Another TTM Success From Paul Hartzell

Back in 2020, I sent to Paul Hartzell TTM and had quite an adventure with my cards. Apparently, my stuff was ruined when the envelope got wet. Hartzell reached out to me on LinkedIn and sent me back some signed cards, along with my sole surviving card, the 1991 Crown Orioles card.  It was left unsigned and sat in my to-be-TTMed box for over 3 years.  I finally dropped it back in the mail and got the card signed.  It got some frequent flyer miles, but can now reside in the autograph album.

I mailed to Hartzell on May 1 and got the card back on May 15, for a 14-day TAT. 

TTM Success - David Lough

My friend, Ryan, told me that former Oriole, David Lough, was signing TTM, so I sent this 2015 Topps out, and it came back signed the other day.  There isn't much to his signature, but the card is signed and in the album. 

Lough (b. 1986) played in the majors from 2012 to 2016 for the Royals, Orioles and Phillies.  He had 190 hits, 13 home runs and a .254 batting average. 

I mailed to Lough on April 30 and got the card back on May 13, for a 13-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Chris Hanburger

Here is a cool vintage football card that I picked up at the LCS in Winston-Salem while I was up there last week.  I got this 1969 Topps football card of Chris Hanburger because Jesse told me that I'd be able to get it signed TTM.  It came back looking great!

Hanburger  (b. 1941) played professionally from 1965 to 1978 for the Redskins.  He was a linebacker his whole career and had 19 interceptions and 2 touchdowns.  He made the Pro Bowl 9 times and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.

I mailed to Hanburger on May 6 and got the card back on May 13, for a 7-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Chico Cardenas

Another signed 1964 Topps was added to the autograph album when I got this card back TTM from Chico Cardenas. The card looks great, as most 1964s do.

Cardenas (b. 1938) played in the majors from 1960 to 1975 for the Reds, Twins, Angels, Indians and Rangers.  He had 1,725 hits, 118 home runs and a .257 batting average. He was a five-time All Star (1964, 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1971) and a Gold Glove Award winner (1965).

I mailed to Cardenas on May 3 and got the card back on May 11, for an 8-day TAT.  I paid his fee of $5.00/card.

50-50s From Aidan W

My buddy Aidan took a few cards for me of a couple Asheville guys, and also a couple guys with the Greenville Drive.  I wasn't able to get Tyler Whitaker last season because he was injured when he came through.  I had found this 2022 Bowman Heritage at the National, and was glad Aidan could help me get it signed.

He also helped me get my 2023 Bowman Draft Cam Fisher cards signed, along with two other Whitakers and two Greenville 2023 Topps Pro Debut cards (Cutter Crawford and Juan Chacon).

Thanks for getting these done for me, Aidan!

May 7-12, 2024, Graphing of the Hillcats at Wood Ducks

This week, the Lynchburg Hillcats came back to Kinston to one per me to death.  I had picked up some cards off of Ebay of Wood Ducks coach, Jorge Cortes.  The above 2005 Bowman Heritage relocation card was a cool pickup that I was able to get signed.  Even Cortes commented on how cool the card was.

I had also gotten Cortes's 2004 Bowman and 2004 Bowman gold, along with a Hillcats team set card.

It turned out that former Wood Duck, James Jones, was in town as a roving instructor for the Rangers.  I got a couple of his cards signed, once I dug them out of my boxes.

The Hillcats were rough.  Juan Benjamin did one-per, so it took me some time and a little help from Jesse to get the cards i brought of him signed.  Angel Genao is now personalizing, but he was super nice about it. He seems like a really nice kid.  Ralphy Velazquez was hard to get a read on.  He seems genuinely miserable about being here one day, then super nice the next, followed by absolutely miserable again.  Who knows what the deal was.  I only had one card of him, so I didn't have to ask much of him.

The series was close all-around, topped off by a walk-off win in extras today.  We had a good time this week, even though graphing was a bit tough.

In all, we got the following autographs: Jorge Cortes x 4, Gleider Figuereo x 6, Alejandro Rosario x 3, Alex Clemmey x 6, Angel Genao x 7, Tommy Hawke x 3, Juan Benjamin x 3, Jaison Chourio x 6, Christian Knapczyk x 3, Ralphy Velazquez x 1, James Jones x 3 and Jose Pastrano x 2 (47 total autographs). 

TTM Success - Dan Osborn

This nice 1976 Topps came back signed TTM from former pitcher, Dan Osborn.  He's got a nice signature, and the card looks pretty sharp.

Osborn (b. 1946) played in the majors in 1975 for the White Sox. He had a record of 3-0 with 38 strike outs and a 4.50 ERA.

I mailed to Osborn on May 1 and got the card back on May 11, for a 10-day TAT. 

Another TTM Success From Carl Warwick

Back in 2016, I had sent to Carl Warwick abd got him to sign two cards.  He had signed and personalized a 1964 and 1966 Topps.  This was well before I picked up the complete 1991 Crown Orioles set.  Since then, I've been trying to get some of them signed, so I went ahead and sent to Warwick earlier this month.

