Johnny Bench Rookie Card and John "Boog" Powell Return

For being as slow as it has been lately, today was a huge day at the mailbox.

I finally got my Johnny Bench 1968 Topps rookie card signed!  My previous attempt last year resulted in the USPS taking about 11 days to send my card a couple states over and I missed the cutoff.  But I was able to get it done and am happy with the results.  I had the JSA Witnessed sticker on the back, which they put on crooked.  I don't know why, but that bothers me a little :-).  You had one job...

In my previous submission, which arrived too late, I had requested that he sign it above his head.  At the time, I had seen many like that on eBay and thought it looked nice. I know it looks a little squished beneath his face, but it just seems like the right place to me now, so that's the upside of having missed the first signing.

I will include this with my next authentication/grading submission, along with his 1969 Topps, which is a much nicer card than his 68, in my opinion.

I also received my Boog Powell items back today from the Dugout Zone.  They did a great job again.  I had sent these back in April since he was supposed to have a signing earlier in the year, but it got postponed to August.  

I had him sign his 1966 Topps, which I thought is just a nice card.  I'm not working on the set, although if I were to go back 15 or 20 years, I probably would have included more of them along with my requests while working on the 1965 Topps set.  The design is fairly simple, but I like the colors they used in the areas for the name and team, and the photos are better than most years, I think.

I also had him sign a couple post-season cards, of which he has many.  He signed the 1970 Topps American League playoff game 3, and the 1971 Topps World Series Celebration card.

He signed the 1971 Topps World Champions Orioles team card.  I should have been more specific and asked him to sign it bigger.  He signed it nicely, and left room for others to sign it, but I don't intend to have other players sign it.

I had Brooks Robinson sign that card as well.  Like many old-timers, he avoided signing over the pictures of the players, so it's a little hard to see.  I thought about having Powell sign the same one as Robinson, but decided it was nice to have just Brooks on it.  I miss sending my monthly request off to Mr. Robinson!  That's about the frequency I was sending at the time he passed away.  It was getting harder and harder to find cards for him.

The last card I had Powell sign was the 1972 Topps MVP Award card.  He was voted MVP in 1970.  His tenth year in the big leagues at age 28.  That seemed to be the peak of his career, and his stats drop off after that, with a bounce back in 1975, his first year with the Indians.

I had (and still have) a lot of items for Boog to sign.  I even have a bobblehead that, for some reason, I decided against sending.  He was pretty popular around 1969 - 1971 and I sent a couple magazines from that period

The October, 1969 Sports Illustrated has Boog's teammate, Frank Robinson, on the cover.  I bought this magazine already signed, with a PSA/DNA authentication sticker on the inside cover.

The front cover has a fold out section, and Powell's photo is on it.

 

The medium Staedtler struggled a bit to keep up with the fierce signature that Powell provides.  He signed this one with his real first name (John) as well as his nickname.  I didn't ask for it that way, but I like it.  As I mentioned, the PSA sticker under Boog's photo is actually for Robinson's signature on the front cover.

I also had him sign a copy of the 1970 All Star Sports magazine.  Part of his signature gets lost in his black sleeve on this one, which is a little unfortunate.  I think I'll send it off to Koosman now.  I kind of have to, right?

I also received more vintage bobbleheads, which I'll post about separately in a day or two. 

Thank you to everyone who checks in on my blog now and then!  I appreciate that you take the time to see how I'm spending my kids' inheritance.  As I mentioned a while ago, my wife and I finally bought a lakeside cabin and much of our spending has shifted to getting it furnished and updated a little.  But, I hope to still send out a lot of ttm requests as well as the occasional paid signing.  Even if I fail to send out many requests, I'll try to update this blog frequently, even if it's just highlighting parts of my collection from the past.  It's been almost 18 years since I started this blog and don't intend to just let it sit idle!

Dick Estelle - 1965 Topps

I received a couple 1965 Topps back from Dick Estelle, who signed them nicely and matched the pen used by Mr. Murakami, which he always does.  I included $20 with this request even though he doesn't charge because I've sent to him several times.

Mike Garman and Don Lee TTM Returns and a Joe Mauer Consignment

I've been really busy lately with no time to send out requests, so things are going to slow down.  I might take the opportunity to highlight some of my collection rather than focus on new additions, of which there will be very few.

I did have a couple ttm returns lately though.  Mike Garman signed a couple 1972 Topps Red Sox rookies cards, one signed by Cooper and the other signed by Fisk. I have three of these cards in various stages of being signed.  I was experimenting with a method to continually route cards and only include one or two to any single player at a time, but it's kind of a mess.  So, I'll just finish them up as efficiently as possible, which involves sending two cards to Cooper, which will finish one of them and add the second signature to the other, and then once those are returned, sending two cards off to Fisk to end up with three more finished cards.  This will result in a total of six completed cards for my collection.

Don Lee was kind enough to add his signature to four team cards, including a 1962 Topps Twins card that I bought with five signatures on it.  I also received a completely unsigned copy of this card from an Ebay purchase over the weekend that I intend to get a couple bigger names on.

