Five TTM Successes Today

Apparently logging in and viewing the Informed Delivery web site the evening before is more accurate than the daily email I receive.  As I mentioned in my last post, the web site showed five sases yesterday evening while this morning's email only showed four.

I also received a George Brett baseball that I bought from a fellow SCN member.  It has the Brett hologram, which I didn't know existed prior to buying this ball.  Brett is signing the first weekend in March and is charging $250 to sign a ball.  I paid $80, which I thought was a pretty good deal.  It seems pretty common these days for signings' prices to be significantly more than you can find items already signed.  

On to the ttm successes:

Roy (Elroy) Face, who would probably be a first-year ttm Hall of Fame inductee if there were such a thing, signed his 1954, 1956 and 1958 Topps for me nicely in blue sharpie.  He doesn't request a fee, but much like Bobby Shantz, I think collectors just appreciate how reliable he is and how nicely he signs, so most people include some type of payment.  I included $10. He still signs if you don't include a fee.

I already have these cards signed by Mr. Face, but I really miss sending out and receiving vintage cards.

Tito Fuentes signed his 1971, 1972, 1972 in action and 1975 Topps for his $5 per card fee.  There is a note on his profile on SCN that says as of August of 2023, his fee is $10 per card.  But, looking at the other requests, people kept sending $5 per and he kept signing.  It's not uncommon to see an attempt at a price change that people don't stick to, including the player.  If the player really wants to raise their prices, they need to be willing to refuse requests that don't include enough and return them with a note highlighting their new prices.

Jerry Koosman signed the 1970 Topps Mets team card I've been working on for a while, as well as his 1978 Topps for his $10 per card fee.  Now that I think about it, this was an expensive group of cards!

The Mets team card now includes:

• Duffy Dyer
• J.C. Martin
• Al Weis
• Bobby Pfeil
• Rod Gaspar
• Ron Swoboda
• Wayne Garrett
• Jerry Koosman
• Ed Kranepool

The question is, do I send this team card to Nolan Ryan for $75?  I'm leaning towards no, but I might change my mind.

Tom (Tommie) Reynolds signed his 1964, 1965 and 1971 Topps as well as the 1972 Angels team card.  I will send the 64 Topps to Dave Duncan. 

The 1965 and 1971 Topps are upgrades to a request I sent back in 2006, where the pen he used seems a bit translucent, almost as if the signatures are fading.  

Finally, Gary Waslewski signed his 1971 and 1972 Topps as well as the 1972 Yankees team card previously signed by Stan Bahnsen and Ron Hansen.  Mr. Waslewski charges $5 per autograph, or 3 for $10.  He also included a couple pictures which he also signed for me.

Friday's and Saturday's Returns

I haven't gotten today's mail yet but according to Informed Delivery, I should have four or five returns.  Last night when I checked the web site, it showed five of my sases, but in the email I received this morning, it only shows four.  So, we'll see.

I was away from home Friday and returned Saturday, but I know which returns arrived on which day thanks to the Informed Delivery emails.

I received four returns on Friday, including Rich Folkers, Tom Egan, Jim Willis and George Foster.

I hadn't sent the 1971 Topps of Folkers/Martinez and Matlack before, so I'm knocking another card of my set list.  I will send it to Matlack next.  Martinez only has three attempts on SCN, with zero successes.  But, he has done some private signings as recently as 2023 so maybe I can send it into a signing to complete it after Matlack.

The '71 I got back from Tom Egan is a nice upgrade over the one he signed in black four years ago.  The White Sox team card was one that I bought with eight signatures on it already and Egan is the only one I've added to it ttm.

Here's the 1971 Topps he signed for me previously:

Jim Willis signed what I think is his only Topps card, from 1954.  I already had this card signed by him from 2016.  His signature is quite shaky, but this one seems a little bit better than the first one.  He used the same type of pen.

Here's my return from 2016:

    

George Foster signed the 1979 Home Run and RBI Leaders cards, which will be sent on to Jim Rice next.  

On Saturday, I received a return from Rick Cerone, who only signs one card at a time.  I was surprised I hadn't sent to him in over two years.  This time, he signed a 1982 Topps for me.

Also on Saturday, Ed Romero signed four cards from the '80's for the sets I like to work on.  I had not written to Mr. Romero before, so I also added another player to my collection.

I will post today's returns in while.

Three TTM Returns - LaRoche, Pritchard, and Stinson

I received three ttm successes today.

