1952 Topps, Irv Noren

#40 Irv Noren

Next up in the '52 Topps procession is this beautiful looking horizontal card of Irv Noren. I sent this card, along with ten bucks, to Irv in October and I had it back two weeks later. Sadly, Irv passed away three weeks after I got the card back.

Irv played in the Majors for eleven seasons with the Senators, Yankees, A's, Cardinals, Cubs, and Dodgers. Over that time, he was a .275 hitter with 65 home runs and 453 RBI. His best season was probably his rookie campaign in Washington. That year, he hit .295 with career-highs in homers (14) and RBI (98). Despite those impressive numbers, Irv did not receive a single vote for Rookie of the Year. Four years later, with the Yankees, Irv would get his lone All Star team nomination in a season in which he finished with a .319 average, 14 homers, and 66 RBI.

Irv appeared in three World Series as a Yankee, all against the Dodgers. The Yanks triumphed in two of the three and Irv hit .148 in eleven World Series games. He was also a member of the Yankees 1956 championship team, but missed most of the season and the Series to injuries.

Irv played in three NBA games in 1946 with the Chicago American Gears.

1969 Topps, Del Unser

#338 Del Unser

Here is the second card of Del Unser that I have posted on here. I posted his '81 Donruss three years ago and that card can be seen here. This card was signed through the mail at the same time as that card. They were sent to Del towards the end of 2012 and they both came back about two weeks later.

I first saw this card over at Night Owl Cards I don't know how long ago. When I saw it, and found out Del signs through the mail, I knew I wanted it. As a whole, I am not a fan of the '69 Topps set or the '68 set either. They are too similar in design and they both have some uninspiring photos, like most Topps sets from the '60s. It seems like it has a bunch of face shots or posed Spring Training shots. While this is obviously a posed shot, it definitely is not from Spring Training. That towering light standard peaking out of the corner of the card is evidence of that. And if that was not enough to want this card, it has a rookie cup and is Night Owl recommended.

So, when I stumbled upon this card at a show, I picked it up to mail with the '81 D. Like usual, I am pleased with the results.

1964 Topps, Don Lock

#114 Don Lock

Here is the second card of Don Lock that I have posted in the past month. This one, like the previous one, was obtained at Rock's Dugout bi-monthly card show in 2013. This one, unlike the previous one, came out looking really good as Don's Sharpie had not crapped out quite yet. Just check out the previous card of Don to see what I mean.

Don spent eight years in the Major Leagues, spending the first five with the Washington Senators. During that time, Don had two really good seasons in DC. That was in 1963 and '64, Don's second and third season in the Majors. Over those two seasons, he averaged a .250 average, 27.5 home runs, and 81 RBI. Even though he did not make the All Star team either year, he did collect some MVP votes for the '64 season. That year, he was clearly the best position player on a bad Senators team that finished the season 62-100.

For his career with the Senators, Don was a .240 hitter with 99 home runs and 286 RBI.

1963 Topps, Don Lock

#47 Don Lock

Here is a card that I got signed at a card show almost three years ago. Rock's Dugout, the oldest card shop in Kansas, hosts a bi-monthly card show by his shop in Wichita. Most of the vintage cards I get signed through the mail are bought at his show. Occasionally, Rock will bring in a local former athlete to sign and that is how I got this card signed.

I did not have a card of Don prior to the show, so I made sure to get there early enough to scrounge a few up from the dealers. I was lucky enough to find three that day and this one happens to be the third one that Don signed. He also signed a couple of 8x10s for us. As soon as he got done signing the first two cards and the 8x10s, the Sharpie Don was using crapped out on him. The signature on this card is the result from that crapped out Sharpie.

It's okay, though. This card still looks better than it did before it was signed. It just so happens that the other two cards he signed for me look a little better. Maybe if I can get myself in gear, I will post those two cards before the end of the year.

1960 Topps, Russ Kemmerer

#362 Russ Kemmerer

Here is the second card of Russ Kemmerer that I got signed through the mail in 2013. I posted the first one about a month ago and it can be seen here.

The two cards were the ones I got back from Russ, but were not the one I sent to him. I actually sent him a '64 Topps cards that showed him with the Colt .45s. While it would have been cool to add a new Colts card to the collection, I cannot complain about the two for one trade I got.

