This week on TTMCast
Drew and Troy give a crash course on how to send your cards in for grading and authentication. Plus all the usual coverage of hobby news, upcoming releases and shows, and memorializing the great Johnny Gaudreau in the Vern Rapp Minute.
You can listen to this week’s show here.
TTM Successes
Paul Mokeski
A well-traveled center playing for six NBA teams, Mokeski’s longest stay in one spot was six and a half seasons as a backup in Milwaukee. He once held– and may still hold– the record for the fastest to foul out of a playoff game, tallying six fouls in 11 minutes in the Bucks’ May 7, 1986 win over the 76ers.
He signed these cards for me in two weeks.
Bobby Hansen
Hansen retired on top, hanging up the sneakers after a 1992 championship with the Bulls that included him hitting a crucial three-pointer in the clinching Game 6. The former Hawkeye holds the record for best career playoff three-point shooting, at an even 50%, and signed these for me via his Iowa home in two weeks.
Alex Avila
“The Titanium Catcher” was a 2011 All-Star; that same year he caught a Justin Verlander no-hitter, a year after he caught Armando Galarraga’s should-have-been-perfect game. He is currently a contributor on MLB Network after retiring as a player in 2021.
Alex signed these for me in two weeks via his Florida home: it appears he will sign three cards per request as he mailed back a fourth unsigned.
Nine Nifty Notarizing Nonagenarians
Last week we lost Pete Daley at the age of 94. Daley, a former catcher for three major league teams, was one of the game’s best signers, responding at a 90% success rate all the way up until June according to SportsCollectors.net. He appears in the 1957 through 1961 Topps sets, along with the 1955 offering, giving collectors an ample variety of cards to get signed.
Many older players are great signers, often just happy to be remembered years after their playing days are through. Several years ago, I exchanged a few letters with Football Hall of Famer Raymond Berry: when I wrote to him for an autograph he signed my cards and asked me about the origin of my last name– to which I sent back three typed pages about the history of my family’s name and how last names changed over time in our native Finland. He told me it was one of the best responses he ever got and we exchanged a few more before he made the decision to stop signing in 2018.
So here’s a list of nine players over age 90 who are still excellent signers today. I limited it to players who have major-issue cards, who sign for free, and who have signed in the last six months according to SportsCollectors.net.
HOCKEY
The NHL’s oldest living player, the 101-year-old Steve Wochy has signed a bit in the past but I haven’t seen any successes or even any attempts to mail him since 2021. Most of the few over-90 NHL alums live in Canada, but here are two in the US who sign.
Don Marshall
The 92-year old Marshall has his name on the Stanley Cup five times, from 1956 to 1960 with Montreal. The center had three straight 20-goal seasons as a mid-1960s Ranger, and finished his career with a season each in Buffalo and Toronto in the early 1970s.
He lives in Florida and signs typically with a turnaround time of under a month. Best of all, he has a wide range of cards to choose from, starting with his 1955 Parkhurst debut all the way up to a 2008 Upper Deck Canadiens Centennial.
Fred Hucul
The former defenseman played 121 games with the Chicago Blackhawks from 1950 to 1954 before spending the next decade and a half mostly in the minor league WHL… and then returned to the NHL for the St. Louis Blues in 1967-68. Fred will be 93 in December and signs via his Arizona home in about a month. He has a card in each of Parkhurst’s first three sets.
FOOTBALL
Seeing as football is a tough, injury-riddled sport now and was even more so in the past, it’s not too surprising that the list of living ex-players over age 90 is a bit limited.
Joe Schmidt
I mentioned the 92-year old Schmidt a few weeks back among my recent successes. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973, Schmidt played in ten consecutive Pro Bowls and was a master at getting ball back into the hands of the Lions offense: he recovered eight fumbles for the 1955 Lions and intercepted 6 passes three years later.
He signed for free in about two weeks via his Florida home. Just as a heads up, he has been known to personalize rookie cards, but will omit the personalization for a $10 donation.
Doug Eggers
Eggers was only given a card in the 1955 Bowman set. Fortunately it can be found very affordably on eBay, typically for under $10. Eggard spent five seasons in the NFL with the Baltimore Colts and Chicago Cardinals.
At age 93, he still lives in Maryland and signs in about two weeks.
BASKETBALL
I was surprised to find how few basketball players there are over age 90 until I came across a study that showed that men 5’7” and shorter have a 7.5 year greater life expectancy than those 6 feet and above. Considering this is a sport where guys who are 6’8″ sometimes play a position with the not-so-accurate moniker of small forward, I guess it’s not too shocking that the list of 90+ former players was a *ahem* short one.
Cliff Hagan
A 1951 National Champion at Kentucky, a two-time winner at the Worldwide Air Force Basketball Championships, and an NBA Champ in 1958, Hagan was also named as one of the few players completely welcoming to integration of the St. Louis Hawks teams he played on in the 1950s.
He lives in Kentucky and signs in about two weeks. Cliff will be 93 in December and has been in card sets as far back as 1957 to as recently as 2015.
Richie Guerin
Guerin is a native of the Bronx who spent most of his career in and around NYC with Iona College and the Knicks for his first seven seasons. He was a six-time All-Star and his 57-point game in 1959 stood as a Knicks record for 25 years.
Guerin is 92 and signs via his Florida home in about a month. He only had cards as a player in 1961 Fleer; if those are outside your price range, check out his 2006-07 Upper Deck Chronology offering.
BASEBALL
There are currently 81 living former MLB players over the age of 90– that’s enough for nine full teams. Cutting it down to three though is a surprisingly easy task.
Bobby Shantz
Remember what I said about shorter men living longer? The 5’6″ Shantz is solid evidence of this as he’ll turn 99 years old in three weeks. His sig still looks as good as it did 20 years ago. Bobby was the 1952 AL MVP, a three-time All-Star, and an eight-time Gold Glove winner.
He has cards in a Topps or Bowman set every year from 1950 to 1964, and typically signs via his Pennsylvania home in a month or less.
Ken Aspromonte
Another player with an upcoming birthday, Ken will be 93 on September 22. He’s on Topps cards from 1958 to 1964, as well as the 1972 set as Cleveland’s manager. In between those, he was among the first Major Leaguers to sign in Japan, playing for Chunichi and Taiyo from 1964 to 1966. His brother bob is four years away from joining him in the 90+ club, also signing actively at age 86.
Aspro The Astro is another quick signer, taking about two weeks via his Houston home.
Ron Necciai
Necciai’s Major League career didn’t last too long– only 50-some innings as a 1952 Pirate where he struck out 31 but walked 32. But it was his exploits in the Minor Leagues– specifically on May 13, 1952 with the Class-D Appalachian League’s Bristol Twins– that put him in baseball lore. That day, Necciai was the only pitcher in professional history to strike out 27 batters in a standard nine-inning game. He did walk one batter, hit another batter, had one reach base on an error, and another via a dropped third strike (resulting in a four-strikeout ninth inning), but only one other ball was put in play, a fourth-inning groundout by Robert Ganung. Oddly enough, Ganung lived to age 95, passing away in February 2023.
Ron Neccai turned 92 back in June and signs via his Pennsylvania home in about two weeks. You can find him in Upper Deck’s 1993 and 1994 All-Time Heroes sets, and the 2009 Tristar Obak set.
If you have any graphing questions, you can reach Drew via email at [email protected]
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