I received two nice returns today, one vintage, and one only kinda-vintage, probably depending on your age :-)
The kinda-vintage return was from Jim Beattie, who signed his 1983 Mariner's Leaders card as well as his 1987 Topps.
The vintage-vintage return was from Ray Semproch, who signed his 1958, 1959 and 1960 Topps as well as the 1961 Topps Tigers team card.
According to my Informed Delivery email, I should have had one more ttm return today, but I'm happy with the three I received.
Claude Osteen signed his 1958, 1961 and 1965 team cards as well as his 1973 Topps.
Mel Roach signed his 1962 Topps, as well as his 1958, 1961 and 1963 team cards.
And former-Twin Al Worthington signed his 1958 Topps as well as his 1958, 1961 and 1965 team cards.
I've been waiting on these returns before sending out other requests as I want to get more players to sign these team cards. The logistics and organization of trying to get these signed without having to send to players too frequently, is very tricky and time consuming.
Yesterday I received a return from Jim Small, who signed his 1956 and 1957 Topps, as well as the 1958 Topps Tigers team card, already signed by Charlie Maxwell.
Today I received two returns. First, Ken MacKenzie signed his 1962 Topps for me. The signature is extremely small and light, quite different from signatures I've received from him in the past. He may be having trouble signing these days.
Here's a 1963 Topps he signed for me in early 2017.
I also received a return from Bobby Richardson, who is a great ttm signer. He signed the 1963 Topps Bomber's Best card as well as the 1963 Topps Yankees team card. On the Bomber's Best card, he added the jersey numbers to the other two players: Mickey Mantle and Tom Tresh. But it appears he put #9 on Mantle. That was Roger Marios' number. Maybe Mr. Richardson thought that picture was of Maris.
He also included his usual religious pamphlet that stars Mickey Mantle. He wrote a brief note on it, stating that he'd use the $10 I sent to buy more of those pamphlets.
I'm starting to get frustrated now. I sent a pretty expensive card to Brooks Robinson, a 1964 Topps Stand Up, along with a $10 fee (which is the bargain of the century, of course), and his signature got a little smeared. Not as bad as the Pascual cards from a little while ago, but still enough to be noticeable.
I'm not frustrated with Mr. Robinson, who is not only a Hall of Fame player, but also a Hall of Fame autograph-signer (if there were such a thing). I'm just frustrated that it happened. I'm trying to think if there's a way I can send the cards and ask for their return that might reduce the likelihood of them getting smeared.
I don't normally include card holders, index cards for protection, penny sleeves, etc. In this case, because the card was a little spendy, I used a semi-rigid holder and sent it in a bubble envelope with a piece of cardboard to help prevent the envelope from being bent.
Oh well. It still looks pretty good. I'm not going to spend the money on another card at this point.
I also received two cards from Manny Sanguillen, who signed the 1972 Topps cards commemorating 1971 World Series games #3 and #6. I included $10 with my request.
Finally, Tim McCarver signed the 1961 and 1965 Cardinals team cards for his $10 per card fee. I'm not sure why he signed the '65 so small and immediately next to Bob Skinner's autograph, when the whole rest of the card is open. Maybe his vision isn't what it used to be, or maybe he's trying to help cram as many signatures on there as possible.
I received one ttm and one private signing return today.
Diego Segui signed his 1971 Topps ERA Leaders card as well as his 1975 and 1977 Topps ttm in about two months.
And I received three cards back from a Hal Lanier private signing. I've been waiting about nine months for an opportunity to have Mr. Lanier complete this card. Dick Schofield signed it in February, and unfortunately passed away in July. Mr. Lanier also signed his 1965 and 1971 Topps.
I received this poster back a few days ago but haven't gotten around to taking a picture of it until now.
Via Cardboard Promotions, I was able to have Mike Pagliarulo sign his 1991 Playmakers poster, commemorating the Twins' World Series Championship that year.
These posters are an odd size at 7" x 18", but usually fall in the "basic" price category of many signings since it is smaller than a 16" x 20". This signing was $15 which is pretty reasonable.
The posters are quite thick and cannot be rolled. If you try to roll them up, they will bend and crease instead. I have a cardboard box that my original purchase of a few of these posters came in and have used it to send each of the five posters I have gotten signed so far. The box has many layers of shipping tape on it all over and is getting pretty beat up. I don't have a better option at this point but should probably start looking into a box replacement.
The set contains 14 posters. 13 of them are possible to get signed, with Puckett being the exception.
I have five: Kent Hrbek, Chuck Knoblauch, Shane Mack, Kevin Tapani and now Mike Pagliarulo.
The remaining posters I would like to get signed include Rick Aguilera, Chili Davis, Scott Erickson, Greg Gagne, Dan Gladden, Brian Harper, Tom Kelly and Jack Morris.
I have no idea how I would ever display these. Frames would probably need to be custom made so that would be too expensive. Maybe I could come up with a clever, cheap solution. Most Likely, I'll never display them unfortunately.
No ttm returns today, but I did receive a return from a Robin Yount mail-in signing with Waukesha Sports. I had him sign his 1975 Topps rookie card and added the JSA Witness Authentication sticker on the back. I know that's controversial, but I don't mind stickers on the back of cards, and I think it helps protect my investment in the signing cost (which was $50). This signing didn't have an upcharge for rookie cards, which I appreciate.
I've falling behind on my returns since Friday, so rather than type all the descriptions, I'm just going to post pictures.
