TTM Success - Mike White

Another signed vintage Topps was added to m autograph album when this 1965 Topps came in from Mike White.  He signed the card in blue ballpoint pen.  I like the old Colt .45s hat that White is wearing for this card.

White (b. 1938) played in the majors from 1963 to 1965 for the Colt .45s/Astros.  He had 78 hits, 0 home runs and a .264 batting average.

I mailed to White on October 19 and got the card back on October 28, for a 9-day TAT.

TTM Success - Larry Dierker

I got a couple nice vintage cards signed when I got this TTM success back from Larry Dierker.  I like the old Astros jersey on the above 1974 Topps.  I believe this card came out of a box that I got from my buddy, Max, a while back.

This 1966 Topps also turned out well.

Dierker (b. 1946) played in the majors from 1964 to 1977 for the Colt .45s/Astros and Cardinals.  he had a record of 139-123 with 1,493 strike outs and a 3.31 ERA.  He was an All Star twice (1969 and 1971) and won 20 games in 1969.

Dierker managed the Astros from 1997 to 2001 compiling a record of 435-348 (.556 win %).  He was the NL Manager of the Year in 1998.  He appeared on the 1983 Hall of Fame ballot, but received no votes.

I mailed to Dierker on October 5 and got the cards back signed on November 23, for a 49-day TAT.  I paid a fee of $5/card.

TTM Success - Al Spangler

1961 Topps cards weren't the only ones I picked up from the antique shop in January.  I also grabbed a few 1969 Topps for my set.  I found out when I got home that I hadn't quite updated my needs list like I had thought.  I had maybe three or four of the cards already.  One of them was Al Spangler.  No worries, though, I saw that he signed TTM, so I sent my extra 69 along.  After a look through some boxes, I saw that I had this 1961 Topps buyback and a 1968 as well, so those went too.

I'm really not the biggest fan of how Topps does their buybacks.  I don't care for the foil stamps on the cards.  I see the point that some folks need them to be pointed out to them, but if I were building a set, I wouldn't include a buyback with a stamp.  I also don't include them among my Topps Autograph Project.  Still, they're pretty cool, and they give me ideas of guys to look up at times.  All of that being said, this 2015 buyback of a 1961 Topps turned out really nice, I think.

The 1968 was in my vintage box.  I had maybe a third of the set in my box at one point, but have robbed from it to send TTMs.  I don't think I have put myself to far behind on that one if I ever get around to starting the set.  Most of the guys I have pulled from it are non-stars.  I still need to finish the 69 set sometime soon.  I'll get there.

Spangler (b.1933) played in the majors from 1959 to 1971 for the Braves (Milwaukee), Colt .45s/Astros, Angels and Cubs.  He had 594 hits, 21 home runs and a .262 batting average.  He was the 8th pick in the premium phase of the 1961 Expansion Draft (picked up by the Colt .45s).

I mailed to Spangler on January 17 and got the cards back on January 29, for a 12-day TAT.

TTM Success - Bob Bruce

I received a TTM success recently on even more 60s cards.  This time I have a great version of 1964 with the Colt .45 jersey.  This success from Bob Bruce really turned out great. I picked up a few of these from sportlots and COMC to round out the ones I had found in my vintage box.

I believe this 1960 Topps RC was in my vintage box.  I have one signed by Ron Hansen, so adding another was a plus.

The 1963 on the left was also one that I already had.  The 1966 came from wherever I bought them, COMC I think.

Bruce (b. 1933) played in the majors from 1959 to 1967 for the Tigers, Colt .45s/Astros and Braves.  He had a career record of 49-71 with 733 strike outs and an ERA of 3.85.

I mailed to Bruce on November 21 and got the cards back on December 1, for a 10-day TAT.

TTM Success - Bob Lillis

For whatever reason, I have been getting several Houston Colt .45 players back all at the same time, lately.  It hasn't been by design, just mere coincidence, really.  However, since I really love the old .45s jersey, I am perfectly ok with getting a bunch of their cards in.

This 1963 Topps Bob Lillis card was languishing in my vintage box, so I figured that when I saw that he was signing TTM, I would give it a shot.

Because I only had the one card, I bought this one off of sportlots so I would have an additional card to send.  Both of them turned out really great, so definitely no complaints!

Lillis (b. 1930) played in the majors from 1958 to 1967 for the Dodgers, Cardinals and Colt .45s/Astros.  He had 549 hits, 3 home runs and a .236 batting average.  He didn't appear in the 1959 World Series with the Dodgers.

