I have always been intrigued by presidential autographs but never had the courage to jump into them outside of signed books. They seem to be the easiest and cheapest way to get presidential autographs. But, for every George Bush or Jimmy Carter autographed book I have I have a Hillary Clinton and Michelle Bachman. I would love to have an autographed baseball but they always run with black Sharpies and they do not hold up very well on baseballs (although I have a couple that have stood the test of time quite well). Today’s mail brought in Ron DeSantis’ “The Courage to Be Free” signed copy. Premiere Collectibles does a great job with books and the one I bought came in a special presentation box and is numbered 2015/2800. Who knows if he will be president down the road but if he is, I have his signed book!
Twins Spring
I received my first package of signed cards from Spring Training today. Charie D (CDietz on SCN) posted some extras he got signed in Ft Myers at Twins Spring Training. I found a pair I needed and a pair of cool ones and purchased. They are:
2022 Topps Heritage Max Kepler #122
2023 Topps Jhoan Duran #218
2023 Bowman Draft Paper Connor Prielipp #BD-8
2023 Bowman Chrome Blackjack Conner Prielipp/Brooks Lee #BJ-6
That Blackjack card shows two super prospects for the Twins.
A Killer Pickup
If you follow this blog you know I just started getting into signed Baseball Digest magazines. Since I just started, I don’t have any of the deceased players so when I came across one on eBay for sale from cardboardlegendsonline I was pretty excited. This issue was signed by Harmon Killebrew and was the issue from January, 1970. It even had JSA authentication and is in perfect newsstand shape!
TK, Joe, and Eck
I have had some pretty good mail days but I think todays mail day is the best ever! I received items from three people and all are people I admire in baseball.
The first package was from Tom Kelly. My friend Mark B is the Tigers Ticket God. If he does not have a specific Detroit Tigers ticket he will track it down and that is exactly what he did for me. On May 26, 1975 TK hit his only MLB home run and Mark found me a pair of tickets to that game. TK signed one of them with “Only MLB HR”. I will donate the other ticket to the Twins as they have the home run baseball on display. I think a ticket would go great with it. The other item TK signed for me was a ticket for the 09.08.2012 Twins game when his #10 was retired. He inscribed that ticket with “#10 Retired”
The next package I opened was from Dennis Eckersley. I had mailed him a ticket from the 2004 Hall of Fame Induction which was postmarked from Cooperstown. He signed it beautifully. Now I need to send it to Paul Molitor to complete it.
I saved the best for last and I was blown away with how perfect everything was signed. Doug Keating (4192HITS on SCN) had a signing with Joe and I sent in a few items I had that I needed signed. The items I received are:
2015 Topps #700 SP Variation
2022 Allen & Ginter #163
2018 Topps Now Players Weekend Bonus PWB-66
2021 Topps Project 70 #629
10.06.2009 Ticket with “2009 AL MVP” and “Batting Champ .365”
09.29.2018 Ticket with “Last Run 1,018” and “Last RBI 923”
06.15.2019 Ticket with “#7 Retired”
Game used baseball from the game Joe’s #7 was retired with “#7 Retired 6/15/19”
Retail baseball from the game Joe’s #7 was retired with “#7 Retired 6/15/19”
The 2009 ticket is from Game #163 and has Joe pictured on it. It is signed in ultra fine silver deco and looks amazing. Actually, all of them look amazing. I am really excited to add these to my collection!