TTM Success - Bill Bradley

This TTM success from former Philadelphia Eagle, Bill Bradley, was a great one.  Bradley added some extra stuff and loaded the cards I sent with all kinds of inscriptions.  He included the above post card, also super inscribed.

He wrote me a nice letter on two index cards.  These were a reaply nice touch.  I like when folks write something back.  I always include hand-written notes with my TTM requests.

I sent two football cards, and Bradley sent an extra.  He filled each card up with ink.

He also included this little piece of note card, also signed.

Bradley (b. 1947) played professionally from 1969 to 1977 for the Eagles and Cardinals.  He led the league in interceptions two seasons in a row in 1971 and 1972.  He seems like an amazing guy. 

I mailed to Bradley on November 13 and got the cards back signed on November 27, for a 14-day TAT.  I got the idea to send to Bradley from my friend, Jesse, who showed me the awesome return he got.  I found some of Bradley's cards at a recent show and sent them along.  Thanks for the inspiration, Jesse!

2022 National Free Signer - Bill Bergey

Bill Bergey was another of the former football players that was a VIP signer at this year's National.  I didn't know who he was, but I had a voucher for him, and I had found one of his cards, so I went ahead and got the card signed.  Usually, I just trade away the football vouchers for baseball guys, but the handlers limited folks this year to 4 vouchers per person, now.  So, I went with some of the non-baseball guys, and will have a little more variety in my album.

This is a 1980 Topps football card that I had found at the vendor who had the board of cards of signers.  I liked the design, and went with it.

Bergey (b. 1945) played professional football from 1969 to 1980 for the Bengals and Eagles.  He was the 1969 AP Defensive Rookie of the Year and finished second in the 1974.  He was an All Pro twice (1974 and 1975) and a Pro Bowler 5 times 1969, 1974, 197, 1977 and 1978.

2022 National Free Signer - Mark Moseley

There were a few football players who were free signers at this year's National.  I had a card for one of them; the rest, I had to buy cards.  I ended up finding 4 of the same card for Mark Moseley, that covered the 4 vouchers I ended up with for him.  The cards I found were all his rookie card, 1971 Topps.  The cards turned out great, and I will send off the other 3 in some future care packages.

Moseley (b. 1948) played pro football from 1970 to 1986 with the Eagles, Oilers, Redskins and Browns.  He was the league MVP in 1982 when he made 95.2% of his field goals that season.  He also won the Super Bowl that season, with the Redskins.

Recent Ebay Pickups

I did some buying on EBay recently and a few of the items have come in over the last few days.  Instead of burying them in my "to be blogged pile", I figured I would combine them and try to move a few things along.

The above 2014 Topps Mini printing plate of Chris Davis was on my watch list for a while, so I went ahead and picked it up for $16 shipped.  Not bad for a plate.  I wish it was the checklist version, though, since I have the platinum 1/1.  Oh well, I'm hoping I find it, or the platinum 1/1 of this card.

For a couple bucks, I grabbed this Irv Noren from 1959 Topps.  This is card #59 and was actually very hard to search for until I figured out who was actually on the card.  It's in great shape and will go nicely into my set.  I am under 100 cards remaining for this set, and I really would like to finish it off this year.

I bought this 1955 Bowman Chuck Bednarik football card with the hope of sending it to him for a TTM autograph, but he sent it back to me RTS.  Oh well, I went to the well too many times on him, since I was successful a few years ago.  He has been up and down health-wise lately, so that is more important.  I hope he is doing well, as he is 89 years old now.

Finally, I needed this 2014 Topps Stadium Club Chris Davis for my PC, so I got it when I bought a few of his other cards a while back.  It was at the bottom of my pile, so I was happy to go ahead and get it scanned and posted.  I love Stadium Club, and this card of Davis is a real nice one.  I just wish he would stop with the chewing tobacco.

My First Football TTM - Chuck Bednarik

I admit, I'm not the biggest football fan.  I mean, I used to be.  When my younger brother played college ball, I would go to many a game.  Even before that, when my older brother (we were in the same grade) played high school ball, I went to almost every one of his games (except for the one Mom and I got lost going to).

I casually follow the Carolina Panthers because of the 11 years I lived in Charlotte, but other than that, I don't follow it like I do baseball.  I know of some of the legends of the game, but until I read Drew's post on him, I had no idea who Chuck Bednarik was.

I thought the photo Drew got back from him TTM was amazing, though and during one of our Skype chats, I asked him if he could hook me up with a Bednarik photo that I could try to get signed TTM as well.  Well, Drew sent me one a little while later in a really nice package of stuff, so I was able to send to Mr. Bednarik and request an autograph.

As you can see above, he signed the photo and filled it with inscriptions.  In this game, he laid out Frank Gifford (this was 1960) and caused Gifford to miss the next 18 months due to injuries sustained from the hit.  Wow.

Bednarik (born in 1925) played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1949 to 1962 and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967.

Thanks for the photo and the idea, Drew!