gcrl through the mail successes! almost!

over the span of two days a couple of weeks ago, i received in the mail cards back from all four members of the infield.  i had sent out some ttm auto requests to steve garvey, ron cey, bill russell and davey lopes during spring training and was over the moon to get them back.  especially since most of them were signed.  let's take a look.

1973 topps steve garvey

very nice.  i had one of these already, but wanted a second one to send to wes parker.  i think i'll send it next week and keep my fingers crossed.  it looks like garvey is only signing one card per request these days.  i sent him the 73 and a 1976 topps, but only the 73 came back.  that's ok.  luckily, i had a success a few months earlier in which he signed both cards i sent, including a 1982 topps in action

and, just to show that i don't completely ignore his padres days, a 2002 topps traded 'who would have thought' insert

i was really happy that topps included him in this set.  garvey is more of a regional guy, and west coast at that.  i would have expected a jim hunter or dwight evans card before a garvey.  thanks topps!

let's see what the penguin signed...

1975 topps ron cey

of the four, cey is by far the quickest and most reliable signer.  he is awesome.  i must confess i have sent probably a half dozen requests to him, and he never disappoints.

1981 topps ron cey

not the best card to get signed, as it's pretty dark.  the scan is darker than the card really is, though.

here are a couple more from a previous request:

1982 topps ron cey

i have kind of avoided using the 1982 topps set in my ttm requests simply because it has the facsimilie signature already on the card.  for the penguin, i'll make an exception.

1987 o-pee-chee ron cey

here's a card that has yet to be featured on the o-pee-chee blog.  notice that cey doesn't include any number when he signs a non-dodger card.  he wore 11 with the cubs and a's but doesn't acknowledge that in his autograph.  i wonder how he would sign a 1983 o-pee-chee card.  i'll have to find out.

time to see what the shortstop sent back...

1970 topps bill russell

russell's rookie card.  not yet an infielder.  he's one of the few, and maybe the only shortstop who i can think of that converted from the outfield successfully.  i know robin yount went the other way, but i can't think of any others who did what russell did in that regard.

1987 topps bill russell

his topps final tribute.

1984 fleer bill russell

and 1986 topps bill russell (dodgers leaders)

both cards of russell breaking out of the batters' box.  i miss vero beach and those brightly colored rows of seats.  they made for colorful and recognizable cards, if not interesting ones.

lastly, there is davey lopes.  i had a success with him early last season in my modest 1978 topps dodgers autograph quest but hadn't sent a follow up request until this spring.  part of that was due to the fact that people were reporting a spate of 'return to sender' for requests sent to lopes and the phillies in general.  well, things are no different now, as my cards came back with the dreaded yellow sticker.  that's ok - to borrow from meatloaf, 3 out of 4 ain't bad!

thanks steve, ron and bill!