed by Hank Bauer.  I haven't seen this type of portrait before.  It's dated 1990.  It's a glossy picture printed on photo paper, as opposed to card stock like the other Lewis sets I've seen.  Bauer was a great signer through the mail before his passing in 2007.


Thursday, September 08, 2011

Autographed 1954 Topps

I haven't posted for a while because I haven't had anything to post about.  I haven't sent out a request since July 26th!  I've been terribly busy at work, and my sons and I have been trying to squeeze in a summer's worth of golf between the end of their summer baseball season and the beginning of their fall ball season.

Since I don't have anything new to post about, I thought I'd post about some of my favorite signed cards: 1954 Topps.

I've got about 125 of these cards signed.  Some of my favorites include Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Duke Snider and Phil Rizzuto.  I got Snider, Ford and Rizzuto through the mail, and sent the Berra in to a paid signing.

 

Other great players from this set include Monte Irvin, Bob Turley, Hank Bauer and Bobby Shantz.




Although we've lost a lot of players form this set over the last few years, there are still a lot of very good through the mail signers so don't wait, start collecting this set!