Today was a fun mail day. I received a scorecard signed by John Smoltz I had sent in for a private signing at Waukesha Sportscards via Mark G (hofcs on SCN). Smoltz signed it exactly as requested. It was from his 188th career win on August 21, 2006. John went 8 innings giving up 3 hits walking 1 and striking out 10.
The other package I received was from Howard C (favorite_things on SCN) who was breaking up a signed near set of 1961 Topps. I purchased four cards from Howard. Three were upgrades and one was a need. I am pretty familiar with two of the signatures on two of the cards. Of the other two, I was fairly confident one was bad but the other was good. I paid for a Beckett Quick Opinion on the two cards and, just as I suspected, the one that I thought was bad was confirmed as bad and the other good. Howard said he would give me a money back guarantee within 60 days so I will send the one back. The other three are beautiful cards and got me within three signed Twins cards to complete the set. The three cards I added to my collection are:
1961 Topps Zoilo Versalles
1961 Topps Jim Lemon
1961 Topps Pete Whisenant
Category: Topps Twins Project
Winnie The Twinnie
Today I received a card signed by Dave Winfield. Tom O (orr23mj on SCN) had a signing with Dave and I sent in his Topps Now Turn Back The Clock card from when he got his 3,054th hit and passed Rod Carew on the all time hit list. It was a meh autograph as it looks like Dave “mailed it in” signing the autographs. The photo on the card shows the home white pinstripes as it was taken at the Metrodome. If you notice the photos taken for the cards during the years the Twins were in the Dome, you will find that most of them were on the road or if you happen to get a home uniform it was probably taken in Spring Training. That is because the lighting was not the best for photos inside the Dome. This is one of the few Metrodome game action cards out there.
The Final Bartlett
Today I received a pair of 2014 Topps Update #uS-125 signed by Jason Bartlett. I had sent these to Dana D (er21 on SCN) for his private signing event. This card is the last one I need to complete my run of Jason Bartlett signed Topps Twins cards!
Expanding My Port-Zoilo
Today I received a couple items which are great to add to the collection. The first was a card I bought off eBay. noahsmemorabilia listed a 1975 Topps Zoilo Versalles MVP card #203 for sale. It was the last card I needed to complete my 1975 Topps Twins set so I was happy to see it available.
The other package was a box of Sports Illustrated magazines that Tom O (orr23mj on SCN) got via a pair of private signings he took part in. The first was a trio of Pedro Martinez SIs and the other was a pair of Johnny Bench SIs. I already had the two Bench SIs signed in the collection but the price was so good I had to send these in. It was cool to get Pedro on my 11.08.2004 SI. It already has Curt Schilling and Johnny Damon. All I need is David Ortiz to complete it! The SIs I got this time around are:
10.13.2003 Pedro Martinez
04.20.1998 Pedro Martinez
11.08.2004 Pedro Martinez
03.13.1972 Johnny Bench
11.01.1976 Johnny Bench