TTM Success - Gary Matthews Jr.

I was really excited when this TTM success from Gary Matthews, Jr. came in because I wasn't sure that it would.  I had to ask a friend for his Harvey book, because Matthews's address wasn't shown anywhere.  The address he hoked me up with worked, and I got a few really cool cards to show for it.

The above 2007 Turkey Red Chrome was my favorite of the bunch.  I prepped the card before I mailed, and that really made it pop.  Matthews has a nice auto that shows up really well on this card.

The Ticket To Stardom (left) card will be a first for my autograph album.  It looks really nice.  That wasn't the greatest of all sets, but it also wasn't terrible either.  I also don't have many cards from that set left over, so this may end up being the only one that gets signed for my album.

Matthews (b. 1974) played in the majors from 1999 to 2010 for the Padres, Cubs, Pirates, Mets, Orioles, Rangers and Angels.  He had 1,056 hits, 108 home runs and a .257 batting average.  He was an All Star in 2006, a season where he also finished 30th in the AL MVP voting.  For some reason, the Angels signed him to a 5-year, $50 million contract after the 2006 season, and Matthews didn't really live up to it.  At that time, the Angels must have had money to burn.  Nothing against Matthews, but that contract was crazy from the beginning.

I mailed to Matthews on February 5 and got the cards back on October 18, for a 255-day TAT.