Mickey's Autographs Purchase

No ttm returns today, but I did receive an order from Mickey's.  I bought a handful of autographed cards that are either tough/impossible to get ttm, or were cheaper than getting ttm.

I received 1971 Topps cards of Wally Bunker, Al Dark, Bob Garibaldi Rick Reichardt and Marv Staehle, as well as a 1972 Topps of Rudy May.

Behney, Burright, Cater, and Pitlock, Plus a Purchase

 I received four returns today.  All of these were part of a batch of requests I sent out eight days ago.

Mel Behney signed his 1972 Topps for me.  Ed Armbrister recently passed away and wasn't a good signer ttm, so this card is now retired.

Larry Burright signed his 1962 and 1963 Topps.

Danny Cater signed his 1971 Topps for his $5 fee.

And Skip Pitlock signed his 1971 and 1975 Topps.

Finally, I bought a 2013 Topps Heritage signed by Liam Hendriks on Ebay and it was delivered today.

Johnny Groth Return

I sent out six requests today and received one.

Johnny Groth signed a 1960 Topps for his $5 fee.

Bill Lee and Sam Perlozzo

I received an odd but generous return from Bill Lee today.  I had sent him his 1973, 1976 and 1978 Topps cards, all of which are from when he was with the Red Sox.

He signed and returned his 1973 and 1978 cards, but didn't return the card from 1976.  In sharpie on the back of my SASE, he wrote, "1 card free each team.  $5.00 extras.  1 card --> 2 Cuba!!!"

Fair enough.  I take this to mean that he'll sign for free as long as each card is from when he was with a different team, and if you want more than that, each additional one is $5.  And since I didn't send $5 he sent my third card to Cuba (or more likely threw it in a drawer or something).  He was kind enough to sign the two for me even though they're both from the same team.

I also received a return from former-Twin Sam Perlozzo, which signed his 1978 Topps that I recently got signed by Dave Oliver, and his 1979 Topps.

Mickey Stanley

A couple weeks ago I posted about a signed 1971 Topps Mickey Stanley card that I bought because the cost of unsigned cards was higher than the signed card I found.  A couple weeks prior to that, I sent a request to Mr. Stanley which I got back today.

He signed my 1972, 1973, 1976 and 1978 Topps.  I am not counting the 72 towards my goal from the year because I already have one that I bought from a signings promoter a few years ago.  If I ever come across a cheap 71, I might still send one out to him.

I mailed out two magazines today to try to get ahead of my goals for the year.  I still haven't sent out any baseballs, so I need to get going on that too.  I just can't decide who to send to.

Brent Strom and Lewis Thorpe

I received a return today that wasn't in my Informed Delivery email this morning (and also wasn't the one from yesterday).  A nice surprise.  The envelope was folded pretty badly, but luckily the cards weren't damaged.

Brent Strom signed his 1976 and 1978 Topps for me.  It took a little over a month, but this was another case of the sase coming back from a state other than where I sent it.  I sent to an address in Arizona, but it was postmarked from Florida.  This probably explains the delay in the return.

My sase that was in my Informed Delivery email yesterday but didn't show up in the mailbox showed up today.  As a suspected, it was from Lewis Thorpe, who signed his 2020 Topps Heritage.  Brusdar Graterol is with the Dodgers now and I don't see any ttm returns from him since the summer of 2019.  I'll need to see him signing regularly before I risk sending this to him.  

It sounds like Thorpe might trade some time in the Majors with Randy Dobnak, with the other being rotated to the Saints.  I'm happy to have gotten a few returns back this spring.  With no TwinsFest this year, I have no other options to try to get these signed. 

I didn't take many risks this spring, but so far I have gotten back Lewis Thorpe, Jose Berrios and Cody Stashak from Spring Training, and Randy Dobnak and Mitch Garver before the season started.

I also sent a Spring Training request to Taylor Rogers and one to Rich Hill in care of the Tampa Bay Rays.  I haven't seen any returns from either of them listed on SCN this spring, but maybe they'll get around to it.

Steve Dillard Return

Although there were two returns in my Informed Delivery email this morning, only one of them actually showed up in my mailbox.

Steve Dillard signed his 1978, 1979 and 1980 Topps that I sent over a month ago.  I had sent to an address in Mississippi, but the return was postmarked from Memphis, so my guess is it had to be forwarded to his new location in Tennessee.  I haven't seen a new address listed on SCN yet however.

The return that didn't end up in the mailbox was from Ft. Myers.  My guess is it's from Lewis Thorpe at the Twins spring training address.  I hope it shows up eventually.

