Header - Baseball by the Letters

Tony Oliva

Can Hermey, Santa and Bumble Help Your Autograph Collection?

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Guess what TV show turns 50 years old this year?
Through the New Year, I’ll be using these on my baseball letters.
If the stamp makes someone feel younger and more
generous, go for it!

First of all, do NOT get on Santa’s “naughty” list.

I’m not advocating that you fib. No telling huge lies about how your last wish is to get a reply from Joe Ballplayer.
I am saying to make merry when you write. Acknowledge the holidays.
Use the holiday stamps. The USPS has a variety of 2014 designs. 
Seek out some Christmas stickers. If you can get some greeting card-sized envelopes, go for it. Colored, even red or green, might get you to the top of a fan mail pile.
Surprises happen every Christmas season. Tony Oliva turned down money in the past to send holiday greetings with an autograph.
Save your generic postage stamps for January. Now is not the time to be dignified. Be joyous. In turn, the current or former player may be looking at your envelope as a potential Christmas present they can give you via a reply.

Eric Soderholm Honors Three Twins Legends

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No signature change
in 35 years!

Eric Soderholm lived two lives. He’s known to many as a gritty Minnesota Twins third baseman. Others remember the reborn slugger who found his career comeback as one of the Chicago White Sox “South Side Hit Men” in 1977.

I saw him play in Minnesota, providing the foundation for two questions.
First, I asked what it was like to play in the company of three stars — Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and Rod Carew. Soderholm replied:

“Killebrew, Carew and Oliva were world class, on and off field. Learned from their determination.”

I shivered when I thought about seeing Soderholm play at Metropolitan Stadium. In fact, every Twins game there left me with a BRRR! My folks loved the easy access to the ballpark from Iowa. Other teams played in CITIES. The Twins played…nearby.

“The Met was a nice park for right-handed hitters — but COLD!”

A knee injury shelved Soderholm for all of 1976. When The Sporting News named him American League Comeback Player of the Year, I wondered how he felt about the title.

“Comeback Player of Year was a great honor — and appreciated after I worked so hard on my knee.

Best wishes,
Eric Soderholm”

A well-done profile of Soderholm, written by Mark Liptak, can be found at one of my favorite websites, Baseball Almanac.

Tomorrow: An inside peek at the “Baseball By The Letters” mailbox.

Were Santa Claus & Tony Oliva Teammates?

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Why am I such a raving fanboy about http://www.sportscollectors.net/?

One of many reasons is being able to get good news fast. SCN is my “go to” source for hobby updates.

We all groan over retired players wanting to be paid for autographs by mail. Other collectors sending valuable cards might add a payment, even cash, if concerned about not getting a valuable card back.

Enter collector Dave Patton, who’s working on collecting an entire 1965 Topps set. He enclosed a $10 bill in hopes of guaranteeing a return from Oliva.

The card came back autographed. With one huge surprise:

Dave shared a pic of his money memorabilia with SCN subscribers.

I contacted Dave, asking for an update about what he wanted to do with the tenspot. Buy a book of stamps? Say it ain’t so, Joe! No worries, Dave replied:

“I am still amazed myself. Just to get the card back would have been exciting, but the $10 return is really special. All of the responses that I have received are on the SCN post. After some thought, I am going to try to get all of the living members of the Twins 65 World Series team to sign it. I remember that series well as it was well played by both teams, going seven games and I am working on a 65 autographed set. Hopefully Harmon Killebrew will recover from his recent cancer diagnosis and I can get him to sign.”

I thank Dave for letting us know that autograph collecting isn’t all gloom and doom. I wish him luck with his autographed currency. While the autograph might bring $10 at the bank, the memory is priceless.

Were Santa Claus & Tony Oliva Teammates?

by

Why am I such a raving fanboy about http://www.sportscollectors.net/?

One of many reasons is being able to get good news fast. SCN is my “go to” source for hobby updates.

We all groan over retired players wanting to be paid for autographs by mail. Other collectors sending valuable cards might add a payment, even cash, if concerned about not getting a valuable card back.

Enter collector Dave Patton, who’s working on collecting an entire 1965 Topps set. He enclosed a $10 bill in hopes of guaranteeing a return from Oliva.

The card came back autographed. With one huge surprise:

Dave shared a pic of his money memorabilia with SCN subscribers.

I contacted Dave, asking for an update about what he wanted to do with the tenspot. Buy a book of stamps? Say it ain’t so, Joe! No worries, Dave replied:

“I am still amazed myself. Just to get the card back would have been exciting, but the $10 return is really special. All of the responses that I have received are on the SCN post. After some thought, I am going to try to get all of the living members of the Twins 65 World Series team to sign it. I remember that series well as it was well played by both teams, going seven games and I am working on a 65 autographed set. Hopefully Harmon Killebrew will recover from his recent cancer diagnosis and I can get him to sign.”

I thank Dave for letting us know that autograph collecting isn’t all gloom and doom. I wish him luck with his autographed currency. While the autograph might bring $10 at the bank, the memory is priceless.