Bret Saberhagen Grand Slam Print and Bill Mazeroski Return

I received two ttm returns today.

Bret Saberhagen signed a Grand Slam print for me.  I included a $25 donation to his charity.

I was lucky to get this return back from Bill Mazeroski.  It was a pretty typical request, with just two cards and a regular sase.  When I received my sase, one end was taped shut, but the other end was sliced neatly open.  Luckily, the cards were still inside.  I have no idea what happened or who taped up the other side, but I'm glad to get these back.

The 1980 Fleer Laughlin card was previously signed by Yankees Bobby Shantz and Bobby Richardson.  It's odd they chose to highlight the Yankees players on this card when the Pirates won the series.  Why not put Mazeroski on it?  Richardson won the WS MVP award, the only time someone from the losing team won it.  Rumor has it that the votes had to be in by the end of the game and the Yankees were winning until the late comeback, capped by Mazeroski's home run.

The MVP award came with a Corvette as the award.  Richardson once wrote me that Vern Law felt he should have won that award and always asked Richardson how "his" car was, thinking the car should have been his.

I purchased this team card with all of the signatures on it before sending it to Mazeroski.  Somehow, Bill Virdon signed it twice.

Jack Morris Grand Slam Print

I received a Grand Slam print back from a Jack Morris signing.  It is Tri-Star authenticated.

I also received a Dave Winfield bobblehead back from a signing, but its neck snapped on its way back to me.  I don't want to deal with it right now.

Ken McBride and Jim Nettles TTM Returns and a Couple Twins Topps Heritage Purchases

Both of my ttm returns were sent in bubble envelopes via PirateShip with blue Staedtler pens and similar return envelopes.  It's relatively expensive, but you can't send pens without the envelope being considered a package, since it is rigid.  I could use a regular sase to return the cards since I tell them to keep the pens, but I like the additional protection and tracking.

Ken McBride signed six cards for me, including his 1961, 1962, 1963, and 1965 Topps, as well as his 1964 Stand Up and the 1966 Topps Angels team card previously signed by four others.  It looks like the 63 got a little smeared a bit on the first letter, but it blends in pretty well with the blue of the card.  But that might be why he chose to also sign that card on the back?  I'm not really sure.  Despite him not having a fee or donation requirement, I included $20 with my request since it contained so many cards and due to the hassle of the bubble envelopes.  However, he returned the $20 back to me with my signed cards with no note or explanation.  I had asked a couple questions in my letter which were also unanswered.  I appreciate Mr. McBride's generosity.

I chose to send these cards with a pen because my five previous requests to him over the last 21 years were signed in ballpoint, and sometimes black ballpoint.  These are nice upgrades over the previous returns:

Jim Nettles signed a couple copies of his 1971 Topps for me.  One was previously signed by Pete Hamm nicely in blue Staedtler.  I wanted to have that signature matched, so I sent it along with a pen for him to use.  I'm not sure if I'll have Hamm sign this other copy of the card or not.  I've sent to Hamm several times over the last few months so I may let him be for a while before sending again.  I do have a couple copies of Hamm's 72 Topps out for authentication/slabbing and might do that with this completed 71 as well.

Again, despite him having no set fee and most people on SCN not sending any, I decided to enclose $10 for Mr. Nettles due to the hassle of the bubble envelopes.  I'm guessing he is getting a lot of these cards in the mail lately since Hamm started signing and is catching up on 20 years of requests

Finally, I purchased a couple Topps Heritage cards of Twins players to help towards my sets.  

Jose Miranda signed a copy of this 2022 for me ttm, but he used a black marker on that one.  This is a nice upgrade.  

The 2023 is my first Jovani Moran card and my 14th Twins card from the set, which I believe contains 21 cards.

Jim Perry TTM Return and Tony Oliva Mail-In Signing Bobblehead

Former-Twin and 1970 Cy Young Award winner Jim Perry signed four cards for me in just over a week.  I included $20 with my request, and he included a note thanking me and noting it would go to charity.  This is the first time I've gotten a Milk Duds "card" signed.  They aren't super attractive, but it's a little different and thought I'd try one out.  Some are pretty expensive and more than I'm willing to pay, so I may not get many more, if any.

I received a Tony Oliva bobblehead I've been waiting for from a late July signing.  He did an amazing job signing it, especially considering his age.  I have three more of his bobbleheads out to Fan HQ for a signing coming up.  That might be all of his bobbleheads, at least the stadium giveaways and season ticket holder versions.  This one is the season ticket holder version from 2006.

