so, i guess a hall of famer didn't sign a card for me last month

count me among those who thought that dale murphy was a sure hall of famer back in the early 1980's. the start of his career - particularly his first full season (1978) - coincided with my start in following the game, and with the braves in the nl west at that time, i got to see and hear a lot about him.  that's one reason why i was pleased to get a return of my ttm request a few weeks ago.  i had sent him his 1978 topps 'rookie' card, not the 1977 topps kevin pasley card on which murphy also appears. 

getting another copy of a 1978 topps card signed is the other reason i was so pleased, even though it doesn't really up my total of about 250 cards from the set that i have received signed.  the other copy of this card that i have in my ttm binder was signed by lance parrish a while back. ernie whitt signs through the mail, but i won't send him either of the copies i have that are already signed by others.  if i ever pick up another copy of the card, though, whitt will be seeing it in the mail.

here's another card of murphy that is in my collection -it's a 1987 donruss box bottom card

and i own it because he is standing in dodger stadium.  murphy hit only about .250 over his career in dodger stadium, but he had more hits there than anywhere other than atlanta or philadelphia - the two stadiums in which he played the vast majority of his home games.

murphy failed to make it to the hall of fame when the voting was announced a couple of weeks ago, just like everybody else.  i think it was murph's last year on the ballot, however, so his fate will eventually wind up in the hands of the veteran's committee.  another murphy card that i hold near and dear is this one from 2010 topps

you can see why, i believe.  right now, according to baseball reference, matt kemp's career is trending like billy williams'.  that would have been a nice card.

here are some other non-hall of famers who have signed and returned cards for me over the past few weeks.

ron pruitt and his 1978 topps card

like murphy, pruitt was a catcher who also played in the outfield.  he also played third base and first base on occasion.

here is yet another 1978 topps card, this one being the fantastic don gullett card

gullett also signed one of his 2004 upper deck legends cards

it's a card i addressed in the appropriate post over at timeless teams (which gets a new post a bit later today, by the way).  like that murphy donruss card, this one features dodger stadium as a backdrop.

here's another yankee with some sort of ties to the dodgers - it's andy kosco on his 1969 topps card

he's listed as a dodger, but still wearing the pinstripes.

finally, another guy that i thought for sure would be in cooperstown signed a card for me.  it's a 2009 topps update & highlights ring of honor insert card of none other than steve garvey

garvey only got as much as 42% of the vote in one of his 15 years on the hall of fame ballot, and more recently failed to get enough votes via one of the veteran's committees.

thanks to all these former players for signing my cards!