TTM Returns, Mail-In Signing Return and Some Purchases

I received a bunch of cards back today. including a couple TTM returns.

Chuck Essegian signed his 1971 Fleer commemorating his two pinch-hit home runs in the 1959 World series.

And Andre Thornton signed his 1974 (on which the pen did not work well), 1978, and 1986 Topps.

I received a purchase which included a few Twins cards, adding a couple to my 2003 team set, and a couple upgrades to some Heritage cards.

Finally, I received six cards back from a Bill Madlock signing from Tom Orr.  I paid the same for this signing that I would have paid for him normal ttm fee, but thought I'd reduce the risk of him using a bad pen or something with the promoter looking on.

I mailed a bunch of requests out today, including some current and former Twins at spring training addresses.  I have low expectations, but tried a new tactic on some of them to see if my success rate improves.  If it doesn't seem to help, I'll share my tactic.  But if it does, I might not share it :-).  Kind of like finding a good fishing spot.

Bud Daley and Garry Jestadt TTM Returns - Clark and Rivera Purchases

One of my sases were in very poor shape when I received it today.  It had obviously gotten wet since the ink had run and it was very wavy.  It was ripped open and taped shut, creased and folded.

I was surprised the cards were even still inside. But the three cards Garry Jestadt had signed were there, although obviously they were wet at one point and wavy now, although dry.  He wrote in the letter that the rain had gotten them wet.

So, it had gotten wet on the way to Mr. Jestadt's.  But then the sase went through some adventures on its way back to me.  I'll put the cards under some heavy books for a few days and they'll be fine.

Also, Bud Daley signed his 1964 Topps, as well as the 1958 Indians and 1961 Athletics team cards.

I also received a couple 1959 Topps from a fellow SCN member including Phil Clark and Jim Rivera.

   

Denard Span Mail-In Signing Return

A few days ago, I received a return from a Denard Span mail-in signing.  This was a signing where the promoter gathers the items from the customers, then mails them to the player to sign and mail back, as opposed to meeting with the player in person.

This often results in unpredictable timelines for returns, but as long as you can live with that, I guess it's okay.  I would be hesitant to send in a rare/expensive multi-signed item, or something that I wanted handled in a very specific way, where it would be best to have the promoter sitting next to the player signing to make sure it got done correctly.

When I committed to the signing, I was sure I'd need at least three cards signed by him, but after looking into it, I really only needed his 2012 Topps Heritage signed.  I had a few other cards of his, but wasn't really thrilled about them, so I decided that getting multiples of this high-number card might result in some good trade items in the future.

I have a bunch of his cards signed from in-person events like TwinsFest.  The "D" in his first name on these don't match up well with those examples, but the rest is spot on.  Maybe he's changed his signature since I last saw him 12 years ago, or maybe he had so many to sign that it got a little sloppy as he made his way through all the items he needed to sign.

Here's a card I got signed at TwinsFest 2012.

Eddie Fisher TTM Return

I received 3 out of 4 signed back from Eddie Fisher today.  He didn't sign the 1972 Angels team card, but he did sign the other three. 

Rick Aguilera Mail In Signing Return

I received two of the three items I sent in to a Rick Aguilera signing today.  He doesn't sign very often, so I thought I'd load up on what I needed even though it was a little expensive.  I also sent a bobblehead, but haven't seen my PirateShip label get used yet.  I did ask for authentication on the bobblehead (I'm not really sure why) so maybe that's what's holding it up.

I had him sign a Metrodome baseball and even paid for an inscription (which I almost never do).  I must have been in a spending mood when I sent it.  It turned out nicely though.

And I added another 1991 Twins World Championship poster to my set.  I just need five more now: Scott Erickson, Greg Gagne, Dan Gladden, Tom Kelly and Jack Morris.  I haven't seen an Erickson signing for a few years, but the other five should be relatively easy to get, as opposed to my 1991 bobblehead set where I need Paul Sorrento and Steve Bedrosian, who don't seem interested in signing at all.

Rickey Henderson 1980 Topps Rookie Card

I decided to start focusing on autographed Hall of Fame rookie cards.   

I have a bunch already, but decided to get some more, especially from players that I don't currently have any autograph of yet.

