ChiSox Collector - Mail

Magglio Ordonez return

Doug — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 20:30:28 GMT

Last week I received three autographs from Magglio Ordonez. The autographs were obtained through the Detroit Tigers "Autographs for a Cause" program. Magglio is one of eight current Tigers players that signs for a donation. More information can be found here.

First mail success in almost a year!

Doug — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 05:49:33 GMT

I just haven't had time lately to send out an TTM requests. I used to be a TTM machine, but the last requests I sent out were in July of 2010. I finally made myself send a few out on May 31st. I sent to Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Octavio Dotel, and Magglio Ordonez. All cards sent were for my UD project. This week I got two of them back!

Mark Buehrle - 1/1
Jon Garland - 1/1

I am planning on sending another small batch of TTM requests later this week. At the very least I will be sending to D.J. Carrasco, Dustin Hermanson, Don Johnson, Billy Pierce, Cliff Politte, & Bob Wilson.

Billy Pierce TTM Return

Doug — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 00:08:29 GMT

Billy Pierce was kind enough to sign 6 cards for me. Mr. Pierce is my pick for best mail signer on the planet. I was a bit hesitant to send 6 at one time, but if there is one person that wouldn't have a problem with it, it would be Billy. The return took 9 days. I'm especially excited about the 1952-54 Red Man cards!

Carlton Fisk Upper Deck cards

Doug — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:00:10 GMT

Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk has a total of 7 Upper Deck cards that I need to get signed for my All-Time Upper Deck project. I can now cross 2 of those off of my wantlist. I obtained these through the mail. Mr. Fisk will sign for a $40 donation to the Cancer Support Center.

Project Rookie Card: Billy Pierce 1951 Bowman & 1951 Topps Blue Back

Doug — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:33:46 GMT

Today is the last day of my spring training vacation. I had planned on going to the Astros workout, but unfortunately it was supposed to rain all day, so I ended up taking the day off to recuperate.

I've been in a pretty poor mood all day, as I hate wasting a day. Luckily, I got a nice return in the mail to lift my spirits.

Billy Pierce - 2/2

Billy is one of my all-time favorite White Sox players, so I'm thrilled to finally have both of his rookie cards signed. Billy uses a perfect pen for vintage autos, so I didn't even have to send a pen! I was lucky to get a pretty good deal on both cards, and both are in very nice condition. Thanks Billy!

Project "South Side Hitmen" - Eric Soderholm

Doug — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:06:43 GMT

Added another baseball to my growing "South Side Hitmen" collection. Today's mail brought an Eric Soderholm baseball, complete with inscription and jersey number.

Project "South Side Hitmen" - Ralph Garr

Doug — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:21:58 GMT

I received a very nice baseball from Ralph Garr yesterday. I sent baseballs to Ralph, Alan Bannister, and Eric Soderholm, asking for the same inscription. For Mr. Garr, I included a $10 fee. The baseball looks amazing:

My collection now includes baseballs with this same inscription from Garr, Chet Lemon, Jorge Orta, and Oscar Gamble. My goal is to get all of the main offensive players from the 1977 White Sox. Jim Spencer will most likely be impossible, as I doubt there are many baseballs floating around out there with this exact inscription. Richie Zisk may prove tough as well, as he has apparently stopped signing autographs.

Mail 2/4/10

Doug — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:27:36 GMT

I received a couple of successes this week:

Mark Dalesandro - 2/2
Cory Snyder - 2/2

The Dalesandro isn't a Sox card, but as his only Sox cards are in minor league team sets that I don't have, it will have to do!

2009 TTM Stats (thus far)

Doug — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:13:41 GMT

I was perusing my Mailbag database, and I noticed that I have had a pretty good success rate over the past year. I decided to share my success rate for 2009. Hopefully this will continue to improve as the successes keep piling up!

Mailings - I sent 255 requests in 2009, and thus far have received 190 successful returns. That gives me a success rate of 75%. Not bad!

Total items - I sent 546 items in 2009, and as of today 427 of them have been returned to me signed. That comes out to a 78% success rate.

My quickest returns were from Chris Knapp and Roberto Hernandez. In both cases I had the signed cards in my hands 3 days after mailing!

The slowest return so far was from Orlando Cabrera, which took 224 days. I expect this to change though, as there are always a few returns that show up long after you've given up on them.

I'll be doing my (belated) first mailings of 2010 in the next couple of weeks.

Mail 1/25/10

Doug — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:03:10 GMT

I received a couple of nice returns from Texas today:

Doug Drabek - 2/2
Scott Ruffcorn - 2/3

Nice mail return

Doug — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:13:12 GMT

I haven't received much mail recently. Only one return this week, but it was a pretty nice one!

