TTM Success - Mark Prior

This was a TTM success that I was really excited to get back.  I had waited quite a while, but got a couple signed cards back from Mark Prior.  The above 2002 Upper Deck MVP card was added to my mailer by Prior, himself, which was really awesome.  I like this card's design, and if I were choosing cards to send him, I would have definitely sent this along.

This 2004 Donruss World Series card was the one that I did send him.  It was heavily creased in the mail, so that is why Prior included the other card, I think.  I know nothing about this series; I believe the card came out of a repack box that I picked up somewhere along the way years ago.  It turned out really well, and will be a unique addition to my autograph album.

Prior (b. 1980) was a first round draft pick (43rd overall) by the Yankees in the 1998 June Amateur Draft, but didn't sign.  He was, again, a first round pick (2nd overall) during the 2001 June Amateur Draft, this time by the Cubs.  He played in the majors 2002 to 2006 for the Cubs, amassing a 42-29 record with 757 strike outs and a 3.51 ERA.  Never quite realizing his phenom potential, Prior showed flashes of brilliance (he went 18-6 with a 2.43 ERA in 2003 and finished 3rd in the Cy Young Voting, 9th in the MVP voting, and was an All Star), but was beset by injuries.

I mailed to Prior on February 5, 2019, and got the cards back on March 23, 2020, for a 412-day TAT.  I sent the cards to Dodgers Spring Training camp.