Some might say Mortimer S. Nerd alert…but not me.
A fan here named Scott Mortimer has his own pursuit, with July 31 as the date to watch. That is when the Class AA Erie Seawolves come to Manchester to play the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. The hitting coach for Erie is Jerry Martin, a former outfielder who hit .251 for five teams from 1974 to 1984. Scott Mortimer needs him.
Mortimer, 41, is a stay-at-home father on a worldwide baseball scavenger hunt. He is trying to get autographs on all 660 cards in the 1983 Fleer baseball card set. After six years of trying, he is down to his final 99. One of the blank cards is Martin’s.
“I don’t know what kind of person Jerry Martin is, if he’d be willing to sign the card, if he would even pop out of the dugout before the umpires come out,” Mortimer said at his home last Sunday. “But that’s part of the excitement.”
Mortimer calls it the 83F Project and runs a blog with images of the autographs. He is part of a tribe of collectors who put their twist on a child’s hobby, mining a subset of the industry for fun, not profit. He trades with other collectors pursuing their own autographed sets, and has friends in other countries — scouts, in a way — who keep a lookout for his targets.
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1. robinredFurther proof the human memory sucks is that I always think of Martin and Jerry Morales as playing together for the Cubs but they never did. Morales was nice enough to put up -1.6 WAR over 4 years. I don't recall him as good but b-r has him with some horrific defensive seasons that I'm not sure are accurate. He made the AS team in a season with -.9 WAR (not the sole rep but it was the surprise 77 Cub team).
I see Morales' real name is Julio Ruben ... Bob Clemente was one thing but how Julio Ruben became Jerry I haven't a clue.
Jerry Koosman and Jerry Reuss appear to be the only good Jerrys in ML history. Grote and Remy were OK, the Hairstons had their uses as did Mumphrey (who I always confused with Hairston Sr).
That is what collecting is about. Or at least a part of it. You collect what you want for whatever reason and it's not about profit. You freely help other collectors if you can.
"It would be cool if the ones you got in person had a photo of the person autographing it next to the card to see what they look like now."
They look like they are signed with black Sharpies so I hope he doesn't go to a game and get a card signed by a prankster that he mistakes for the ex-big leaguer, or trade a good card to some Barry Halper claiming to hold a signed card from some scrub who is deceased.
Since I am not included in the set, there's nothing for me to sign.
I mentioned this to Sy Berger at Topps and the company sent me payment (but did not do a 1983 card). I used the money for a TV from Crazy Eddie's which lasted from 1983 until earlier this year.
I will sign anything short of birth/death certificates and second mortgages.
That's a lot longer than Crazy Eddie lasted before having to flee the country.
If you can forge the signatures of Dick Ruthven, Porfirio Altamirano, Manny Sarmiento, Luis Leal, Wayne Nordhagen, Randy Moffitt and Dan Spillner, you could really help this Mortimer guy out.
Upper Deck stopped producing baseball cards in 2010. From 1989-2010, they produced 529 base cards of White Sox players. I now have approximately 75% of them signed.
Three cards in particular will most likely prevent me from completing the project. David Wells has a Sox card in 2001. For his entire career, he has refused to sign all cards that don't picture him in a Blue Jays uniform. He won't sign Yankees cards, Tigers cards, etc.
Michael Jordan has cards in 1994 and 1995 UD. He refuses to sign baseball items outside of paid signings, and he charges $899 to sign a card at his paid signings. So unless I can find a reasonably priced one that he signed while he was actually playing baseball, my Jordan cards will remain unsigned.
I don't know how good of a fielder Martin was or was not; however, before his stint with the Cubs he was with the Phillies and basically served as Greg Luzinski's defensive replacement. Not that you would need to be very good in the outfield to be better than the Bull but it just goes to show something, I just can't figure out what.
I think it may be a ploy to increase the price of his autograph fee when he does decide to sign them. There are TONS of set collectors that need his autograph on cards in other uniforms that would pay through the nose to get his cards done.
He does sign other types of items for other teams. For example, he has no problem signing White Sox photos or Yankees jerseys. Just not cards.
Do you still have the dead TV? Maybe you could sign that for Mr. Mortimer.
... ALL body parts?
... Detached body parts?
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