I received some nice returns today including a couple Hall of Famers.
In alphabetical order:
Steve Blass signed his 1971 Topps in blue sharpie, a nice upgrade over my previous attempt with this card, and a 1966 Est Hills Shopping Center card.
I've got six of the East Hills cards now. I like these oddball sets. I need to track down a checklist again and see if there are any others that I can get.
Dick Estelle signed his 1966 rookie card already signed by Hiatt, and a couple 66 Giants team cards. The card with Hiatt is an upgrade to one that Hiatt had signed in black. I recently sent Hiatt a few cards and a blue sharpie to get this one completed nicely.
His other card is a 1965 Topps with Masanori Murakami, which I have signed by both of them on a few different copies of that card. Murakami lives in Japan but is a very reliable signer.
I think I have at least four different 66 Giants team cards floating around with no real plan in place. I bought several with a single signature on them of a few different deceased players like Herman Franks, Dick Schofield and Bill Henry. I've just been sending out one or two of these when I am sending other cards to players anyway. I've got Marichal on a couple as well. I should probably try to pick one and really get to work on it.
John (Johnny) James signed a 1959 Yankees team card already signed by Bobby Richardson, and one of those weird 1992 Wiz Yankees cards. I don't really like these small, black and white cards, but for some reason I had one, and nothing else, so I sent it along.
Mr. James also wrote me a very nice letter on his letterhead stationery. He signs his name as "John" and his letterhead also said "John", so I'll use that instead of "Johnny".
Juan Marichal signed his 1967 and 1969 Topps in very bold blue sharpie and added his HOF inscription without me even having to ask. I included $40 with this request. These cards are kind of busy, so his thick, bold signature looks great. I believe I have all of his regular Topps cards now except his 1968 and the 74 Traded. I'll get to work on those now. I've got a bunch other cards (Leaders, team cards, deckle edge, Stand Up, etc.) as well as a few modern cards.


I am a little embarrassed to admit that I got pretty excited for a while when I saw the sase coming back from Miami with a Hank Aaron stamp on it. I use Hank Aaron stamps on my sases from Hall of Famers and long shot requests, so I know when I see the image on Informed Delivery that something really good is coming. Several weeks ago, a sent the longest of longshots to Sandy Koufax. While he doesn't live in Miami, his address was in Florida not an unreasonable distance away from Miami. I forgot about my request to Marichal. This is probably as disappointed as I've ever been to get a nice return from Juan Marichal :-). A Koufax return would probably be the highlight of my 20+ years of ttm collecting. I hope I at least get an RTS because I sent a nice card, but I am willing to risk it for a one-in-a-million chance to get it signed.
Finally, local boy Paul Molitor signed his 1982 Topps for my set and a 1972 Topps Babe Ruth Award card along with Al Weis and Dick Green. I had placed a sticky note asking him to sign exactly where he did. I'm kind of tired of players signing right across the award itself, which is quite dark, on all of these 72 Award cards and will start placing sticky notes on all of them moving forward. I included $40 with this request.
I have gone WAY crazy buying some vintage (1960's, 1970's) souvenir bobbleheads on eBay. I need to at least slow down until the ones I've ordered arrive. I even bought at least one football bobblehead, and some non-sports as well (Peanuts, comics, Disney, Universal Pictures, etc.). I've bought several of the Twins bobbleheads, including multiples of the square, blue base bobblehead from 1961, which is my favorite.
Here are the first four I bought for my collection in 2016 via Craigslist.
I'd really like to have a bunch of the mini bobbleheads with the magnets on the bottom, like the Twins one I posted about a few days ago. I have two of the Twins version, and I've purchased, but not yet received, the LA Angels version. They are quite expensive and hard to find in decent condition, so my purchase of these will be few and far between.
It's hard to find any of these in decent condition, and I'm trying to maintain a pretty high standard for condition and will pass on even a cheap one and do without rather than buy one that's cracked or has lots of chipped paint.
I will post the sports-related bobbles as I receive them. Maybe I'll start a separate blog for all of the vintage bobbleheads. We'll see.