Bill Mazeroski, Davey Johnson and Phil Regan

I was really looking forward to getting this Bill Mazeroski return, but I'm always nervous that sending larger, more expensive items may not turn out well, resulting in a waste of money.

But this one turned out great.  He signed a 1960 Pirates World Series program and added his HOF inscription as I requested.  I included $30 with my request.  I also sent a blue sharpie for him to use.  The scan makes his signature look like an odd shade of blue, but with my eyes, it's a very nice, dark blue as you'd expect from a sharpie.  Between this, and the odd staining on the Chili Davis ball I scanned, I need to look into my scanner setting to see if I can improve the colors.

Davey Johnson signed the 1972 World Series Game Two card.  I have had Brooks Robinson sign this one, thinking he was pictured, but after some research and advice from SCN members, I think this is actually Davey Johnson.  He also signed his 1987 Topps, adding the inscription without me having to ask.  I enclosed $10 with this request.

A couple days ago I mentioned I was waiting on some Phil Regan cards from a private signing, despite having gotten a return ttm.  They arrived today, including a 1961 Tigers team card (already signed by Charlie Maxwell and Ray Semproch), another 1965 Topps, and his 1971 Topps.

Chili Davis, Tom Griffin and Some Purchases

Yesterday I received a return from Tom Griffin, who completed the 1969 Houston Rookie Stars card and signed his 1970 and 1980 Topps cards as well as the 1978 Padres team card.

Today I received a return from a private signing with Chili Davis.  A while back I posted that I had intended to send in his 1991 Twins World Series poster, but then realized I already had it signed.  So, I sent in a Metrodome ball and had him add the 1991 World Series Champions inscription instead.  The scan shows the ball as having some pretty bad browning, which isn't visible when I look at the ball with my eyes.  I'm not sure if there's something weird about the scan, or if the ball is slightly discolored, and the scanner exaggerated it. 

And I received a few cards I purchased from Tom Orr, including cards from Eddie Murray, Jack Clark, Jim Kaat and Ted Simmons.  This is my first Ted Simmons autograph, so I can add one more Hall of Famer to my collection.

Speaking of which, I was pleasantly surprised to see Joe Mauer get elected to the Hall of Fame on his first try!  Congratulations to Joe!  I was afraid the voters would think he didn't have enough years playing at a high level, or enough years playing at all.  I really think his personality had a big impact.  Had he been a jerk to the press and fans, I don't think he'd get it, at least initially.

1960 Topps Purchase of 13 Cards

As I mentioned yesterday, I also bought 13 different 1960 Topps signed cards.  Only two of these are cards I already had signed, but these are nice upgrades. All these players were good signers in their day, so while I never got around to sending these to them myself, I'm happy to add players such as Curt Simmons and Al Dark to my collection on cards from this set.

I don't keep track of exactly which cards I have from this set, but I have about 150 different ones based on the quick directory listing of my web site.

The cards themselves are in really nice condition, better than the ones I typically buy to send out myself.

TTM Returns and Some Purchases

I was out of town a few days and came home to a full mailbox.

I received four ttm returns:

Vern Law signed his 1952, 1959 and 1960 Topps.  As usual, he added several inscriptions to each.  I had the 52 already, but he signed that one in black, so I hoped he would sign this one in blue, which he did.  I included $30 with my request.

Jack Brohamer signed his 1973 and 1974 Topps, as well as the 1973 and 1975 Indians team cards.

Dennis (Denny) O'Toole signed his 1973 Topps rookie card, as well as the 1971, 1972 and 1973 White Sox team cards.

And Phil Regan signed his 1962 and 1965 Topps, as well as the 1963 and 1965 Tigers team cards.  This was another upgrade attempt, since my previous 62 and 65 Topps were signed by him in black.  I have some cards out to a private signing with Mr. Regan, which has been postponed.  I have since sent out these cards and had them returned before the private signing got completed.  I believe they are attempting to get that signing done in January still.  Mr. Regan is a pretty good signer ttm, with about an 80% success rate on SCN.  Still, I see many, seemingly random, requests listed there that don't get completed.  For that reason, I sent him team cards with no other signatures on them yet, just in case I didn't get these back.  I have both of these team cards with multiple signatures and I'm not sure what my strategy is going to be with them now.

I received several purchases as well.

I bought some cards from Tom Orr both on eBay and on SCN, including a 2008 Goudey Tony Perez, Rod Carew's 2022 Allen & Ginter, and both of Carlton Fisk's 1983 Topps cards.

I also bought about a dozen signed 1960 Topps cards which I will post tomorrow.

 

Another Return Today - Jack Hiatt

My wife picked up the mail today and forgot one of my little sases in her purse.

It was a return from Jack Hiatt, who was kind enough to sign the 1965 Angels team card, his 1966 Topps already signed by Dick Estelle, and his 1971 and 1973 Topps.

I already had the 71 and 73 but included them since I was sending anyway.  I usually try to maximize a request, noting how many cards a player is willing to sign based on their history on SCN.  Although I've done very little of it so far, maybe someday I'll use these duplicates to sell or trade up for things I don't have in my collection.

When I first started collecting autographs ttm in 2003, I went hard after the 1958 set.  At that time, there were more local shops I could buy them from.  I sent a lot, probably hundreds, of requests with just the 58 Topps in it.  I wish now I had sent at least one more card along with those requests.  It would have doubled my cost since I would have had to buy more cards but would have built my collection more quickly since I was already writing all those letters and addressing all those envelopes.  And at that time, I was hand-writing all my letters.

I could have built a nice collection of 57 and 59 Topps for example, which I have very few of now.

Anyway, I ended up sending to many of those players multiple times over the last 20 years, so I've caught up by now, I guess.  I never really focused on the 57 and 59 sets but sent whatever cards I felt were the most desirable for each particular player.

For example, I sent just a 1958 Topps to Dick Groat back in October of 2003.  

A couple years later, I sent him a 1954 and 1955 Topps to sign.  I could have sent all three of these in my initial request because he was a generous signer.