TTM Success - Johnny Ruffin

The process in which I send a TTM out to a player takes some time to evolve, unless I buy cards specifically to send to someone.  Meaning, unless I have bought some vintage cards that I have to send out to someone right away, it takes me a bit to finally get the motivation to send to a player.  One of which is tonight's TTM success, Johnny Ruffin.

Usually, I will start on a player when I find an interesting card at the card shop on in one of my boxes.  Ruffin came about when I was sorting my extra 1995 Topps for my set.

I took the extra cards from my box break of 1995s, sorted them in order, then I went through the checklist on sportscollectors.net and pulled everyone with a decently high success rate (60% +) or recent successes within 6 months or so.  Then, I went through my boxes to see if I had anything of those players.

I had a few cards of him, but most came from some box searching at my local card shop.  The Gold Leaf Rookie at the top of the page and the above 1995 Ultra Gold Medallion came from the LCS.  The 1995 Score Gold Rush and 1995 Collectors Choice came out of my boxes.  The 1994 Upper Deck came from the box I busted with Chris a while back.  I got all of these cards together, plus some extras and sent them out.  I'll put Topps cards in the envelope first, then I will pick ones from interesting sets that I think will look nice in my binder.  Finally, I will add in some sets that I feel may be under represented in the album.  The remaining cards, if any, go in a "sent" row in my box, which will then be sent out to kids starting out on TTMs.

Ruffin (b.1971) played in the majors from 1993 to 1996, 2000 and 2001 for the Reds, Diamondbacks and Marlins.  He had a career record of 10-6 with an ERA of 4.13 and 163 strike outs.

I mailed to Ruffin on January 24 and got the cards back on February 2, for a 9-day TAT.