My Brewers "first card" signed project (Updated 6/17/15)

totallyradd · February 15, 2014 5:43AM

As a fun way to get mail all the time I started writing to former Brewers in the beginning of June. I've been sending their first Brewers card with Topps being the tie breaker on players with multiple cards. I'm also writing to guys who played for the Pilots, since that's where the Brewers started, and well, why not? I figured now that I've got a bunch I'd share them and as I receive more I'll post them. Almost all of these I've gotten either in person or through the mail, but a few I've got through other collectors in Milwaukee, and two or three off eBay. Ideally I'd like to get every Brewers player on their first card.

While some players don't have never had a card printed of them by a major company, Miller Brewery put out a 25th anniversary set in 1994 giving a card to every player to ever make the roster, so I've got about 40 cards from there that are being mailed out soon. After 94, I'll have to investigate on the Milwaukee Police cards and see what's out there, but I've already got a lot going on with this project, so that'll come when my high success rate guys winds down. Finally, as you'll notice, I guess I accidentally scanned everything backwards while trying to scan the cards in numerical order. Oh well.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

-Corey

totallyradd · February 15, 2014 5:46AM

Photobucket is really annoying.

Picked this up about a week ago, pretty stoked about it.

Dnice · February 15, 2014 5:59AM

Corey, that is actually REALLY impressive. I would love to do something like that with the Oakland A's.

Good stuff my friend.

Marc

totallyradd · February 15, 2014 5:59AM

Ron Theobald had asked me to send him a card of his if I had any extras. Last time I was at the card shop I picked up one and mailed it to him to keep. He wrote me a thank you note, and included the custom card made by thekid8 on this board which was pretty cool.

DanBessette · February 15, 2014 6:29AM

Wow, this is an awesome project. The '81 Fingers is sweet! And as a sox fan I enjoyed seeing the Lonborg and Carbo. Just today I mailed autographed '74 Carbo and auto '70 tommy Harper to PSA as part of a red flip sub. Harper is a pilot on the '70 card. Is that his first card w the club?

totallyradd · February 15, 2014 8:21AM

Harper did play on the Pilots team, so he was with the organization then, but 70 was his first year with the brewers. I'd like to get his 69, 70, and 71 cards all signed. Since 69 was the Pilots, 70 is really the Brewers but produced as the Pilots, and 71 is the first Brewers. In 70 Harper stole 73 bases, a team record that probably won't be touched for a long time, if ever.

DanBessette · February 15, 2014 8:32AM

<< Harper did play on the Pilots team, so he was with the organization then, but 70 was his first year with the brewers. I'd like to get his 69, 70, and 71 cards all signed. Since 69 was the Pilots, 70 is really the Brewers but produced as the Pilots, and 71 is the first Brewers. In 70 Harper's stole 73 bases, a team record that probably won't be touched for a long time, if ever.

Side note: Still annoyed I edited and cropped all those photos for them to not be posted unedited. BORRRING. >>

He then went to the Red Sox where he set a team record with 58 SBs. Ellsbury just broke it a couple years ago, record stood for about 25 years

cadets68 · February 15, 2014 10:45AM

Nice project. Good luck

robert67 · February 15, 2014 10:52AM

thekid8 · February 15, 2014 11:06AM

<< Ron Theobald had asked me to send him a card of his if I had any extras. Last time I was at the card shop I picked up one and mailed it to him to keep. He wrote me a thank you note, and included the custom card made by thekid8 on this board which was pretty cool.

>>

Wow that is really cool --- is the card he sent back on card stock or paper --- very neat that he would copy the one I sent and pass it along

Awesome collection !!!!

Cokin75 · February 15, 2014 2:46PM

I'm a fellow Brewer fan, so I enjoyed looking at your pictures. I have a few Brewer projects going, but on a much smaller scale. Did you get the '72 Rodriguez through the mail? That is one that I need for my signed all star year project that I've halfheartedly been working on for years.

totallyradd · February 16, 2014 3:00AM

Yeah, Ellie will sign through the mail, but he asks for 5 bucks. Rollie asks for 10. I was really hoping to get Yount at the Brewers On Deck this year, but missed the lotto. Last year he was only signing the team issued post cards, this year he was signing everything.

DanBessette · February 16, 2014 3:06AM

Having never done a project like this before, how do you find their addresses?

totallyradd · February 16, 2014 3:35AM

Sports Collectors

The membership is $15 a year. It's great, it has the addresses, the success rate, the last time a player signed, notes if there's a fee, etc. I'm really only sending to guys with 70% or higher success rates. In August I took a shot at sending cards to the entire Cubs coaching staff last year (All the guys played for the Brewers), and got Rob Deer back, his success rate is pretty low. In my letter I told him how much I loved him as a kid and his mammoth home runs, so I'm guessing that helped.