Russ pitched in the Major Leagues for nine seasons with four different clubs- the Red Sox, Senators, White Sox, and Colt .45s. He was mainly used as a reliever during his career, except for when he played for Washington. He primarily started for them and did not do too well. He never had a double digit win season, but he did reach double digits in losses three times, including a career-high of 17 in 1959.

Russ finished his career after the 1963 season with a 43-59 record with 8 saves and a 4.46 ERA.

Sadly, he passed away in 2014.

1959 Topps, Russ Kemmerer

#191 Russ Kemmerer

This is the final card from the '50s that I have to show on here and it is of Russ Kemmerer. I originally mailed out a card to Russ in either late 2012 or early 2013 and it came back "return to sender". I had no idea why it came back as the address matched the address on SCN. So, I sat on the card for a while until I saw more successes coming from that address. I then mailed the card back to the same address I had used earlier and I got some signed cards back a week later.

The only problem was that I did not get the card back that I sent Russ. I sent him his '64 Topps card just because he was playing for the Colt .45s on it and you can never have enough signed Colt .45 cards. But instead of getting that card back, I got this one, his '60 Topps, and two different signed postcards. While it would have been nice to add a second .45 card to my collection, I think I still came out alright.

Here are the two postcards he included.

1959 Topps, Dan Dobbek

#124 Dan Dobbek

The next card from the '59 Sporting News Rookie subset is that of Senators outfielder, Dan Dobbek. I sent this card to Dan in 2013 and I had it back ten days later.

Dan's Major League career was much shorter then Bennie Daniels from my previous post. Dan career lasted just three seasons and 198 games, all played with the same Senators/Twins franchise. Over those three seasons, he hit .208 with 15 home runs and 49 RBI.

Most of those numbers came during his 1960 season. That year he clubbed 10 dingers and drove in 30. The one down side was that he hit just .218. He did walk 33 times to give him a respectful .316 on-base percentage, though. He followed that season with a .168 average over 125 at-bats the next year in Minnesota and that was the last time he played in the Major Leagues.

Remember- you still have about twenty-four hours to get in on the College World Series contest.

1957 Topps, Ed Fitz Gerald

#367 Ed Fitz Gerald

Next up is the card that Ed Fitz Gerald signed for me through the mail in 2013. I sent this card to him in February and I had it back five days later. It was quite the turnaround. This one and the previous card both arrived in my mailbox on the same day, which happened to be the day before my birthday. So, they were like early birthday presents to myself. But then again, anytime you get a TTM in the mail is like an early birthday present to yourself.

Ed spent a dozen years in the Majors with the Pirates, Senators, and Indians. He was mainly a backup catcher his entire career as he only started a majority of his team's games once. That was with the Sens in 1954. That was his first full season in Washington and he responded with a .289 average, 5 triples, 4 homers, and 40 RBI. That was pretty good for a .260 career hitter.

Ed's career started in the late '40s and he has some good looking early cards that would be cool to get signed. His '49 Bowman stands out as does his fantastic looking '52 Bowman. However, since I got this card signed three years ago, I have no idea if Ed is still signing through the mail. He is 92 years old.

1958 Topps, Roy Sievers

#250 Roy Sievers

Here is a card that I got signed through the mail this spring. I had bought this card, and another Sievers card, over three years ago and it obviously took me a while to get them in the mail. I originally bought the cards after seeing a post on Wicked's blog where he had success TTM with Roy. Prior to that post, I had never even heard of Roy before. So I emailed Wicked, and he was nice enough to supply me with Roy's address (that was before I knew about SportsCollectors.net).

Unlike the last three cards I posted on here, Roy had a long and successful Major League career. It spanned parts of seventeen seasons spent with the Browns, Senators, White Sox, and Phillies. He won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1949 when he hit .306 with 16 homers and 91 RBI with the Browns. He made four All Star teams in his career and his best season came with the Senators in 1957. That year, Roy hit .301 with 114 RBI and a league-leading 42 home runs.

I sent this card to Roy at the end of April and I had it back about ten days later.

1971 Topps, Joe Grzenda

#513 Joe Grzenda

Of all the cards that I sent out through the mail this past winter, this is the one that took the longest to get back. I sent this card out on January 13 and I did not have it back until 82 days later. Luckily, I only had to wait 82 days. I always laugh whene I see people posting successes on SportsCollectors.Net that took 500+ days to get back.

