Charley Rabe TTM Return

I received another ttm return today.  This time from Charley Rabe, who signed his 1958 Topps and the 1959 Topps Reds team card.  He also answered a couple of questions in my letter and signed that as well.

This was my third request to Mr. Rabe.  I sent the first one 21 years ago, and he signed his 1958 Topps then as well.  As far as I know, that's the only card he has.  As he inscribed on the 58 this time. he played for the Reds in 1957 and 1958, pitching a career total of 27 innings.

There appear to be only a couple more players from the 1958 Reds team that still sign.  The 1959 Topps Reds team card actually commemorates the 1958 team.  Bobby Henrich, who either didn't return my last request or it got lost on its way back, and Jay Hook.  Mr. Hook is pretty automatic according to SCN, so I may send this card off to him.

I sent to Bobby Henrich in late October, sending him 2 cards, $10 (despite him not having a fee) and a sharpie.  His previous returns always show he signs in ballpoint, and my last request was signed in red ballpoint!  So, I was trying to get a nice, blue sharpie signature.  I sent it in a tracked bubble envelope, so I know he received it.  But I used a regular, stamped sase rather than another bubble envelope.  Maybe I'll still get it back.

Eddie Fisher Return and a Couple Purchases

It's been very slow lately simply because I haven't sent out many requests.  I have ten requests ready to go in the mail tomorrow though.

Today I received a ttm return from Eddie Fisher, who signed his 1964 and 1965 Topps.  He did not sign the 1963 White Sox or 1972 Angels team cards I had enclosed though.  I'm not sure why, but he has previously sent back one or two cards unsigned in my requests. He has signed team cards for me in the past though. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

A few days ago, I received a couple cards I purchased from a fellow SCN member, including a 1962 White Sox team card signed by Frank Baumann and Russ Kemmerer as well as a 1983 Fleer signed by former-Twin Ron Washington.

George Brett, Reggie Jackson and Fred Lynn

I received one purchase and two mail-in signing returns today.

I bought a George Brett-signed 1991 Upper Deck from Mill Creek Sports.  It's signed in ballpoint, but is Beckett authenticated.  Brett currently signs for $200 per card so I wasn't sure I'd ever have a card signed by him, but this one was well under $100, and the signature is quite strong, despite being in ballpoint.  So, I'm happy to be able to check him off my Hall of Famer want list.

I also received two mail-in signing returns from Tom Orr, including Fred Lynn, who signed a 1976 and 1978 Topps, and Reggie Jackson on his 1972 Topps In Action card.  I had the Beckett Witness Authentication sticker placed on the Reggie Jackson card.  Jackson's price keeps going up, so I decided to get this card signed now before it gets even higher.

The 1976 Fred Lynn card has the Topps All Star Rookie Trophy award on it, and the 1978 goes towards my set collection.

Billy Williams Mail-In Signing Return and Unsigned 1971 Topps Set Progress

It wasn't too long ago, less than 10 years, that Billy Williams was charging $20 per card via mail-in signings.  I wish I had gotten more signed then.  I really wanted his 1962 Topps signed because it has the Topps All Star Rookie Trophy on it.  I paid $89 to get this card signed, plus another $10 for JSA authentication, as well as shipping for a total of about $108, not including the cost of the card itself.  Yikes.  But I know I'll regret it in the future if I don't get it signed now.

I'm not 100% happy with the signature placement, but I didn't include any instructions so I guess I can't complain.  I would have liked it across his chest, higher up from where it is now.

Luckily, I had him sign his 1961 Topps rookie card back in 2015, when he was still charging $20, even for rookie cards.  At this latest signing, I would have had to pay $119 to get it signed, before JSA and shipping.

I've had him sign several other cards over the years, mostly for the sets I'm working on.

The other card for which I was willing to pay his current, high fee, was his 1964 Topps Stand Up, which I had signed in June of 2022.  The unsigned card can be pretty expensive, but I was able to find a lower grade copy for about $25.  There was a little pin hole with some red color that rubbed off a thumb tack, I assume.  But he signed over it which helped hide it a bit.

I have about 80 of the Topps All Star Rookie Trophy cards signed between 1960 and 1979.  I probably have more than that from more recent years, but I'm focusing on the older ones.  Many of the cards with the All Star Rookie Trophy on them end up being star and Hall of Famer rookie or second year cards.  Here are a few of my favorites, and you can see a dump of images of all of mine here:  https://www.thedroidtrader.com/toppsallstarrookietrophy.html.

I've been working on completing an unsigned 1971 Topps set.  It's one of my favorite sets and has a lot of great players in it.  Today I received Hank Aaron's card, #400, from an eBay purchase.  

I'm down to needing 38 cards, mostly stars and Hall of Famers, as well as a bunch of cards in the high number series.  I've ended up with doubles and triples (and more) of some cards.  I have a "backup set" which is probably about two-thirds complete but are mostly lower grade than the first set.  And that doesn't include the 600+ cards I have signed from this set.

