Jim Rice Rookie Card Return

I mailed out 13 requests today and received one. 

Jim Rice signed his 1975 rookie card for his $20 fee.  Like I mentioned a few days ago when I received Andre Dawson's 1977 rookie card back, I think I'll leave this card as-is, without having the other players sign it.  With multi-player cards, if one is more significant than the others, I like to just have the significant signature on it.

The other players are good signers, but I think at least two of them charge.  I might consider getting all of the signatures on a different copy of the card, like a true, obsessed collector, but that would probably cost about $35 in fees, including Rice again.

Speaking of 1975 Topps, I ordered a very large lot from a few different auctions by the same seller on Ebay.  These lots will probably cover about 90% of the set, including the Yount rookie.  It appears that the common cards are very nice, probably EX/MT or better with nice centering, which can be tough on this set.  I got tired of buying the cards individually on Sportlots.  It's a bit of a crap shoot in terms of centering because sellers don't scan 25-cent cards.  I've had good so far luck though, but it's very time consuming.

I've also got a bid in on a high-number lot from the 1973 set from the same seller, which ends in about 90 minutes.  My max bid is pretty high, but if I'm ever going to have a decent set, it's going to be from winning this type of auction.  I don't need the whole set, and I don't want a lot that covers only about 60% of the set, leaving me with a lot of work left to complete it.  If I win this auction, he has some other auctions with lots of lower-number cards from the set that I may look into, assuming they don't sell.  They don't have any bids yet, but the high-number auction has nine bids already.  Fingers-crossed.

Five Returns and a Failure

I received one more sase than was shown in my Informed Delivery email this morning, which for some reason is not surprising on the day after a postal holiday.  I'd much rather get an extra one than for one of the returns in my email to not show up in the mailbox, which is more often the case.

Today's failure was my second attempt at having Maury Wills sign the 1960 Topps #389 card commemorating game #5 of the 1959 World Series and Luis Aparicio sliding safely into second base with Maury Wills covering.  This card pre-dates Maury's rookie card.  I had included $10 with each of the two requests, but this time I did not tear the $10 bill in half when I opened the return envelope.

I'm not sure why he didn't sign it.  I've seen another return on SCN in April where he signed two of these cards, so it doesn't appear to be an issue with the card itself.

He does have some random failures within his otherwise reliable history.  I sent to him last in September of 2021, so I wouldn't think it's an issue of him keeping track and rejecting requests that are too frequent.  And if it were, I would assume he'd include a note explaining the situation.

I could keep guessing (and probably will), but for now, I'll just hang on to the card and watch his signing results on SCN.  If they continue to be pretty reliable, I'll try again.  Perhaps with a handwritten letter, maybe with a different message than I normally send.

Several of my successes today include just a single card.  I usually try to include 3 or 4 cards if the signer appears to allow it and they don't charge.  I try to get the most for my money, so I try to spread the effort, as well as the postage, envelope and printer ink cost across multiple cards.  I don't know why I look at it this way, it's not as if I'm selling the cards.

Anyway, here are today's successes:

Danny Cater signed his 1973 Topps for his $5 fee.  A couple years ago he started abbreviating his first name with just his initial.

Rick Cerone signed his 1985 Topps.  While Mr. Cerone does not charge, he only signs one card per request.  I sent an 85 Topps to him about a year ago, but I never received it back.  He is a very reliable signer, with a success rate of over 90% on SCN, so it must have gotten lost in the mail or misplaced.  I would also like him to sign his 87 Topps, so that will be my next request to him in a few months.

Mike Hedlund signed and personalized his 1973 Topps.  I'm not sure when he started personalizing, but I have successes prior to 2010 where he didn't.  He doesn't have a fee, but I included $5 to see if he would just sign it without the personalization.  He kept the $5 but still personalized, so that didn't work out.  I thought perhaps he was personalizing to prevent people from getting free autographs from him and then selling them.  He has a very neat and stylized signature.

This card is one of about a dozen high-number cards from the 1973 Topps set that I bought recently to make some more progress on it.  The Cater card isn't in the high number series, but I had just procrastinated sending it, probably since I didn't already have the unsigned card and he charges a fee.

Whitey Herzog signed his 1960 Topps nicely for his $5 fee.  Not a bad deal for a Hall of Famer!  I really need to send a ball to him for my collection.

And finally, Luis Melendez signed his 1971, 1974 and 1975 Topps from his home in Puerto Rico.  It took about a month to make the round trip, but only 3 days from the postmark date on my return sase.

I have been sending out a lot of requests so far this year.  I have sent 255 requests, which doesn't include sending away to private signings.  I sent 370 all of last year.  If I were to stop now, this would be my 4th-most requests since I started the hobby in 2003.  I'm not sure I can keep up this pace all year from both a time and money perspective.

Three TTM Returns Today - and Some Smears

Two of my three returns today included 1962 Topps, and each of them smeared, unfortunately.

Julian Javier signed his 1962 Topps via his home in Puerto Rico, but the "J" in his first name got smeared in the process.

Joe Hicks signed his 1961 and 1962 Topps, and on his 62 his first name smeared pretty badly.

