Lucas J's HOF Auto Collection 2/23 Duke Snider, Kelly, Robustelli

lucasj · January 27, 2009 10:41AM

Hey guys (and Tanya),

Though most of you probably have no idea who i am i wanted to re-introduce myself to the community. I've been a member here for the last 3-4 years under the name x phunk and managed to amass a whopping 144 posts. The screen name came from a website that i used to operate with an old roommate. He has recently relaunched it and wanted me too change my name on these boards. Though i never posted much i did have quite a few pm conversations and made quite a few really good trades, buys, and sales over the years, so i may be familiar to a few of you. Well that and i collect Al Newman. Who else does that?? Anyway, just wanted to let everyone know who i am so that there are never any allegations of any scamming or anything. This place has been pretty "interesting" of late.

Anyways....

My first order of business with my new ID is to share what i have been working on the last month or so. I should start by saying that i grew very tired of pretty much everything i had been collecting the last 10 years or so except for what is in my sig line (and i lose focus on those a lot too).

I really got into autographs a couple years ago when i discovered SportsCollectors.net and started a 1987 Topps Football autographed set. That pretty much consumed my hobby focus for well over a year and a half and i am currently about 3/4 of the way through that set. I got to the point with the set that i am down to the very hard to find sigs, I pretty much exhausted all the players that sign TTM and am relegated to trying to find good sigs either on Ebay or from other collectors.

After a month or two of watching TTM really take off on this website i got the itch to start a new auto project and decided on a HOF autograph collection of members of all 4 Hall of Fames. In the last 3 weeks i have sent out about 50 requests to fairly reliable signers that I had raw cards of lying around, as well as purchased a few sigs off of Ebay, some already PSA/DNA'd. In addition to current HOFers i also have sent to current players that are HOF locks, a few borderline guys, a few with a very slim shot at enshrinement, and some that are just personal favorites from my childhood.

I am starting to get some replys back now and would like to start a thread updating my progress, both with purchases and trades, as well as the ones i receive back TTM. I hope to one day get the bulk of this collection authenticated at PSA/DNA so ideally this thread can function as a place to get opinions as to authenticity from some of the more knowledgeable collectors here, as well as to have a place to show my new acquisitions off to a group of people who might actually enjoy them as much as i do.

So, without any further ado, here is what my HOF collection consists of so far....

I'll start with a few that i already had in my collection.

John Wooden - TTM from a couple years ago

Orel Hershiser - obtained in a trade when i was foolishly working on a signed 86 Topps set

Cecil Fielder - from the same trade as the Hershiser

lucasj · January 27, 2009 10:48AM

Next the PSA/DNA examples i've picked up. If i can pick up a HOFer for cheaper than an authentication fee i will generally jump all over it. I found most of these for very cheap, all on Ebay.

Billy Williams

Brooks Robinson

Don Sutton

Fergie Jenkins

Harmon Killebrew

Jim Parker

Johnny Bench

Steve Carlton

Not a lot to say with these other than i was glad to knock a few Baseball HOFers for just a fraction of their usual signing fee, not to mention the authentication fee.

mickeymantle24 · January 27, 2009 10:52AM

Very nice autographs! Congrats

lucasj · January 27, 2009 10:55AM

I have also picked up a few raw sigs on Ebay. I don't so much like doing it like this but if they are cheap enough i will take a flyer on them. These were all very, very cheap and if anyone with more knowledge than myself has any thoughts on the authenticity of these please let me know.

Bob Griese

Dan Fouts

Ernie Banks

Gary Payton

Hakeem Olajuwon

Mike Ditka

Again, any thoughts on these is more than welcome. I am not heavily invested in any of these so if you have a strong feeling that any are not authentic it will not be too hard of a pill to swallow.

yankeeno7 · January 27, 2009 10:55AM

Hey Lucas
I see 3 cards I was actually watching myself on ebay all recently. The 1977 Brooks Robinson, 1985 Don Sutton, and the 1983 Donruss Steve Carlton. All very nice cards. Congrats on them!

