TTM Success - Claude Osteen

I got two TTM successes in on Monday (3/7).  One of them was former pitcher Claude Osteen.  The cards I sent (I sent three) were all in the batch from Max.  Osteen was actually one of the first I considered doing when I set out on sending some of these old cards TTM.  The above 1975 SSPC looks really cool signed.  As you can see, he signed it really small with a thin blue ink pen.

This card looks really cool.  I sent two of them, and both got signed.  The extra will go to Max, since he hooked me up with the cards, and really, the idea to do all of this.

There is more I want to say about this card though, and all the more reason to enjoy this project because I wouldn't have noticed it otherwise.  Take a look at that awesome airbrush job on that hat!!  Man, Topps wasn't messing around there.  I have come to appreciate the crazy airbrushing that they have done over the years.  This might be one of the best examples.  Also, the colors on this card really stand out.  I'm glad I chose this to send to him, because it will definitely look good in my auto album.

Osteen (b. 1939) played in the majors from 1957, 1959 to 1975 for the Reds, Senators, Dodgers, Astros, Cardinals and White Sox.  He had a career record of 196-195 with an ERA of 3.30 and 1,612 strikeouts.  He was a 20-game winner in 1969 and 1972.  He was a three-time All Star (1967, 1970 and 1973) and finished 30th in the 1964 AL MVP voting.  We all remember that year being the year that Brooks Robinson won the MVP award.  He won the World Series with the Dodgers in 1965.  Osteen received as high as 0.5% of the vote on the Hall of Fame ballot before falling off after only his second year in 1982 with 0.2%.

I mailed to Osteen on February 18 and got all three cards back on March 7 for an 18-day TAT.