Kessinger, Law and Pascual

Today brought three returns, all of which I had sent in bubble envelopes via Pirate Ship rather than regular sases.

I sent Don Kessinger a Grand Slam print and four cards, which he signed nicely with the pen I enclosed.

Vern Law signed six cards for me and included a seventh.  He sent a preprinted note asking for some donations for him to use to contribute to a favorite charity.  On the back of that note, he wrote that this is the last time I'll get "subscription" for free.  I think he meant "inscription".  And from here out, it will be $20 per card.  I actually wouldn't mind to get a few cards signed by him with just his signature instead of the ton of inscriptions he almost always includes now.  I do love the inscriptions though, and a card like the 58 Topps he signed this time is really amazing.  But sometimes a simple signature is nice too.

Finally, Camilo Pascual signed his 1963 Jell-O and a few Twins team cards.  I sent him both a blue sharpie and a blue Staedtler, and noted in my letter that I'm appreciative of his habit of using a thicker pen when space allows, and a finer pen in smaller spaces, like team cards.

I've been "investing" in some more Hall of Fame rookie cards.  I sent three Johnny Bench 1968 Topps rookie cards into a signing today, as well as a 75 Topps Yount, and a 73 Topps Mike Schmidt.  I took advantage of a few signings that have lower fees than most signings, even though these lower prices are rising, as are the regular prices.  For example, Carl Yastrzemski's price on cards has gone from $60 in 2017, to $100 in 2020, to $135 in 2024, to $195 this year.  I know I say this occasionally, but my days in this hobby are numbered.

For most of the expensive signings I've been sending in for, I look at sold listings on eBay to see what that market value is, and try to be sure that the price I pay for the cards plus the signing and slabbing are at least 10% less, so that if I needed to, I could turn around and get my money back on these cards.  For several of the Hall of Famers, it can be cheaper to find an authenticated card already signed for less than the cost of finding a decent card and sending it in.  I am still going to send in for Yaz this time, but it's probably my last.  And at $195 per card, I'm only getting his rookie card signed.  Most others can be purchased for less already signed.

I'm building on some vintage bobbleheads tonight and hope to add about a dozen to my rapidly growing collection.

Leo Cardenas and Bobby Shantz TTM Returns and a Luis Aparicio Purchase

I was away from home for a few days and came back to a few autographs in the mailbox.

I added a couple Luis Aparicio cards to my 1962 and 1973 sets with a purchase from a fellow SCN member.  I have purchased several Aparicio cards from him in the past as well.  He has organized at least one signing with Mr. Aparicio in the past, but when I brought it up with him the last time I bought from him, he didn't sound as if he had any plans to do another.  That signing was back in 2021, which is the last one posted on SCN.

I sent Leo "Chico" Cardenas eight cards, a blue Staedtler and $40 cash.  He signed my cards very nicely and packaged them up way better than most players do when he sent them back in the bubble envelope I provided as an sase.

I sent the cards inside a team bag with a plastic backing board inside it.  I put that inside a bubble envelope with a cardboard backing, so neither the envelope, nor the team bag, can be bent under even pretty extreme circumstances.

Most players will put the cards back in the team bag but don't always include the little plastic board.  And sometimes, the player will just put the cards into the bubble envelope loose, so they are sliding all over.  But, if they've left the cardboard in, the cards usually don't get bent.

Mr. Cardenas packaged up my cards so nicely back into the team bag that I briefly thought he may not have signed them.

Bert Blyleven is the only other signature on that 1972 Twins team card.  For some reason, I still have a bunch of cards for Cardenas.  They would all be duplicates though, so I am not sure if I'll pay the $5 per card to complete them.

The other TTM return I received was from the 1952 A.L. MVP, Bobby Shantz, who signed his 1954 and 1957 Topps, a 1968 Fleer Laughlin card commemorating the 1957 World Series, and the 1972 Topps MVP Award card.

I love the 1954 Topps set.  It's probably my favorite set of any brand or time period.  I have about 112 unique cards from the set, with many, many duplicates.  This is the 4th card from the set that I have signed by Mr. Shantz. Here's the one I just received:

And here are the other three, which I received ttm in 2004, 2021, and 2024.

His 1957 Topps card is surprisingly expensive.  It's not a "high number" card, but I guess the 4th series from this set is more scarce than the 5th, with the prices reflecting that. You have to pay over $20 to find a copy that doesn't have some paper loss or a tear on it.  I paid over $30 for this one, and that's after requesting and receiving a $6 discount on the card, and then paying taxes and postage.

I upgraded to this card because the one I sent to him in 2023 is just so bad.  I don't recall buying it, but I'm guessing I was trying to keep the cost down by settling for the extremely poor corners on it.  It looks like someone was handed a decent card and told to make it look old by wearing down the corners.  They are so worn, it looks like someone used a belt sander to round them over.

Anyway, here is the new one I just received.

I really like the Laughlin World series cards, but they often aren't a good design for autographs, which was true for this one as well.  Despite the lack of room, I may send it to Bobby Richardson next.

And despite already having his autograph on the 1972 MVP card, I sent him another.  I was thinking it would be nice to get another MVP winner from the same time period, early-to-mid-fifties, to sign it as well.  However, the next MVP award winner after 1952 that is still alive, is Sandy Koufax, who won it in 1963.  I doubt I'll get the opportunity to have Mr. Koufax sign this card.  Moving on to the next player, Carl Yastrzemski in 1967, has a pretty steep fee, but maybe I'll consider it.

I received 20 cards back from a Beckett authentication/slabbing.  I need to scan them all before posting more details about them.  All my cards passed, but this submission switched to a "training card" label rather than authenticating the card itself.  

Cecil Cooper TTM Return

I've been working on three copies of this 1972 Topps card.  One was completed today with this return, and I've got two to send off to Fisk for him to complete next.