PoppaJ · January 27, 2009 11:03AM

Hi Luke,

1st of all ... Welcome!

Very nice assortment of autos, especially the Wooden.

Looks like you're off to a great start!

Congrats

PoppaJ

lucasj · January 27, 2009 11:05AM

And finally the TTM signatures that started coming in on Monday. I have sent out probably north of 50 or so requests in the last few weeks, mostly to pretty reliable signers. Mostly HOFers and a few that aren't quite on that level. Once again, i encourage any critique as to the authenticity of any of these.

Cam Neely

Dan Issel

John Leclair

Nate "Tiny" Archibald

Phil Housley

Rick Barry

Sparky Anderson

Teemu Selanne

Mike Modano

Tim Hardaway

Not a bad haul for 2 days of mail. I know very little about hockey outside of the Gretzkys and Lemieuxs of the world, but had a handful of star cards from the early 90's. Turns out hockey guys seem to be very good signers. I do believe the Modano is ghost signed however. I didn't notice that on SCN it is pretty common knowledge that these are thought to be signed by his mom. Oh well. I love the vintage basketball, i have quite a few more out, hopefully most of them come back.

lucasj · January 27, 2009 11:10AM

And lastly for tonight a card that has been in my possession since 1990. I sent this to MJ right when the set came out, it was one of the last TTM requests i sent as a kid. I was probably about 12 and other things were becoming more important. Fast forward about a year and i get a SASE back postmarked from Chicago. No big deal, i'm thinking its BJ Armstrong or Dennis Hopson or some bench guy finally catching up on his mail as I had sent to pretty much the whole team. I opened it up and was shocked, but even in my by then 13 year old mind i think i figured it had to be a fake, didn't it? Anyway, there is no chance this is real, right? Or did Jordan actually sign TTM once in awhile back in the day?

Michael Jordan

lucasj · January 27, 2009 11:14AM

yankeeno - thanks for not bidding me up too high on those. The same seller had a bunch ending around the same time, i put a low ball offer in on pretty much all of them about an hour before they ended and walked away from the computer. I ended up winning about 1/3 of the ones i bid on.

I will update this as i get more in. Thanks for indulging me and i hope to be a more productive member of these boards from here on out.

Lucas J

joestalin · January 27, 2009 11:16AM

That looks nothing like this auto now a days ,but who knows back then. Nice collection man!

I didn't know that Jim Parker was a HOF'er! I should get his autograph the next time I trade with him.

Kevin

lucasj · January 27, 2009 11:16AM

And thanks for the kind words Poppa J.

Also, if anyone has any HOF autos they would like to trade i have a few boxes of stuff left that i would love to get rid of. Let me know what you have and what you would be looking for.

Lucas J

eyebone · January 27, 2009 11:21AM

neat stuff. i am no expert but the jordan looks similar to some ud stuff i have seen before. the ernie banks looks good to me as well.

good luck. eyebone

daddymc · January 27, 2009 11:22AM

Nice start to your goal there.

Did you pick up that Carlton a week or two ago? I was going to bid on it, but got sidetracked with something else. Nice card.

lucasj · January 27, 2009 11:29AM

eyebone - i think the Banks came autographed. its a Nabisco All-Star Autographs card and I think they were a mail in promotion of some kind. I have seen other HOFers with the same card, always autographed.

daddymc - i did. once again, thanks for not bidding me up. Apparently i was lucky to get that one.

lucas j

PowderedH2O · January 27, 2009 11:33AM

I got a Jordan in person and another one through the mail in 1989. My TTM Jordan doesn't look dissimilar to your's. My J in Jordan is a bit more curvy, but otherwise it looks good. As far as the others in your collection, I can vouch for the Rick Barry and Nate Archibald. I have gotten them in person and they are identical. I know Leclair, Issel, and Modano are reliable signers TTM and those look good as well. I have the others, but I can't vouch for their authenticity.

