Q2 2021 Goals Update

Happy 4th of July!  I'll take this pause in the mail schedule to update my goals for the second quarter of the year.

Goal:  Add 10 cards to my 1965 set.

    Progress: I've added eight signed cards from the 65 set so far.  Up from three in the first quarter.  This one shouldn't be a problem.

Goal: Add 25 cards to my 1971 set. 

    Progress: I've already surpassed this one.  I've added 49 cards, up from 32 in the first quarter.  Some were purchases, but many were ttm.  

Goal:  Add 15 cards to my 1972 set.

    Progress: I've added 15 cards to this set.  So this one is complete.

Goal: Add 50 cards to my 1978 set.

    Progress: So far I've added 39 cards to this set, up from 19 in the first quarter.  This should be easy to get done, even without spending  much money.

Goal: Add 5 signed baseballs to my collection.

    Progress:  I am at three.  One ttm, and two purchases I haven't posted about yet.  I"m confident I'll get this one done.

Goal:  Add 5 signed magazines to my collection.

    Progress: I've added three so far, up from one in the first quarter.

Goal: Send out 200 requests.

    Progress: I was couple short as of the end of June, but am now at 206, so this goal is complete.

I also picked up a couple projects as the year has progressed.  I don't have any specific goals, but I've been working on the 1964 Topps Stand Ups, 1977 Pepsi Discs, and 1983 Topps sets.

Four Returns

Today was another pretty good day for returns.  A little odd, but 15 more cards, just like yesterday.

The odd part was two players each didn't sign one of the cards I sent, but one player included two extra signed cards.

Jim Beattie signed his 1979, 1983 and 1985 Topps.  He didn't sign, but he did return his 1987 Topps.  Although I do see s return of four cards on SCN, looking at his history, he seems to max out at 3, and return the rest unsigned.  I didn't notice that when I sent it out.

Barry Foote signed the 1976, 1978, 1979 and 1983 Topps I sent.  He also signed and returned a 1981 Donruss and 1982 Fleer.  There was no note or anything, so I don't know if this was a mistake, or a kind gesture, but I'm happy to have them.

Steve Hargan signed his 1968, 1969 and 1976 Topps.  He didn't sign, but did return, the 1975 Topps I enclosed.  I see plenty of returns where he's signed 4 or more cards.  The 1975 Topps has a facsimile signature on it, so maybe he thought he already signed it?  Or perhaps just an oversight.

Finally, Nyjer Morgan signed his 2008-2010 Topps Heritage cards.  I know this return doesn't exactly fit my normal requests, but I had noticed some returns on SCN and I had some Heritage cards of his, so I sent them out.  I really like the Heritage sets so I'm happy to have these.  I'm not quite sure what his inscriptions are.  Maybe his jersey number, then a smiley face, on top of a "T"?

It will be at least a couple days now before I get another return due to the holiday on Monday.  I think tomorrow I'll update my goals for the year now that we're at the half-way point.

Five Returns Today

I received five returns today, for a total of 15 signed cards.

Larry Lintz signed his 1975, 1976 and 1977 Topps.

Gary Neibauer signed his 1971 and 1972 Topps.

Doug Rader signed his 1971, 1976, 1978 and 1985 Topps in just seven days.

Darrell Sutherland signed his 1966 and 1968 Topps.

Finally, Tom Walker signed his 1973, 1975, 1976 and 1977 Topps for me.

I continue to do a pretty good job of sending out requests and have over 30 requests outstanding from just the last month or so.  I have a few cards out to private signings as well.

Jim Small - 1957 Topps

I received a nice vintage return from Jim Small today, who signed his 1957 Topps nicely in about 2.5 weeks.

I had sent him his 1956 Topps back in 2005 which he also signed quickly back then.

Dennis Ribant and Mike Shannon

Today I received a couple cards back from Dennis Ribant, who signed his 1966 and 1969 Topps.

I also received a return from Mike Shannon, who signed his 1965 Topps for me.

I've been working on this 1965 Topps from Mike Shannon for quite a while.  He's a pretty good signer in general, but not real consistent.  Just when I see people on SCN getting some returns, he seems to stop for a while.  

I first sent to him back in 2004.  I sent him a 1965 and 1970 Topps.  He signed the 1970 Topps, but didn't return the '65.  The 65 is one of the sets I'm working on and I had enclosed the 1970 card just because I had it.

For whatever reason, I didn't try sending to him again until 2011 when I saw him signing in care of his restaurant.  I never got that one back though.

I saw a few returns coming back a while ago, so I sent this one to the Cardinals team address since he is a radio broadcaster with them.  I'm happy to get this back as I  don't have too many cards left that I can add to my 65 set without a lot of expense.  Mr. Shannon signed this for no charge.

Jack Brohamer, Terry Fox and Gary Peters Returns

I received three more returns today:

Jack Brohamer signed his 1973, 1975 and 1981 Topps.

Terry Fox signed his 1962, 1963 and 1967 Topps for me.  He also enclosed a couple signed custom index cards.

Finally, Gary Peters signed his 1964 Topps Stand Up.  I'm now 14/77 for this set.

Juan Berenguer In Person Signing

I honestly can't remember the last in person signing I attended.  I think it may have been TwinsFest in 2017.  Can that be possible?

Anyway, there was a local card show today with free Juan Berenguer autographs, so I went and checked it out.  It was a small show, but still had a nice mix of new and vintage cards.  I bought a 1955 Golden Stamp of Carl Erskine from a friend that was set up at the show, but I wasn't really prepared to buy much else as I didn't have any want lists with me. 

Mr. Berenguer signed a 1987 Twins team ball that I started at TwinsFest in 2017 when they had a nice lineup of players from that team at one station.  I posted about that In This Post.  The ball looks like it's yellowing in the scan, but it's pretty white in person.

I also had him sign his 1979 Topps rookie card.  The other two players on the card appear to be good signers, according to sportscollectors.net, so I'll try to complete this one.

There was no line and the show was very lightly attended, at least for the 25 or so minutes I was there.  It was raining out. I don't know if that would help or hurt attendance.  I hope they continue to have these shows and I'll do my best to support them and spend a little more money next time.

Tommy Davis 1964 Topps Stand Up and Jim Duffalo TTM Returns

I received two returns today.

The first one is a little disappointing.  I sent a 1964 Topps Stand Up to Tommy Davis, in care of J.D. Legends Promotions.  The card was signed in black instead of blue, which I had requested on a sticky note (that was still attached to the card when I got it back!).

It was also badly creased.  This was my fault, as I sent it as I do almost all of my TTM requests, just unprotected in an envelope.  I have had bad luck using card holders and players signing the holder instead of the card itself.  And I really haven't had very many cards damaged in the mail.  Definitely just a fraction of a percent of all the requests I send out.  I mainly don't use a protector to avoid creating a hassle for the signer, who is typically elderly and who may have trouble getting the card in and out of the holders.

But in this case, since it was allegedly handled by a company, I should have used a holder.  But since they didn't use the right color pen, I'm wondering if this is a case where they simply forward on the requests to the player rather than be with them during the signing.

Anyway, I'll hang on to this card and am considering trying to upgrade it if I see a paid signing with a promoter that can help ensure better care of the card.

Jim Duffalo signed his 1962 and 1965 Topps for me.  I had already gotten him to sign his 1965 Topps back in 2008, but the pen was pretty light on that one so this is a nice upgrade.