Assuming Fisk completes the two card I send him tomorrow, I will have six copies of this card completed, and one signed just by Fisk.  This is a great card and it's very east to complete.  You can see the card signed for $150 or more, but you can probably get it done ttm for less than $100 including the card price (about $20), player signing fees ($65 between the three of them), and $10 for postage and shipping, depending on how you choose to send it.  I mailed cards to Garman and Cooper with regular sases, but use bubble mailers to send to Fisk.

Steve Blass TTM Return - 1972 Sports Illustrated Magazine

Yesterday I received a nice return from Mr. Steve Blass, who signed his 1972 Sports Illustrated cover as requested in just  nine days.  I sent along a blue sharpie for him to use as well as $20 for him despite him not having a fee schedule.  He typically signs for no charge, but I usually assume a player will appreciate the gesture of the fee, even if they don't keep it.

I've had a couple players return the money along with a brief note that they don't accept fees for signing, but never really got the impression that I had offended them by offering the money.  I guess I'd rather offend someone by offering the money when they don't want it, than to not offer the money, and have them feel I was taking advantage of their generosity by signing premium items for me for no charge.

Jim Thome Bobblehead

After receiving my four Joe Mauer bobbleheads back yesterday, I received another bobblehead back today.  This time it is the Jim Thome, Paul Bunyan-themed bobblehead from August 25, 2008. 

This bobblehead wasn't a typical give away version given out at the gates before a game until they were gone.  This one was part of a special ticket package for that game.  I can't find the number of these bobbleheads that were made, but based on the low number available on eBay (only four right now), and the high price, I assume it was relatively low.  It's also possible that since people paid for it as part of a ticket package, the purchasers specifically wanted the bobblehead to keep, so few have been made for sale.  The giveaways, however, probably end up in the hands of people who didn't even know they were being given away and are happy to get $20 for it on eBay or Craigslist rather than have it collect dust on their shelves.

There aren't any other modern bobbleheads that I've paid this much for.  And I'm referring to just the bobblehead, not the signing fee.  I paid nearly twice as much for this bobblehead than I did for Joe Mauer's FOCO Hall of Fame bobblehead, which I posted about yesterday as part of the four I got back from Fan HQ.

I need to do an inventory of the Twins bobbleheads to see which ones I still need to get signed.  I am drawing the line at some point in time, after which I won't collect any more of them.  I don't like the new ones as much as the simple, old ones. And I just don't feel the same connection to the players that I used to, mainly because not very many of them stay with the team more than a couple of years.  This also makes it hard to get them signed, along with the fact that there are very few opportunities to meet the players in person compared to even just a few years go.

Joe Mauer Bobbleheads Signed at FanHQ

I continue to be extremely impressed with the service at FanHQ, after receiving four bobbleheads back from their most recent Joe Mauer signing.

I spent a LOT of time labeling these bobbleheads with very specific instructions regarding signature location, ink color and authentication sticker placement.  I cut small sticky notes to size and used additional tape to help keep the notes in place while packing up the bobblehead and cramming it back into its original plastic and styrofoam packaging and into the original box that it came in. I taped sticky notes on the brim of the caps/helmets and wrote, "sign on the side of the helmet" there so they couldn't assume I wanted them to sign there.

Anyway, my point is that FanHQ strictly followed all of my instructions and even kept all of the labeling in place for the return trip home.  All of the Beckett Witnessed stickers were placed where I requested.  A very sharp silver ink was used.  I've requested the name the maker so I can buy a few for my own use!

One of my previous orders to a different promoter had the authentication sticker placed on the rear of the player's helmet, which is a common request.  However, they HAD TO MOVE my sticky note that asked they put the auth sticker on the bottom of the bobble in order to put it there.  Did they not read it?  Did they read it and not care?

To keep this short story even longer, I believe I have just one more bobblehead (the Cretin H.S. version) to get signed to complete the five Joe Mauer bobblehead set that was given away during the 2019 season.  Beyond that, I believe I will have Joe sign one of the early, vintage bobbleheads.  I won't have any other players sign the same bobblehead, meaning I'll keep it to just one signature per bobblehead.  But, I might have other players, probably limited to Hall of Famers, or fan favorite players like Kent Hrbek or Torii Hunter, sign one of the nine blue-base bobbles I have from the 1961-1962 set.

Wayne Causey TTM Return

At nearly 90 years old, Mr. Causey is one of the better ttm signers with a 97% success rate on SCN and no fee.  He's a generous signer with an eleven-year playing career that allows a collector like me plenty of opportunities to find vintage cards to send to him to sign, as well as team cards and a few oddball cards like the 64 Stand Up and the 65 Embossed.

His signature shows no sign of his age and puts the current players' signatures to shame since it is actually readable and doesn't look like a second grader printed his name prior to learning cursive.

Mr. Causey signed these four cards for me in just 10 days.  This was my tenth request to him since 2005, resulting in 33 signed cards over that period.  Thank you Mr. Causey!

August Vintage Bobbleheads Purchase

This months' bobblehead purchase included only four dolls, but they were pretty expensive ones.

The most expensive one, which shattered my record for the most spent on a single bobblehead by about 4x, was the non-moonface, "Minneapolis" Twins mini version.  A small number of these mini bobbleheads, with a magnet on the bottom to stick to your metal dashboard, were printed with the word "Minneapolis" instead of "Minnesota".  It was quickly corrected and the vast majority were released as the Minnesota version.

I bought two dolls on green square bases, which were made during a transition period between the white, square base version and the green, round base version.  Only nine teams had their nodders released on these bases.  The Senators and Twins are two of those teams.

Finally, I added my first African-American bobblehead to my collection with this very nice Senators version.