Bill Mazeroski TTM Return and Bill Pleis Purchase

My monthly return from Bill Mazeroski arrived today.  I'm only kind of kidding.  I send to him a lot because he has so many cards and is so accessible and reliable for a reasonable $10 per card fee.

This time, I enclosed an extra $10 to add his Hall of Fame inscription on a 1958 Topps.  I have several of his 58 Topps cards signed, but decided I'd like one with an inscription.

 As I mentioned yesterday, I also enclosed a 1961 Bazooka.  I like how he signs diagonally so his signature can still be large and legible.

I previously had him sign a 1963 Pirates team card, which I left with just his signature on it.

But I decided to have him sign the card I was collecting multiple signatures on too.

And finally, he signed a 1980 Fleer Laughlin reprint of the 1971 World Series.  It's a pretty busy card without a good spot for a signature but it looks okay.

A few days ago I mentioned that former-Twin Bill Pleis passed away.  I had been gathering some high grade cards to send to him along with a blue sharpie, since he typically signed in black, including a PSA 8 copy of his 1964 Topps.  After I heard he passed away, I decided to try to buy some blue sharpie signed cards of his and received this 1964 today.

Last night I cracked another card out of its case.  This time, a 1968 Johnny Bench rookie card.  I paid more than you would have to for a PSA 4 card, but it was hard to find one nicely centered, and poor centering is a big pet peeve of mine.  I'd rather pay an additional $20- $30 on a $200+ plus card to not cringe at the centering every time I look at it.

This card was part of Ebay's "Authenticity Guarantee" program, which I don't really get.  I didn't realize it when I bought it, but the seller sends it to an "Authenticator", who verifies it is what the seller says it is.  In this case, it's already been slabbed by PSA, so I am not sure what they are verifying.  Maybe it's just to protect both buyers and sellers from one or the other claiming they sent it when they didn't, or saying they received an empty box or something.  I don't know exactly.  

This Authenticator but the slab in a slab bag and put a sticker across the opening as pictured below.  Of course, I ripped it open to crack the slab to get the card signed.

I am also waiting for Rod Carew's 1967 Topps rookie card that also went through the Authentication program.  It's a PSA 2, but looks nicer than that and has nice centering.  It's the most I've paid for a single card, but less than I've paid for a single comic book or single action figure.

And 2.5 times more than I paid for my first car, but that was 40 years ago.

I also dropped a lot of cash on a full set of the 1966 Topps Batman set.  I've always wanted them but the task of putting a set together seemed too expensive, considering the shipping involved with buying individual cards.  But I found a seller with some complete, lower grade sets and got what I think is a pretty good deal on the entire run, including #s 1 and 2 of the black bat series, which can cost more than the rest of the set combined.  I should receive those next week sometime.

My spending has to slow down significantly, so I may have to resort to simply sending out some ttm requests to work on my late 70's and early-mid 80's sets.  However, I feel rushed to get anything I want from older players ASAP as they won't be around forever.  Hence the investment in the Hall of Fame rookie cards.  I can't imagine what a Rod Carew or Johnny Bench-signed rookie card will cost after they've passed away.