DanBessette · February 16, 2014 3:45AM

<< Sports Collectors

The membership is $15 a year. It's great, it has the addresses, the success rate, the last time a player signed, notes if there's a fee, etc. I'm really only sending to guys with 70% or higher success rates. In August I took a shot at sending cards to the entire Cubs coaching staff last year (All the guys played for the Brewers), and got Rob Deer back, his success rate is pretty low. In my letter I told him how much I loved him as a kid and his mammoth home runs, so I'm guessing that helped. >>

Sweet! I'm assuming Yaz's success rate is quite low. Any idea?

I assume that because i just read he makes $30K per appearance. If that's the case he prob won't give it away for free. BTW what are the appearance fees for Ted Williams' frozen head these days?

totallyradd · February 16, 2014 4:01AM

His success rate is 8% with the last success coming in February 2009. For 50 bucks he signed a 2005 Donruss Champions card. A lot of others got cards back unsigned, and upward to a year later.

DanBessette · February 16, 2014 5:35AM

<< His success rate is 8% with the last success coming in February 2009. For 50 bucks he signed a 2005 Donruss Champions card. A lot of others got cards back unsigned, and upward to a year later. >>

He had a stroke after that

Cokin75 · February 16, 2014 5:37AM

<< Yeah, Ellie will sign through the mail, but he asks for 5 bucks. Rollie asks for 10. I was really hoping to get Yount at the Brewers On Deck this year, but missed the lotto. Last year he was only signing the team issued post cards, this year he was signing everything. >>

Cool. Thanks for the info. Looks like I'll have to sign up for sportscollectors again. Good luck with the project, I'll be interested to see how things progress.

totallyradd · February 16, 2014 6:05AM

Cokin, turn on yer messages. If I had doubles of guys I sent em a few cards to sign. We could potentially make some trades in the future. I collect game used Brewers stuff as well. My "big" project is getting all the Milwaukee Braves team sets in PSA 6 or higher. Kinda strayed away from that, need to get back at it one of these days. Savin up for the Aaron rookie.

Cokin75 · February 17, 2014 10:08AM

Messages on, Corey.

totallyradd · March 5, 2014 9:42AM

Hey guys, sent out about 30 cards in the last few weeks and picked a few cheapies off eBay, thought I'd share what I got back so far. The 1994 Miller Brewery Anniversary cards are great for the players that never had a true card (probably a police card or some obscure team set, but these work well).

totallyradd · April 10, 2014 11:02AM

Got a bunch of cards back in the past few weeks. I still have a bunch more that are out, so I'm hoping to make another update in the next few weeks:

vettfanatic · April 10, 2014 11:21AM

Nice Turnbow!!! You look like your having a lot of success getting the cards returned. Keep up the good work.

GO BREWERS!! 6-2 at the moment

Jeff

totallyradd · April 11, 2014 12:16AM

I was able to get that Turnbow/Lehr card off the bay for a few bucks. Turnbow signed a lot in the mail when he was with the Crew, but fell off once he left the organization. I absolutely loved that guy. I've got him on 3-5 other items, and always keep my eye open for one of his gamer jerseys.

It's amazing how a bobblehead night can ruin your career, but he'll have some great stories for years to come and was able to prepare himself up for the future pretty well. I hope that guy is doing well.

DanBessette · April 11, 2014 2:13AM

<< It's amazing how a bobblehead night can ruin your career, but he'll have some great stories for years to come and was able to prepare himself up for the future pretty well. I hope that guy is doing well. >>

Can you explain this to a non Brewers fan?

LarkinCollector · April 11, 2014 3:23AM

<< 

<< It's amazing how a bobblehead night can ruin your career, but he'll have some great stories for years to come and was able to prepare himself up for the future pretty well. I hope that guy is doing well. >>

Can you explain this to a non Brewers fan? >>

Link

DanBessette · April 11, 2014 3:33AM

OK, one bad inning. That "ruined his career"?? There's got to be more to the story.

LarkinCollector · April 11, 2014 3:39AM

<< OK, one bad inning. That "ruined his career"?? There's got to be more to the story. >>

It was the start of his downfall:
Post-Mortem

totallyradd · July 22, 2014 3:45AM

I've got about 20 or cards back since April. I sent a bunch out in June, but the return rate isn't nearly where I was hoping. There's a few that are multiplayer I didn't post, but I'll post those when I get the other player back. Figured I'd get these up so I could put them away before they cluttered too much. July's been pretty busy, hoping I can get some more written this week. A few of these came from eBay but not more than 3 or 4.

totallyradd · August 25, 2014 7:53AM

I got a handful of cards back since last post, I still have another 15-20 still out so hopefully I get some of those back. Got the Lucroy in person.

