I’m not going to lie to you, I feel like I am leaving something out with this update. That’s good news (or at least that is how I am viewing it) as there have been a fair amount of cards in the mailbox over the last week with the culmination coming this weekend.
My daughter had her first ever travel softball tournament so after four hours of driving each way, two nights in a hotel, a few hours in the pool, six softball games, some sun, wind, rain, a lot of crappy food and a few too many wobbly pops – it was nice to come home to a full mailbox on Sunday and even more good news today.
Lets jump right in and I’ll do this (as best I can) in chronological order – don’t worry, this way we still save the best for last!
Mike Smithson 3/3 in 14 days – as you will see, many of these requests start with a random pile of 1989 Topps and others needs/wants are filled in. 1987 Fleer and 1985 Topps round out this trio.
Jim Leyland 1/2 in 17 days – didn’t get both cards back signed but that’s OK. Jim’s a busy dude this time of year especially with the WBC this spring. Thankful that I got one back – will try the other in the future.
Geoff Zahn 2/2 in 15 days – have a few 1984 Topps cards that I would like to get as well. Wish this one wouldn’t have gotten smudged but life chugs forward. The 1985 Topps looks great!
Bobby Meacham 2/2 in 15 days – these was the last envelope I opened on Thursday before hitting the road for softball heaven.
What follows is everything that I opened today – it was a fun day!
Bob Kipper 3/3 in 20 days – 1987 Fleer isn’t one of my priorities but I will throw those in when there are limited options or when I am confident the signer will return multiples. I only have a few of them up to this point but they look great especially with the blue sharpie.
Les Straker 2/2 in 161 days – I had given up on this one. Happy to see the 1988 Fleer and extremely happy to cross one more off the 1987 Topps Traded set!
Jim Gott 3/3 in 58 days – more weekend mail though this appears to be the Saturday batch. Three cards, three different teams and one more “X” in the 1987 Topps Traded set – yippee!
Jimmy Key 1/1 in 12 days – Key is a great signer and I have a bunch of cards I need from him. Like Leyland, it would be nice to get more than one at a time but I won’t get greedy and am happy that he signs at all.
Charles Hudson 3/3 in 21 days – 1989 Topps leads the way and another couple of sharp side-side-projects with the 1987 Fleer and 1990 UD.
Dwayne Henry 2/2 in 8 days – I think this is the first appearance of the 1991 Topps in this update but there are more of those to come.
Ken Gerhart 2/2 in 21 days – my second return from Mr Gerhart. Added “#38” this time around – love it!
Gerald Young 2/3 in 10 days – he kept the 1991 Topps card but I got the two I would have wanted with the first two anyway. I really like the 1988 Fleer action shot coming out of the box.
Billy Swift 3/3 in 10 days – my favorite mail pickup of the week. Finally a few sharp Mariner cards to look at and I absolutely love these 1985 Topps Olympic cards – I am definitely going to have to send out more of those.
Now we move over to what I found at the Post Office today. Made a run during my day off (did I mention that I was too worn out to work today so I took a vacation day – it was wonderful!). There are a few more Private Signings that should be coming in over the next week or so – had to pay a bit of coin to get these bad boys in but (for the most part) they are worth it.
First Signing (both were through http://www.sportscollectors.net users by the way)
Jack Clark – six total cards! I am probably nuts for getting six cards signed at one signing but the price was damn cheap and I have had no luck getting Clark to sign anywhere I have tried. If you notice the 1987 Topps and 1985 Topps cards have his nickname “Ripper” included – that cost a little extra but well worth it!
Gary Matthews – three cards. Not sure what is going on with this signature, especially on the 1987 Topps – but again was able to get his nickname “The Sarge” inscribed on the 1985 and 1987 cars. Unique anyway – ha!
The second signing cost me a bit more money – I nearly passed on doing it but being able to scratch off five different 1987 Topps cards in one package made it appealing. Opening the cards today – I would have to say that I am very pleased with my decision.
#435 Bruce Sutter – not sure what to add here, I’ll let the card do the talking.
Willie McGee signed two cards for me – Willie was always one of my favorites as a kid. I knew I would send in two cards – trying to figure out what the second was going to be took me a long time but decided to go with the 1985 because it appears to me to be vintage Willie. I have no idea what happened on this pitch but I am envisioning a flair to left down the line that he legged into a double and followed it up by stealing third and then scored on a ridiculously shallow fly ball. It just had to go down like that, right?
Ozzie “The Wizard” Smith knocked three 1987 Topps off for me – by far my favorite grab of the week. Another of my childhood favorites – I really only wish that he wouldn’t have had so many cards in the 1987 set or I would have gotten something signed picturing him in mid-flip. I am sure you have noticed “The Wizard” inscription on two of the cards.
I hope you enjoyed the post. Stats on my progress for the 1987 Topps and Topps Traded sets are as follows:
- Successes – 344 (36.06%)
- Purchases/Trades/Signings – 198 (20.75%)
- Total in hand – 542 (56.81%)
- Pending – 129 (13.52%)
- Failure – 87 (9.12%)
Thanks for checking in! I have sent a fair stack of requests so hopefully there are more to come so please come back and follow the progress!
Lumberjack Cards 