Three TTM Returns - LaRoche, Pritchard, and Stinson

I received three ttm successes today.

Dave LaRoche, who is a very reliable and generous signer, signed his 1971, 1974, 1977 and 1982 Topps.  While the cards were signed with a blue sharpie, the pen is starting to run out of ink, so his signature appears a bit faded.  You can even guess the order in which he signed, based on how light the signatures get.  I think he signed in this order: 1971, 1982, 1974 and then the 1977 last.  Working on the 1982 Topps set is what prompted me to send to Mr. LaRoche, although his is the only one I got from that set today.

89-year-old Buddy Pritchard signed his 1958 Topps as well as the Pirates' team card from the same year.  He actually played for the Pirates in 1957, which is the team that the 1958 Topps team card is commemorating.  That's how the team cards work, which can be quite confusing. 

The '58 Topps is Mr. Pritchard's only individual Topps card.  He played in 23 games in 1957 at the age of 21, with just one hit in 12 plate appearances, which was not nearly enough game time for him to show off what he could do.

He signed another 1958 Topps for me nearly 19 years ago.  He signed that one in ballpoint, so today's return is a nice upgrade.  

His is the 9th signature on the team card, joining:

• Johnny O'Brien
• Bob Skinner
• Bill Virdon
• Bennie Daniels
• Vern Law
• Bill Mazeroski
• Elroy Face
• Bob Smith

The only player left that is even a remote possibility of signing this card is Ken Hamlin, who was an automatic signer until a couple months ago.  He has a history of occasionally taking a few months, or even a few years, to return requests.  I don't want to try to stomach that kind of wait on this card, so I probably won't send this team card on to him.  He hasn't done a mail-in signing in nearly 13 years, so that's probably not going to be an option either.

Finally, Bob Stinson signed his 1972 Topps nicely in blue sharpie.  This is the first time I have gotten this card signed and I was wondering why, because I've been going pretty hard after this set, and he's a very reliable signer.  But then I remembered that his is a high-number card, and he charges $10 per card, so I've been avoiding the expense.  I should probably get over it and send these types of cards out now or it'll be too late, and I'll regret it.  

Bob Fenwick is still with us but is not a reliable signer.  The last posted success from him on SCN was in May of 2022.  He only has a 33% success rate posted there as well, so I won't be risking this card by mailing it to him.  It doesn't appear he's done any private signings that were posted on SCN either.  I'll add this card to the ever-growing stack of cards by my desk that are only signed by one player despite having two or more players on the card, and hope some opportunity comes up in the future.

I sent out some cards for mail-in signings today, including Randy Jones, Steve Stone and Dave Stewart.  I'm caught up on mailing the cards for all the signings to which I'm committed.  I sent six cards for Randy Jones, and just one card each for the other two players.