Some Signed Cards From Jackson T.

My friend, Jackson T., sent me a nice care package recently that had some really nice autos in it.  Jackson often hooks me up with some nice stuff, but I wasn't expecting Joe Maddon to be included.  I knew he had a signing with Maddon recently, but I definitely wasn't expecting the above 2008 Topps, or the 2007 Topps below.

Jackson is going to help me add a few nice cards to my 1987 set, once he gets the signings lined up.  I provide cards for him here and there, and every now and then, I get some bonus cards back.

I did send Jackson a few Willie Montanez cards.  He sent me back the above 1975 SSPC and 1978 Topps.

Finally, here are a 1997 Pinnacle Ed Sprague and a 2004 Just Minors David DeJesus.

Thanks so much for the cards, Jackson!

2019 National Free Signer - Ralph Garr

I waited in line for a long time at the National to get Ralph Garr.  As the show progressed over the week, I was able to get the free signers quicker and quicker, as I began to avoid getting in line, and instead, just checking back every so often, until I could get in the line and get through.

Garr signed slowly, and also took the time to speak to everyone and thank them for meeting him.  He was really nice, and I was glad to get this 1975 SSPC signed that Max gave me years ago.

Garr (b. 1945) played in the majors from 1968 to 1980 for the Braves, White Sox and Angels.  He had 1,562 hits, 75 home runs and a .306 batting average.  He was the 1974 NL Batting Champion, when he hit .353 and collected 214 hits over the season.  That year was his only All Star appearance, and he finished a career-best 12th in the NL MVP race.  In his career, Garr had three seasons where his had 200 or more hits.

TTM Success - Lloyd Allen

TTMs have slowed down substantially as the season has gone along, but I still have a ton to scan and post.  This one came back from Lloyd Allen a while back.  I had the above 1975 SSPC for a long time.  It came in one of my first ever trades with my good friend, Max.  I was glad to finally get it sent out and then returned signed.

I waited to send the SSPC out until I had more of Allen's cards.  I pulled these two from the vintage that I got from Conrad, and got around to mailing them.  All of the cards look really nice.

Allen (b. 1950) played in the majors from 1969 to 1975 for the Angels, Rangers and White Sox.  He had a career record of 8-25 with 194 strike outs and a 4.68 ERA.

I mailed to Allen on January 14 and got the cards back on April 12, for an 88-day TAT.

TTM Success - Tito Fuentes

I still have quite a few TTM requests out from last year.  It is always fun getting one of them in, which was the case a few days ago when I got this TTM success from Tito Fuentes.

One of the cards I sen was this 1975 SSPC that I got from my good friend, Max.  This was in a huge lot of vintage cards that he sent me during one of our earliest deals.

The 1975 Topps on the left also came out of that deal.  The 1977 came out of some that I got from Columbia, I think.  Fuentes signed the cards with an old Sharpie, it seems.  I can't really complain, though, he could have chosen not to sign them at all.

Fuentes (b. 1944) played in the majors from 1965 to 1967 and 1969 to 1978 for the Giants, Padres, Tigers and A's.  He had 1,491 hits, 45 home runs and a .268 batting average.  He finished 3rd in the 1966 NL Rookie of the Year voting.  His best and only finish in the NL MVP voting was 20th in 1973.

I mailed to Fuentes on November 16, 2016, and got the cards back on October 27, 2017, for a 345-day TAT.  I paid his fee of $5/card.

TTM Success - Bill Gogolewski

I added another player to my TTM success list when I got a few cards in from former pitcher, Bill Gogolewski.  One of the best "names" I have gotten so far, I was able to get his 1971 Topps rookie card signed.

I was also able to get a 1975 SSPC and a 1974 Topps signed as well.  The SSPC came from my buddy, Max, and I got the 71 and 74 from my local card shop.

Gogolewski (b. 1947) played in the majors from 1970 to 1975 for the Senators, Rangers, Indians and White Sox.  He had a record of 15-24 with a 4.02 ERA and 301 strike outs.

I mailed to Gogolewski on April 23 and got the cards back on April 30 for a 7-day TAT.

TTM Success - Dave Duncan

I got a TTM success on April 2 from former Oriole, Dave Duncan.  He is more well known as coach for many Tony LaRussa-led teams.  There has been talk about adding coaches to the Hall of Fame, and Duncan is one that is always pointed toward when the conversation is being held.

Duncan (b. 1945) played in the majors from 1964 and 1967 to 1976 for the A's, Indians and Orioles.  He had 617 hits, 109 home runs and a career average of .214.  He won the World Series with the A's in 1972.  Duncan coached from 1979 to 2011 for the Indians, Mariners, White Sox, A's and Cardinals.  He coached four pitchers to the Cy Young Award in 1983, 1990, 1992 and 2005.  He was a member of World Series winners in 1989 (A's), 2006 (Cardinals) and 2011 (Cardinals).

I mailed to Duncan on March 21 and got the cards back on April 2 for a 12-day TAT.  Both of these cards came from my good friend, Max.

TTM Success - Wilbur Wood

I got a TTM success last week from former pitcher, Wilbur Wood.  I had mailed to him on March 12 and got the cards back on March 29, for a 17-day TAT.  I included a card that I had originally set aside for my 1972 set, but it would have been replaced for a better conditioned one.  I figured I would go ahead and send it off for TTM and see what happened.  I'm happy I did, since the card came out really nice.

I also included some of the cards that my buddy, Max, gave me a while back.  The above 1975 SSPC turned out really nice.  Those are some cool cards and I am happy that I have gotten some of them back signed.

This 1976 Hostess also looks pretty cool signed.  When I first got them from Max, I wasn't sure what I would do with them, but now that I can do a few TTM, they really come in handy.

Wood (b. 1941) played in the majors from 1961 to 1965 and 1967 to 1978 for the Red Sox, Pirates and White Sox.  He had a career record of 164-156 with an ERA of 3.24 and 1,411 strike outs.  He won 20 or more games 4 times in his career.  He also lost as many as 20 games twice.  He finished second in the 1972 AL Cy Young Award voting, his highest finish for that award.  He was also a 3-time All Star and finished as high as 7th in the AL MVP voting.

Wood appeared on six Hall of Fame ballots between 1984 and 1989, but never received more than 7.0% of the vote.

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.

COMC Pickup - Familiar Faces In Strange Places

I bought these two cards off of COMC recently because I thought they were so cool.  These are 1975 SSPC cards.  The above card shows Hall of Famer, Duke Snider as a coach for the Expos.  It definitely is a funny sight to see him in the Red White and Blue Expos uniform.

I don't have very many Expos in my collection, so adding this one was a no brainer for me.

Finally, this card is weirder for me than the Snider.  Harmon Killebrew as something other than a Senator/Twim.  Wow.  I totally forgot that Killebrew finished his career in Kansas City.  The card is awesome and I'm glad I own it.

I looked at most of the '75 SSPC checklist on COMC and there are quite a few cards that I still want from there.  I might make this a mini PC, players in odd uniforms.  I could have Boog Powell as an Indian, or Frank Robinson as an Indian or Dodger.  Some stuff like that.  I used to have the Heritage card of Babe Ruth as a Dodger coach.  I wonder what I did with that.