This Rod Carew signing return took quite a while to get back. The signing was completed in mid-December but it took a while to get the two items I wanted authenticated done.
I am pretty disappointed with the results, too. I guess Mr. Carew's health is just too poor to provide a good signature. The last time I sent in something for him to sign, I sent in bobbleheads. The results were poor, including some smearing, but I chalked that up to bobbleheads being more difficult to sign than a flat item.
The first item I pulled out of the package was the second Grand Slam print I've had him sign (different images). The signature is very thick and all the letters sort of run together. I had requested that a blue sharpie be used, but this looks even thicker than a regular sharpie. I'm glad I got this authenticated. I don't have any plans to sell it, but if someday I change my mind, or if my kids sell it after I'm gone, I can see some people questioning its authenticity.
I also sent in four cards. The first one was his 1967 Topps rookie card. A real splurge for me. Luckily, there was no upcharge to sign rookies at this signing, but I set my all-time high record for the price of a card. This one actually turned out quite nicely, and if I could choose just one to turn out, this would obviously be it. So, I'm very happy with this one.
The next three cards were meant to be upgrades over my current ones. My current ones are fine, except they are all signed in black. I've posted my current signed copy of the card after the new ones below. I could have saved myself hundreds of dollars (yes, hundreds), if only I had made sure he used a blue sharpie when he signed my first cards at TwinsFest years ago. So much regret.
You can see how they turned out. Not great. The 1972 Topps cards are high numbers and I splurged on graded cards (which graded as a 7 PSA and 7.5 SGC). The In Action card is okay, I'm just not thrilled with the placement. I had a sticky note at the top of the card asking that he signed across his legs.
The 2008 Goudey also isn't too bad, and I guess it's as good as I could hope for given the current state of his signature. I can't decide which one I like better.
I guess I am left feeling very underwhelmed by this return, which cost me a lot despite the reasonable signing fee. I had considered selling my old copies to help fund these replacements. But now, I can't decide which are better and think I'd regret selling any of them. Maybe I'll look for signed copies to replace all of these with and sell these to help.
I think I am done sending in to any of Carew's signings. I think his signature suffers even more when he's sitting down and cranking out hundreds at a time. From this point forward, I will try to purchase anything I need already signed. Even if it's a newer signature, you will know exactly what you're getting rather than rolling the dice on sending it in.
Despite the overall negative tone of this post, I am really happy to add his rookie card to my collection. A couple years ago I would probably have told you that I'd never own one because it's too expensive. But, I've loosened the purse strings quite a bit as I consider how much I will regret not adding these types of pieces to my collection after these players pass away.
I also received a few cards back from a Craig Swan signing. He signs through the mail for a small fee. I paid a few dollars more per card by sending in to this signing, in hopes that I get a good blue sharpie signature. His history on SCN shows a lot of ballpoint and black sharpie signatures.
And finally, I bought four cards from Twins-Collector-Extraordinaire, Randy, including a nice 78 Topps Gene Mauch and a beautiful 1971 Topps Red Schoendienst. (True collectors can spell "Schoendienst" and "Yastrzemski" from memory. I still struggle with "Pierzynski" and "Mientkiewicz" though.).
The 61 Pagliaroni and 63 Landrum help fill some holes in my set collections.
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