Wade Boggs (!) and Others

I was out of town this week and came home to several returns.

First, I've seen a lot of Wade Boggs returns posted on SCN over the last several weeks so I jumped in and sent off my request (along with a donation to a children's hospital).  He signed a 1987 Topps and 2008 Goudey.

Roy Sievers signed his 1959 Topps.

Tom Kelley signed a 1967 Topps.

Bud Daley signed his 1961 and 1962 Topps.

Finally, I added another Twin to my Topps Heritage collection.  Craig Monroe signed his 2008 card.  Mr. Monroe is doing some broadcasting with Fox in Detroit these days.

Broglio, Wright and Brewer

I received an old request as well as two recent ones over the last couple of days.

I received a few cards back from Clyde Wright that I sent last October.  He signed three of the four cards I sent.  I hope to complete the 1971 ERA Leaders card.  Segui signs through the mail and I'll get Palmer at a mail in show.  Wright also his 1972 and 1973 Topps.

Ernie Broglio signed 1961 Topps card of National League 1960 Wins Leaders.  Spahn and Burdette have passed away, but I'll send it off to Vern Law.

Finally, Tom Brewer signed his 1956 Topps for me.

Liam Hendriks - 2012 Topps Heritage

I recently purchased a 2012 Topps Heritage signed by Liam Hendriks from a fellow member of sportscollectors.net.

Hendriks is doing well at AAA Rochester, but didn't do too well when he pitched for the Twins earlier this season.  Maybe we'll see him again this year.

This card joins my Revere and Marquis signed cards from this set.  I hope to add Willingham in a few weeks.

1970 Twins Yearbook

I recently bought a 1970 Twins Yearbook on Ebay that was "...signed by Tony Oliva, Frank Quilici and others".

It was the "others" that drew my attention.  I had visions of Danny Thompson, Cesar Tovar and Bob Allison.  I also like to try to figure out who the unknown autographs are.

Well, I didn't get any rare autographs, but it was still fun.  It turns out two of the autographs are from Red Sox players: Gary Peters and Chuck Hartenstein.

The Twins autographs are: Dick Woodson, Brant Alyea, Frank Quilici, Paul Ratliff, Tony Oliva and Stan Williams.  None of them are tough to get with the exception of Paul Ratliff, who doesn't sign through the mail much at all.

It appears the pen that was used didn't work to well, since the Chuck Hartenstein and Tony Oliva autographs have spots where the ink is missing, but you can see the indentation on the magazine itself left by the ballpoint pen.

More 1972 Topps

Today I received four 1972 Topps back from a Chris Potter Sports signing.

Although I had purchased a Joe Rudi card on Ebay from Mickey's, I had one signed via this signing as well.

I also had cards signed by Chuck Dobson, Alex Johnson and Gene Tenace.

 

All of these players are tough signers through the mail so I was glad to get these signed for a reasonable price.

This brings me to 367 different signed cards from the 1972 set.  Just 33 to go by the end of the year to reach my goal.

Former Twins

I've been working on some of the Allen & Ginter and Heritage Twins team sets casually, mostly through the mail and at TwinsFest.  It gets tougher when players start leaving the team!

I bought a 2012 Topps Heritage signed by Jason Marquis from a fellow SCN member.  Jason didn't last long with the Twins.  I did see him at TwinsFest last January, but at that time, there weren't any cards of him in a Twins uniform.

I also bought several Allen & Ginter cards from an Ebay seller.  These aren't tough cards to get since Cuddyer and Nathan are pretty good through the mail signers, but they were relatively cheap, so I bought them instead of sending them out.

I don't know where Brian Bass is now, so I bought his card as well.

Liriano is really what got me started looking for these on Ebay.  I wanted to get a few of the cards that I wasn't able to get signed when he was here.  He wasn't at TwinsFest last January.

The Mick!

I finally broke down and bought a Mickey Mantle autograph.  I've been working on the Ron Lewis Living Legends portrait set, and came across one on Ebay.  It's PSA/DNA authenticated and comes with the full letter of authenticity.

Whitey Ford and Harmon Killebrew

I'm running a bit behind on my posts as I've been busy attending some of my sons' year-end playoff and tournament games.

On Thursday I received a success from Whitey Ford who signed a 1961 Topps for me.  I had enclosed $25 with my request.

I also received an Ebay purchase: an 8x10 signed by Harmon Killebrew.  I have plenty of Killebrew pictures and other autographs, but he's a favorite of mine and the price was right.

Carlos Gomez and Some 1972 Topps Purchases

I haven't been mailing out many requests, but I did send some cards to a Carlos Gomez signing and purchased some 1972 Topps from Mickey's on Ebay, all of which arrived in my mailbox today.

I've been trying to work on some of the Allen & Ginter and Topps Heritage Twins team sets so I took the opportunity to have Gomez sign his 2008 AG and 2009 TH.

I had this photo of him to get signed at TwinsFest or some other opportunity but then he was traded from the team.  I decided to send this in as well since I think it's a cool picture.  Gomez's signature isn't too impressive!

I purchased four signed 1972 Topps but I already had two of them.  I"m not sure what I was thinking.  They weren't too expensive, so no harm done I guess. I added Dick Williams and Joe Rudi as the two cards I didn't have yet.