I sent a 1961 Topps to Mr. Hicks back in 2011, which he signed and personalized.  Apparently, he doesn't personalize now. 

Oddly, both of these players appeared to use a very similar pen.  Very fine tipped blue ink.  Too fine to be a sharpie.

Mike Caldwell signed his 1974, 1975, 1977 and 1983 Topps in black sharpie.  No smears!

Today I mailed out 11 more requests, most containing 1975 Topps from my recent SportLots purchase.  I have several more to send, which I hope to do sometime this weekend.

Jim Gentile and Tom Kelly Returns

I received two returns today.

Jim Gentile signed his 1962 and 1966 Topps.

And Tom Kelly signed his 1987 and 1988 Tops in just six days, although we live within 50 miles of each other, so the mail was quick.  I had him sign his 87 Topps at TwinsFest back in 2008 but he signed it in black sharpie.  I was hoping for blue to upgrade it, and it turned out nicely.

I also received some more cards I ordered from SportLots.com, including a bunch of 1975 Topps.  I'm waiting on just a few more cards and then I'll send out a bunch of requests, probably over the weekend.

Steve Hargan and Don Kessinger TTM Returns

I received two ttm returns today.

Steve Hargan signed his 1971 and 1975 Topps cards for me.

And Don Kessinger signed his 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1977 Topps.

I have just over 100 signed 1975 Topps now, with an order from SportLots on the way with more to send out.  I think I'll hit somewhere between 150-175 signed cards from the set by the end of the year. 

Canseco, Maz and Muser

I'm not a big fan of the steroid-era players.  But they are a part of the history of the game.  I saw the A's play the Twins in the Metrodome, probably in about 1992 or 1993.  I remember how huge McGwire and Canseco were, with biceps the same diameter as their thighs.  McGwire hit a pop up so high, I think it hit part of the Metrodome roof.

Anyway, I decided to get a 1987 Topps signed by Jose Canseco at a mail-in signing because of the Topps All Star Rookie Trophy on it, and because it was only a $12.50 signing fee.

The last Mark McGwire signing listed on SCN was charging $90 per card.  I'm not sure why there's such a big difference.

I also received a return from Bill Mazeroski, who signed the 1961 Topps card, "The Winners Celebrate", with him and Gino Cimoli on it.  Cimoli was a very generous signer before he passed.  I wish I had worked on these types of cards much sooner.  I included $10 with my request, as usual.  Last night I was working on sending out a few cards I had received from Ebay purchases, including a 1959 Topps Mazeroski card.  I was curious how long it had been since my last request and was surprised that I hadn't even received it back yet!   I just can't resist getting these great old-time players on vintage cards for bargain prices.  I'll probably send out the 59 in a week or two and begin my hunt for the next card!

Finally, Tony Muser was kind enough to sign his 1974, 1975, 1977 and 1978 Topps nicely for me in blue sharpie.

Today I also received a few purchases, including a stat-back Exhibit card of Orlando Cepeda from Ebay and about 30 cards from Sportlots which included nearly 20 1975 Topps and some other 70's cards to include with those requests.  I made a large purchase on Sportlots, and this was from one of the three sellers included in my order.

Andre Dawson Return

I Received just one return today, but it was a nice one from Andre Dawson who signed his 1977 Topps rookie card as well as his 1987 Topps for his $10 per card fee.

I'm not crazy about multi-player rookie cards.  I prefer to leave them signed only by the player I'm most interested in, so I think this card is done.  Just like Molitor's 1978, and Tony Oliva's 1963.

Camilo Pascual Return

I received a nice return from former-Twin Camilo Pascual who signed the 1962 Topps I sent him along with $10.  He was also kind enough to send me a signed 1994 Topps Archives, which was a nice surprise.  He wrote thank you and signed my letter as well.

I also received some purchases today which included just unsigned cards.  I got about a dozen high number 1973 Topps and a few other miscellaneous cards to send out for autographs.

Dyar Miller and Twins-Rookie Jose Miranda Returns

Dyar Miller signed his 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1979 Topps cards for my collection, and also wrote a very nice letter in response to mine. 

I was a little surprised to get back this return from Jose Miranda via Target Field.  His success rate on SCN isn't bad, but there have only been 10 requests listed, including mine.  He seems to be doing pretty well so far this year.  It's been a long time since I've sent any requests to current players mostly because the success rate is so low.  I'm happy to get these back and hope he continues to improve and stays with the team.

Dave Cash, Jim Perry and Fred Stanley Returns

After getting shut out yesterday, I received three returns today.

Dave Cash signed his 1971 Topps for a $9 fee via PastPros.com. 

Jim Perry signed his 1966 Topps for $5.  He sent a short note saying that the money will go to charity.

And Fred Stanley signed his 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977 Topps.

I ran out of semi-rigid holders today.  I thought I had another box, but I guess not.  I bought four more 200-count boxes from Amazon.  These types of supplies were in very short supply early in the pandemic, but I thought I got a decent deal when I bought the last four boxes last July, and this order was almost another $10 cheaper than that.