Harrelson, Colbert and Oliver Returns.

Three more returns today.  I've been sending out a lot of requests so I'm getting returns almost every day.

Bud Harrelson signed his 1971 Topps, both his regular and "in action" cards from 1972, and 1978 Topps.

Vince Colbert signed his 1971 and 1972 Topps.

And Bob Oliver signed and personalized his 1971, 1972 and 1973 Topps.

We went to the card show at Har Mar today.  It's a little more disappointing every time we go.  Not many dealers there today.  I picked up a nice copy of a 1991 Sports Illustrated with Dan Gladden colliding with an upside-down Greg Olson of the Braves.  Olson lives in Minnesota and is often a guest at TwinsFest so I hope to get it signed by both of them.

I also picked up a nice Rollie Fingers 1972 Topps that I'll send out soon.

We also stopped at the Twins Pro Shop in Roseville but were disappointed in the poor selection (and high prices) of the games used items.  $300 for a Guerrier jersey?  $150 for a Span bat?  We passed.

Card Show Finds

I had to drive up north of the Twin Cities today to meet my in-laws who had watched my sons for the weekend. On the way back, my sons and I stopped at a card show at Har Mar Mall. This is one of our favorite shows since there are usually a lot of dealers with a nice mix of vintage stuff, Twins and autographs.

Today there were only a few dealers so at first we were disappointed. However, one dealer had a nice selection of Harmon Killebrew photos, with several of them signed. My older son John is a huge Killebrew fan so he was very interested. This particular dealer's father is a photographer who has photographed Killebrew since the 60's so he has a lot of unique photos, rather than the typical ones you see from photofile, etc.


John picked a signed 16x20 (only $40!) and he and I each bought a black & white, 11x14 unsigned photo. John's picture shows Killebrew with Hank Aaron, and mine is a picture of Killebrew sitting in the dugout alone.

Although the show was pertty small, we were happy with what we found.

Card Show and Pro Shop Finds

Today my sons and I headed out to Har Mar Mall in Roseville to check out a card show there. It was smaller than usual so at first we were disappointed. However, we all found things we were interested in. My older son found a couple of inexpensive vintage cards to send out for autographs, including a 1949 Bowman Marty Marion and a 1958 Topps Bobby Thomson. He also found a nice 8x10 of Mark Buehrle that he plans to send out and a great 11x14 black and white shot of Harmon Killebrew hitting his 500th home run. He plans on getting Killebrew to sign that at TwinsFest next year.

My younger son found a few items of his favorite player, Johan Santana. He got a Stadium give away Cy Young Santana figure, a few jersey cards, and an 8x10 of Santana in a Mets uniform. When we got home, we made a Santana display in part of his room, including a jersey that I bought from a fellow collector. Not a game used jersey, just the type you would buy in a store.


I bought about 35 cards to send out to be signed, including a good amount of 1965 Topps and several 1959 Topps.

After the card show we went to the Twins Pro Shop in Roseville. We don't get over there too often so we were hoping to see some different game used items than the same old stuff we see at the Apple Valley store. They had several game used bats, but they were pretty expensive. Redmond was $100, a Gomez bat that was completely broken and taped back together was $100, and they went up from there. They actually had an Ortiz bat from when the Red Sox visited earlier this year. That was $400. Ouch. We didn't get any bats.

They also had some game used jerseys. At $150, they weren't too outrageous, but the selection was slim. They were mostly from guys not on the team any more, like Livan Hernandez, Adam Everett (who I like) and Bobby Korecky. They also had a few of the younger guys like Duensing and Buscher. We weren't willing to spend $150 on those guys, but I did get a couple of game used caps. They were tough to sort through because they didn't have names on them, just the player's number. I don't know the players numbers by heart, so we had to go look at the jerseys and t-shirts in the store to see who was who.

I bought a Brian Buscher cap from a game on September 7, 2008 when the Tigers visited the Twins at the Dome. The Tigers won 7-5. Buscher was 1-4 with an RBI but also committed an error.


I also bought a Joe Crede cap from a game played on July 3rd of this year at the Dome, also against the Tigers. Again, the Twins lost, this time 11-9, in 16 innings. Crede went 1-8, but his one hit was a home run in the 6th inning with nobody on base.


The caps were a reasonable $20, which is less than many of the new caps they sell. I might write down all the players numbers and head back to see who else is there. We know there weren't any Morneau, Span or Punto caps. They did have Cuddyer and Nathan caps for $30, which I am contemplating.

Ossie Virgil

Yesterday I received a couple of cards signed by Ossie Virgil. A fellow collector from Sportscollectors.net frequently travels to the Dominican Republic and is able to get many hard to find players that are willing to sign.

I sent a 1958 and 1965 Topps. I already had a 1958 Topps that I had purchased, but I have a greater confidence level that this one is authentic, although the signatures match up pretty well.


I bought a few 1952 Topps on eBay that should be coming soon. Those will be great when they're signed.

There is a card show at Har Mar Mall this weekend. I think my boys and I will check it out on Sunday.