Garvey and Mahaffey TTM Returns and a 71 Topps Batting Leaders Purchase

It's been very quiet but that's due to the fact that I haven't sent out many requests this month.  I did get two back today though.

Steve Garvey signed his 1972 Topps high number card along with the Dodgers team card from that year.  I don't normally pay much to have team cards signed, but thought Garvey really needed to be on this one.  I wish his pen was a bit stronger.  I included $10 per card with my request.

Art Mahaffey signed a 1963 Jell-O card and a 1972 Phillies team card.  It looks like he signed the team card twice: once over the banner in the lower left of the card, and then again under Cookie Rojas' signature in the bottom of the yellow section.  Mr. Mahaffey also charges $10 per card.

It seems like more and more players are charging for their signatures.  Even the old timers.  I don't blame them.  Why spend so much time creating value for other people for free?  I suppose the volume of requests has increased significantly since I started sending out requests in 2003, and charging even $5 per probably significantly reduces that volume.

I think that if the number of players that charge today charged back in 2003, I probably would have limited my collection to a very small number of higher-tier players, and probably wouldn't have started working on any sets.

I also received a purchase from Bud's Sportscards, whose signings I used to participate in quite a bit.  I don't know if they still do signings, but I haven't seen them advertised.  Anyway, I bought a 71 Topps Batting Leaders card signed by Yastrzemski and Oliva.  I paid too much for this probably.  It was cheaper than if I sent this to each of their upcoming signings, but not by enough to consider it a bargain.

It was also part of the "Authenticity Guarantee" program on eBay, which I will try to avoid in the future. I'm not sure exactly what its purpose is, but I'm guessing it's to avoid a seller from putting a different card, no card, or a rocks in to the package and claiming it was delivered so the buyer must lying when they say they didn't get it. However, I don't think they actually verify that the autographs are authentic.  Just that I got what I agreed to buy based on the listing.  This actually caused this order to take about a month to get to me.  I already trusted Bud's Sportscards, so this was completely unnecessary.