Horlen, James and Navarro

Today I received a 1963 Topps signed by Joel Horlen that an SCN contact got signed for me.  I had received this card signed by Mr. Horlen through the mail a few years ago, but it was signed in pretty dry black marker, so this is an upgrade for my collection (and doesn't count towards my goal for the year of adding 50 more to the set).

I also received a few through the mail requests.

Julio Navarro signed his 1960 and 1964 Topps for me.

And Charlie James signed his 1963 and 1964 Topps.  I sent this request back in October of 2014, so I'm happy to see it come back.  I also have this 1963 card signed by Mr. James already.  I purchased one a while ago but prefer to get them TTM.  So why do I buy them?  Good question.

Del Crandall and Pete Ward

I sent Del Crandall a request back in early August and I was getting a little nervous, but today I received the 1952 Topps back signed nicely.  The card is a little rough, but those 52 Topps can be kind of expensive, so I went with a lower grade card.

I also received a return from Pete Ward, who signed his 1963 and 1964 Topps.

Four Returns Today

It's nice to see multiple returns in the mailbox again.  It's been a while.

Today brought four returns.

Johnny Orsino signed his 1963 Topps.

Jose Tartabull signed his 1963, 1964 and 1966 Topps.

 

Roy Sievers signed a 1959 and 1964 Topps.

Finally, Daryl Spencer signed his 1963 Topps and included a signed 2013 Baseball Magazine card.

Tony Gonzalez and Frank Thomas

Two returns today.

Tony Gonzalez signed his 1961 and 1963 Topps for $5 each.

Frank Thomas signed his 1955 Red Man, as well as his 1961, 1963 and 1964 Topps.  He also enclosed a signed card of his own.  Mr. Thomas signs for $5 each and donates the money to charity.  He wrote a nice letter explaining the charities he supports.

 After posting yesterday about the 1976 Topps set I bought on Ebay and mentioning that I might also send out some '79s, I dug out my 79 cards to find that I really didn't have many.  So, I ordered a set.  It should arrive in a few days and I can start sending out a lot of requests!

Carlton Fisk - 1978 Topps

My requests still seem a little slow in coming back.  I guess I'm just impatient.

I did get one back today, and it's a good start towards my 1978 Topps set.

Carlton Fisk signed for me for his $40 fee.

A while ago I used the wantlist feature over at sportscollectors.net to check off the cards from this set that I already have.  I was surprised to find out I already have 103 signed.  Just 623 to go!

Today I also received a complete 1976 Topps set I bought on Ebay.  I'll use these to send along with my 1978 Topps requests.  I think I have a few 1979 Topps that I may also include for the generous signers.

Some Vintage Returns Today

It's been a long time since I've had multiple returns in a single day.  But today I had six returns waiting for me.

Carl Erskine signed his 1954 and 1955 Red Man cards for me.

Eddie Robinson signed his 1952 Red Man,

Gene Conley signed his 1953 Topps for his $5 fee.

Don Newcombe signed his 1961 Topps.  I included his $20 fee with my request.

I sent Bobby Valentine a 1978 Topps, but received a signed 1986 Topps instead.  Beggars can't be choosers!

Dick Brodowski signed and personalized a 1953 Topps for me.

I mailed out seven more requests today so hopefully the returns are consistently for a while.

Mickey Mantle Ball

I've had this for a while but had forgotten to scan it in and add it to my web site or blog about it.

Last fall I helped a relative sell some sports memorabilia for their aunt who had become ill and was moving out of her house.

This collection was a real mix of quality.  A few very nice pieces, including this Mickey Mantle ball, as well as a lot of late 80's and early 90's cards that were almost worthless.

In addition to the Mantle Ball, there were balls signed by Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio.  Also lots of Nolan Ryan autographed items including balls, pictures, a bat and a glove.  This collection was put together in the early 90's and much of it was purchased from the Home Shopping Club.  I was a little skeptical of the authenticity despite the signatures looking really nice.

After some investigation and getting some more experienced collector's opinions, I arranged to keep the Mantle ball in exchange for helping sell the rest of the collection.  The nice items sold quickly, but it took a long time and a lot of Craigslist meet-ups to sell the rest $20 to $30 at a time.  I finally sold the remaining items at my garage sale in early May.  Many items wold have cost more to ship than they were worth.

Despite all the work (which was kind of fun too), I"m really happy to add this ball to my collection.

New Web Site For My Collection

In addition to posting on this blog, I also have a web site where I track all of my autographs.  It's not a pretty web site, just a really basic site that helps me quickly look to see if I have a particular item signed by a player, and also a way to view my collection without having to dig everything out of the various places my collection is stored.

Since I started using the internet, my ISP has always provided free web site hosting.  For some reason, Comcast decided to stop providing this service so I had to find another way to host this site.

I used Go Daddy and got my own domain: http://www.droidtradercollect.com.

Despite having to pay for this service now, the ftp upload and web page response time is much quicker.

I've updated the link below in the "Visit These Sites" section to reflect this change.  I also changed the contact email at the top of this blog to a new email for this domain: droidtrader@droidtradercollect.com.

Curt Simmons

I have several requests out but they seem a little slow in coming back.  I did get one back today though.

Curt Simmons signed his 1955 Red Man for me.

I also received some cards I bought on Ebay so I'll be sending out a few more next week.