Felipe Alou Mail-In, Mitterwald and Spangler TTM

I was out of town over the weekend and came home to a few returns, including four cards I sent in for a Felipe Alou signing.  I sent in 1961, 1963 and 1972 Topps cards and a 1968 Kahn's card.

Former-Twin George Mitterwald signed the 1970, 1971 and 1972 Twins team card, the 1971 A.L. Playoffs game 1 card (which is really focused on Boog Powell, but Mitterwald is the catcher who has to watch Powell cross the plate after a homer), and a 1971 Topps.

The 1971 Topps is a nice upgrade to one I previously sent to him which he signed in very fine black marker.  At first glance, it's hard to differentiate his signature from the facsimile signature. 

Finally, Al Spangler signed the 1961 Braves team card, 1962 Topps, 1963 Colt .45s team card and 1963 Fleer.

Joe Rudi Mail-In Signing Return

Today I received five cards back from a Joe Rudi signing that Tom Orr was involved with.  There was a discount if you sent five cards, so I sent in some cards I already had signed but that he had personalized.  I also added a couple cards to my 1975 set.

The 1973 card is actually Gene Tenace in the picture.  There was supposed to be a Gene Tenace signing on that same day.  Maybe I should have had him sign it s well! I sent five cards in Tenace, as well as five cards for Vida Blue.  Tenace and Blue are on the same 1970 Topps rookie card which I asked to be signed by both.

Anyway, here are the cards I received.  The 1978 is an O Pee Chee.

Ken McBride and Dave Stenhouse

Nothing today, but I received two returns yesterday.

Ken McBride signed his 1964 Topps Stand Up for me.  I had him sign it before, but I wasn't super happy with the signature.  It was in ballpoint, as this one is, but the pen seemed to skip a bit or something.  This one isn't a whole lot better.  I was hoping for sharpie, but beggars can't be choosers.  He also signed the 1961 White Sox, 1963 Angels, and 1965 Angels team cards.

Here is the Stand Up he signed previously.  Looking at them again, it's hard to notice much of a difference, and I had to doublecheck that the scans weren't actually the same card.

Dave Stenhouse signed his 1962 Topps (already signed by Bonikowski), 1963 Fleer, and 1985 Topps.  He always seems to have his son, Mike, sign this card as well, which is really nice of them.  I really like the 85 Father/Son cards and have a few of them signed, but missed out on a couple that I really should have done when I had the chance.

He also signed the 1963 and 1965 Senators team cards.

Here are the other Father/Son cards I have from this set:

Dick Stigman TTM and Some Purchases of 1959T and 2003T Twins

 I received a single return today from Dick Stigman.  I was getting a bit worried about this one because he lives about 30 miles from me and usually he is very quick to respond.  He still responded in just 13 days, but often it's a week or less.

In my Informed Delivery email today, I saw a sase postmarked from Fort Myers, FL.  I assumed it was another return from Twins spring training, but it turned out to be from Mr. Stigman.  Maybe he's moved, or maybe he's wintering in Florida, but that explains why the return took a bit longer, since it had to be forwarded to him from Minnesota.

He signed his 1961 and 1962 Topps as well as the 1963 and 1965 Twins team cards.

I bought a few 1959 Topps from a member on SCN.  I already have all these, but some are nicer than what I have, and at about $3 per card, I couldn't resist.

I was considering sending in some cards to a J. C. Romero signing, but I thought I'd see if the cards I wanted signed were available on eBay for less.  I came across his 2003 Topps signed for only $3, and then checked out the rest of the seller's items and saw that they had a lot of Twins from this set, so I bought them all.  One of them was $4, but all the rest were $3.  I've been wanting to work on this set (Twins only) and have sent out a couple in the last year or so, but this purchase really helps me make a lot of progress.  They are all nicely signed in blue sharpie too.  Some of my existing cards from this set are signed in black.  A couple of these cards were the very first ones I sent and received back when I started doing this back in 2003.  Of course, the remaining cards I need are David Ortiz, Torii Hunter, who has three cards in the set, Mauer, Morneau and Johan Santana.  So, finishing the set will be tough and expensive.  There is a David Ortiz signing coming up and it would cost me $299 to get this card signed.  No thanks!