This is the final card that I am posting from my "KC A's reunion TTM project".

Joe pitched in the Majors for parts of eight seasons. Over those eight years, Joe pitched for six different teams- the Tigers, A's, Mets, Twins, Senators, and Cardinals. He pitched in 219 games over his career and 95 of those games were with the Senators. He finished his career with a 14-13 record with 14 saves and a 4.00 ERA. His best season came with the Senators in 1971. That year, he threw 70.1 innings and posted a 1.92 ERA.

I'm going ballparkin' this weekend in Amarillo, Texas and Colorado Springs, Colorado and I doubt that I am going to get any posts up. But, at least I have an excuse. Have a good weekend everyone!

This is probably the last time I will ever get to post Senators cards on consecutive days.

1971 Topps, Ed Stroud

#217 Ed Stroud

This is the last card that I sent out to get signed TTM. I sent it out on February 23 and I got it back on March 4.

I have had this card in my collection since I was in grade school. Back in the day, the local card shop had a commons bin with random cards in it. I think that the only cards I ever bought out of it were a few '71 Topps cards. But, I didn't buy just any old '71. I would only buy cards of the Senators. When I was that young, I thought it was pretty cool that I could buy cards of a team that no longer existed. I doubt that I had any clue that the franchise had moved to Texas and I know I didn't know that this was the second Senators franchise. But, even if I had known that, I doubt that it would have mattered much.

Ed's Major League career lasted just six seasons and it was spent with the White Sox and the Senators. He played in just 529 games and he hit .237 with 14 homers and 100 RBI. His best season came in 1970 when he had career highs in just about all the offensive categories except triples.

When I got back into autographs a few years ago, I always hated ballpoint pen signatures. But, over the years, I have grown to appreciate them on older cards. I still do not like them on this set, though, just because of the pre-printed signature. This set looks OK signed in Sharpie, but the pre-printed signature drowns out the ballpoint.

1960 Topps, Bill Fischer

#76 Bill Fischer

Here is the second card from my "Kansas City A's reunion TTM project". Just to recap, the project was to take most of the cards that I didn't get signed at the reunion and get them signed TTM this past winter.

This card features the former White Sock, Tiger, Senator, Athletic, and Twin, Bill Fischer. Bill pitched in the Majors for parts of nine seasons and he spent the majority of the time in the bullpen. In the one season that he appeared mostly as a starter, he went 9-11 with a 4.28 ERA. His career record is 45-58 with 13 saves, a 4.34 ERA, and 313 strikeouts. Bill's final season in the Majors was 1964, but he still pitched professionally for the White Sox AAA team for four more seasons.

I sent the card out to Bill on the 13th of January and it had made its way home on the 22nd.

Seven out of the eight teams that are advancing to Omaha are known and it is going to take at least nine runs to keep Texas A&M from being number eight. When that game is final, I will get around to posting the second phase of the CWS contest. I hope to have that up by tomorrow.

1969 Topps, Frank Howard

#170 Frank Howard

Here is one of my more recent through the mail successes. I got this card returned in early February. It only took me about a week to get it back. As for the card itself, I got this card from Scott, a contributor to A Pack A Day. He checked out my want list and saw that I was needing a Frank Howard card. He emailed me that he had this card. He said that he got it to get signed, but he got in line too late and got cut off. I told him that I had the same experience a few years ago with Juan Marichal and asked him what he would like for it. He told me to just send him a self-addressed stamped envelope and it was mine. It was a good will offering for me missing out on Marichal since he met him in 1993. He even sent me a signed Sal Bando card, too. He said that he didn't want anything in return, but I sent him a few packs to rip for APAD.

When I had this card on my want list, I specified that I wanted him as a Senator on the card. It didn't matter if it was new or old, I just wanted to have a signed Senator card. The only one that I have now is of a Harrisburg Senator. I had an '84 Topps of Howard (Mets Manager) and I found some cheap cards of him on ebay as a Ranger, but I decided to hold off to see if the want list would pull through. And it did. Thanks Scott!

At the museum at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, they have a Frank Howard Senators/Rangers jersey. It was a Senator jersey in 1971. When they moved to Texas, they pulled the lettering off and sewed on Rangers. But, you can still see where it said Senators. I think that these were only used for Spring Training. Here is a picture I took when I was there in 2006.