Four Returns Today

It's nice to see multiple returns in the mailbox again.  It's been a while.

Today brought four returns.

Johnny Orsino signed his 1963 Topps.

Jose Tartabull signed his 1963, 1964 and 1966 Topps.

 

Roy Sievers signed a 1959 and 1964 Topps.

Finally, Daryl Spencer signed his 1963 Topps and included a signed 2013 Baseball Magazine card.

Tony Gonzalez and Frank Thomas

Two returns today.

Tony Gonzalez signed his 1961 and 1963 Topps for $5 each.

Frank Thomas signed his 1955 Red Man, as well as his 1961, 1963 and 1964 Topps.  He also enclosed a signed card of his own.  Mr. Thomas signs for $5 each and donates the money to charity.  He wrote a nice letter explaining the charities he supports.

 After posting yesterday about the 1976 Topps set I bought on Ebay and mentioning that I might also send out some '79s, I dug out my 79 cards to find that I really didn't have many.  So, I ordered a set.  It should arrive in a few days and I can start sending out a lot of requests!

Carlton Fisk - 1978 Topps

My requests still seem a little slow in coming back.  I guess I'm just impatient.

I did get one back today, and it's a good start towards my 1978 Topps set.

Carlton Fisk signed for me for his $40 fee.

A while ago I used the wantlist feature over at sportscollectors.net to check off the cards from this set that I already have.  I was surprised to find out I already have 103 signed.  Just 623 to go!

Today I also received a complete 1976 Topps set I bought on Ebay.  I'll use these to send along with my 1978 Topps requests.  I think I have a few 1979 Topps that I may also include for the generous signers.

Some Vintage Returns Today

It's been a long time since I've had multiple returns in a single day.  But today I had six returns waiting for me.

Carl Erskine signed his 1954 and 1955 Red Man cards for me.

Eddie Robinson signed his 1952 Red Man,

Gene Conley signed his 1953 Topps for his $5 fee.

Don Newcombe signed his 1961 Topps.  I included his $20 fee with my request.

I sent Bobby Valentine a 1978 Topps, but received a signed 1986 Topps instead.  Beggars can't be choosers!

Dick Brodowski signed and personalized a 1953 Topps for me.

I mailed out seven more requests today so hopefully the returns are consistently for a while.

Mickey Mantle Ball

I've had this for a while but had forgotten to scan it in and add it to my web site or blog about it.

Last fall I helped a relative sell some sports memorabilia for their aunt who had become ill and was moving out of her house.

This collection was a real mix of quality.  A few very nice pieces, including this Mickey Mantle ball, as well as a lot of late 80's and early 90's cards that were almost worthless.

In addition to the Mantle Ball, there were balls signed by Ted Williams and Joe Dimaggio.  Also lots of Nolan Ryan autographed items including balls, pictures, a bat and a glove.  This collection was put together in the early 90's and much of it was purchased from the Home Shopping Club.  I was a little skeptical of the authenticity despite the signatures looking really nice.

After some investigation and getting some more experienced collector's opinions, I arranged to keep the Mantle ball in exchange for helping sell the rest of the collection.  The nice items sold quickly, but it took a long time and a lot of Craigslist meet-ups to sell the rest $20 to $30 at a time.  I finally sold the remaining items at my garage sale in early May.  Many items wold have cost more to ship than they were worth.

Despite all the work (which was kind of fun too), I"m really happy to add this ball to my collection.

New Web Site For My Collection

In addition to posting on this blog, I also have a web site where I track all of my autographs.  It's not a pretty web site, just a really basic site that helps me quickly look to see if I have a particular item signed by a player, and also a way to view my collection without having to dig everything out of the various places my collection is stored.

Since I started using the internet, my ISP has always provided free web site hosting.  For some reason, Comcast decided to stop providing this service so I had to find another way to host this site.

I used Go Daddy and got my own domain: http://www.droidtradercollect.com.

Despite having to pay for this service now, the ftp upload and web page response time is much quicker.

I've updated the link below in the "Visit These Sites" section to reflect this change.  I also changed the contact email at the top of this blog to a new email for this domain: droidtrader@droidtradercollect.com.

Curt Simmons

I have several requests out but they seem a little slow in coming back.  I did get one back today though.

Curt Simmons signed his 1955 Red Man for me.

I also received some cards I bought on Ebay so I'll be sending out a few more next week.

Some More 1952 Topps

I was out of town for about a week and came home to find some more 1952 Topps returns.

I received signed cards from Gil Coan, Bob Friend and Bob Kuzava.

I also received a few more vintage cards I purchased on eBay and will be sending those out soon.

A Couple Vintage Cards

I recently bought a handful of vintage cards and sent them out last week.  Today I got back the first two returns.

Irv Noren signed his 1952 Topps for his $10 fee.

Bobby Shantz signed his 1953 Topps.  Mr. Shantz is a very generous signer and I was surprised I hadn't gotten this card signed yet when I was going through my lists.

I was on the Budweiser Deck for last night's Twin's game. Sano's big blast looked like it could have reached me!

This Year's Twins Bobblehead Giveaways

A couple weeks ago I posted about the Twins game I went to, thanks to my sister, where we got the Brian Dozier bobblehead.  This bobblehead does not have a good spot for an autograph, so I'm not sure I'll get this one signed.

Yesterday, I bought the Molitor and Hughes bobbleheads from blog reader and fellow collector Steve.  Thanks Steve!