Finally, I received four Joe Mauer cards back from a Celebrity Golf Tournament consignment.  I sent two cards from two different Topps Heritage Twins sets that resulted in having all but one card signed from the 2011 set (still need Kevin Slowey) and the 2013 set (still need Oswaldo Arcia).

I have four Joe Mauer bobbleheads out to FanHQ for their upcoming Joe Mauer signing.  I believe I'll be up to 11 different Joe Mauer signed bobbleheads once this signing is complete.  I only know of one more that I need to get signed.  I'm sure there are more, but I've been focusing on Stadium Give Aways (SGA) and season ticket holder versions.  When I get these four back, I'll do a detailed post about all of them.

Masanori Murakami TTM Return

Yesterday I received four cards back from Masanori Murakami in Tokyo.  He signed a couple of his 1965 Topps rookie cards, a 1966 Giants team card, and a 2024 Topps Strike Zone Heroes card.  I'm not focusing on the Strike Zone heroes cards, but am happy to add another of Mr. Murakami's cards to my collection as they become available.

I included $20 with my request and sent it in my usual envelope and sase.  However, I don't put a stamp on the sase, which is why I included the $20.  In the past, I've received his returns with Japanese postage, but this time it was postmarked from New York, NY, with U.S. postage.

Also, rather than using a regular forever stamp on the outgoing envelope, I use a Global forever stamp, which I believe is good for any regular envelope to countries other than the U.S.

George Thomas TTM Return and Vintage Bobbleheads

My collecting is going to make an abrupt slowdown/halt since we are in the process of closing on a cabin this week.  We've been seriously looking for a lake property for over six years and finally found one we're really happy with, and which we didn't get outbid on.  Covid threw a serious wrench in the process, with people paying well over listing, sight unseen with no contingencies or inspections, which we just weren't willing to do.

Anyway, after about a decade of being debt free, I am no longer and will have to seriously budget my collecting habits going forward.  I have a lot of stamps, and a lot of cards, so I may still send out some ttm requests, and participate in the occasional signing, but nowhere near what I have been.  I may start focusing on the 1982 set, and sending off to players with no fees to see how that goes.

Yesterday, I received a return from George Thomas, who signed two team cards and two individual cards in about three weeks.  There are only a couple more players I can add to the Tigers team cards as most of the players have passed away.

I also received some auction winnings from some vintage bobbleheads, mostly the mini versions from 1961-1963.

I also added a White Sox doll from the 1963-1966 Green base set.

And, I bought an inexpensive one with a small crack on the head.  I have plans to try to repair some of the bobbleheads and thought this one would be on the easier side since the crack is limited to an area with the same color paint.  I think color matching the paint will be the hardest part, and I'm hoping to find some technology to make it easier rather than rely on my unartistic eye.

It looks fine at first glance on the shelf, but up close it's pretty bad:

Phil Regan TTM Return After 368 Days

The sase from Miami that I assumed was from Andre Dawson and that was in my Informed Delivery email from June 23rd but wasn't in my mailbox, turned out to be a return from Phil Regan.  It was delivered to my next door neighbor, who was kind enough to return it to me today.  I sent two from the 1962 Post set; one for me and one for my son.

I sent this request on June 30th of last year, so it was just over a year getting to me (but probably a little under a year getting to my neighbor).

So, where is my Andre Dawson request that I sent back in March?  Others on SCN have been getting returns consistently, but there are a few stragglers, like mine that are still waiting.  I don't see many returns that are older than two weeks though, so my hopes are low of getting that one back.  It was just a '25 Allen & Ginter and $10, but it would be nice to get it.

Bennie Daniels TTM Return

Yesterday I received a 1959 Pirates team card back from Bennie Daniels, who joined Vern Law and the late Bob Skinner on it.

The late 50's early 60's Pirates teams were such great ttm signers, but unfortunately, their numbers have dwindled. 

John Boccabella TTM Return

Yesterday I received a return from John Boccabella who was kind enough to sign three of his cards as well as an Expos team card from 1972.  The 64 was already signed by Billy Cowan.  It's a terrible card for autographs due to the dark backgrounds, but it looks as cold as can be expected. 

George Foster Grand Slam Print as Well as Pete Hamm and Jake Wood TTM Returns

My returns backed up just a bit over the last few days as I visited Northern Minnesota.

I sent a Grand Slam print to a George Foster signing.  I didn't notice it until after I scanned it and added it to my web site, but the print appears to be a bit bent.  I didn't notice any damage to the package I received, so who knows how it was damaged. 

Pete Hamm was kind enough to sign his 1971 Topps which was previously signed by Jim Nettles, along with a 71 Twins team card signed by Leo Cardenas, Tom Hall and Bill Zepp.  The 1971 Topps team cards can be tough to get signed and look nice since they are so dark.  With all players having signed in blue sharpie so far, it's about as nice as you can hope for.  I included $20 with my request to Mr. Hamm, despite him not having published anything specific.  I'd like to keep his signing streak going, despite his 20+ year dry spell.

Jake Wood thoughtfully signed the three cards I sent him along with $10.  He signed the 62 and 63 Topps in blue sharpie, and the 64 Tigers team card in ballpoint.  I've seen many players switch pens like this, since the sharpie might be too thick for the team card.  What a nice gesture for a player to ensure that the signature is as legible as possible.