TTM Success (I Guess) - Ken Holtzman

As you might be able to tell from the title of this blog post, I assume this was a TTM success from former pitcher, Ken Holtzman.  There appears to be, albeit really faint, an autograph on the above 1968 Topps All Star card.  May it is a dead pen, maybe it is pencil, maybe it was a hunk of coal, I don't know.  I am, however, going with that being an autograph on the card.  I kind of hate that I wasted a pretty cool-looking 1968 Topps, but what can you do?  I heard after the fact that you can get a better signature from Holtzman if you send money.  I didn't know that.  I almost would have rather had a refusal to sign, or a slip saying money was required than the light scribbling I received.  Not a big deal, though.  I will find someone who has bulk 1968 Topps and find a few that I can send off for my project that will be a better representation than this one.

Anyway, Holtzman (b. 1945) played in the majors from 1965 to 1979 for the Cubs, A's, Orioles and Yankees.  He had a career record of 174-150 with an ERA of 349 and 1,601 strike outs.  He was a 2-time All Star and won 20+ games once (1973).  He won the World Series in 1972, 1973 and 1974 for the A's and was on the 1977 and 1978 Yankees teams that also won the World Series (although he was not on their playoff rosters).

Holtzman came to Baltimore in a trade from the A's that also landed the O's Reggie Jackson in 1976.  Holtzman would later be traded away from Baltimore in a deal that would set up the 1983 World Champion O's (and the 1979 AL Champs) when he was dealt with Doyle Alexander, Jimmy Freeman, Elrod Hendricks and Grant Jackson to the Yankees for Rick Dempsey, Tippy Martinez, Rudy May, Scott McGregor and Dave Pagan.

I mailed to Holtzman on March 12 and got the card back on March 28 for a 16-day TAT.