I still need to pick up the Hughes Star Wars bobblehead from this year, but they're still kind of spendy.

Billy Williams

Another paid-signing return today.  I sent two cards to Tom Orr (Atommic Sports) for a Billy Williams signing on July 31st.

I was able to add cards to two of the sets I'm working on, including the 1961 and 1962 Topps sets.

Robin Yount

Today I received two cards I had sent to Waukesha Sports to get signed by Robin Yount last weekend at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago.

I haven't added a card to my 2008 Goudey retired players collection for over two years.  I'm happy to make this my 39th card in that set.

I also took the opportunity to get a 1978 Topps signed, assuming I'll start work on that set in earnest sometime soon.  This is also a card that stands out from my childhood, so it's cool to have it signed.

I think the card that stands out the most from my childhood is the 1978 Topps Butch Wynegar card. As a Twins fan, I was happy to pull this card from the packs I'd buy at Hunt's Silver Lake Drug in Rochester, Minnesota after church every Sunday.  That is, until I had about a dozen of them, and it seemed there was one in every pack.  It's one of the first cards I sent out to get signed once I discovered this hobby back in July of 2003.

A Nice Surprise - 2014 Topps Heritage Dozier

As I was getting ready for the Twins game last Saturday, I was going through my TwinsFest binder for cards to take along in case there were any autograph opportunities.

I came across a card still in my binder that was signed, but I had overlooked when pulling all the other signed cards out last January.

The card I had forgotten to take out was a 2014 Topps Heritage signed by Brian Dozier!

Nachos always taste better in a helmet

We got them!

Just barely though! Now we're watching the Yankees take batting practice.

Waiting in line at the Twins game

We're 2 hours early, hoping for the Dozier bobblehead. Not sure we'll get them.

Jim Kaat Return

Over the weekend I received a couple of Jim Kaat autographs that I received from an Atommic Sports (Tom Orr) signing.  I was out of town and the package was left on my front step, only to be doused by my sprinkler at least one day.  The box was a little soggy, but the items turned out to be okay.

Mr. Kaat signed his stadium giveaway bobblehead from 2002 nicely on the cap.  This gets me halfway to my goal for the year of getting two bobbleheads signed (after TwinsFest).

He also signed his Nicholas Volpe Western Oil portrait from 1963.  I have 12 of the 24 signed from this set, but completing it will be difficult as many of the players are deceased.

A Couple More Signed 1972 Topps

After updating my goals at the mid-way point for the year, I decided I better get going on a couple of them.

Chris Potter was having an Ebay sale on signed cards, so I added a couple 1972 Topps to my collection.

Joel Horlen is not a bad signer through the mail, but since his card is in the high number series, I didn't want to waste too many tries trying to get him to sign for me and just bought one from Chris.

Rennie Stennett rarely signs through the mail, so I was happy to get this one added to my collection.

Mid Year Update On 2015 Collecting Goals

I haven't been very active with my collection the last couple of months.  I have run out of cards to send and just haven't taken the time (or money) to buy some.

As it's just passed the mid year point, I suppose it's time to see how I'm doing on my goals:

Goal - Send out 150 through the mail requests. - So far I've sent out 49, so I have quite a bit of catching up to do, but sending out 100 requests in six months shouldn't be a problem.

Goal - Add 50 more cards to my 1963 Topps set. - I've added 37 so far.  13 more in six months should be easy.

Goal - Add 2 more cards to my 1958 Topps set. - I haven't added any.  I don't have many left to get that aren't expensive, and there are very few ttm options left for me.

Goal - Add 5 more cards to my 1965 Topps set. - I've added two.  Three more seems reasonable.

Goal - Add 10 more cards to my 1972 Topps set. - I've only added one!  I better get going on this one.

Goal  - Add 2 more signed bobbleheads to my collection.  - This goal doesn't include all the ones I got signed at TwinsFest.  I am expecting a Jim Kaat bobblehead from a Tom Orr signing back any day now.  I'll need to get one more before the end of the year.

Goal - Add 5 more signed magazines to my collection.  I haven't done enough of these in the last few years so I'd like to get a few more from the 50's and 60's. - I haven't sent any out yet!  I don't even have any to send out. Another one I need to get going on.

Returns Two Days In a Row!!

I was surprised to see another return in the mailbox today.  I sent this one to Don Mossi back in early February.  He was kind enough to sign his 1961 Post as well as his 1963 and 1964 Topps cards for me.

Claude Raymond

Today I received a return from Claude Raymond in Canada.  I didn't have any Canadian postage for my return envelope, so I included a couple of American dollars in my request.

Ron Perranoski Return

Another return today: Ron Perranoski signed his 1963 and 1971 Topps.

Things will really slow down now.  Maybe I'll get some more requests out over the weekend.

Three 1963 Returns

It's been slow lately, but today I got back three returns.  

Cliff Cook, Sam Mele and Clay Dalrymple each signed a 1963 Topps for me.

 

A Success?

I was happy to see a return in my mailbox yesterday, but then disappointed after opening it.

Bud Zipfel signed a 1963 Topps, but the ballpoint pen wasn't working.  You can see a little ink in the "B" in his first name, but beyond that, you can only see the indentation on the card, and no ink.

I think I"ll wait a while and send another.  Unfortunately, I had enclosed his $5 fee.