Gaylord Perry Purchase

I've sent to Gaylord Perry a few times over the years with good success.  For a long time, he charged $15 per card.  But according to some returns on SCN, he now charges $30, and it appears his signature has deteriorated a bit.

I found this card on Ebay from a reputable seller and this signature matches up really well with ones I've gotten back in the past.  I bought this for about $10 less than his new fee.

This card helped me reach my goal for the year of adding 25 more signed cards to my 1971 set.  I still have several more in the mail but I might relax on sending out any more that I have to pay fees for, and concentrate on my 1978 set.

I sent out nine more requests today and have a few cards pulled, ready to be sent out.

Bernie Carbo and Don Shaw

I am now one card away from reaching my goal of adding 25 signed cards to my 1971 Topps set, thanks to Don Shaw signing his card for me in about 11 days.

He also signed his 1969 Topps.

I also received a return from Bernie Carbo who signed his 1970 and 1973 Topps.  

He didn't return the 1978 Topps I sent.  He also didn't return the 1978 Topps the last time I sent to him,. although I've seen him sign them for others on SCN.  However, I also see him frequently not returning a card for others as well, but I don't see a pattern as to how many cards he'll sign, or which cards he won't sign.  Next time I send I'll try just sending the 78.

Steve Rogers, Frank Thomas and Sandy Vance Returns

I made some progress on my 2021 collecting goals today.

Steve Rogers added to my 1978 Topps set, and also signed his 1977 and 1979 cards.

A little over a week ago I received a return from Frank Thomas, who signed his 1955 Bowman,  In his letter to me, he mentioned the 1958 Sports Illustrated cover he was on.  That reminded me that I have that magazine, so I sent it off to him for his autograph.  He returned it today along with a full page hand-written letter.  This is the first magazine I've gotten signed this year.  My goal is five.

Finally, Sandy Vance signed his 1971 Topps for my set.

Mike De La Hoz Return - 1961 and 1963 Topps

I've worked pretty hard on the 1963 Topps set and to a lesser degree, the 1961 Topps set over the years.

I have 265 signed cards from the 1961 set and about 320 signed cards from the 1963 set.  

Today I added one more to each of these sets with a return from Mike De La Hoz, who signs for $5 per card.  I've had these cards for a long time, but I just avoided sending them out due to the fees.  I have to get over that if I want to add many more cards to my sets since I've already gotten most or all of the free signers.

I didn't include those sets in my goals for the year, but maybe I should take a look and see if any tough signers have started signing.  I'd love to get Juan Marichal to sign his 1961 card, but as it's his rookie card, it's too expensive for me.

There was some discussion on the SCN boards, which I chimed in on, as to whether his recent returns are ghost signed (signed by someone other than himself).  The consensus seems to be that, although they are different than his signatures in the past, the change is most likely due to age or health.  Below is a 1965 Topps that he signed for me back in 2009.  He is 82 years old now.

Another odd thing about today's return is the fact that my sase was postmarked on March 2nd, so it took over two weeks to get from Florida to Minnesota. I sent it on February 27th, so he received it, signed it and dropped it back in the mail in just three days.

Ron Guidry - 1985 Topps

I received a return from Ron Guidry today, who signed his 1985 Topps in about three weeks.

I've been sending out just a handful of requests but I did send a magazine and I sent a few cards out to some private signings that I should get back next month some time.

A Brian Dozier Spring Training Return Sent Five Years Ago and Bobby Valentine

I saw the old stamp on my sase in my Informed Delivery email this morning and hoped it was from Brian Dozier.  I knew it could be Dozier because the postmark was from Mississippi, and he's the only player I can think of that lives there.

It turns out it was the 2015 Allen & Ginter I sent to Brian Dozier at Twins Spring Training in 2016.  Dozier has retired now so I guess he's catching up on his mail.  I'm impressed that he kept his mail even after moving to three other teams after his time with the Twins.  He won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019.

I also sent him a request last spring to his home address, so maybe I'll get that one back too.  It also includes a 2015 Allen & Ginter as well as a 2015 Topps Heritage.

I also received a return from Bobby Valentine, who signed his 1971 Topps in about three weeks.

Clause Osteen

I received a nice vintage return today.

Claude Osteen signed his 1959, 1967 and 1968 Topps.

In my letter, I asked Mr. Osteen how he pitched against Harmon Killebrew throughout his career.  He replied he was sure Killebrew got some hits off him, but that game three of the 1965 World Series belonged to him (Osteen).  I looked it up.  Osteen threw a complete game, five-hitter with two walks and two strikeouts.  Quite the impressive performance!