TTM Success - Mike Stanley

A six-card return from Mike Stanley might be one of the more exciting TTM successes that I have had come in.  I used some really nice parallels and sets from the mid-90s for this success and was surprised at how nice they all turned out.

The above 1999 Flair Showcase might be one of the best-looking cards that I have sent out.  I had seen a few of these in a box at my LCS and was excited to see that Stanley signed TTM so I could try to get this one in my album.  The card looks so much better in person, but scanned pretty nicely as well.  This card had to be pre-treated with an eraser and it looks to have done the job.

Here are two other cards from the mid-90s that I was excited to add.  The card on the left is a 96 Finest.  This is another card that I used the eraser on.  Both the Finest and the Flair Showcase were actually some of the first cards I used an eraser with and they really turned out great.  I'm still learning about pre-treating the super slick cards like Chrome and Finest, but the returns have been pretty good so far.

The card on the right is a 1994 Pinnacle Museum Collection, my second such success from this parallel set.  These cards are really great when signed, and I have a couple more pending.

A 1997 Pinnacle on the right, I have a lot more of these cards than I had originally thought.  I think I got a lot of them from repack boxes and stuff, but they seem to have been pretty persistent in my random boxes and now TTM searches.  Also, I had to make sure I added a Topps card of Stanley, so I picked the 1988 shown on the right.  It also turned out really nice.

Finally, here is a 1999 Fleer Tradition to round out the success.  The card is a lot simpler than the others and was a good way to sum up the success.  I don't believe I had gotten any of these signed prior to this one, but I think I may include a few more in the future.  This is a sharp-looking card and autographs well.

Stanley (b. 1963) played in the majors from 1986 to 2000 for the Rangers, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and A's.  He had 1,138 hits, 187 home runs and a .270 batting average.  He was a Silver Slugger in 1993 where he also finished 13th in the AL MVP voting for the Yankees.  He was also an All Star in 1995.  Over 20 games played in the playoffs, Stanley hit .356, but appeared to be in the right place at the wrong time, leaving the Yankees following the 1995 season, returning in 1997, then moving back to the Red Sox.  He just missed the Yankees World Series teams of 1996 and 1998-2000.

I mailed to Stanley on November 8 and got the cards back on December 8, for a 30-day TAT.