I don’t know why, but these old-timey Pirates were really what stuck out to me this month. I think the two things that helped that are 1) that Steve Nicosia’s signature might be the best one I’ve seen this year, and 2) I got a ’63 Topps card signed from Dave Giusti that I didn’t even send him. That old card counteracted the fact that he used ball point pen.
But overall it was a good month and it was ruled by Royals, more about that later. It didn’t start out great and it was really just solid in the end, but I think the good ending made it feel better overall.
Time to get to the numbers I guess…
The Monthly Numbers
For a month that didn’t rank in the top months this year from a volume perspective, it sure was a surprise to have two days with five successes during the month. And one of those days has six total returns because it had my only failure for the month that day. Those two days really helped push the month overall as they made up almost a third of the total by themselves.
But look at how the beginning of the month differed from the end. I was really wondering how things would turn out around the 14th or so. It was a bit of slim pickin’s up to that point. But the thing turned around in a major way. Definitely not the consistency of last month.
I really don’t know how I am keeping these failure down. And the failure that I got was a note back from someone who lives at the address I used for former Indian Andre Thornton. It was a nice little note to say he doesn’t live there and good luck. While an RTS back is nice because it saves a stamp, it was good to see someone being nice about it.
Basketball Jones what is up! That’s a good chuck of gray right there!
I think I stated with not only some guys that are good returners for basketball, but also that I had a good chunk of cards for and I knew they would sign at least most of them. Research definitely paid off.
I’m also liking the spike in ’73 and ’74 for this month. There’s a few good spikes in that area of the map.
No surprise in the Topps spot… get it? Well, I feel like the only surprise for me is that I don’t have more NBA Hoops and other brands that would drive basketball cards. I’m really surprised I had to much Topps basketball from back then.
There really was not a lot of football at all this month compared to other months. So Pro Set, Pro Line, and Pacific are down the list a bit.
I might need to stretch this graphic a bit before I take my screenshot. That second one is Kansas City and it’s all Royals. But there are definitely some small markets up to the top in this month that really would kill it if New York didn’t have so many teams. Funny too that last month St. Louis was pretty high on the list too.
This month sees the Top 10 teams change at almost every position. I think only the Astros are staying up there from the previous month. What I also see is the first appearance of a basketball team into the Top 10. I didn’t think that would happen so soon into starting out on that sport.
Here are the Top 10 by team for the month:
- Kansas City Royals – 11
- Pittsburgh Pirates – 8
- Seattle Mariners – 8
- New York Yankees – 7
- Houston Astros – 6
- Milwaukee Brewers – 6
- New York Mets – 6
- Cleveland Cavaliers – 5
- Four teams with 4
Getting Trendy
The up-and-down thing still continues. That has to be something with how I plan for what I send out. There’s really no rhyme or reason to it though. Maybe it’s just subconscious… ooh! It was a good month, but it could go down as a middle of the road month this year. It felt like that in the beginning of the month, but not at the end.
Look at that basketball line. Come on little buddy! You can do it!
Total Cards in the successes went down for the month. I think that is because when I plan for my next bunch of things to right, I always prioritize guys I have more cards for. So I think I am hitting guys I have less cards for. However, I am trying to sneak a few more unplanned ones in these days and maybe that will help.
The Overall Numbers
At this point I’m at 389 successes and 32 failures. I made my one-per-day for the year so I am definitely excited for that. And my failures have really been on a downward trend which is good too. I’m thinking I might have to look at how I did from a success standpoint from month to month once we get into the new year.
Another good thing is that I broke 1300 for total cards. I think that means I should be able to get to 1400 with a pretty good month ahead if all goes well. But I’m a couple days in and things are not necessarily looking up yet. In fact I am at zero so I hope that tune changes by the end of the month.
He’s Making a List
So I mentioned the Pirate I got back earlier. They definitely are on my favorites list for this month. I would add Mark Collins, Kenny Walker, Dan Plesac (which is a dual signature card you’ll see soon), Rich Amaral, Mike Cameron and Dave Dravecky.
There were two that were way older than everything else. Chris Zorich was 715 days and Michael Cuddyer was at 218 days. Otherwise almost everything was within about 30 days except for a few others.
Keep being patient and close out the year well my fellow TTMers!