Another TTM Success From George Altman

When I went to the Chantilly and Virginia Beach shows, I picked up set needs for each of the 4 card sets I am currently working on.  Some of the cards I picked up were upgrades for the rough filler cards that I had.  The above 1967 Topps George Altman was one of the filler cards that was upgraded.  Once that was done, I sent the rough card out TTM, along with one of Conrad's 1964 Topps that I pulled.

Both of the cards turned out great. The 1964 is very clean.  The 67, even though the condition is a bit rough, turned out nice as well.

I mailed to Altman on November 22 and got the cards back on December 6, for a 14-day TAT. I paid his fee of $10/card.

TTM Success - George Altman

I look back on this TTM success from George Altman and regret the fact that I didn't include a photo taken of he and I together from when we met him a couple years ago in Goldsboro.  I saw that he signed TTM, and picked up some of his cards from the recent card show in Greenville.  One of the cards is one I had already.

I picked up the above 1962 Post Canadian from the show and didn't think much of it at the time, other than it would be a little something different in my album.  For a dollar, it wasn't a bad pickup, but when I got the card back signed from Altman, I realized that it was the Canadian version.  Now, it definitely was something different for the album.

The 1966 Topps (above right) was from my vintage box, and the 1963 was one from the card show.  I really like the colors on the 1963, and the card turned out well.

I also had picked up a 1960 Topps at the show and sent it along.  It is a nice card, as well.  Altman also included a signed business card for his book, which I plan on checking out soon.

Altman (b. 1933) is from Goldsboro, NC, but now resides in Missouri.  He played in the majors from 1959 to 1967 for the Cubs, Cardinals and Mets.  He had 832 hits, 101 home runs and a .269 batting average.  He was an All Star in 1961 and 1962 and finished 14th in the 1961 NL MVP Award voting.

I mailed to Altman on October 30 and got the cards back on November 13, for a 14-day TAT.

Meeting A Local Baseball Player - George Altman

While I was heading to a site for work last Friday, I stopped in Starbucks for some coffee.  While I was waiting for my coffee, I noticed something on their community bulletin board advertising some baseball exhibits in a nearby county that was to showcase baseball and players from that county.  Since we were free tonight, my wife, son and I all made the 45 minute drive to Goldsboro, NC to meet former big leaguer George Altman.

Altman (b. 1933) played in the majors from 1959 to 1967 for the Cubs, Cardinals and Mets.  He was born in Goldsboro and now lives near St. Louis.  He was a 3-time All Star (he played in two All Star games in 1961); He hit a home run for the NL in the first 1961 All Star game that forced extra innings, and the NL would go on to win in 10 innings.  He was the first player (and only left hander) to hit two home runs in the same game off of Sandy Koufax.

In his 9-year MLB career, he amassed 832 hits, 101 home runs and a career batting average of .269.  He finished 14th in the NL MVP voting in 1961, a year he led the league with 12 triples.

The evening started off right, when a video montage was played as tribute to Altman with the song "All The Way" in the background (as sung by Eddie Vedder during the Pearl Jam concert at Wrigley Field in 2013).  So, I was happy right off the bat when this thing started.

Altman spent several minutes discussing his life growing up in Goldsboro, and his rise to the majors, and subsequent time playing in Japan.  He was really funny and told stories about several Hall of Famers, such as Satchel Paige, Ernie Banks and Leo Durocher.  The crowd was allowed to ask him some questions, so I asked him "Of all the players hemet in his career, who was he the most in awe of meeting?"  His response was Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.

We had gotten some baseballs signed that we brought with us, but I also wanted to thank Mr. Altman for coming back to NC and doing the discussion.  When we went back up, I got my program signed, and the moderator of the talk gave Chris a baseball.  Chris made sure to tell Mr. Altman that he, too, was a player.  Chris then told Mr. Altman about his 3-RBI performance from last night.  Mr. Altman was very impressed.

He was really nice to us, and I enjoyed going to this event.  I hope the Wayne County Public Library does something like this again next year.  From what I gathered during the talk, they have done this quite a bit over the last few years, with several former big leaguers coming to town to talk.