Lucroy was doing a signing at the bar down the street on Saturday. Was pretty fortunate my wife was willing to get up early to come with me. I got a ball signed, she got this card for me. Guessing since he's in talks for MVP he'll become tougher and tougher to get (at least free signings).

I wish Topps would have an announcer cards for Uecker, but until then, this will do.

DanBessette · August 25, 2014 8:25AM

Love the Lucroy! I live in VT but I'm a big fan of his. He's one of the cornerstones of my first place fantasy team. Voted for him many times for the All Star game. Thanks for sharing.

frankhardy · August 25, 2014 11:16AM

Neat project. I live about 10 or 15 minutes from Phil Roof. I saw him out in his yard 3 or 4 years ago and stopped and chatted with him for a little while. Very nice man.

skrezyna23 · August 25, 2014 5:09PM

What a great idea for a project. It makes me think to come up with one of my own. Good luck with the pursuit!

totallyradd · August 26, 2014 2:13PM

Thanks guys, I'm thinking of trying to semi-expand my project and going after the Milwaukee Braves later this fall/winter. A lot of guys are deceased, but still enough are alive and sign enough to make it worthwhile. I would just try to get whatever I could, I don't have the bread to get an Aaron rookie signed, ha.

*Side note: I was pretty fortunate that my two buddies in Madison were able to get to the game where Canseco was signing. They were able to get those cards above for me, making that 4 signed cards and a ball. DNice might appreciate this more than anyone else since we both grew up huge Canseco fans. Wish I coulda gone, I woulda loved to meet my childhood idol. Someday.

totallyradd · March 3, 2015 8:24AM

I need to update this as I've picked up a ton more, but I got this in the mail today and had to share it. Could not be happier. Yount is my favorite player of all time.

Dboneesq · March 3, 2015 8:40AM

AWESOME return! Did he sign for free or did you have to pay for it?

Great thread. Do you have a list of guys you still need? I'd be happy to go thru my cards to see if I could help.

DanBessette · March 3, 2015 9:04AM

Wow you must be on cloud 9 after getting that card!

baseballfan · March 3, 2015 9:07AM

Great card

Congrats

totallyradd · March 3, 2015 1:47PM

It cost me the price of two stamps and the card. I'm very happy to get this one back. I write all my letters hand written most are the same template, but writing to Yount I had to tell him how he was among my heroes and how my dad took me to the first two games when he was going for 3000, and he didn't get it. I had to beg my mom to let me go to the third game (where my dad had to go out of town on business) with a friend. I was in 7th grade at the time.

This was my second attempt. Last year I wrote him at spring training and got a pre print postcard. I've always liked my autographs non-personalized, but this really is the one exception I'll make. Very stoked on this return!

totallyradd · March 3, 2015 1:50PM

DBoneesq, I do have a list of guys I need (and the specific cards I'm trying to get them signed on)....

I can give you a list if you think you'd be able to help, I dupes of a number of guys I could send you as a thank you. PM me, thanks!

totallyradd · March 25, 2015 1:33PM

Finally got a chance to upload a bunch that I got since Fall. I have about 20 or so out at spring training right now, but the return rate is not what I had planned. Hopefully that turns around. Also, the modern shiny cards really love to smudge on a guy. Note: Cecil Cooper actually has a 1977 O-Pee-Chee card, but he was signing at Brewers Fan Fest this winter, and I couldn't find that card. His 78 Topps will serve as a place holder for the time being.

DanBessette · March 25, 2015 1:41PM

Love this project and love the 69 Segui

totallyradd · June 19, 2015 1:51AM

Got a bunch more, I made a pretty big lot purchase from a guy on Sportscollectors. About half of em were truly their "first Brewers" card, the rest are place holders of guys who basically had a cup of coffee. Spring Training wasn't nearly successful as I was hoping. There's still about 12-15 cards sitting somewhere in AZ. I've dug a little bit to figure out minor league cards of guys who never had Brewers cards too.

LarkinCollector · June 19, 2015 1:53AM

Very cool! What year is that Zephyrs set?

DanBessette · June 19, 2015 3:56AM

Great stuff! Looks like you have '87 pretty well covered, but if you need any other players, just let me know. I'm in the process of ripping a box each of 87D and 87T. Any Brewers you need, they're yours.

totallyradd · June 20, 2015 1:50PM

The Zyphers set is from 1990. There's a fair amount of players who sign TTM that only had minor league cards. I just need to spend a few hours on COMC and order em. Now that school is out for the year, I have a lot more time to write letters.

My Brewers &quot;first card&quot; signed project (Updated 6/17/15)

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My Brewers "first card" signed project (Updated 6/17/15)