Gus Zernial - 1/1 (1950 Bowman rookie card)

I've started a White Sox rookie card project. I'm going to try to get as many signed rookie cards of notable White Sox players as I possibly can.

Today's mail

Doug — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:52:05 GMT

Today the mailman was kind enough to bring me:

John Snyder - 2/2

Holiday Happenings

Doug — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:58:35 GMT

Hello again! I'm sorry about the lengthy delay since the last post, but I've been on Holiday! We (the wife and I) spent some time in Las Vegas and Southern California. I got a few nice returns during my sabbatical, of both the eBay and TTM variety. Lets start with the eBay purchases:

Albert Belle 1998 Bowman's Best Autographs
Bill Goodman 3x5 (one step closer to completing the 59 team!)
Smead Jolley 3x5
Duane Josephson 3x5 (only need a few more all-stars!)
Willie Kamm 3x5
Cecil Upshaw 3x5

Now for the mail returns:

Greg Bollo - 3/3
Mike Cameron - 2/2
Sammy Ellis - 3/3
Tito Francona - 2/2
Ted Gray - 2/2
Jim Landis - 10/10
Don Larsen - 2/2
Eddie Robinson - 2/2
Gene Stephens - 2/2
Kevin Tapani - 2/2
Rich Wortham - 3/3

Very nice 8x10 success

Doug — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:19:20 GMT

I forgot to mention something in my last post. In addition to all of the card successes I posted, I also received a couple of 8x10s:

Dustin Hermanson - 2/2 8x10s

Dustin has been a class act his entire career, and he has maintained his beautiful autograph the entire time. He was even nice enough to add a great inscription to the World Series photo. Thanks Dustin!

Mail

Doug — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:02:31 GMT

I got a few nice successes over the last 3 days:

Sam Esposito - 3/3
Jack Harshman - 2/2
Bob Locker - 2/2
Marty Marion - 1/1
Jerry McNertney - 2/2
Billy Pierce - 4/4
Virgil Trucks - 6/3

Mail time... again!

Doug — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:01:44 GMT

Just got back from the mailbox. Received a few nice successes, as well as an eBay purchase. First, the TTM successes:

Mike Joyce - 2/2
Russ Kemmerer - 2/2
Pete Ward - 3/3

The eBay purchase was a Salome Barojas autographed card. He was one of the toughies I needed to complete my 1983 White Sox project!

Mail time!

Doug — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:52:34 GMT

Got a few decent, albeit expected mail returns over the last two days:

Ken Berry - 3/3
Ron Hansen - 3/3
Mike Hershberger - 2/2
Jim Rivera - 3/3
Bob Shaw - 4/4
Roy Sievers - 4/2
Jason Stumm - 3/3

I also received permission letters to send baseballs to Alan Bannister and Ralph Garr. Both agreed to add "South Side Hitmen" inscriptions!

Today's mail

Doug — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:13:18 GMT

I got my first return from the batch of mail I sent late last week. As always, info and scans of ALL successes can be found in the mailbag!

Gary Peters - 4/4 cards, plus permission to send a 16x20

Mail and a trade!

Doug — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:56:37 GMT

I received two mail successes from Orlando Cabrera last week. Unfortunately, he swapped the Sox cards in both of them for an Angels and Expos card.

I also completed a trade with my friend Mike, another big Sox fan, for an autograph that has been high on my wantlist for a long time. He received a Dick Tidrow 1984 Topps autograph, and I received this:

I have been looking for a George Bell autograph in a Sox uni for quite some time. Thanks Mike!

Recent mail!

Doug — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:59:28 GMT

I have gotten back a few successes recently, as well as a couple of eBay purchases. First, the mail successes:

Brian Anderson - 2/2
Brian Anderson - 2/3
Clayton Richard - 2/2 (when did he start personalizing?)
Bobby Richardson - 3/3

And now for the eBay purchases:

Herb Score - 2001 Team Topps
Gavin Floyd - 2009 Goodwin Champions
Ron Kittle - 2009 Tristar Obak

Recent mail returns

Doug — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:04:39 GMT

As I'm sure you have noticed, I haven't been sending out any mail requests lately. That will soon be changing, as I'll be sending a big batch of retired requests in the next couple of weeks, as well as some stuff to the Arizona Fall League.

I have received a few successes since my last update, and here they are:

Joe Cunningham - 3/3
Eddie Fisher - 3/3
Lance Johnson - 3/3
Mike Mussina - 2/2 (not a White Sox player, but still...)

Mail time!

