TTM Success - Marty Castillo

A huge addition to the 1987 Topps set happened for me a few months ago. I saw a private signing with Marty Castillo pop up, much to my disbelief. Castillo has been a rare signature up to this point, but recently, he has done a few private signings. He was the last guy I needed on this Togers Leaders card. I wasn't about to chance it with a TTM, so I had to wait for a private signing. 

Castillo (b. 1957) played in the majors from 1981 to 1985 for the Tigers. He had 67 hits, 8 home runs and a .190 batting average. He won the World Series in 1984 with the Tigers. It shows that Topps used an old photo, since Castillo didn't play for the Tigers in 1986.

I mailed to the signing on February 28 and got the card back on April 14, for a 45-day TAT. I paid a fee of $15.00.

Ebay Pickup - Sparky Anderson Signed 1987 Topps Tigers Leaders

I got this card in after I had done the private signing with Willie Hernandez, so I'll have to get him again sometime.  Still, though, here is a really nice card signed by the late Sparky Anderson.  The card is BSA authenticated, and looks really nice.  I didn't pay much for it, either, which is a bonus.

I'll have to keep an eye out for another Hernandez signing, as well as the catcher depicted on the card, Marty Castillo.

Hall of Fame Signed Baseball - Sparky Anderson

Greetings from frigid Baltimore, as I sit in my hotel room recovering from a day of standing in line on hard concrete, waiting for autographs.  Yes, I was at Fan Fest, today, but I will hold off posting about that til I get home tomorrow, because my hotel room is way too small for me to be spreading out all of the stuff I got.

I did get, however, another ball for my HOF signed baseball collection.  My mom and I were killing time before one of our signings, and decided to check out a vendor who had a bunch of signed baseballs.  I picked up this Sparky Anderson for only $65.00, which I thought was a great price.  He was the only Hall of Famer that I needed that he had for sale.

Anderson (b. 1934 - d. 2010) played in the majors in 1959 for the Phillies but is best known as a manager who took the Reds and Tigers to World Series championships.  Anderson managed the Reds from 1970 to 1978 and then the Tigers from 1979 to 1995.  He won the World Series in 1975 and 1976 with the Big Red Machine and 1984 with the Tigers.  He had a career won/loss record of 2,194 - 1,834.  As a manager, he compiled 19 full seasons with a winning record.

Anderson was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2000 by the Veterans Committee.

Still More Mail - 1971 Topps Needs

I recently completed a trade with blog reader Matt H. for 15 high number 1971 Topps for my set. I traded Matt a 2006 UD Epic Ernie Banks relic for the '71s.


Most of the players weren't big names, but I did end up being able to knock Johnny Callison and Sparky Anderson off of the list. Callison is very underrated, historically speaking. A friend of mine's dad is a huge Callison fan, and I was able to hook him up with some vintage Callison cards several years ago.

Sparky, unfortunately passed away not too long ago. He was definitely one of the best managers of all time.

I'm glad to be able to knock a decent chunk out of my needs for 1971 Topps. It feels like it is taking me forever to complete some of these sets, but with the economy the way it is, it is always nice to be able to make a dent.