Bill Wakefield TTM Return

Just one ttm return today, despite my Informed Delivery telling me there'd be two.  It's odd that the only thing in my Informed Delivery emails that is wrong is my ttm returns.

Bill Wakefield signed his 1965 and 1966 Topps, as well as a 1965 Mets team card.  This is the beginning of the second copy of a 1965 Mets team card because the first one got full.

Big TTM Day - Royce Lewis, Bobby Shantz and a Bunch of Team Cards

My Bobby Shantz sase showed up in my Saturday Informed Delivery email, but the sase didn't show up in the mailbox.  But, it did show up today.

He signed his 1952 and 1953 Redman cards, as well as a beat up 57 Topps.  I was too cheap to buy a nice 57.  The Redmans were expensive enough.

He signed them all very nicely and included a signed index card thanking me for my kindness, which must refer to the $20 I included.

I also received a great Twins return, as post season stand out Royce Lewis signed his 2022 Topps Heritage that I sent to spring training.  It was post marked from Texas.

Doug Rau signed his 1978 Topps, as well as a few Dodgers team cards.

Max Alvis signed his 1965, 1967 and 1969 Topps as well as the 1963 Indians team card, which is looking pretty nice by now.

Former-Twin Ed Bane signed his 1974 and 1977 Topps, as well as the 1974 and 1975 Twins team cards.

Great signer Jim Marshall signed his 1959 Topps, the 1963 Mets team card, the 1975 Cubs team card, showing him as manager, and the 1974 Cubs coaches card.

A Couple TTM Returns and a Bunch of Purchases

I was out of town for the weekend and came back to a bunch of autographs in my mailbox.  Mostly purchases, but a couple ttm returns too.  My Informed Delivery showed a return from Bobby Shantz that I'm really anxious to get back, but I was very disappointed that it wasn't actually in my mailbox.  One time when that happened recently, I ended up getting the empty envelope ripped open and inside a USPS "body bag" because it got destroyed in the sorting machine.  I will be VERY disappointed if that happens with this return.

My ttm returns included Masanori Murakami, who lives in Japan.  He signed his 1965 Topps for me.  I didn't think I'd ever get this card signed, even though I knew he was a reliable signer.  I assumed the process was too hard and unreliable, but it was actually quite easy, and cheap!

I used a Global Forever stamp to send to him, which cost about $1.60.  I enclosed $10 with my request, to help cover the return postage as well as some extra for him.  I enclosed my usual sase, but added "U.S.A. to my address, as well as the additional 4 digits to my zip code.  I'm really happy to add another card to my 1965 Topps set.

My other ttm return was from Ted Kazanski, who signed his 1957 and 1959 Topps, as well as the 1957 Topps Phillies team card.  He personalized the 1957 Topps.  He wrote a very nice and thoughtful answer to a question in my letter, and also wrote a short note thanking me for being a baseball fan, which is a great game.  I really appreciate the personal notes in return.

I bought a 1983 Topps Tim Raines signed card, which is authenticated by JSA.  It was a bargain I thought, so I picked it up on Ebay.  I don't intend to pay a lot for the 1983 set autographs but bought the set to include when I send out cards from the 1985 and 1987 Topps sets, which I prioritize over the 83 set.

I made another Ebay purchase too.  This time it was a Josh Donaldson 2022 Topps Heritage Real One autographed card.  Josh is a character and was a bit of a distraction for the Twins, as well as other teams when he made some unpopular comments or actions.  I never got the chance to see him at a signing, so I'll have to buy his autographs, I guess.  I have a cool bobblehead of him I'd really like to get signed, but I'll have to wait for a mail-in signing.

I bought a couple 2018 Bowman Twins card from an SCN member, including Royce Lewis and Brent Rooker.  Royce Lewis has lot of potential and got a lot of attention this post season with a few home runs.  Not bad for a rookie.

The rest of my purchases were from Tom Orr auctions on Ebay that ended last Sunday.  I got a bunch of bargains, I think, and added a couple more Jim Kaat autographs for less than sending into him for his $25 per card fee.  I also added a couple cards signed by Mark Prior and Kerry Wood, who were big prospects when I started collecting autographs.  I got them both ttm, which was amazing to me back in 2003.  I added their 2003 Topps cards, which was the current set when I started collecting, and a Heritage card of each of them. I added three Gorman Thomas signed cards, for about the same or less than his fee, especially when you consider postage back and forth.  And I was assured of a nice blue sharpie signature.  He seems to sign with a nice blue pen according to the comments on SCN, but you never know.  I might also send some late 80's cards to him ttm as well.  Finally, I bought a Matt Adams signed 2014 Topps Heritage, mainly because of the Topps Rookie trophy.

I've Fallen Way Behind

I'm not sure why I've fallen behind, but I've got about a week's worth of returns and purchases to post.

About a week ago, I received a few cards from Bob Heffner, including a 1965 Red Sox team card. 

The next day, I received some team cards and a 1963 Topps back from Len Gabrielson.

Last Friday, I received a 1973 Topps and the 1963 Reds team cards back from Cookie Rojas.

I received a 1978 Topps signed by Mike Schmidt back from a mail-in signing as well.  I don't normally spend this much, but since I had some credit with this promoter for a couple of signings that were cancelled, it didn't seem like I was spending very much.

On Monday of this week, Ted Wills returned a 1963 Red Sox team card as well as his 1962 and 1965 Topps.  He has always signed for me in black ballpoint in the past, so these were a nice upgrade.

I also received four cards back from a Wilbur Wood signing.

And today I received three team cards and a couple individual cards from Clay Dalrymple.  This return was a long time coming, as my first request received an RTS due to a bad address.  I included $5 per card with my request, so I was disappointed to see that a couple of these smeared.  I'm not sure exactly where these players are getting these black ink pens, but they are almost sure to smear.  They don't appear to be ballpoint, but they are very fine ink.  They leave an indentation on the card like a ballpoint, but the ink appears finer.

I also received a few other purchases from SCN members that I'll just post without listing.  The highlight I think is the 1970 Topps Jim Bunning.

I also bought a bunch of signed team cards from 1961, 1963 and 1972.  I haven't yet organized them enough to scan them in and save them under each player's name for my web site.  Normally, each time I received a team card ttm, I scan it and save it something like, "jimperry1963indiansteam.jpg".  Once I retire a card, it can be difficult to identify all the signatures on it, so I just have to open up a command prompt and list all the files for that card, such as "dir *1963indiansteam*, and I'll see each a file for each player that signed it.

With these purchases, if I have a card signed by nine players, I scan it in and then save it under each of the names of the nine players, then I update the web page for each player on that card as well, so it's quite time consuming.

I'm sending out a few cards for mail-in signings including one for Michael Cuddyer and five for Vic Davalillo, who lives down in Venezuela, but the cards will be send to an SCN member in the U.S., who then sends them with someone who travels there.  Last time I got a couple cards signed by him, the sharpie ink was quite light.  I'm hoping that won't be the case this time.