Just one return today. Joe Amalfitano signed the 1973 Giants coaches card, 1981 Topps Cubs team card and a 1981 Donruss. I just had the Donruss sitting around so I sent it. It's probably the only 1981 Donruss I own, and I have no idea where it came from.
His signature on the coaches and team cards didn't turn out great, but to be fair, there is not much room for signatures on those cards. The Cubs team card also smeared quite a bit.
I received a few ttm returns today, including Nolan Ryan in care of his foundation. I had him sign a 1994 Ron Lewis postcard. I don't recall if I had a signing instruction post-it. Probably not, which I regret now. I would have preferred he sign it in the lower margin, but oh well.
Terry Humphrey signed a 1972 Expos team card, his 1976 and 1979 Topps, and 1978 Angels team card.
Bill Madlock signed his 1976 Topps and a 1984 batting leaders card. Off to Boggs next.
Joe Nossek signed his 1964 Topps and 1965 and 1967 Twins team cards. He also noted that he is willing to sign a 1965 WS program for me.
And finally, Bobby Shantz signed a 1964 Cardinals team card and a 1972 MVP card.
Today I received all sorts of autographed cards and postcards.
I received three ttm returns:
Denny McLain signed the 1965 Tigers team card as well as the 1972 Topps Cy Young and MVP Award cards. I hadn't really planned as to whether I'd send these award cards out to anyone else, but since he added inscriptions that took up the whole card, I'll keep these as-is.
Jim Perry signed the Twins team cards from 1970, 1971 and 1972 Topps as well as the 1972 Cy Young card. He won the award in 1970 while with the Twins.
Ryne Sandberg signed his Hall of Fame postcard and a 2014 Topps Heritage card. He signed the postcard across the plaque rather than the usual spot in the upper margin. I didn't think I needed to put a post it on these postcards with instructions on where to sign, but moving forward I guess I will.
I also received a return from an Art Shamsky mail-in signing. I had him sign a 1969 Mets Ron Lewis postcard. He signed one for me years ago ttm, but signed it in ballpoint.
Finally, I received my third and final (for now) purchase from Mill Creek Sports. I bought a Fritz Peterson 1975 Topps not noticing that it was a mini, a Dave Roberts 1972 Topps ERA Leaders card and a few team cards signed by Hank Foiles (now charging $20 per), Herman Franks (deceased) and Ernie Broglio (deceased).
I received purchase number two from Mill Creek Sports today. Oddly, this is the most recent order I place, and one I placed prior to this has yet to be delivered, despite quick shipping by Mill Creek. That order arrived in my general area yesterday but didn't make it to my local PO for final delivery.
This order contained a 1966 Topps signed by Jerry Zimmerman and a 1967 Topps signed by Zoilo Versalles. Zoilo is a relatively tough signature to get, and there are a lot of ghost-signed cards out there. I believe his wife used to sign his ttm requests.
I bought a lot of signed cards at an auction at a local card club here in the Twin Cities back in 2012 which contained a ghost-signed card of his. It has a feminine quality to it and doesn't have the odd angle that Versalles signed with.
Today I received a couple more ttm returns.
Ken Aspromonte signed his 1960 Topps, a checklist from the 1961 Topps set, and a couple Indians team cards. I asked him to sign the back of the checklist since that's where his card is listed.
Rocky Colavito signed his 1959 Topps Baseball Thills card. His fee is steep at $55, but I had to have this card in my collection.
Claude Osteen is a very reliable and generous signer. I recently sent him his 1964 Topps as well as three Dodgers team cards (1971, 1972, 1973), and he returned them all signed in just 10 days.
I have a lot of requests out and they are just trickling in. Someday I'll probably get a bunch of about 10 back in a single day and regret it because it's time consuming to log them all. Fun though!
Today I received the first of three purchases from Mill Creek Sports. I buy off their web site directly instead of eBay because they offer free shipping, as opposed to $4.99 shipping on eBay, and because you can usually find at least a 10% coupon. They also don't collect sales tax. I'm assuming they do for in-state purchases and I think they are in Washington state.
This purchase included some deceased and hard to get autographs.
Randy Hundley did a couple signings a few years ago but I didn't see them at the time. Bob Burda has a 37% success rate on SCN and hasn't had a success since 2019. Ron Hunt now wants $50 a card to sign, which really means he doesn't want to be bothered. Herman Franks (1966 Giants team card) and Harry Walker (1966 Pirates team card) are long-deceased.
I also received a partial 1974 Topps set. 589 out of 660, I think. Mostly missing stars, which is fine. I mainly will use these to send out to common players as I send out team cards and work on my 1975 and 1978 sets.
I added another Topps All-Star Rookie Trophy card to my collection thanks to Ray Culp, who was kind enough to sign his 1964 Topps for me. His signature has been shaky for many years, yet he still signs and does a really nice job despite the shakiness. I appreciate his generosity, and hope signing for his fans isn't a burden.
There have been several player deaths lately: Whitey Herzog, Carl Erskine, Larry Brown, Ken Holtzman and Fritz Peterson. They were all generous signers though the mail. In fact, I have requests out to Herzog and Holtzman.