Ken Singleton and Jim Roland are the duplicates.

Steve Dunning

Yesterday I received some cards I sent to Steve Dunning back in January.

He signed a 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1978 Topps for me.

This brings me to 362 signed cards from the 1972 Topps set.

Bobby Valentine

I was surprised to find any return in my mailbox today, and more surprised to see that it was Bobby Valentine.  This is the second 1972 Topps I received back from him.

I sent one to him way back in September of 2010.  When I didn't receive anything back and saw some successes from him posted on SCN, I sent another in July of last year.  When I received the first one back in September (which I posted about here), I assumed it was the one I just sent, but now I have no way of knowing.

Regardless, he was kind enough to sign my card and send it back.

Update on 2012 Collecting Goals

 I can't believe the year is half over already.  I really haven't done any requests through the mail for the last few months so I've avoided updating my goals, but here it goes anyway:

• Goal: Send out 150 requests through the mail.  Status: I've sent out 77 requests so far, just 7 since I updated my goals in early April!  The only cards I have to send out are ones that I already have signed, so I'll need to come up with a new project or two to get me going.

• Goal: Get 3 more bobbleheads signed from the 1987 Twins set.  I only need Don Baylor, Randy Bush, Mark Davidson, Greg Gagne and Les Straker to complete the living players.  Status: I got Mark Davidson and Greg Gagne to sign their bobbleheads at the Minneapolis Sports Card and Autograph Convention.  Now I'm down to needing just Baylor, Bush and Straker.I haven't made any progress on this goal in the last three months.

• Get 8 more bobbleheads signed from the 1991 Twins set.  Status: I've already surpassed this goal, having gotten 6 of them signed at TwinsFest, as well as three others.  It will get more difficult now as I've gotten the easy ones done.

• Reach 400 signed 1972 Topps. I have 323 so far, so I'll need to add 77 more.  Status: I have 361 signed, so I've only added 38 so far.  This will be a tough one to reach.

• Additional sets - Add 5 more 1958 Topps (not including team cards), 15 more 1961 Topps and  10 more 1965 Topps.  Status: I've added one 1958 Topps, 10 1961 Topps, and 2 1965 Topps.  I'll have to open my wallet to make much progress on these.  

My boys' baseball seasons are wrapping up so I hope to have some more time to send out requests and go to shows to buy cards.

Ben Revere Fan HQ Signing

Ben Revere was signing Thursday night at Fan HQ at Ridgedale but I wasn't able to be there.  Instead, I drove over Wednesday after work and placed my order and my son and I drove back today to pick them up.

Both my sons and I got an 8x10 of Revere's award-winning catch at the wall from last year.  This was especially cool for us because we were at that game.

I also dropped off a 2012 Topps Heritage for him to sign.

While we were there, I also picked up a nice 16x20 of Jason Kubel celebrating after hitting a grand slam to complete the cycle.  This was another game that my older son and I attended, which I posted about here.  I had Kubel sign my ticket stub which I posted about here.

Bobby Doerr

Today I received an 8x10 back from Bobby Doerr.  I sent this to Mr. Doerr early last week.

Bill "Shorty" Pleis

A week ago I sent out a couple of requests including a Nicholas Volpe, Western Oil portrait to Bill Pleis.

I received it today in just 7 days.  The portrait got a little beat up on its journey there and back, but actually looks much better than it does in this scan.

He was also kind enough to enclose a small photograph personalized to me.

Matt Cain Perfect Game Ticket

One of my coworkers was in San Francisco last week and decided to take in a ball game.  Luckily for him (and me), he happened to see Matt Cain throw a perfect game against the Astros.

When he emailed me that he had attended the game, I told him to save the ticket stub.  He said he would if the hotel maid hadn't already thrown it away!  He's not a collector.

He was kind enough to save the ticket and give it to me when he returned this week.

Joe Cunningham

I'm always happy to get a return lately since it's been over a month since I've sent any requests out.

Today I received a 1962 and 1963 Topps signed by Joe Cunningham.  He also included a signed custom card that is made to look like a 1969 Topps.

 

I've been so busy with my boys' baseball games that I haven't had a chance to buy any cards or send out any requests.  It will probably be this way for another month or so.

Jim Hickman Return

Although I don't have many requests out, I managed to get a return today.  I sent Jim Hickman a couple of cards in January and I received them back today.

Mr. Hickman signed a 1967 Topps as well as a 1972 Topps for my set.  I now have 361 signed 1972 Topps.

Nolan Ryan and My 800th Post

This is my 800th post since beginning this blog in October of 2008.  I'm a little surprised I've kept it up this long, but I've found that I like having a record of what I get back through the mail as well as our in-person experiences.

Today I received my cards back from a Nolan Ryan signing organized by Tom Orr at Atommic Sports.  I had him sign a 1972 Topps as well as a 2008 Upper Deck Goudey. 

 
It's been quite a while since I added a card to my 2008 Goudey set.  I'll have to take another look at the remaining cards I need and see if I can make some more progress on it.  I'm only targeting the retired players.

Art Ditmar Return

Today I received a couple of cards back from Art Ditmar that I sent in early April.  He was kind enough to sign his 1956 and 1962 Topps for me.

I also received a 1972 Topps Mickey Stanley signed card that I bough from Chris Potter via Ebay.