I mailed to Lillis on November 11 and got the cards back on November 21, for a 10-day TAT.

TTM Success - Carl Warwick

I got a nice TTM success from former Oriole, Carl Warwick after finding his card in my Orioles box and checking to see if he signed TTM.  I was even happier to find that I had one of his 1964 Topps cards in my vintage box, so I was able to get two cards sent off.

I love this 1964 Topps because of the Colt .45s jersey.  I might have to find one of those jerseys at some point.  They look really cool.

Here is the 1966 Topps that had taken up residence in my Os box.  This card turned out nice, as well.

I mailed to Warwick on November 11 and got the cards back on November 18, for a 7-day TAT.

Warwick (b. 1937) played in the majors from 1961 to 1966 for the Dodgers, Cardinals, Colt .45s, Orioles and Cubs.  He had 363 hits, 31 home runs and a .248 batting average.  He won the World Series in 1964 with the Cardinals.

TTM Success - Hal Smith

I received so many TTM successes last week, I'll be playing catch-up for a while.  One of the ones I got in on March 19 was from Hal Smith.  I sent to him in my initial mailing of vintage cards on March 11 and got them back 8 days later.  The 1960 was rough when I sent it, but it still turned out nice.  I need to find a few other 1960s to send to other folks so that this isn't my only one.

These 1963 Topps turned out great.  I found both of them in my box of vintage and figured that since I had two, I would go ahead and send both.  I'll probably donate the extra to one of my trading buddies or something.  We'll see.

Smith (b. 1930) played in the majors from 1955 to 1964 for the Orioles, A's (Kansas City), Pirates, Colt .45s and Reds.  He had 715 hits, 58 home runs and a .267 batting average.  Smith won the World Series in 1960 with the Pirates.

Instagram Trade With Sean

I saw the above 2014 Topps Nolan Reimold parallel on an Instagram page right after Series 2 came out.  I messaged the guy telling him that I wanted it and we got to chatting.  After several weeks of chatting, the guy, Sean, and I became pretty good friends.  At least as good as you can anonymously over the internet and apps and what not.  Sean is a really good guy and a Cubs collector.  He originally wanted a few Jake Arrieta rookie cards (which I have plenty of) in exchange for the Reimold.  After one of our conversations where Sean lamented that he didn't have a whole lot of good Cubs vintage cards, namely Ernie Banks and Billy Williams, I took to Ebay to see if I could lend a hand.

I found Sean, for the price (shipped) of $10.50, a 1961 Topps Billy Williams RC.  Sean gave up on the Arrieta rookies and gave me the red Reimold and the below Joe Morgan rookie cup manufactured patch.

This patch card is really cool and will look nice in my growing Morgan PC.  I have already helped Sean with a few more things for his collection and I hope that we can keep some trades coming in.

It's tough finding good Cubs to send him, since my good friend, Kalib, is also a Cubs guy, but I think there is a little bit of room for more Cubs guys.  A lot easier than Yankees guys, that's for sure.

Thanks for the trade, Sean!  I hope you like the next batch of stuff headed your way!

More Pickups From The Matthews Card Shop

Not only did I get a few set needs and my Larry Doby signed baseball from AAA Collectibles in Matthews, NC this past weekend, I also got this awesome Joe Morgan rookie card.  The card is from 1965 Topps and set me back only $20.  Not bad at all!

I think it is really cool to read the back of a future Hall of Famer's rookie card to kind of see what the scouting report was.

Sonny Jackson must enjoy sharing his RC with Morgan.  Jackson played in the majors in parts of 12 seasons but obviously never gained the star power that Morgan had.

So, I guess I wasn't kidding when I said that I was going to do a PC of Morgan's base cards.  Ive got a few, now, and I think I will be adding some more soon.  I know I love this RC and am really happy that I got it for as cheap as I did.

But wait, there's more.  For an additional $10, I got this 2014 Topps Tribute Chris Davis relic.  I think at $10, this was an absolute steal.  Davis has gotten off to quite the slow start so far this season, but I have faith in him that he will get red hot and still hit 35-40 homers this year.  We'll see though.

So, I think I had a productive trip to the Matthews shop.  I hope that if any of you are in the Charlotte area, that you would go by and check it out.  The folks who own/run it are amazing and you'll find some sweet deals!