Juan Marichal is in my normal rotation of ttm requests, along with Bill Mazeroski and Vern Law. Cepeda was included in my rotation before he passed away.
These guys are reliable signers and have a lot of great cards, both vintage and new. They have reasonable fees, especially considering the quality of the careers they had, and (usually) use appropriate pens and sign your items in good locations.
But you can't be too careful :-), which is why I decided to enclose a blue sharpie with this request to Juan Marichal. I don't think he's ever used anything other than blue when signing for me, but since I was sending a Hall of Fame postcard, which has a glossy finish, and a 1962 Post in decent condition, which cost over $60, I didn't want to take any chances. Also, he charges $20 per card now, which isn't unreasonable, but it's not low enough that I wouldn't be disappointed if it came back signed in black.
I also included a 1963 Post with this request, which isn't as expensive as the 62, but still a $20+ card. The Post cards are really hard to find in decent shape. Presumably it was mostly kids that cut them out of the cereal boxes, and they did a terrible job. Crooked lines, cut marks into the card and wonky corners are common.
To be fair, Post didn't do a good job of leaving any space between the cards, so if you wanted a decent border on one card, you had to sacrifice the card next to it. Panels in good shape are ridiculously expensive and pretty uncommon.
Anyway, enough of my weak justification for spending too much on this hobby. Fortunately, he used the sharpie I sent, or a similar pen, and signed in the location I requested as well. Thank you, Mr. Marichal!
He also returned the pen along with my cards, which I said wasn't necessary in my letter and requested that he keep the pen. This helps avoid any incident that could occur if the pen were to break or leak somehow, ruining my cards and who knows what else along the way.
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