Mike Schmidt and Harding Peterson

At the last card show we went to, my son bought a few 1958 Topps to send out. I helped him identify those players that sign well through the mail. He sent out a handful of them already and today he got back Harding "Pete" Peterson.


I also got back a 2008 Goudey signed by Mike Schmidt from an AtommicSports signing. I finally broke down and paid for it and was able to get it done for less than $50.

Billy Williams Return

Today I received a 2008 Goudey I sent in to Jim & Steve's to be signed by Billy Williams. I have sent several items in to their signings and have been happy with the results of every one of them.

I received a bunch of my Sportlots.com orders today in preparation of TwinsFest. I also received a Delmon Young bobblehead and a bunch of 8x10 pictures I bought on eBay.

Bobby Brown - 1949 Bowman

An unusual Tuesday return today. Bobby Brown signed his 1949 Bowman for me in a quick 8 days.

I only have about 5 or 6 ttm requests out, but also sent a few cards to mail-in signings including Steve Carlton and Billy Williams 2008 Goudeys.

TwinsFest Comes to an End

I had a very successful day today at TwinsFest. I went alone since my boys had a hockey game (which they won).

I arrived about 5 minutes before the doors opened and the line outside was not too long. In fact, there were far fewer people there today than yesterday, which was nice. First, I got Ron Gardenhire to start off my 2009 team ball by signing on the sweet spot. At the same station, Tom Kelly signed a bobblehead from my 1987 Twins set. In all, I got three of these signed this TwinsFest (also signing were Roy Smalley and Kent Hrbek). I got through this first line very quickly, probably 15 minutes into the first seesion.

Then I went into Harmon Killebrew's line, even though he wasn't signing until the second session at 11:00. I didn't want to miss the chance to get him to sign my 2008 Goudey (pictured). I waited an hour and a half until that line started moving, and was done in about 20 minutes. Then I went through a line containing Corey Koskie and Phillip Humber. Twice. Jim Grant was also supposed to be in that session but he was a no-show.

After Koskie and Humber, I got in a line for Jason Kubel and Delmon Young. Young hadn't been there the previous two days so I thought the line might be pretty bad. It wasn't. I got through that line twice as well.

Even after going through the Kubel/Young line twice, I still was able to get down to the Dome floor to go through a line with Nick Blackburn, Craig Breslow and Brendan Harris. When I got through that line, I went immediately back to the end of it for the next session, which was Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey and Jesse Crain. After that line, I went back upstairs (there are a lot of stairs to go from the Dome floor to the concourse, my legs are going to be sore tomorrow) and got in line for Joe Nathan. After Nathan, I was going to leave, but noticed that the Perkins/Slowey/Crain line was almost empty again so I headed back down and got all three of them on my team ball.

Whew. We have a tradition (okay, it's this was only our third year, but we've done it every year) to lay out all the items we got autographed for the three days on our kitchen table and take a picture. This is no small task. Between the four of us, we got over 100 autographs.


Today's highlight was getting Harmon Killebrew to sign my 2008 Goudey card. He hadn't seen it before and took a look at it and we talked about it a little bit. Maybe I'll send him one. I ended up getting a really nice picture of him signing it.

Over the next few days or weeks I'll highlight some of the items we got and the pictures I took of my kids with the players.

Still Waiting

I was out of town for a few days, and was anxious to see what might be waiting for me in the mailbox when I got home.  I was really hoping to see the 1965 Topps signed by Whitey Ford that I re-sent when he signed the penny sleeve originally.  But, all I found was some cards I had bought on eBay.  I bought several more 2008 Goudeys of retired players including Al Kaline and Paul Molitor, as well as a 2003 Topps Heritage of Corey Koskie who will be at TwinsFest next month.  I got Corey Koskie through the mail when he played for the Twins back in 2003, but not on the Heritage set that I'm working on.

Other than that, I got about 25 cards form the early '60s that I'll write letters for later this week and send out.