11 days

I didn't think I'd be able to produce my usual after-hours post tonight, with the birthday extravaganza and all. But when a Hall of Famer signs your card, then you damn well better find time, eh?

This card arrived in my own self-addressed, stamped envelope Friday afternoon. In the middle of preparations for my wife's birthday, wrapping, coordinating, shopping, etc., I snagged the mail and quickly whipped through it before I had to run off to the bank. Out popped an envelope with my writing on it. I knew immediately what it was.

Sitting in the envelope, in all of its naked glory (no penny sleeves) were the two cards I sent to Hall of Famer and Brooklyn/L.A. Dodgers legend Duke Snider. Both were signed.

As you can see, I sent the Fleer Ultra card. It was the one that most of the commentators recommended that I send. There is some gloss to the card, as you can tell by the signature, but it still looks great.

I also sent the 2007 Distinguished Service card. Again, the gloss got in the way of Duke's first name, but I don't care. This card is meant for an autograph, and the fact that I have Mr. Snider's on it is exceedingly awesome.

Also, the fact that it took just 11 days to arrive back to me is amazing. Quite a few autograph hunters have had success receiving autos from Snider recently. Not more than four days ago, Jim of gcrl received his cards back from The Duke of Flatbush.

I am very grateful to those who offered their input on which cards I should send. I also need to send out a special thanks to three bloggers: John of Old School Breaks, Ben of Cardboard Icons, and especially, Brian of 30-Year-Old Cardboard. Couldn't have done it without you.

I said that if Snider signed my cards, I would reveal a 30-year-old wrong related to my 1951 Topps Red Back card of Snider. I will do that. But not in this post. I'm really too tired to get into that right now. But in the next post or two.

By the way, with Snider's autograph, I now have autographed cards of three members of the 1955 World Series champions: Snider, Johnny Podres and Sandy Koufax. For someone who doesn't actively collect autographs, that's pretty cool.