MeteoriteGuy · January 27, 2009 11:35AM

I think the Johnny Bench is a bad auto. Send it to me and I will properly dispose of it.

Jk....nice collection.

tennesseebanker · January 27, 2009 11:40AM

What cards are you looking for in 87 Topps football ? I dont think I have any that year, However, at one time I was building the 88 Topps set and still have about half the set.
So if I can be of any help with finding sigs let me know.

yankeeno7 · January 27, 2009 12:01PM

Not sure what you have for trade lucas but I do have an extra 1966 Topps Jim Palmer rookie I got signed in cooperstown this past summer.

lucasj · January 27, 2009 3:59PM

I got my pms turned on, a couple of you have mail.

lucas j

lucasj · January 28, 2009 8:26AM

One more i dug out that i received TTM a year or two ago. Not a HOFer, but one of my Dads favorites as a kid.

Moose Skowron

lucasj · January 29, 2009 5:54AM

Awesome return today! Ryne Sandberg on an 83 O-Pee-Chee RC. Sent this one out only 7 days ago and never really expected to see it again. From what i can tell it matches up very well with certified signatures.

Ryne Sandberg

Ironmanfan · January 29, 2009 6:38AM

what's up with signing it in ballpoint ink?

lucasj · January 29, 2009 6:39AM

i'm not gonna complain.

leathtech · January 29, 2009 6:43AM

what address did you use to get Ryno's sig?

leathtech · January 29, 2009 7:14AM

thanks for the PM! my Sandberg rookie will begin it's trip to Sunny AZ tomorrow!

lucasj · January 29, 2009 7:15AM

no problem. good luck.

lucasj · January 30, 2009 6:41AM

Today brought NBA HOFer Connie Hawkins TTM. Quick turnaround, about 2 weeks.

Connie Hawkins

lucasj · February 2, 2009 6:24AM

Had a nice big mail day today. 9 new cards for my rapidly growing HOF/near HOF autograph collection.

Paul Molitor

Ozzie Newsome

Lenny Wilkins

Gino Marchetti

Dirk Nowitzki

Jason Kidd

Jerry Sloan

Luis Tiant

Jeff Reardon

All were TTM except the Marchetti which was bought off ebay and the Wilkins was from a trade on SCN. Hope i'm not boring you guys with these, i'll keep putting them up as they come in for now. it's fun to show these to someone and my friends don't "get" my hobby at all.

lucas j

lucasj · February 3, 2009 7:02AM

Not a lot of interest in this thread but i'm gonna keep putting them up for now. Today brought a couple of cheap ebay purchases.

Raymond Berry

Mike McCormack

Allen · February 3, 2009 7:15AM

Is the Berry a reprint? It looks super clean.

lucasj · February 3, 2009 7:38AM

yeah, they both are.

justmichael · February 3, 2009 10:56PM

How many requests do you send out per month?I was sending out 150-200 before my daughter was born in December and was having some great successes.You have a great collection going
Mike

lucasj · February 4, 2009 2:55AM

I'm very streaky. I've sent out about 80 in the last month for this collection but before that it had been a good 6 months since i'd sent anything out. Thank you for the kind words.

lucasj · February 5, 2009 6:51AM

Another nice mail day today. I had two trades and 3 TTM in the mail box waiting for me.

First the TTMs.

Adrian Dantley

Bailey Howell

Robin Roberts

And then a couple trades with SCN members.

Mike Singletary

Lenny Wilkins

I now have a couple Wilkins so if anyone would be interested in a trade i could throw one of those into any prospective deal.

Thanks for looking.

lucas j

lucasj · February 6, 2009 6:24AM

Five more HOF autos today, all TTM.

Gale Sayers

Dolph Schayes

Willie Davis

Al Cervi

Lou Carnesecca

Also got back a Tony Larussa but it was on a 1988 Topps Tiffany card (it was the only one i had of him) and it is faded and streaked to the point of no recognition. I'll try to track another down and resend to him.

lucas j

lucasj · February 7, 2009 4:17AM

Just a small update today. The DJ was from a trade on SCN and The Chicken was TTM.

