thanks for the ttm-ories

on some past thanksgivings, i gave thanks for successful through the mail autograph requests, and i decided to do the same today. i'll start by showcasing the very first ttm request i ever made.

that's a 1982 donruss san diego chicken card that 11-year old gcrl sent off to be signed back in 1982. when i saw it a year or two ago, i was confused. i had found this card in my complete set that had been boxed up since '82 and didn't recall how it might have been signed. i think it was gavin who reminded me that there was information on the back about getting the card signed, and he was right.

once i re-read the back, i did recall taking advantage of this opportunity.

most of my ttm requests over the last 12 years or so have focused on dodgers and the 1978 topps set. i was pretty active with these requests from 2009-2013 or so, and i had sent out only a couple of requests in 2020 until mid august when i sent one to jim kaat and then realized that i was close to 400 different signed cards from the 1978 topps set. i decided to make some more requests and purchase a few signed cards to get me past that threshhold.

many players still sign for free through the mail, and i was able to obtain autographs from some of them that were new to me, including junior moore

rogelio moret

tim nordbrook

mike willis

randy elliott

ron hodges

jim norris

tom poquette

gary ross

balor moore

bob apodaca

rob sperring

al fitzmorris

brent strom

wilbur howard

terry humphrey

mike barlow

dave rosello

and rod gilbreath

who also signed a 1974 topps card for me

in addition to those players above who sign for free, there are quite a few who request a donation. some have taken to signing through past pros, but i didn't go that route. instead, i sent donations and requests directly to these players - all were within the $2-$5 range.

dennis leonard signed his base card

and the league leader card

i have another copy of that card signed by dave goltz. for the record, i don't count both cards (or any multiple versions of cards) towards my total.

others to whom i donated were reggie cleveland

jim dwyer

john scott

john mayberry

whitey herzog

steve braun

who also included a note

and roy white

i've no plans to try to get carlton fisk to sign the card, however.

that roy white card is one of the best in the set, but there were some other cards that i wanted to add to my signed partial set, and the only way to do so was to purchase them from a dealer. one such card thusly acquired was doug ault's.

my favorite non-dodger card of 1978.

i added a few more cards from that same seller - the late jim bibby

jack clark

somewhere i have a picture of me and clark - pre-1985, of course.

larry dierker

dierker signs ttm with a fee, but it was cheaper to buy this version.

george foster

this matches well with the rbi leaders card that i have signed by foster and this one

that i added very recently

rick monday

i have a signed mo card in my autographed dodger team set that was acquired through a 50/50 trade, but wanted another one for this effort.

jeff burroughs

ken clay

tom griffin

larry milbourne

same deal on clay, griffin, and milbourne as the dierker above.

mike ivie

this is one of the cards in the set that is most burned in my brain. it seemed to me that ivie was upset about having his photo taken.

john montefusco

the count was a big part of my burgeoning fandom thanks to his status as one of the giants' best pitchers and the fact that they played the dodgers so many times.

bill north

north was a dodger by the time we found this card in packs.

larry hisle

this one was a card that i really wanted to have in my collection. hisle didn't get an o-pee-chee card in 1978 aside from the rbi leader card that showed him as a twin. i was a bit confused as a seven year old opening packs back then as to how he could be a twin and a brewer in the same set. later, i was confused as to why o-pee-chee didn't add the "now with twins" text to the league leader card.

billy hunter

nice to get another manager card for the set.

and finally, money well spent to add this card to the project - greg minton.

it's not funny, it's art.

as of today, my partial set stands at 411 different cards signed, with maybe a dozen or so duplicate cards signed by different players (league leaders, rookies, team checklists, checklists).  

the last card i will show is this 1978 o-pee-chee ron cey card

one of the first ttm requests i made when i began sending them out in earnest was of the penguin. i sent him my collection's original 1978 opc card - the one that i had pinned up to my wall in my bedroom after returning home from saskatchewan in the late summer of 1978 and one of the first cards i scanned for my first blog. i have since moved that card to my 'meaningful and just because cards' mini collection, and i wanted to replace it among the few other '78 opc cards i have signed.  it turns out that cey had just recently stopped signing for free through the mail, but he had been so generous over the years that i was ok paying the $15 fee this time.

thanks to cey and to all the players who sign ttm! and, of course, i have so much more to be thankful for - family, friends, health, and work to name a few.

happy thanksgiving!