First, I'm sending in to a Rickey Henderson signing, which luckily does not have a higher price for rookie cards than his other cards.  I am not usually too concerned about card condition, but when I'm paying a lot for both the card and the signing itself, I prefer to get a better card.  Especially when the card is not that old, such as this 1980 Topps.

I think it looks much better than the grade of 4 it was given by SGC, which is the perfect scenario for me.  Good eye appeal, but a lower grade to keep the price down.  I cracked open the slab this evening before packing it up to ship out tomorrow.  Several years ago, I documented how to remove cards from slabs.  I didn't document opening an SGC slab, but it's almost identical to the PSA slab I wrote about here:

https://droidtrader.blogspot.com/2009/02/cracking-open-graded-card-psa.html

I broke down and bought a 1960 Topps Carl Yastrzemski rookie card.  I am a little worried I might not get it in time for the signing I want to send it to, but we'll see.

I've sent out a handful of cards lately so I'm hopeful the returns will pick up in a week or so.  I should also start getting back some returns from mail-in signings soon.

Mill Creek Sports Purchase

I didn't receive any ttm returns today, but I did receive a recent purchase from Mill Creek Sports.

I added another 1958 Topps to my set collection with Harry Hanebrink.  This is one of the nicer cards in my set probably, just because of the condition.  Most of my card are VG or VG/EX, because I sent them through the mail and didn't expect them to survive without additional damage during shipping.  Beckett graded this autograph as a 10, for whatever that's worth.

And I bought two more Rod Carew cards: a 1978 Topps and his 1983 All Star card.  This 78 was THE card to pull from packs when I was 11 years old.  I probably pulled a few, but not nearly as many as the Butch Wynegar and Mike Cubbage cards, for some reason.

There are four Carew cards in the 1983 Topps set.  This card makes it three for my collection.  I'm missing the Angels team leaders card with Carew and Mike Witt.  I haven't been too active ttm with this set, but have accumulated some star/HOF cards.

Graig Nettles Private Signing Return

I received two cards back from a Graig Nettles private signing today.  He signed his 1971 and 1972 Topps for these sets that I'm working on.

I paid $20 each, which after some consideration, seemed like a lot.  But his ttm record is very spotty with just a 51% success rate on SCN.  He also has another upcoming signing that three different promoters are taking items for, but that signing is $35 for any item, with no special prices for cards.  I guess I'm happy to get these two cards added to my collection even if it was more than I wanted to spend.

He signed a couple cards for me for free back in 2005.

I was reading the BR Bullpen entry to him over at baseball-reference.com (https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Graig_Nettles) and it mentioned that Graig is referenced in Bruce Springsteen's song, Glory Days from 1985: "Nettles got me, bottom of the ninth".

His younger brother, Jim, played for the Twins and has been a generous ttm signer for many years with no fees.

Bob Speake Return

Bob Speake signed his 1956 and 1958 Topps for me in his usual fine, black ink.  I've sent to him four times over the last 20 years, and he used very similar ink each time.  A couple cards were a bit smudged in my previous requests, which seems common with this type of ink.

I'm not sure exactly what type of pen this is.  I don't think it's ballpoint.  I think it's a very fine, hard-tipped ink pen.  I've had other players use similar ink, and smudging is often a problem.

I had a bit of a scare when I opened this sase.  My Excel spreadsheet noted that in addition to these two cards, I had sent him a 1958 Topps Pirates team card, signed by several, including Bill Mazeroski, yet it was not included in the return.

I panicked a bit and posted a request for folks to keep their eyes out for this in their returns from him on the SCN message boards.  Then, I realized he never played for the Pirates.  When I had typed in the cards I was sending to him in my spreadsheet, after typing, "1956, 1958 Topps", Excel must have auto-filled the rest of the cell with ", 1958 Pirates team card" which was the exact entry I made for Johnny O'Brien a few months prior.  I didn't notice this at the time I made this entry in my spreadsheet.  I confirmed that I received the right cards back when I checked my SCN log, which noted I only sent him two cards.

So, Mr. Speake did not keep my card, and it did not get lost in the mail.  However, I can't find the card right now.  The last time I sent it was to Bob Skinner which was returned to me back in June.  I assume it's in a shoebox of cards that I need to sort into the rest of my collection when I get a chance.  I had posted in this blog that I was going to retire the card when I received it back from a Bob Skinner.  Later tonight, I'll go dig it out and try to confirm that.