Dennis Johnson

The Famous Chicken

lucas j

lucasj · February 9, 2009 5:10AM

Had a great trip to the mail box today. 6 new autographs for the rapidly growing collection, all TTM.

Earl Campbell

Chuck Bednarick

Charlie Joiner

Bobby Doerr

Clyde Lovellette

Jim Calhoun

lucasj · February 12, 2009 5:18AM

My little labor of love of a collection keeps on growing. Three new ones today, 2 TTM and the Urlacher from a trade on SCN.

Brian Urlacher

Cliff Hagan

Tom Mack

I really like the UD Generations basketball cards signed. They are on thick, oldschool card stock and IMO look pretty nice signed. Mack sent along an additional 1999 Topps HOF card signed if anyone is interested.

Thanks for looking.

lucasj

lucasj · February 13, 2009 4:25AM

Just one TTM in the mailbox today.

Rod Brind'Amour

I sent one for him to keep and he returned that signed as well so if anyone is interested let me know.

lucasj

austinchau · February 13, 2009 5:53AM

<< <i>Just one TTM in the mailbox today.

Rod Brind'Amour

I sent one for him to keep and he returned that signed as well so if anyone is interested let me know.

lucasj >>

Looking good! I love what you doing with the TTM keep them scans coming

lucasj · February 14, 2009 4:08AM

A couple more TTMs came in today. I sent 2 cards to Hull and asked him to keep one and he sent back my 2 and an additonal 3 all signed. If anyone is interested in a 93-94 UD, 99-00 SP Auth, 91 Score, or 2003 Topps SH let me know and we can work something out.

Brett Hull

Fernando Valenzuela

Sent out 20 more requests this morning so hopefully in the next couple weeks i'll have alot more to add to this thread.

Thanks for checking it out
lucasj

otwcards · February 14, 2009 4:45AM

<< <i>I didn't know that Jim Parker was a HOF'er! I should get his autograph the next time I trade with him. >>

Jim Parker died 7/18/2005... Perhaps another Jim Parker?

lucasj · February 17, 2009 2:59PM

Another day, another fun trip to the mailbox. Three new TTMs today.

Andre Dawson

Tom Heinsohn

Denny Crum

A couple more HOFers and one that definitely deserves to be. The Crum was odd in that he for some reason decided to send me the chewed on pen that he used to sign the card back in my SASE which caused it to jam in a postal machine and destroy the envelope. It came in the dreaded Post Office envelope but somehow the card and gross pen were fine. No idea what possesed him to send that along.

lucasj

Ahmanfan · February 17, 2009 5:40PM

lucas what kind of stuff do you have for trade? I have 75+- '70/71s to trade in all grades.
John

lucasj · February 20, 2009 5:48AM

Three more for the collection today, all TTM and all right around 2-3 weeks turn time.

Dave Cowens

Larry Little

John Bucyk

lucasj

austinchau · February 20, 2009 6:44AM

<< <i>Three more for the collection today, all TTM and all right around 2-3 weeks turn time.

Dave Cowens

>>

Nice! Mr Cowens wrote "Keep Hustling!" haha

lucasj · February 21, 2009 6:57AM

Another nice trip to the mailbox today. 7 new TTM autos, all HOFers.

Bob Lilly

George Blanda

Harry Carson

Gail Goodrich

Nancy Lieberman

George Kell

Slater Martin

Once again, all were really quick returns. Most were right around 2 weeks. Thanks again for looking.

lucasj

lucasj · February 23, 2009 7:41AM

Had another good TTM day. All three took 10 days and a $5 check (Robustelli returned the check).

Duke Snider

Leroy Kelly

Andy Robustelli

lucasj

lucasj · February 24, 2009 2:40AM

Just one today.

Ed Macauley

lucasj

Lucas J's HOF Auto Collection 2/23 Duke Snider, Kelly, Robustelli

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