TTM autographs received: Tom Walker

The former big league pitcher from the 1970s signed my two cards in three weeks - I wanted to send a request because of the 'beyond the glory' story he shared about nearly joining Roberto Clemente in the legend's fatal plane flight in December 1972.

There is a bloodlines tie where the elder Walker is the father of a former big leaguer [Neil], who played for 12 seasons through 2020 - I added an extra card of Neil to my request for Tom to keep.

Looking up his stats, it just happens he pitched in one game for the Angels back in 1977 - so he was a retired player I needed in my Angels all-time autograph collection.

Some TTM autographs received in 2020

I got the bug to put together some autograph requests through the mail after writing exactly one TTM request in 2019 - I like getting stuff in the mailbox and tend to believe there will always opportunities to get successes even if the idea of writing someone and expecting an actual response is a little quaint and old fashioned.

John Verhoeven signed my Topps buyback card in about 6 days, giving me a new 'old-school' Angels autograph for my all-time collection - he also returned my letter with some responses, so sending him a request turned out pretty good, when the card was kind of just 'loose' in my collection.

Al Spangler signed my 1978 TCMA The 1960s card in about a couple of weeks giving me a new 'vintage' [considering the player, not the card] Angels autograph for my all-time collection - a couple of years ago, I set aside some cards I’d picked up as part of a couple of loose team sets [Angels and Giants] picturing some old-timers still living at the time.

I’d planned to send off the cards to be autographed but simply forgot about them - while former Angel Jim Coates passed and Del Crandall is now in a assisted living facility, I finally wrote to the other players that are still living at the moment.

- Bob Bolin - 1978 TCMA The 1960's - no response yet

- Eddie Bressoud - 1959 Topps and 1978 TCMA The 1960's - took a couple of weeks

- Jim Duffalo - 1978 TCMA The 1960's - took a couple of weeks

1977 Topps Mark Fidrych #277

I picked this card up for a sampler run of PSA graded Topps cards from 1952-1980 - to be quite honest, the project has been in mothballs and with 7 of 29 cards towards my run, completion just isn't foreseeable at this point.

Once in a while, I might get impulsive and see if I could make a 'token' addition to see if I can even get halfway through - I don't know if it is possible to pick up a 'culturally significant' card for each of the years and I don't want to go through the trouble of doing so.

I've worked myself up as far as reading up on and wanting notable old-school / vintage rookie cards of Hall of Famers for my personal collection - but maybe the reasons for wanting this particular non-HOF rookie card are a little different.

Even as I'm only vaguely aware of Fidrych's impact as a cult figure during his only full season in Major League Baseball in 1976 - I consider his rookie as a trading card 'relic' of sorts, something I can look at and consider as a portal to the past.

The 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge - Day 7

"A card you bought in person and the story behind it."

1977 Topps Tony Armas / Steve Kemp / Lopez / Woods RC #493 - a copy of this card may have been the first I've sought out to purchase at a card shop.

When I started getting interested in collecting baseball cards, I'd look up books in library - one book I stumbled upon mentioned something about collectors saying that the Armas rookie card had good potential.

At some point, I managed to get to a baseball card shop and said I wanted an Armas - I don't know if I was amazed, but I might have thought it was neat where the person I was talking to might have gone to the store's storage room and came back with the card I'd asked for.

I think he looked in a price guide and let me have the card for about a dollar - I didn't know what I did with the card after the fact, it was probably thrown away at some point, though I got another years later and sent it to Kemp for a through the mail autograph.

Looking back, the book I read was printed in 1983 and by the time I got the investment tip - the playing careers of the guys pictured had played out.

Autograph request through the mail received: Jose Cardenal

Jose Cardenal c/o home - signed my three cards [1975 Topps, 1977 Topps and 1978 Topps] in blue Sharpie in about three weeks; I remember him mainly for being a coach with the New York Yankees through the late 1990s, but played 18 seasons in the Major Leagues as well.

Looking at Cardenal's stats, he had his most productive seasons in the mid 1970s with the Chicago Cubs - he also played for the Angels from 1965-1967.

1977 Topps Reggie Jackson #10

How much this a 'very good' condition mid-career card of Hall of Fame legend worth these days - probably not much more or maybe less than the $2 I paid, but I don't think I've got a lot of cards from 30 years back to flip through and show off.

It may not be the best looking card [with an airbrushed New York Yankees cap on Mr. October's head] - there was something compelling me to pick up this first New York Yankees card of the prodigious slugger, not from my youth.