Dave Ford TTM Return and Glenn Beckert Purchase

I received a very quick return from Dave Ford, who signed a couple cards for me in just six days.  I've started going through the 1982 set and sending out some of the more common cards to make some serious progress on the set instead of just buying the stars and Hall of Famers.

I also received an eBay purchase of a couple Glenn Beckert cards, including his 1971 Topps and the 1972 Topps NL Batting Leaders card.  

Mr. Beckert passed away in 2020 and hadn't signed ttm since 2017.  In 2010, he signed both his 1972 Topps and his 1973 Topps for me.

I have the batting leaders card signed by Garr, and just bought, but haven't received, this same card signed by both Torre and Garr.  So, despite not having a single copy of the card signed by all three, I'm going to say this card is complete for my set.

Rod Gaspar, Jim Palmer and Clyde Wright

I kicked off the year with a single ttm return as well as a couple mail-in signing returns.

Rod Gaspar signed the 1970 Topps Mets team card, which commemorates the 1969 World Series-winning team.  Oddly, he wrote, "Signed your Padres card 3-7-22" on my letter.  Nothing else.  I did send him a 1971 Topps card which he signed in March of 2022, on which he is playing for the Padres. According to comments on SCN, he appears to sign one card for free but asks for donations beyond that.  When other players have done that, it appears to be per-request.  Perhaps Mr. Gaspar means that he'll sign one card for free, ever.  Beyond that, he would like a donation.  I'm not really sure.  He did sign the team card though.  I guess if I send to him again, I will include some money.

He signed in light ballpoint on the right edge halfway between the top and bottom.

I also received returns from two mail-in signing from Tom Orr, including Jim Palmer and Clyde Wright.  I sent in the 1971 Topps ERA Leaders card which was already signed nicely by Diego Segui.  I took this opportunity to get both Palmer and Wright to sign it with a promoter present to make sure they each signed it in blue sharpie.  I also had Wright sign his 1972 Topps.  I already had both these cards signed by Wright, but he signed in black.  He used to be a very reliable signer ttm, but has been spotty at best the last several years.  I probably could have sent it to Palmer myself after this signing as he is very reliable and always appears to use a blue sharpie, but I didn't want to risk it since Wright is getting harder to obtain.  In fact, I currently have a request out to Jim Palmer to sign both of his 1982 Topps.

Here are the cards he signed for me back in 2012.

I'm sending out another eight ttm requests tomorrow as well as to three signings with Tom Orr including Tim Raines, Trevor Hoffman and Robin Yount.

Dick Such TTM Success

Dick Such was the Twin's pitching coach for 17 years, including during their two World Series championships.  He pitched for one season in the majors, which was 1970 with the Senators.

He signed his 1971 Topps in thick black sharpie and signed the 1971 Senators team card in very light ballpoint, probably not visible in this scan, but it's there.

Six TTM Returns Including Some Team Cards

My recent surge of requests is starting to pay off, even though one of my returns today was sent last March. 

That came from Charlie Manuel, who suffered a stroke over a year ago.  I held off sending to him until I heard that he was well enough to attend spring training last season.  He signed a couple 1970 Topps for me as well as a 2007 Allen & Ginter.  I sent a team card without any other signatures because I wasn't confident I'd get it back.  Now I can start adding some more players to it, despite already having another version of this card started.

Tom Ragland signed his 1972 and 1974 Topps as well as a 1973 Rangers team card.

Jerry Hinsley signed his 1964 and 1965 Topps.  Despite Gary Kroll having a pretty good success rate on SCN, he hasn't returned my request to him from April.  I'll watch to see if he becomes more consistent and try to send this card off to him.

Don Kaiser signed the 1956 Cubs team card, which commemorates the 1955 team.  The only other player from that team still with us is Vincente Amor.  He hasn't had a request sent to him since 2019 n SCN, but he did return it.  I'm not sure I'll send this to him though.  Maybe I'll buy another copy of it and give it a try.

Ken Sanders signed a 1965 Athletics team card for me.

Finally, John Goryl signed the 1964 and 1965 Twins team cards.  You can barely see his signature across the players on the '65.  And I looked very closely, but it doesn't appear that he signed the 1963 team card I included.  It's pretty full, so maybe he got mixed up and thought he signed it already.

Juan Marichal TTM Return and Mill Creek Sports Order

My two requests to Juan Marichal this year have taken longer to get back than in the past.  The return I received today was out for about two months, and the one I sent in April took three months.  I'm not complaining, just making an observation.  He might be swamped with requests, or perhaps his age is starting to impact the amount of mail he can answer.

Marichal was the 1965 All Star game MVP.  I came across this 2013 Topps Update card which commemorates that accomplishment and includes a nice little patch in the shape of Minnesota with the Minnie and Paul logo since the game was held here in Minnesota.

Mr. Marichal was kind enough to include his Hall of Fame inscription, probably because I included $20 instead of the usual $10.  I included extra just because the card is unusual, potentially difficult to sign in a small area, and was packaged in a way that might slow him down a bit.

I think it turned out very nicely.  These relic cards, like a few 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings I've sent, always end up with some stress lines around the window of the jersey/bat/seatback.  The only way to avoid that, I think, would be a full-on package shipment, between cardboard pieces, within top loaders, etc.  That would be fine if I'm sending it into a paid signing, but I hate to burden the players with inexpensive ttm fees.

I also received a very quickly shipped order form Mill Creek Sports.  I ordered four slabbed 1963 Topps and a slabbed 1951 Bowman for my set collections.  I had some credit card rewards points to help pay for the majority of this order.  I placed this order on Thursday, the 26th mid-day.  That's right: two days ago.  They processed and packaged the order within a couple of hours and shipped it via Priority Mail.  I received it in less than 48 hours from Washington State to Minnesota.  I've ordered from them several times in the last couple of months and placed my first order with them in the Fall of 2021.  I've never had a problem and have always been happy with my orders.  A few orders have taken a while to arrive, but that has been due to USPS issues, as Mill Creek has always shipped very promptly.

For the 1951 Bowman set, I have 208 cards left to acquire from the 324-card set.  I have 116 cards from the set signed, with about 10 duplicates.  Some of my favorites include Hank Bauer, Bob Feller, Joe Garagiola, Monte Irvin, George Kell, Don Newcombe, Billy Pierce, and Virgil Trucks.

I have 205 cards left to acquire in the 1963 Topps set.  There are 576 cards in the set, so I have about 371 cards in the set signed.  A quick look at the files on my web site leads me to believe I also have 64 duplicates signed.  A few of my favorites from this set include Rocky Colavito, Al Kaline, Tony Kubek, Bill Mazeroski, Tony Oliva (rookie), Gaylord Perry, Carl Yastrzemski, and the team cards,

 including this Twins card with eight signatures on it so far.

I've sent out 35 requests recently, with about a dozen of those going out ten days ago, so those may be coming back soon, assuming the USPS isn't backed up around here.  I have not seen nor heard of any big issues, so I'm hoping for a busy week logging returns next week.  I may have two or three mail-in signing returns coming as well.

Bobby Knoop TTM Return - 1966 Topps

I first sent a request to Mr. Knoop in October of 2004, when he signed a 1965 and 1967 Topps for me in ballpoint.

This was my fourth request to him since then.  This time, he signed his 1966 Topps and a 1966 Topps Angels team card previously signed by Don Lee and Bill Rigney.  I bought the team card from Mill Creek Sports with Rigney's signature on it and received it back from Don Lee last month after having sent it to him in October.

I mailed another 10 requests today, including a few HOF'ers that sign ttm on their 1982 Topps cards, such as Dawson, Palmer, and Eckersley.