Dave LaRoche, who is a very reliable and generous signer, signed his 1971, 1974, 1977 and 1982 Topps.  While the cards were signed with a blue sharpie, the pen is starting to run out of ink, so his signature appears a bit faded.  You can even guess the order in which he signed, based on how light the signatures get.  I think he signed in this order: 1971, 1982, 1974 and then the 1977 last.  Working on the 1982 Topps set is what prompted me to send to Mr. LaRoche, although his is the only one I got from that set today.

89-year-old Buddy Pritchard signed his 1958 Topps as well as the Pirates' team card from the same year.  He actually played for the Pirates in 1957, which is the team that the 1958 Topps team card is commemorating.  That's how the team cards work, which can be quite confusing. 

The '58 Topps is Mr. Pritchard's only individual Topps card.  He played in 23 games in 1957 at the age of 21, with just one hit in 12 plate appearances, which was not nearly enough game time for him to show off what he could do.

He signed another 1958 Topps for me nearly 19 years ago.  He signed that one in ballpoint, so today's return is a nice upgrade.  

His is the 9th signature on the team card, joining:

• Johnny O'Brien
• Bob Skinner
• Bill Virdon
• Bennie Daniels
• Vern Law
• Bill Mazeroski
• Elroy Face
• Bob Smith

The only player left that is even a remote possibility of signing this card is Ken Hamlin, who was an automatic signer until a couple months ago.  He has a history of occasionally taking a few months, or even a few years, to return requests.  I don't want to try to stomach that kind of wait on this card, so I probably won't send this team card on to him.  He hasn't done a mail-in signing in nearly 13 years, so that's probably not going to be an option either.

Finally, Bob Stinson signed his 1972 Topps nicely in blue sharpie.  This is the first time I have gotten this card signed and I was wondering why, because I've been going pretty hard after this set, and he's a very reliable signer.  But then I remembered that his is a high-number card, and he charges $10 per card, so I've been avoiding the expense.  I should probably get over it and send these types of cards out now or it'll be too late, and I'll regret it.  

Bob Fenwick is still with us but is not a reliable signer.  The last posted success from him on SCN was in May of 2022.  He only has a 33% success rate posted there as well, so I won't be risking this card by mailing it to him.  It doesn't appear he's done any private signings that were posted on SCN either.  I'll add this card to the ever-growing stack of cards by my desk that are only signed by one player despite having two or more players on the card, and hope some opportunity comes up in the future.

I sent out some cards for mail-in signings today, including Randy Jones, Steve Stone and Dave Stewart.  I'm caught up on mailing the cards for all the signings to which I'm committed.  I sent six cards for Randy Jones, and just one card each for the other two players.

Billy Wagner Purchase

No ttm returns today, but I added another Hall of Famer to my collection with a Billy Wagner 2009 Topps Heritage purchase form a fellow SCN (sportscollectors.net) member.

I sent off the last of the mail-in signings I've committed to, so I just need to sit back and wait from them to start rolling in.  Most of them occur the weekend of February 22 with a few in early March.  20 signings in all!  I really need to back off or I'm going to go broke.  I'm pretty excited to get these back though.  There will be a lot to help fill holes in or upgrade my 1972 Topps set.

A couple are outside the U.S. with a promoter traveling around to visit players at their homes.  The timing of these is always difficult to predict so you just have to be patient.  A few U.S.-based ones are another promoter who has a relationship with some players but it's very informal, and he will try to align schedules as he travels and hopes that by the time he's in the player's town, they still feel like signing.  These are players that don't normally sign their mail or do public signings, so getting their autographs is pretty difficult.

I have a few bobbleheads out to these signings, but it's mostly cards. For some signings, I sent in a single card, and for others, I sent in 10 (when the pricing favors getting more signed).  I probably have about 50 cards out and four bobbleheads.

Four Returns Today - Clancy, Estelle, Mura and Saberhagen

Four returns today to start the week.

Jim Clancy signed four 80's cards for me.

Dick Estelle signed a 1965 Topps already signed by Murakami.  The last one I got from him got stuck to the envelope flap and resulted in a little paper loss. He also signed a couple Giants team cards.

Steve Mura, who I wrote to for the first time, signed his 1979, 1980, 1982 and 1983 Topps.

And Bret Saberhagen signed a 1972 Topps Babe Ruth Award card already signed by Frank Viola for his $10 fee.