Doug — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:48:42 GMT

Yesterday I received a success that I sent out during spring training, as well as a couple of minor eBay purchases. First, the mail success:

Bobby Howry - 2/2 (c/o Giants spring training)

Now, the eBay purchases:

Brian Anderson 2003 Upper Deck Prospect Premieres
Brian Anderson 2006 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Update Red Ink

Last week's mail

Doug — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:21:00 GMT

I almost forgot to post my mail successes from last week. I received the following:

Darin Erstad - 2/2
Mark Salas - 3/3

A few mail successes...

Doug — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:36:41 GMT

I received the following this week:

Bart Johnson - 3/3
Ron Karkovice - 0/3 (asked for $5 per)
J.C. Martin - 3/3
Bobby Thigpen - 2/2

Nice return

Doug — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:15:16 GMT

I got a somewhat unexpected return yesterday:

Tyler Flowers - 1/2 (kept second card)

Great mail day!

Doug — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:37:54 GMT

I got two returns today. One that was sent to spring training, and one from one of my all-time favorite players!

Willie Harris - 2/2
Steve Sax - 2/2

Another week, another batch of mail!

Doug — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:23:27 GMT

Here are this week's returns:

Mark Buehrle - 1/1
Bob Friend - 2/1 (included his own card)
Fred Howard - 3/3
Jim Landis - 3/3

Saturday's mail

Doug — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:11:04 GMT

Julio Cruz - 3/3
Tom Egan - 3/3
Tony Muser - 3/3
Robin Roberts - 1/1
Jim Rivera - 1/1 (1959 reunion 16x20)

Mail!

Doug — Sun, 31 May 2009 14:19:12 GMT

Mail returns for the past week:

Goose Gossage - 2/4 (with $20)
Leroy Hunt - 2/2 (He signed both cards on the back, one in sharpie, one in ballpoint.)
Tony LaRussa - 1/1 (one of my favorite mail successes ever, thank you Tony!)
Barry Latman - 2/2
Nick Masset - 2/2
Corky Miller - 2/2
Matt Thornton - 2/2

Saturday's mail

Doug — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:26:37 GMT

Today the mailman brought me:

Jimmy Gallagher - 2/2
Ed Hobaugh - 2/2
Matt Merullo - 3/4 (included a note saying "cool letter, I was your first autograph?")

This week's mail

Doug — Fri, 22 May 2009 23:46:51 GMT

Had 4 things waiting for me when I returned from my business trip:

Jose Contreras - 1/1 (hell yeah!)
Bruce Kimm - 2/3
Derek Rodriguez - 2/2
Bob Shaw - 1/1 (1959 reunion 16x20, will put up picture later)

Monday's mail

Doug — Wed, 20 May 2009 00:50:04 GMT

Here is what I got on Monday:

Paul LaPalme - 3/3
Eddie Leon - 3/3
Jim Rivera - 4/4

Mail!

Doug — Sat, 16 May 2009 19:11:17 GMT

The last few days have brought the following returns:

Chris Knapp - 3/3
Billy Pierce - 4/4 (My all-time favorite "old-timer"!)
Tom Qualters - 1/1
Jon Rauch - 2/2
Moose Skowron - 2/2
Duke Snider - 2/2
Jake Striker - 2/2

Mail, mail, mail

Doug — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:35:41 GMT

Mail for the last few days, starting with the White Sox:

Charlie Maxwell - 2/2
Minnie Minoso - 1/1
Les Moss - 3/3
Walt Williams 3/3

Now the non White Sox:

Ron Cey - 2/2
Bobby Doerr - 3/3
Carl Erskine - 3/2
Ernie Harwell - 2/2
Gil McDougald - 3/3
Bob Turley - 2/2

A few more returns

Doug — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:28:59 GMT

The mailman has brought me the following over the last 4 days:

Cisco Carlos 2/3
Brandon McCarthy 1/1
Rich Morales 3/3
Bob Shaw 4/3 (He included his own 8x10, and paid for postage himself, returning my SASE. Look up class act in the dictionary, and you'll see a picture of Mr. Shaw.)

Full details can be found in the mailbag!

Couple of good mail days

Doug — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:10:43 GMT

Here are my returns from the last 2 days:

Frank Baumann 2/2
John Danks 1/1
Dennis Higgins 3/3
Bill Melton 2/2
Kenny Williams 3/3

Two more successes

Doug — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:06:41 GMT

In the last 2 days I have received:

Gene Freese 3/3
Claude Osteen 2/2

Oops, I forgot to add Saturday's successes!

