1967 Topps Phil "Vulture"Regan Los Angeles Dodgers

Today's addition to my 1967 Topps Autograph Baseball card set is Phil "the Vulture" Regan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Card number 130 in the set of 609.

This autographed was obtained on August 8th, 2009 after sending him the card care of the St. Lucie Mets, where Mr. Regan was the pitching coach. He returned the card signed beautifully with a black sharpie.

This was my second attempt through the mail to get Phil Regan's autograph. On the first attempt I mailed the card to his home address in Michigan on March 18, 2009. After the season ended and 182 days after sending the card, Phil Regan send me the card back also signed with a black sharpie. I thought it was lost forever.

Phil Regan's career lasted 13 years and played for the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox. Mainly used as a reliever throughout his career, he posted 96 wins, 92 saves and a 3.84 career ERA. His best season was 1966 for the Dodgers when he had 14 wins versus 1 loss. He gained the nickname of "the Vulture" from his teammate and Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax
because he would come into a game late with the team losing or tied and the team would rally and win, resulting a Regan getting the Vulture win.

After his playing days were over, Phil Regan continued his involvement in baseball by being a coach, scout and eventually a Major League Manager for the Baltimore Orioles in 1995.

To learn more about Phil Regan's career, go to wikipedia.com.

Looking for baseball collectibles and apparel, go to dugoutdug.com.

1967 Topps Hall of Famer Steve Carlton Phillies

Today, I am still on vacation in California, but I wanted to share this awesome addition to my collection of 1967 Topps Autographed Baseball cards. One of the all-time great left-handed pitchers the game has ever seen, Steve "Lefty" Carlton of the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies and later in his career the Minnesota Twins, White Sox, Giants and Indians.

Card number 146 out of 609 in the set, this autograph was obtained in person at the Moeller High School Baseball card show in Cincinnati, Ohio back in May 2009. See the picture below that I took of Steve Carlton autographing items for the collectors. I gladly drove from Tennessee to Ohio and paid the fee they were charging because Carlton was also one of my favorite players growing up. I learned something interesting watching him autograph items, Lefty actually writes right-handed. Who knew!

His career statistics are amazing, 329 Wins, 4136 Strikeouts, 4 Cy Young Awards, 2 World Series championships, 10 all-star appearance and the Philadelphia Phillies retired his uniform number 32. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994 with 96% of the votes. To learn more about Steve Carlton's career, go to wikipedia.com.

Please check back and see other entries from my collection, I have over 440 different autographed cards from the 1967 Topps Baseball set and adding more on a regular basis.

1967 Topps Claude "Frenchy" Raymond Houston Astros

Today's prize is Canadian born Houston Astros pitcher Claude Raymond. Card number 364 in the set of 609 different cards in the 1967 Topps Baseball. This was purchased from a collector on ebay and is signed with a nice blue ballpoint pen. Autograph number 438 in the pursuit of the collection. Still 186 players to go.

Claude's career spanned from 1959 to 1971 and included stints at Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Braves, Atlanta Braves, Houston Colt 45's/Astros and finished his career with the Montreal Expos in his home province of Quebec. He was named to the 1966 National League All-Star. To learn more about his career, check out his biography at wikipedia.com.

If you look closely at the card, you will realize that the editors and photographers back in the 1967 season missed a particular detail. Claude "Frenchy"Raymond had this picture taken with his fly down and this card was released without that detail being caught.

Looking for sports memorabilia and collectibles, go to dugoutdug.com.