Two Weeks of Catching Up

 I was away from home for two weeks and came back to a lot of ttm returns, purchases, and mail-in signing returns.  I'm going to list them here, in no particular order.

I received three cards back from a Larry Hisle signing.  I had him sign his 1968 Rookie card, completing it, as well as his 1976 and 1983 Topps cards.

Ron Hansen signed the 1961-1963 Orioles team cards as well as a 1972 Rookie of the Year Award card already signed by Stan Bahnsen. I just received the 61 and 63 team cards back from a Jim Gentile signing.  I'm still hopeful that I'll get back these same cards that I sent to Gentile last fall that were signed by a handful of players.  I guess he is trying to work through his backlog.

I purchased a 2021 Topps Heritage In Action card of Max Kepler from an SCN member, only to find out I already have one.

I bought a couple Edgar Martinez Allen & Ginter cards from Tom Orr (Atommic Sports) on eBay.  I had only intended to win one, just so I could add another Hall of Famer to my collection, but oh well.  I also bought a 1970 Topps Strikeout Leaders card signed by Jenkins, Gibson and Singer and a 1970 Topps A's Rookies cards signed by Blue and Tenace.  I already had bought the rookies card from him, but this one is a nice upgrade.

I sent five cards to a consignment via an SCN member at a Lake Tahoe celebrity golf tournament.  Last year, he was able to get all four I sent in signed, but this year he just got one.

Art Mahaffey signed a couple cards ttm, and also included a signed card of his own. I included his $10 per card fee.

Wayne Garrett signed a couple Mets team cards, his 1974 Topps and a Ron Lewis 1969 Mets postcard.  The postcard got a little wavy in the mail.

Jackie Moore signed three coaches/manager cards and finished off his 1965 Topps rookie card.

Bill Mazeroski signed his 1966 Topps and the 1965 and 1966 Pirates team cards for his $10 per card fee.  I'm going to retire the 65 team card now, and I planned on just leaving his signature on the 66 and not send it out to any other players.

Juan Marichal signed his 1966 Topps and a 1966 Topps Giants team card for his $20 per card fee.

And finally, another eBay purchase included a Hall of Fame postcard signed by Bob Lemon, a 1961 Danny McDevitt and a 1972 Joe Niekro card, all slabbed by Beckett.

Whew!  It's so much work to scan these in, update my web site, this blog and SCN with the ttm returns.  But I love having an accurate record of my requests, the web site serves as an inventory of my collection, and this blog is just fun.  I like to review my blog myself from time to time, to see the events and returns.

Bernie Allen and Al Hrabosky TTM Returns

 I was very happy and relieved to get this return back from Bernie Allen.  I sent it back in January and according to sportscollectors.net, he moved around that time or shortly before.  I saw that a couple others got an RTS from the address I sent to, while others received their request back successfully.  But my request remained outstanding.  I was hoping for at least an RTS.

The request included a 1962 Topps Rookie Parade card already signed by Rich Rollins.  It's a high-number card from the set and cost over $30, so getting it back was a relief.  I wish I had started it years ago so I could have also gotten Phil Linz and Joe Pepitone on it.

He also signed a 1966 Topps team card for me, also signed by Rollins.

I also received a return from Al Hrabosky that took a while to get back.  He signed his 1974 and 1977 Topps cards as well as the 1972 Cardinal team card in about three months.

Jim Gentile, Jim Mahoney and Camilo Pascual

I received a return from a Jim Gentile signing today.  This was kind of an informal signing run by an SCN member that lives a couple hours from Mr. Gentile and had an existing relationship with him.  Mr. Gentile is 90 years old and unfortunately, his wife recently passed away.  I believe her funeral is today.

This SCN member took some cards to be signed and is going to go back in a few weeks to help him with the TTM backlog he has.  I have a request in that backlog including some Orioles team cards with several signatures on them, so I'm hopeful that gets done.

I also received a couple ttm returns, including Jim Mahoney, who signed the 1963 Indians team card, and the 1973 and 1974 White Sox coaches' cards.

And Camilo Pascual signed his 1957 Topps and three Twins team cards for me for $10 per card.

96 Year Old Tommy Brown TTM Return and Tom Kelly FanHQ Return

The tenth-oldest living player, Tommy Brown, signed his 1949 and 1953 Bowman for me.  I included $20 with my request.  His return rate is a bit spotty but has been about 50% so far this year so I decided to take a shot.

I also received a couple items back from a Tom Kelly signing with FanHQ.  He is the tenth player to sign his 1991 Twins World Series poster for my set.  I have three left:  Scott Erickson, Greg Gagne, and Dan Gladden.  It's a bit tough to send these ttm because the cardstock on which they are printed is too thick to roll, so it has to be sent flat.  I had been using the box I originally received these in, but it's getting really covered in tape and getting pretty beat up.  So, I had to make a new box out of a different box to be the right size and thickness.  It has to be big enough to safely store the poster sandwiched between cardboard pieces, but small enough to try to minimize the postage costs.

I also had him sign his bobblehead from the 1991 World Series set.  I had him sign one like this in person at TwinsFest in 2012.  He insisted on signing it in black, on the blue brim of the cap.  A terrible idea, and I requested silver, but for some reason he insisted.  I'm not sure if he was doing this on purpose so it wouldn't look good for some reason, or if he genuinely thought it would look better.  I've been waiting a long time to get this redone.  As always, FanHQ did a great job handling this.

Here's the previous one he signed for me.