Another TTM Success From Lou Piniella

I wanted to go ahead and get my 1991 Crown Orioles card of Lou Piniella signed, so I pulled the trigger and sent it out.  I paid his fee and got it back signed.  It looks really cool.

His fee is $5 and I had a $10 on me, so I added this 1980 Topps, just because.  1980 was the year I was born in, and I like the set, but I don't think I'll pursue the full set at any point.  Getting the 87 set done has been expensive and time consuming, but you never know.

I mailed to Piniella on September 24 and got the cards back on October 5, for an 11-day TAT.

Two TTM Successes From Lou Piniella

I don't normally like to send TTM to someone more than once, but I will do it if I find a cool card of someone I know who signs that I have gotten before.  I also have had to double up on a bunch of guys I sent to who I missed in my 1987 set.  I also like to wait a while before I DO double dip, but in the case of Lou Piniella, I mailed, then mailed again.

I saw that Piniella signed for $5/card, so the first time I sent, I sent these three cards with a check for $15.00.  I got all three back, but only the 1992 Topps was signed, and the check was ripped.  I believe it was Piniella who ripped the check, and obviously didn't cash it.

I figured that he preferred cash instead of having to deposit a check in the bank, so I decided to send the two cards he didn't sign back to him, this time with $15 in cash.  Yeah, I could have only sent $10, but I felt like it would be rude to say "Hey, you signed one for free, here are two more."  So, I felt like sending the whole $15 back was the right thing to do.

Piniella (b. 1943) played in the majors in 1964 and 1968 to 1984 for the Orioles, Indians, Royals ad Yankees.  He had 1,705 hits, 102 home runs and a .291 batting average.  He was the 1969 AL Rookie of the Year and an All Star in 1972.  His best MVP finish was 21st in 1978 (AL).  He won the World Series with the Yankees in 1977 and 1978.

Piniella managed in the majors from 1986 to 1988 (Yankees, where he was a Player/Manager in 86 and 87), 1990 to 1992 (Reds), 1993 to 2002 (Mariners), 2003 to 2005 (Rays) and 2007 to 2010 (Cubs).  His career managerial record is 1,835-1,713 (.517%).  He won the World Series with the Reds in 1990.

He is up for the "Today's Era" Committee Hall of Fame vote in December.  As a player, Piniella appeared on the 1990 Hall of Fame ballot, but received only 0.5% of the vote.

I originally mailed to Piniella on September 6 and got the 1992 Topps back on September 18, for a 12-day TAT.  I re-mailed the 1987 and 2002 Topps on October 25 and got those back signed on November 3, for a 9-day TAT.

Card Show Pickup - 1969 Topps Set Needs

I only picked up two cards each for my 1959 and 1969 sets when I was at the card show.  Today, I'll show you the '69s.  First up is the above Catfish Hunter card that I got.  That's a really young Catfish in the old school A's jersey.

The other 69 Topps I got was this Lou Piniella RC.  It's kind of funny how many manager RCs are in this set.  So far I have picked up the Bobby Cox, Earl Weaver and Piniella RCs.  Not bad.  I got both of these cards together for around $5, so that was really good.  I got them around the same time I got the Torre RC, but I think this was from one or two tables down from there.  I just now noticed that the Piniella RC is from the Seattle Pilots.  That's pretty cool, too.