Gaetti, Kaat and Morris Returns from Mail-In Signing

I received more of the Twins items that were signed over the weekend.

Gary Gaetti signed two of his bobbleheads.  One commemorates his induction into the Twins Hall of Fame, and the other is a Season Ticket holder version from 2008.

I purchased a row of four Metrodome seats back in 2014.  I posed about it here.

I was lucky to get some good numbers, 4 through 7.  I had Molitor sign #4, Oliva sign #6 and Mauer sign #7, which corresponds to their jersey numbers.  

There were no Hall of Famers that wore #5, so I decide to just have other Hall of Famers that played for the Twins sign it.  I just got back Kaat and Morris from the same signing event.  Now I need Blyleven, Carew and maybe Winfield.

I need to reassemble the seats back on to the bases now.

Greg Gagne Signing Return

When I posted earlier today, I forgot I had a package that I hadn't opened yet.  I sent a few items in to a Greg Gagne signing.

He signed his Twins Hall of Fame bobblehead for me.  It's interesting that he added his bible verse inscription even though it was a paid signing.  I hadn't seen that before.

I found a great copy of a 1987 Sports Illustrated for him to sign.  This copy is in better condition than most you'd find on the newsstand (back when there were newsstands).

And finally, after taking the time and effort to send one of these directly to him ttm and paying more than twice the cost of this signing, I sent another 1991 Twins World Series Championship print.  This time, I had him sign it in silver towards the top, instead of in blue towards the bottom.  I'm not sure which I like better, but I'm leaning towards the silver.

 

Amos Otis Grand Slam Print Return and a Couple Killebrew Purchases

Today I received another Grand Slam print ttm.  This time Amos Otis signed his nicely with the blue sharpie I had enclosed (presumably) along with $10.  He wrote me a brief thank you note on my letter as well.

I purchased a couple Harmon Killebrew autographs from my collecting friend Randy, who has the most amazing Twins collection you'll ever see.  I occasionally buy Twins items from him which are the highlights of my collection, and I know he isn't getting out of the hobby, so these must be dupes from his collection.  His dupes are even better than my collection!

I bought a 1963 Volpe Western Oil print signed nicely in gold.  I have 14 of these prints signed, which is maybe half of the set.  I have 9 of the 14 from the 1964 set, which are more colorful than this set.  I also bought an unsigned Oliva print from Randy that I intend to get signed at an upcoming Fan HQ signing, along with three bobbleheads.

I also bought a 62 Post-signed Killebrew card to add to my son's collection that I will give him for his birthday.  (I'm almost positive he doesn't read this blog so I'm not giving away any surprises).

I'm sending off two more Grand Slam prints to paid signings today: Chuck Knoblauch and Ozzie Smith.  I'm waiting on another 3 or 4 that I've previously sent out to paid signings.  I also ordered a bunch more to send out.  I have 16 now.  I can see getting 30-40 of these signed.

Elroy Face and Pete Hamm TTM Returns, Wilcox and Javier Signing Returns

Today is a good start to the week with four different players' returns.

(El)Roy Face signed his 1962 Post for me.

And Pete Hamm signed his 1971 and 1972 Topps cards, a 72 Twins team card, and a Rowe Picture Card.

I sent a blue Staedtler along with $20 with my request since I've sent to him multiple times and this one involved bubble envelopes and using my pen.  He typically uses a ballpoint pen, which doesn't look bad on these older cards, but these look even better.

I've posted about this before, but Mr. Hamm did not sign autographs for a long time.  Like, decades.  His autographs sold for $150+.  All of a sudden, last September, his ttm requests started getting returned.  20+ year old returns started showing up in people's mailboxes, and he's been a reliable signer since.  I'd love to know the story there.  He obviously wasn't against signing, or he probably wouldn't have kept the requests that long.  Anyway, I'm happy to add these to my collection.

I sent these Julian Javier cards back in October of 2024 for an arranged signing.  The signing involved the promoter gathering all the submissions and mailing them to his contact in the Dominican Republic.  This included several different players, but I just sent for Javier.  It took a long time for this contact to arrange and meet with everyone before sending them back, which was my assumption going into it, so no big deal.

Mr. Javier signs ttm pretty reliably but always seems to use a black ballpoint pen.  These are nice upgrades to my previous ttm returns.

Finally, I received seven cards back from a Milt Wilcox signing.  He doesn't sign ttm, so I took the opportunity to get a bunch of set cards completed.