a (not so) biittner pill to swallow

sometime in early february, i sent out four ttm requests. they were the first ones i'd sent in quite a while, as my primary focus in the past had been to add dodgers or signed 1978 topps cards to my collection and i had pretty much exhausted the list of known signers who fell in to those categories.

every once in a while, however, i will look at recent successes on sportscardforum and see a player who has been added to the database with some successful returns that i had previously missed.  one such player was larry biittner.

biittner's card was one i found often in packs of 1978 topps that i opened that summer.  i was struck by his blue eyes (they are gil hodges-esque), as well as the spelling of his last name. at first, i thought that the dual vowels were an error, but my baseball handbook had his last name spelled the same way. now, dual vowels weren't all that strange - the 1978 set also had don aase in it - but the back-to-back dual letters were something i hadn't seen before.  

the other ttm requests i sent were to a couple of dodgers c/o their spring training facility at camelback ranch, and former dodger pitcher dennis powell. i thought i might see one or both of the spring training requests returned, but that has not been the case.  powell, however, came through with all three of his 1987 cards:

i don't really have any plans to send out any requests in the future (but never say never), so if biittner is the last ttm request i will see fulfilled, it will not be a bad one to go out on, as that card brings back some great memories of opening packs in the summer of 1978.

thanks larry and dennis!