1965 Twins World Series Tickets

Today I received a couple of Ebay purchases: Twins tickets to the 1965 World Series, games 1 and 2.

I don't know much about collecting vintage tickets, but these will go well in my 1965 Twins display case with the banners, bobblehead, signed balls and pictures.

They're punched with "Void" on them.  Apparently they are "proofs".  I'm assuming that means they were test prints before they printed the real ones.  I've seen the actual tickets go for a couple hundred dollars.  I didn't pay anywhere near that much, I'm sure because these aren't "real" tickets.

My Last Joe Nathan Autograph?

We had great seats to the Twins game last night.  Dangerous, but nice.  The line drives come pretty quick right above the dugout!

My older son got a ball tossed to him by Trevor Plouffe after the first inning as he was heading back into the dugout.  Thanks Trevor!  Plouffe ended up being the hero of the game, knocking in the winning run.  I think my son will get Plouffe to sign that ball at TwinsFest next year.

Before the game, Joe Nathan was signing autographs by the dugout.  We weren't prepared for autographs so we had nothing to have him sign.  However, I did get a 2011 Topps Heritage in the mail from Joe yesterday as well. The Twins have an option for Nathan next year but it's not a guarantee that they'll exercise it.  I may have gotten my last Joe Nathan autograph.

Front Row for #162

June 16, 1967 - Cleveland 2, Twins 1 in 10 Innings

I'm waiting on a few ttm returns from some Twins before the season ends.  I sent to Capps, Nathan and Pavano back on the 12th of September, hoping these decent ttm signers would send a few back before the season ends.  So far, nothing.

A few weeks ago I visited The Ballpark in Apple Valley and bought a few vintage scorecards.  One of those included this score card from the Cleveland Indians versus the Twins.

The date was June 16th, 1967.  It was my Mom's birthday.  She was about 8 months pregnant with me.  The Monterey Pop Festival opened in California and the Twins lost to the Indians 2-1 in 10 innings.

The Twins only run came on a Rod Carew home run in the 6th inning.  Killebrew was 0-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.  Jim Merritt pitched nine good innings for the Twins, striking out six and walking two, giving up just one run.  Al Worthington came in for the 10th and struck out one, but gave up three hits to lose the game.

Luis Tiant, then with the Indians, pitched all 10 innings for the Tribe, striking out nine and walking one.  He gave up eight hits but just one run.  No wonder the Twins acquired him for the 1970 season.

You can see the entire box score here.

Vern Law and More Paid Signing Returns

A full mailbox today for once. First, I got a great return from Vern Law, who signed a 1961 Sports All Stars magazine. He also added a couple of inscriptions which I didn't even request. How nice! I included $10 with my request.

I got back three more cards from Chris Potter signings.

Richie (Dick) Allen signed a 1965 Topps.

Denny McLain signed a 1972 Topps.

And Ralph Kiner signed a 1949 Bowman.

I haven't received my 1991 Twins bobblehead set yet so I called the Twins.  They said I should get it the first week in October.  Bummer.  Terry Leach is signing this weekend in Roseville and I was hoping to get him to sign his.  He hasn't done a signing here before so who knows when I'll see him again.

Willie Kirkland Return From Paid Signing

Today I added a couple of very tough cards to my 1958 and 1965 Topps sets.  Chris Potter Sports had a signing with Willie Kirkland.  I have been watching for an opportunity to get these cards signed for several years so I'm very happy to finally get these done. 

I haven't made much progress on either of these sets this year.  I'll have to take another look at my sets and see if there are more I can go after.

You can see my 1958 set here.

And my 1965 set here.

Returns Starting to Come Back

I sent out a few requests last week and now they're coming back.

Yesterday I received a 1952 Sport Magazine signed by Al Dark.  I included $10 with my request.

Yesterday I also received a couple of 1972 Topps rookie cards.  Bob Reynolds signed his card, already signed by Jerry Bell (the card has the pictures of Bell and Porter switched, so he signed his picture).

And Tom Ragland signed a 1972 Topps already signed by Bill Fahey.

Today I received a 1958 Topps signed by Charles "Whammy" Douglas.  I already have this card signed by him, but he had been a very tough signer for years and I had an extra card laying around so I sent it out.  I included $5 with my request.

Bobby Valentine - 1972 Topps

I received another 1972 Topps in the mail on Friday.  Bobby Valentine signed his card for me in a little over two months.

I went to a couple of Twins games this weekend, Friday night and this afternoon.  The weather wasn't great but tolerable.  The Twins played pretty poorly.  Jason Repko got beaned which was pretty scarey.  I think it's time for the season to be over.

A Rainy Day at Target Field

Nick Punto Return

I was really surprised to see a return in my mailbox today since I just sent out a few requests this week for the first time in several weeks.

I was more surprised to see who it was from.  Nick Punto, who isn't a very good ttm signer.  I sent to him last April after seeing a success posted on sportscollectors.net.  I had long ago given up on this one, but was happy to see that he signed all three of my Topps Heritage cards from 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The Twins could sure use Punto these days.  He's been hurt a lot this year, but his batting average is about .268 and his defensive is excellent, something the Twins have struggled with lately.

