A Few More Returns - Pierce, Lee and Smith

Three more returns today, including many of the 50 cent 1960 and 1963 Topps cards I bought at the last TCSCC card show.

Billy Pierce signed his 1960 and 1963 Topps.

Hal W. Smith also signed his 1960 and 1963 Topps.

Don Lee signed his 1960, 1963 and 1965 Topps.

There is another card show this weekend, including a Tony Oliva autograph signing.  I'll be taking a bobblehead for Mr. Oliva to sign.

The Returns Are Arriving

Last week I started sending out a few requests with cards I bought at the last card show I attended.  The only problem with sending out batches of requests is that they also come back in batches.  I'd rather they trickle in so I have some returns every day.

Today I received four returns:

Bobby Morgan signed his 1950 Bowman.

Hobie Landrith signed his 1956 and 1961 Topps.

Bill Virdon signed his 1956 and 1963 Topps.

Finally, Art Schult signed his 1953 and 1958 Topps.

I sent out another eight requests today, and will probably send two or three tomorrow.

Wanted: 2007 Topps Heritage #222 - Pat Neshek

It worked so well with my bobbleheads, so I decided to post some of my wantlist on my blog.

I've been looking for a 2007 Topps Heritage #222 (Pat Neshek) for a long time. I haven't been able to find it on eBay or at card shows.

If you have one, let me know what you want for it (paypal).

I really like the set but I know I won't get a few of the Twins on it, like Santana and Hunter, but Neshek is such a good signer that it will be an easy one to add to my collection if I can only find the card!

SGA Bobblehead Collection Complete!

A couple posts ago I listed all the stadium giveaway bobbleheads I still needed for my collection.  Steve, a reader of my blog here in the Twin Cities, emailed and let me know he had all of them and was willing to sell them.

We quickly agreed on a price and met today at the Twin Cities Sports Collectors Club show in Bloomington.  He was unable to find his extra Guzman bobblehead, but I found one at the show.

Steve sold me six, including Kaat, Mauer, Morneau, Gladden, Satana and Willigham.

 

I'm running out of room to put all these bobbleheads, but I put the new ones on top of one of my display cases.

 And I gave Willingham his own shelf (replacing Denard Span).

Hopefully I can get a bunch of these signed at TwinsFest next year.  I'd sure like to see Morneau there again.  I'm pretty sure Gladden will be there.  Kaat would be a long shot and I doubt we'll ever see Guzman there.  Maybe some day Santana will come back.

I also picked up about 40 cards to send out.  Mostly from 1956, but a bunch from 1960 as well that I found in a $1 pile.

A Couple 1953 Topps

As I was creating my wantlist of 1953 Topps to buy to send out for autographs, I found that some pretty common cards were pretty expensive, even in lower grades.  So I checked out Mickey's to see what they had for sale and picked up a couple authenticated cards pretty cheap.

Preston Ward hasn't signed ttm for several years, so I was happy to pick up this card.

Harry Perkowski is a good signer through the mail, but I was able to pick up this authenticated card for about the price of authentication alone.

I'm hoping to hit a card show this weekend and pick up some more cards to send out.

Hrbek Bobblehead

I spent the last of my birthday money adding to my Twins bobblehead collection.  This completes the original four bobbleheads given out by the Twins, also including Killebrew, Pucket and Oliva.

I plan on getting the Oliva and Hrbek bobbleheads signed at the next TwinsFest.  Last weekend I spent some time trying to figure out which Twins SGA (Stadium Give Away) bobbleheads I still don't have in my collection.

I still need:

2002 - Jim Kaat
2002 - Cristian Guzman
2005 - Johann Santana - Cy Young
2007 - Joe Mauer - Batting Title
2007 - Justin Morneau
2008 - Dan Gladden

I pretty much stop collecting after the 2009 bobbleheads because they got pretty cheap looking.  I might also get the Willingham if he's still with the Twins and going to be appearing at TwinsFest.

I also have many of the bobbleheads signed, including:

2000 - Harmon Killebrew
2001 - Rod Carew
2003 - Corey Koskie
2004 - Shannon Stewart
2004 - Joe Mauer
2004 - Paul Molitor
2005 - Jacque Jones
2005 - Joe Nathan
2006 - Brad Radke
2006 - Jack Morris
2007 - Michael Cuddyer
2008 - Delmon Young

I also have both the 1987 and 1991 World Series sets, as well as the 1965 World Series Hurriance Katrina charity set, with many autographed.

My basement is starting to look a little creepy with all the bobbleheads.

Harmon Killebrew - John Wheeldon Super Valu Portrait

Today I received an eBay purchase that I spent some of my birthday money on.  I've been working on the Super Valu portraits created by John Wheeldon for a long time.  I got all ten living players through the mail, and finally found one signed by Harmon Killebrew on eBay.

This makes 11 of the 12 portraits signed in my collection.  The only remaining player is Cesar Tovar.  I'll have to keep my eyes open to find this last one.

Cloyd Boyer - 1953 Topps

I sent out just two requests lately but one came back very quickly.  I sent a 1953 Topps to Cloyd Boyer just 5 days ago and I received it back today.

I realized there are still quite a few good signers from this set that I don't have yet so I'm going to try to get a few more of these signed assuming I can find some affordable cards.

Garage Sale Find

I don't go to a lot of garage sales but maybe I should.  Today my boys and I stopped at one while we were running errands.

I bought a Ron Gardenhire stadium giveaway bobblehead for $2.  No card with it though.  I already have this bobblehead but I haven't gotten it signed for some reason.  I'll have to remember to take it along to TwinsFest next year.