Speaking of grade, this is a very tough set because the black border shows every little nick, dent or wrinkle.  I'm happy to have VG/EX cards, and maybe lower on the really expensive cards.

Despite my post yesterday, in which I claimed I would be slowing down on my ttm requests during the holidays, I sent a few out today.  I'm at 292 requests for the year and I'd like to get to at least 300 just to say I did.  I've had 239 successes so far, with 46 requests outstanding, for an 81% success rate, which is pretty low for me.  It will increase as a few more trickle in, but I'd be surprised if I hit 90% this year.

Another Mill Creek Sports Purchase - Canseco, Jones and Rodriguez

My second Mill Creek Sports order showed up today.  This is the order in which I accidently ordered the exact same Chipper Jones card.  I have no idea how I didn't realize I just ordered it, but like I said earlier, I'll consider it an investment and resell it for a huge profit in a few years :-).

I don't collect much from the known steroid guys, but this Jose Canseco card stood out to me for some reason, and it cost about the same or less than simply getting the card authenticated.  Another investment maybe.

And I'm happy to add this Ivan Rodriguez 1991 Upper Deck Final Edition card to my collection.

Is it just me, or do the cards within the Beckett slabs appear crooked much of the time?  And the bottom of the labels appears to curl up often as well.  The silver label is hard to read with tiny black print.  I'm just not a fan of them and much prefer PSA slabs.  Blue label, red label, whichever, is still better than the Beckett slabs.

I haven't sent out many requests and probably won't for the rest of the month.  The mail is unreliable as it is, and the Christmas volume won't help.  I have a small package out to a mail-in signing to a promoter in Georgia.  The Georgia mail seems worse than about anywhere, and my package has been bouncing around their facilities there for four days, after only taking two to get there from Minnesota.

Terry Fox TTM Return

I thought this request was lost, which would have been a shame since the Braves team card has a couple deceased players' signatures by Mel Roach and Frank Bolling.  But despite Terry Fox returning requests in a timely manner since I sent this last April, it finally showed up.  Maybe it got lost on its way to him or back to me, but it was postmarked just five days ago.  Or maybe he misplaced it for a while.

Anyway, I'm happy to get this back with signatures on his 1961 Topps, the 61 Topps Braves and 63 Tigers team cards.

Bill Mazeroski TTM Return

I received (yet another) ttm return from Bill Mazeroski.  Hey, he's got a lot of cards! 

He signed a 1961 Topps World Series card signed by Bill Virdon about ten years ago, as well as his 1962 Topps All Star card and 1962 Post.  I appreciate that he signed the 1962 Topps at the top.  I had delayed sending him this card fearing that he'd sign it across the very dark portion of the body, but I'm glad he didn't!  I included $30 with my request.  I wish more kids had let their moms or dads cut out the Post and Jell-O cards.  Kids suck at it apparently.  Oh well, it was cheap anyway.

Jones, Martinez and Saberhagen Mill Creek Purchases

I took advantage of a sale at Mill Creek Sports by buying a few signed rookie cards including Chipper Jones, Pedro Martinez and Bret Saberhagen.

I placed another order with them and just realized I bought ANOTHER Chipper Jones card.  Hmmm, I'll call it an investment. 

Ernie McAnally TTM Return

I received one ttm return today.  Ernie McAnally signed his 1971 Topps already signed by Clyde Mashore, and three Expos team cards.  I bought the 71 Topps signed by Mashore from Mill Creek Sports.

Bob Humphreys TTM Return

I received a single ttm return today from Bob Humphreys, who signed his 1967 Topps along with three team cards.

Weekend and Monday Returns

I received a ttm success from Don Schwall on Saturday.  He signed a 1965 Pirates team card and a 1972 Rookie of the Year Award card already signed by Ron Hansen, Andre Dawson and Stan Bahnsen.  I think there's room for one more autograph on the ROY card.

Today I received four ttm returns:

Art Howe signed a couple of his cards from the 1982 Topps set as well as his 1985 Topps.  I already had his 85 Topps, but he signed it in black, so this is a nice upgrade.

George Thomas signed a 1961 Topps high number card for my set collection.  I had sent to him fairly recently, so I included $5 with this request and apologized for the multiple mailings.

Larry Dieker signed his 1966 and 1975 Topps for his $5 per card fee.

Darcy Fast signed his 1972 Topps rookie card.  Derrel Thomas signs fairly reliably ttm, but Mike Ivie passed away last year.

And Jim Palmer signed a 1966 Orioles team card and a 1972 Topps Cy Young Award card already signed by Vern Law and Jim Perry.  Unfortunately, he signed over parts of Vern Law's signature, despite there being plenty of room on the card.

I also received a card back from a mail-in signing for Jonathan Schoop, who signed his 2019 Topps Heritage card for me.