Saturday, February 15, 2025

Leubber, Richardson and Thornton TTM Returns, a Private Signing, and More Purchases

I had a pretty full mailbox today.

Starting with the ttm returns:

Former-Twin Steve Luebber signed his 1972 and 1977 Topps and a couple Twins team cards.




Yankee legend and 1960 World Series MVP Bobby Richardson signed his 1960 Topps and a 1980 Fleer Laughlin card commemorating the 1958 World Series.  I wish I had worked on these cards years ago and had Hank Bauer sign it.  I think Richardson is only one of five players from this team that are still with us.


Andre Thornton signed his 1974, 1975, and 1982 Topps as well as the 1975 Cubs team card.




I sent 10 cards into a Ray Burris signing.  There was a price drop at 10 cards that made the cost about half of his usual $10 ttm fee.  I think I'm good on Ray Burris cards now.










And I bought a couple 2003 Topps Heritage cards, including Dustan Mohr, to help with my Twins team set, and a JSA-Authenticated Mariano Rivera, a splurge to add another Hall of Famer to my collection.  I struggle to find cards to get signed by the more recent Hall of Famers but really like the Topps Heritage cards and 2003 is one of my favorite years.  2007 would be a close second.


I've sent out a ridiculous number of requests so far this year.  Over 100 already, which is a lot for me.  I'm sure I won't keep this rate up all year, but it's a good start.

Thursday, February 13, 2025

Hrbek and Mazeroski Returns and Some Purchases

After getting shutout yesterday, I received two ttm returns today.

Twins' Fan Favorite Kent Hrbek signed his 1983 Twins Leaders card as well as his 2024 Allen & Ginter.  I included $10 with my request.


Bill Mazeroski signed a 1961 World Series and 1967 Topps for me for his $10 per card fee.  The 61 is an upgrade over a previous one.  His signature was fine, but the card wasn't great.  It's really hard to find this card with decent centering.


I also bought a bunch of cards from Tom Orr, both on SCN as well as eBay.  There are two cards that need Danny Cater to finish, so I'll send those out.  Maybe I'll send a permission letter first, just to try to make sure I get them back.







Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Ron Guidry and George Medich TTM Returns and a Long Failure

I was pretty curious when I saw the older flag forever stamp on one of my sases in my Informed Delivery email this morning.  I scanned through my old requests to see if there were any open ones that were sent to Atlanta, which is where this one was postmarked.  I decided it was Pat Corrales and was excited to get a nearly five-year-old request back.  But then I realized that Mr. Corrales passed away in 2023.  Someone was kind enough to send back my cards, unsigned of course, about 18 months after he passed away.  I appreciate that they took the time to do this.  I saw others on SCN getting their unsigned cards back recently as well.

I did have two successes today though.

Ron Guidry, who will sign one card per request, signed his 1982 Topps In Action card for me in a little over five weeks.  The In Action cards from the 82 set don't have the facsimile autograph on them, so they look a little nicer signed, I think.  I am working on the entire set though.

And George Medich signed his 1973, 1979 and both his 1982 Topps in just 11 days.  I didn't notice how badly the 73 was misaligned when I sent it out.  I do have another copy, which is a bit better, signed by both Medich and Busby.  Dick Colpaert passed away in 2021 and I never sent a request to him.




Here's the other '73 I have with Busby and Medich on it:

Monday, February 10, 2025

Gogolewski, Oldis and Pascual TTM Returns

I started off the week well with three ttm returns.

I last wrote to Bill Gogolewski way back in 2010, when he signed a couple cards for me.  This time, he signed his 1971, 1972 and 1974 Topps.  He also included a signed Texas Rangers Alumni photo.




Former-Twin Camilo Pascual signed his three Post cards for me (1961-1963), as well as a 1965 Strikeout Leaders card already signed by Al Downing.




And Bob Oldis signed his 1955, 1962 and 1963 Topps as well as the 1961 Pirates team card.  The 55 got a bit smeared.  I have one copy of this team card with just Mazeroski's signature on it but also wanted to get one signed by team members.




Before I started this blog, I worked on a 1960 Pirates baseball and did pretty well on it, getting 16 signatures on it and retiring it after Maz signed it.