John Goryl - Nicholas Volpe portrait

I cam home from being away for the weekend to find a nice surprise in my mailbox. 

John Goryl signed the 1963 Western Oil Nicholas Volpe print I sent him back in early March.  I had enclosed $5 for his trouble, but he returned it, saying in a brief note that it was a privilege to sign for me and the gift wasn't necessary.

I have two more of these to get signed.  I have one out to Bernie Allen that I sent in early March.  The other is Jim Kaat.  I'll wait for a mail-in signing to try to get that one.

Tom Orr is having a mail-in signing with Jim Hart, who has been impossible to get.  I'm going to send in a 1965 and 1972 Topps for my sets.

Frank Robinson - 1958 Topps

My son sent in a 1958 Topps to Atommic to be signed by Frank Robinson.  This was actually signed at the Sports News Productions Show tat we attended, but we got a much cheaper price on this card by sending it in.

Johnny Bench and Pete Rose - In Person

Today my older son and I headed up to Brooklyn Center for the Sports News Productions Show.

I had an 11x14 of Ernie Banks and Johnny Bench that I had signed by Banks a couple of years ago.  So I had Johnny Bench sign it today to finish it off.

My son found a cool 8x10 on eBay of Pete Rose barreling over Dave Rader (I think), with Johnny Bench signaling safe in the background, so he had both of them sign it today.

Both players were very nice.  Johnny Bench shook everyone's hand.  Rose told my son that it looked like he was safe in the picture.

Also at the show were Meadowlark Lemon and Cal Ripken Jr.

Other players there included Jerry Rice, Eddie Murray, and Frank Robinson.  These shows are always well organized and run pretty smoothly.  It's about an hour drive for us, but about our only opportunity to see players of this caliber other than at TwinsFest.

1964 Bob Allison Auravision Record

Another eBay impulse buy.  This time, it's a 1964 Bob Allison Auravision record.  I didn't really know anything about these and ended up paying a little too much.   It is is really nice shape though, and it looks nice in my 1965 Twins display cabinet.

I can't imagine what this sounds like if you try to play it, but I don't really want to poke out the hole in the middle.  Maybe I'll try buying another that already punched and see if I can play it.

Hal W. Smith - 1956 Topps

Today's return is helping motivate me to send out a few more ttm requests.  Hal W. Smith signed his 1956 Topps in just 7 days.

I was surprised to do a quick directory scan on my collection and found out I have about 98 signed cards from the 1956 Topps set.  I've never really targeted as a set to collect, but send out cards to the better signers if I come across their cards for a reasonable price.  I may have to take a closer look and start sending out some more.


It's been a rough couple of weeks for ttm collectors.  Several great players and generous signers have passed away, including Virgil Trucks, Bob Turley and Gus Triandos.  They were all very kind to me when I sent them autograph requests.

Brooks Lawrence - 1958 Topps

It's been a long time since I added another card to my 1958 Topps set.  Today I received a Brooks Lawrence card that I bought on eBay from Mill Creek Sports.

This makes 363 cards I have signed from this set.  I'm watching a few more on eBay that I may add as well.

1970's Twins Pennant

I made an impulse buy on eBay a few days ago when I saw this old pennant for sale.  It was really cheap, under $6 including shipping.  It's smallish, about 12 inches long and 4 or 5 inches high.

Bob Schroder - 1965 Topps

I got a surprise in the mailbox yesterday.  Bob Schroder signed and returned the 1965 Topps I sent him last August.

I have a different copy of this card signed by Frank Linzy.  Both players take a while to sign so I'm tentative to send this one off to Linzy to complete it.

Bill Pleis - Western Oil Nicholas Volpe Portrait

Today I received a quick return from Bill "Shorty" Pleis who signed a 1963 Western Oil Nicholas Volpe portrait that I sent.

He was also kind enough to include a signed 1964 portrait as well!

Billy Gardner

My son got back another of his 1958 Topps that he sent out just after TwinsFest late last month.

Billy Gardner signed and returned his card in one month.

I haven't sent out any requests.  I just can't get motivated and don't have much to send out.  Maybe I need a new project.

Jim Perry - Nicholas Volpe Portrait

I received a very nice return on Friday as Jim Perry returned a 1963 Western Oil Nicholas Volpe portrait that I sent to him.  My first attempt was returned with a bad address, but this attempt came back in about two weeks.  It was postmarked from Florida, though I sent it to North Carolina.  I had enclosed $10 with my request.

Mr. Perry was kind enough to add his Cy Young Award year and jersey number inscriptions without me even asking.

This is my seventh signed print from this year.  I have one more still out in the mail and a couple more at home still to be sent out.

My TwinsFest Purchase

One of the highlights of TwinsFest for me this year was purchasing an original painting from Robert Blehert.  He was showing some of his work at the FanHQ booth including some paintings on baseballs, basketballs, mini helmets and bats.

One item that caught my eye was this painting of Joe Mauer.

It's painted on a 16x20 piece of the Metrodome roof!  I talked to him a while about it and his other paintings and finally asked how much he was charging for this piece.  We haggled  a little bit and finally I decided to buy it.

My sons really like these paintings too.  I bought my younger son a canvas print of Johan Santana from FanHQ a couple years ago.  My older son has bought a few 8x10 prints and got them signed including Danny Valencia and Michael Cuddyer.  He bought one of Rod Carew, but he wouldn't sign it at TwinsFest last year.

You can check out Mr. Blehert's work at his website here.

1958 Topps TTM Returns

My son bought some 1958 Topps from a dealer at TwinsFest and sent them all out already.  He's received 5 of the 11 back already, including Buddy Pritchard, Tex Clevenger, Jim Bolger, Herb Plews and Bob Martyn.

My TwinsFest Photos

Tonight I'm posting the last of my TwinsFest autographs.

Last year, Dick Stigman signed his 1964 portrait, but this year he signed his 1963 Western Oil portrait.

I also got several photos signed.

Scott Diamond

Trevor Plouffe

Brian Duensing

Jamey Carroll

Brian Dozier

Josh Willingham Autographs

I was very surprised how easy it was to get Josh Willingham's autograph at TwinsFest this year.  I think he had the best year of anyone on the team.  35 home runs, 110 RBI 30 doubles and winning the Silver Slugger award.  His average was a little low at .260.  Sounds like Killebrew!

Anyway, I was able to get as many autographs from him as I had money for.  I got four autographs from him including a 2012 Allen & Ginter, a photo, a ball and a mini helmet.

 

Maury Wills Magazine

Maury Wills was signing at the Bob Feller Museum booth at TwinsFest on Saturday, the 26th.  I had bought a 1966 Sport Magazine a while ago, intending to send it to him through the mail, but was able to have him sign it in person instead.

He was very nice, commenting that it had been a while since he'd seen this magazine.

My Signed Cards From TwinsFest

I made pretty good progress on some Twins team sets this year.  I got several 2012 Heritage and Allen & Ginter cards, as well as Mauer and Morneau on 2010 Allen & Ginters.  That leaves just Jim Thome left for that set.

The Last of My Son's TwinsFest Items

Just a couple miscellaneous items left in my son's TwinsFest pile.  Both were items he got in the grab bag we bought on Friday night.

The calendar in his grab bag was already signed by Brian Dozier.

He also received a Twins magazine with Ryan Doumit on the cover, so he decided to get it signed on Saturday.