i am thankful for what may quite possibly be my last 1978 topps through the mail autograph successes and all that yaz

i've sent out only a handful of ttm requests this past year, most of which were of players featured in the 1978 topps set.  i've had pretty good success with those requests, since they were prompted by recorded successes at sportscardforum.  as always, i am thankful for the former players who took the time to respond.  here are some of them.

wilbur wood

i love this card.  it's the last card in the first set that i ever put together. it's got the big lapels and a red jacket underneath the jersey.  fantastic.

paul mitchell

not the guy who started a hair care empire (he passed away in 1989).  did you know that it is that paul mitchell's business partner who went on to make patron tequila?  this paul mitchell was a first round pick by the orioles in 1971 and wound up spending six years in the majors. he was part of the trade between the orioles and a's that sent reggie jackson to baltimore.

tom murphy

murphy was also a 1st round pick, taken by the angels in the 1967 secondary draft.  he spent 12 years in the majors, and even garnered an mvp vote while pitching for the brewers in 1974.

pete mackanin

mackanin was once traded for willie davis (by the rangers to the expos).  he's been an interim manager for both the pirates and reds, and most recently has been a coach for the phillies.

gene pentz

looking like mr. kotter. pentz was in the pirates' organization when they won it all in 1979, but he wasn't on the major league roster.

in addition to the through the mail successes, i bought a lot of signed cards from the set.  here are the cards from that lot

ron cey

cey is a fantastic through the mail signer. this one doesn't have his uniform number inside the 'r', which is a bit curious.

don sutton

i've had a couple of 1978 topps successes with sutton in the past

bill bonham

now we are getting to the reason i bought the lot.  i didn't have a bonham card signed, and his card always intrigued me as a youngster.  my brother and i thought that his hair looked like the hulk's and that perhaps bill bonham was an alias for bruce banner.

there were some cards signed with ballpoint pen, like this larry christenson

and this dave goltz

both of whom have signed for me through the mail.

bob knepper's card is also signed in ballpoint

and he was one of the cards that i wanted out of this lot.  i saw knepper pitch against the dodgers a few times,  and i followed his 1978 season pretty closely thanks to a neighbor who was a giants fan and tried to convince me that knepper was better than sutton (knepper did have better numbers in 1978).

aurelio rodriguez

rodriguez passed away after being hit by a car in 2000.  this looks like other examples of his signature, so, if authentic (as is the case with all of these autographs), it would be a great addition to my collection.

aside from the bonham, knepper, and rodriguez cards, the other big draw was this one of carl yastrzemski

the signature here doesn't look too far from some older examples i have seen, but it lacks the tell-tale 'y' that circles the 'c' in carl in his more recent autographs.  maybe that's just when he signs on a single line, rather than stacked. still, i don't think this is legit.  the facsimile auto on his 1975 topps card (which obviously came out before this card was signed) is more like his recent stuff, while this one looks more like his 1967 topps facsimile auto.  good thing i only paid a few bucks for the lot.

i'll finish this post with the most recent 1978 topps ttm success i've had.  it came from thad bosley

and was over 3 years in the making!  i sent the card to bosley in may of 2011 when he was a coach for the rangers.  i received the signed card in october of this year.  so maybe this won't be the last of the 1978's for me, as there are a few older requests still out there…

signed cards aren't all that i am thankful for, by the way.  happy thanksgiving everybody!