Don McMahon - 1958 Topps

My sister and her family gave me an eBay gift certificate for my birthday.  It didn't take me long to spend it!

I bought a 1958 Topps signed by Don McMahon and authenticated by PSA.

This brings my 1958 set total to 364.  Just 130 more to go!

Not a great game. The Twins didn't hit much and Gibson gave up too many hits and runs early. The weather was nice though.

We didn't get any autographs but didn't try too hard.  I saw one or two guys signing briefly.

 Not a good start. Two batters, two hits.

No trip to Target Field would be complete 

without a helmet full of nachos.  

We're at the Twins/Mets game today. 

We're a little early, hoping for some autographs.  

Hal Lanier Return

I'm a little late posting this but I didn't have time at the end of last week to post before leaving town. 

On Thursday I received a nice return from Hal Lanier, who signed his 1969, 1970 and 1972 Topps.  One more '72 Topps for my set (which has a LONG way to go).

 

Jerry Grote - 1965 Topps

It's been a long time since I added a 1965 Topps to my set.  Today I received one back from a mail-in signing with Jerry Grote.

There's a card show this weekend but I won't be able to make it.  I guess I'll have to wait until September to hit the next show and get some more cards to send out.

Phil Regan - 1972 Topps

Another return today from the small batch I sent out a little over a week ago.

Phil Regan signed a 1972 Topps for my set that I sent to him in care of the St. Lucie Mets, where he is the pitching coach.

Bill Short Return

I sent out a small number of requests last week and received the first one back today.

Bill Short signed his 1960 and 1961 Topps in one week.  Mr. Short is a great signer through the mail. I'm not sure why I haven't sent to him sooner.

The trade deadline has passed today.  Morneau is still with the Twins.  I'm happy about that, despite his past injuries and lack of home runs this year.  I don't think we'd have gotten much in return, and I think he's got a lot of upside potential.

The Twins did trade Drew Butera to the Dodgers.  I think they got a Gatorade cooler or something in return.  Butera didn't hit much, but I thought he was the best defensive catcher we have.  Hopefully he'll get to play more games in the majors with the Dodgers.

Wally Moon - 1961 Topps

I always seem to get returns when I'm out of town.  I returned again today to find a nice return from Wally Moon, who signed a 1961 Topps for my collection.

I have about 225 cards signed from this set.  Now that my sons' baseball seasons are over, maybe I'll take the time to go through my sets and see what cards I need to send out.  I'm WAY under my goal for sending requests out and have a lot of catching up to do.

I heard that they will be selling off parts of the Metrodome after the Viking's season this year.  I may see if I can get some seats to add to my basement.

Bernie Allen - 1963 Nicholas Volpe Western Oil Print

I was gone for a few days over the weekend but came home to a return in my mailbox.

Bernie Allen was kind enough to sign a 1963 Western Oil print painted by Nicholas Volpe.  I sent this to him back in March.

I now have these prints signed by:

• Bernie Allen
• John Goryl
• Lenny Green
• Sam Mele
• Camilo Pascual
• Jim Perry
• Bill Pleis
• Rich Rollins
• Lee Stange
• Dick Stigman

I believe Bill Dailey and Jim Kaat are the only two living players that I don't yet have on this set.

Topps Sports Card Locker

I found a cool item over at Cedar Cliff Collectibles a while ago.  I had never seen one before.

It's a Topps Sports Card Locker.  It was a mail-away item from Topps in the late 1970's and 1980.  Mail in details were printed on wax pack wrappers.  It was $5.25 plus 75 cents for handling.

This one came stocked with about 700 cards, mostly from 1980, but a few from 1979.  I'm going to leave the cards in it, which were carefully collated by team by the previous owner.  I'm also going to buy a few empty wax wrappers from 1980 to display with it.

My Father's Day Present

My wife and kids gave up long ago trying to buy me any sports-related items for my birthday, Christmas or other gift-giving occasion.  They don't know what I already have, what I want or how much to pay.

So, for Father's Day this year I was told to buy myself something.  So I did.  I've been watching this item for a long time and decided to take this opportunity to buy it.

This is the original Twins stadium giveaway bobblehead from the year 2000.  It's tough to find any of these for sale, much less an autographed one.  I thought this might be my only chance to find one for quite a while.  And, it's authenticated by JSA.

I also have the Oliva bobblehead from this year, but haven't gotten it signed yet.  I'm not sure why.  I'll have to make that a priority this year.  I also have an unsigned Puckett and have never seen one signed, even though he died six years after this was released.  I don't yet have the Hrbek, but I'll keep my eyes out for that one too.

I think this makes 56 signed bobbleheads in my collection.

1952 Berk Ross - Jerry Coleman

I was very surprised to find a return in my mailbox today.  I haven't sent out a request since the end of March.

I was more surprised to see that it was a return from Jerry Coleman that I sent last October.  He signed a 1952 Berk Ross for me.

The rest of June is really booked with my kids' baseball so I won't be sending out anything until at least July.  I'll need to spend some time going through my 1972 set to see what cards I need to buy.  I think I need another project to start on.

Ben Revere - 2012 Allen & Ginter

I sent a 2012 Allen & Ginter in to a paid signing at a card shop in Philly that was advertised on SCN.

I got it back this week.  It was odd because I also received my check back as well.  I'm not sure why.  I noticed that Revere added his jersey number, which is currently 2, instead of 11 which is what he was with the Twins.  I hope they didn't return my check just because of that.  It's really no big deal.  I sent the promoter a message via SCN but haven't heard back.