Doug — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 22:00:29 GMT

Jack Harshman 2/2
Ray Herbert 2/2
Al Hrabosky 1/1
Marty Marion 2/2

Recent successes

Doug — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:20:34 GMT

I apologize for the lack of updates over the last 2 weeks. I have been having serious issues with my hosting company. Things are still pretty bad, so I may be leaving godaddy soon.

Anyway, here is what I have gotten back in the last 2 weeks. Scans of ALL items can be found in the mailbag:

Gerry Arrigo 2/2
Alan Bannister 3/3
Bobby Bonilla 1/1 (16x20, really nice signature... thanks Bobby!)
Phil Cavaretta 2/2
Tim Cullen 1/1
Sammy Esposito 3/3
Ted Gray 1/1
Johnny Groth 2/2 (with fee)
Ed Herrmann 3/3
Bruce Howard 3/3
Bob James 3/3
Howie Judson 2/2
Steve Kemp 3/3
Bobby Knoop 3/3
Turk Lown 1/1 (with fee)
Ken McBride 3/3
Don Mueller 3/1
Phil Niekro 1/1 (with fee)
Juan Pizarro 2/2
Ron Santo 1/1 (with fee)
Roy Sievers 2/2 (1 card, 1 8x10)
Lou Skizas 1/1
Kevin Tapani 2/2
Dick Tidrow 2/2
Virgil Trucks 3/1

Mail time.

Doug — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 17:43:19 GMT

One success today:

Lamar Johnson 3/3

More mail

Doug — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:26:43 GMT

Had a few nice returns this week.

Ken Berry 2/2
Buddy Bradford 2/2
Richard Dotson 3/3
Clayton Richard 2/2
Jim Thome 1/1

The mail is slowing down already =(

Doug — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:52:16 GMT

I got one return today. It is a pretty good one though, that I wasn't confident that I would get:

Sandy Alomar Jr. 1/1

Mail

Doug — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 18:16:13 GMT

I got 2 requests back today, and I'm particularly happy about the first:

Dustin Hermanson 3/3
Vance Law 3/3

Another big mail day

Doug — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:07:41 GMT

Got several nice TTM returns today. As always, details and scans for ALL successes can be found in the mailbag:

Russ Kemmerer 1/1
Ron Kittle 3/3
Jim Landis 3/3
Cal McLish 1/1
Bob "Red" Wilson 3/3
Dewayne Wise 2/2

Mail

Doug — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 23:04:42 GMT

Got 3 more TTM today:

Bobby Molinaro 3/3
Jim Rivera 3/3
Mike Rivera 3/3

Mail

Doug — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:21:55 GMT

3 more successes today:

Jim Fregosi 2/2
Jerry Koosman 1/1 (with $10 fee)
Tony Graffanino 2/2

Well, I technically had 4 successes today, but only 3 are White Sox related. The fourth is:

Bobby Thomson 4/4

The mail is pouring in!

Doug — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:57:08 GMT

I had quite a few mail successes in the last few days. From this point on, I won't show every single autograph received TTM on the main page. To see all scans, you have to visit the mailbag. I'll just show the highlights on the main page. And here they are:

A few nice returns

Doug — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:39:11 GMT

I got some nice TTM stuff back this week, including the fastest return I have ever received. It took THREE days for these Roberto Hernandez autographs to find their way back to me.

Another good mail day

Doug — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:49:49 GMT

I got two things in the mail today, one TTM success and one purchase. We'll start with the purchase:

Rocky has been at the top of my wantlist for a long time, so I am thrilled to finally have him! I could have gotten a nice Colavito any time I wanted, but I was determined to get a Sox item... and the only Sox item available of Rocky (to the best of my knowledge) is this Topps card. I've seen this card signed before, but usually with a faint, ball point signature. Not only is this signature bold, but he add his career HR total! I am completely stoked!

I also got a TTM success from Brian Anderson. He signed 2 8x10 photos for me, though one of them is smeared a bit. He didn't add the inscription I asked for, but I guess you can't have everything!

Another TTM success

Doug — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:32:55 GMT

I got back 1/1 from Gustavo Molina this week, c/o the Washington Nationals:

I also picked up a great HOFer autograph. Most people don't even know he played for the Sox, so I'm very pleased that I was able to find a signed White Sox item:

Last, but certainly not lease, I got back the stuff I sent to MAB Celebrity Services for the Secaucus NJ show on February 28. All three photos are 16x20s.

Tom Seaver

Steve Carlton

Doug Drabek

I'll be sending the Seaver 16x20 back to MAB for the April 4th show in Sturbridge MA, where Carlton Fisk will be signing. I can't wait to frame that bad boy once they've both signed it!