Punto's 2010 Heritage brings me up to 10 signed from the Twins set for that year.

A Few Purchases - Bauer, Scheib and Williams

I received a few Ebay purchases yesterday and today.

First, I bought a couple of PSA/DNA authenticated 1953 Topps signed by Carl Scheib and Davey Williams.  I bought each of these for about the cost of having them authenticated.

I also received a Ron Lewis print signed by Hank Bauer.  I haven't seen this type of portrait before.  It's dated 1990.  It's a glossy picture printed on photo paper, as opposed to card stock like the other Lewis sets I've seen.  Bauer was a great signer through the mail before his passing in 2007.

Autographed 1954 Topps

I haven't posted for a while because I haven't had anything to post about.  I haven't sent out a request since July 26th!  I've been terribly busy at work, and my sons and I have been trying to squeeze in a summer's worth of golf between the end of their summer baseball season and the beginning of their fall ball season.

Since I don't have anything new to post about, I thought I'd post about some of my favorite signed cards: 1954 Topps.

I've got about 125 of these cards signed.  Some of my favorites include Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Duke Snider and Phil Rizzuto.  I got Snider, Ford and Rizzuto through the mail, and sent the Berra in to a paid signing.

 

Other great players from this set include Monte Irvin, Bob Turley, Hank Bauer and Bobby Shantz.

Although we've lost a lot of players form this set over the last few years, there are still a lot of very good through the mail signers so don't wait, start collecting this set!

Harmon Killebrew Living Legends Portrait

I've added one more Ron Lewis Living Legends portrait to my collection.  I was fortunate to find a PSA/DNA authenticated Harmon Killebrew signed portrait on Ebay.

On field access at the Twins game.

Just by chance, my sons ended up with passes to go on the field prior to the game to watch batting practice.

Scott Baker Signing Wrap Up

We made it through Scott Baker's line twice in about 25 minutes.  After we left, there were about 20-25 people still in line so I think everyone that wanted an autograph got at least one.

The signing was sponsored by Blue Bunny Ice Cream and they were handing out samples.  They were pretty nice sized individual containers.  My son got one which was a nice bonus.

My son got a couple of cards signed: a 2009 Topps Heritage and a 2010 Allen & Ginter.

I got a picture signed first, and a 2010 Topps 206 signed the second time.

It was quite a long drive for us, but since the line wasn't too long, it worked out okay.

Waiting in Line for Scott Baker

My older son and I are waiting in line for Scott Baker at Cub Foods in St. Louis Park. We're about 50 minutes early and are about 15th in line. Maybe we'll make it through twice, but he's only signing for an hour.
My younger son wasn't up for the 45 minute drive and hour wait in line so he stayed home.

Grzenda and Burnside

Today I got back a return from Joe Grzenda that had me a little confused.  I've sent to Mr. Grzenda twice now.  Once last September, and again this July.  When I received a return from him in July, just 10 days after I sent him my second request, I assumed he had sent back the request I just sent him.  It turns out,t he return I got back in July was the request I sent last September, and the return I got back today, was from last month.  However, this time, he didn't sign or return the 1971 Topps I had included.  In September, I had enclosed an extra 1972 Topps for him to keep, but he signed and returned that.  Any, today I received my third 1972 Topps signed by him.

Last week, my son received a 1958 Topps signed by Pete Burnside.  My son was out of town so he just opened it a couple of days ago.

Los Angeles Angels Program - June 18, 1963

Here's another program I picked up at The Ballpark yesterday.  This one was originally owned by someone who was very thorough.  There's lots of writing on it, but it's pretty cool  They even wrote a narrative of the game-ending play on the cover: a walk-off wild pitcher by A's reliever John Wyatt with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning, that allowed Angel runner Bob Perry to score.

The cover shows the Angels playing at Chavez Ravine, which is Dodger Stadium.  The Angels shared the stadium with the Dodgers from 1962 - 1965.

For the Angels, Jim Fregosi was 3-4 with a walk and a triple.  Ken McBride was the winning pitcher and pitched all 11 innings!  You don't see that these days.

The Kansas City A's managed only three hits, coming from Wayne Causey, Jerry Lumpe, and catcher Haywood Sullivan.  Moe Drabowsky was the losing pitcher and didn't help himself out much by striking out four times.

Attendance was only 7,290 for this 8:00 pm game.  You can see the box score here.

The great thing about this program is that it also came with the original ticket stub!  It must have been stored for years in the program because you can see the browning outline on the paper where the stub was.

This was another $4.99 purchase which seems like a bargain to me.

Another Program - Angels Spring Training - 1966

While at The Ballpark today, I also picked up a nice California Angels Spring Training program and scorecard from March 19th, 1966, when they played the Giants.  The original owner of this scorecard was kind enough to write in the date and the fact that the Angels won 4-1.  The scoring isn't very complete, but the roster is filled in.

For the Gaints, stars such as Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Bobby Bonds played that day. 

The Angels had Jose Cardenal, Jim Fregosi and Lew Burdette.  Looks like this fan might have spilled a little ketchup on the program.

The ads in this program aren't as interesting and don't have much for graphics, mostly text.  I like the cover art though.  I've never seen a Spring Training program, much less a vintage one like this, so I grabbed it.