Sean Poppen pitched for the Twins just a short time. He did pitch long enough for Topps to recognize him and put him on a 2020 Update card. AutographDen on eBay, who is also ColeL33 on SCN, listed one that they acquired from a long time in person collector. I was excited to pick it up at a small price for the collection. There was one other person bidding on it but I prevailed in the end!
Not Groaty To The Max
Dick Groat was a top player in the 1960’s and appeared on a number of magazine covers. I received a pair of them signed today. I sent Dick a “Complete 1961 Baseball” magazine and a “1961 True Baseball Yearbook” in hopes he would sign them. He did. In fact, he signed one of them twice!
Kubek
A couple weeks ago I received my April 1961 Baseball Digest signed by Al Spangler and immediately sent it to Tony Kubek to finish the cover. It shows a face shot of both men on the cover and I really do not like having items that I cannot complete or are not complete in my collection. I also sent a Ford Frick Hall of Fame postcard with the magazine. Tony was the Ford Frick recipient in 2009 being recognized for his broadcasting skills. His voice, along with Joe Garagiola, was the sound of my Saturday mornings as a kid watching the “Game of the Week”. Throw in Mel Allen on “This Week in Baseball” before the “Game of the Week” and it was a Ford Frick recipient trifecta!
Today I received both items signed in blue Sharpie for my collection.
A Rootin’ Tudorin’ Time
A long while ago a great friend of mine gave me, and continues to give me, his ticket stubs from baseball games he attends. In the group of tickets there was a run of the three games the Twins played in St Louis in the 1987 World Series (that the Twins WON!). I had Game 4 and Game 5 signed but not Game 3. It was a glaring hole in the seven game set of signed tickets. I was looking over Past Pros website and found that John Tudor signed via their process and knew I had to send the ticket to him. Today I received it signed by John with “Winning Pitcher” on it. I am excited to say that I now have all seven tickets of the 1987 World Series signed by a player who played an important or meaningful role in the game! The post office did beat the ticket up a little when it appears to have gotten jammed in the sorting machines but it is fine for me and my collection.