He signed the 1991 Crown, and three other cards that I sent.  I had found extra 1964 and 1966 Topps, and Warwick signed them without personalizations now.  I also sent off a 1962 Topps, and Warwick inscribed that one with the 1964 WS Champions inscription.

I mailed to Warwick on May 1 and got the cards back today (May 11) for a 10-day TAT. I paid his fee of $5/card.

A Quick 50-50 With Patrick

My friend, Patrick recently took a couple Grant Gambrell cards that I found in my boxes.  I was glad to get them signed and into the autograph album. Patrick took two of them at his share of the 50/50.

Patrick sees Worcester, and Gambrell is there this year.  He signed a 2020 Heritage Minors and a 2020 Pro Debut. 

Gambrell (b. 1997) was a third round pick by the Royals in the 2019 June Amateur Draft out of Oregon State.  He has played in the minors since 2019 in the Royals and Red Sox systems, reaching AAA.  He has a record.of 14-23 with 255 strike outs and a 4.65 ERA.

TTM Success - BJ Ryan

A private signed with a former Oriole came up recently.  I had been wanting to get BJ Ryan into my album for a while, and I finally did so with some pretty nice cards.  I had to pick up the above 2000 Fleer Ex off of Ebay, and it turned out nicely.

I also got a 2005 Topps and a 2005 Upper Deck.  Both of these came out of the Orioles boxes.

Ryan (b. 1975) played in the majors from 1999 to 2009 for the Reds, Orioles and Blue Jays.  He had a record of 21-28 with 625 strike outs and a 3.37 ERA.  He was an All Star in 2005 and 2006.

I mailed to the signing on March 4 and got the cards back today (May 9), for a 66-day TAT.

TTM Success - Aaron Miles

A TTM success came in this week from Aaron Miles that added the above 2007 Upper Deck and below 2012 Topps Jeritage to the autograph album. 

Both of the cards turned out nicely.  I found two other Miles cards on my desk today; I guess I had pulled them, then forgot to send them along with these two.  Oh well.  These were just fine.

Miles (b. 1976) played in the majors from 2003 to 2011 for the White Sox, Rockies, Cardinals, Cubs and Dodgers.  He had 793 hits, 19 home runs and a .281 batting average.  He won the World Series with the Cardinals in 2006.

I mailed to Miles on March 27 and got the cards back on May 6, for a 39-day TAT. 

Another TTM Success From Bobby Shantz

While going through boxes recently, I found this 1991 Topps Archives of Bobby Shantz.   I thought I'd go ahead and send to him again so I could add it to the album. Shantz is 98 years old and is still signing.  It was an easy decision. 

I mailed to Shantz on April 26 and got the card back on May 6, for a 10-day TAT. I paid his fee of $5.00/card.

May 5, 2024, Graphing of Dash at Grasshoppers

With the rain clearing out Sunday, Jesse and I decided to head to Greensboro to see the Grasshoppers take on the Dash and try to finish off some stacks of cards we had put together last month. We had seen the Grasshoppers at Dash, now we flipped that and Jesse could add another stadium to his list.

We graphed inside pre-game and outside post-game.  Samuel Zavala hit everything we had outside.  That almost completely wiped me out of his cards, save for three 2023 Pro Debuts that i couldnt reasonably fit into one of the books.

Peyton Pallette did something I hadn't seen before. He was late coming onto the field pre-game, so he said he would sign for us when he walked by after the first inning. He made good on that promise and signed everything we had.

I found some old Greensboro team sets for $5.00/set and got this 2010 Guilford the Grasshopper signed during the game.

In all, we got the following autographs: Jack Brannigan x 6, Guilford x 1, Termarr Johnson x 4, JP Massey x 1, Jacob Gonzalez x 2, Wes Kath x 1, Peyton Pallette x 5, Jordan Sprinkle x 5, and Samuel Zavala x 13. (38 total autographs).

May 4, 2024, Graphing of Revolution at Rockers

This past weekend, Jesse and I made the trip to High Point so Jesse could knock another stadium off of his list.  He also had never been to an independent league game, so that was new to him also.  Jesse turned me onto the above 1993-95 Cardtoons of "Frankie Violin".  I didn't recall seeing this card before, so when he showed me, I bought one to take to High Point to get signed.

Viola signed everything we had right before the game was set to start.  Once he hit the last card on Jesse's page, the rain started to fall.

We got the game in, though.  Viola ended up being ejected when the Umpires heard some chirping coming from the Rockers dugout.  Unable to identify who it was, he tossed Viola.  It was a bit of extra entertainment added to an already entertaining game.

I knocked out 10 cards (including the Viola) from my 2023 High Point set.  I missed Jeremy Rhoades, but he did start the game, so if would have been tough anyway. I forgot to look for him post-game outside.

We were lucky to get Kyle Barraclough.  He was picked up by the Rangers today.  I finally got the two Ryan Meisinger cards shown above signed.  I had been waiting to get them done for a while. I had been waiting longer to get Peter Solomon, though.  His 2018 Carolina League top prospects card had floated around my boxes since that season.

My friend, Gerard, sent some supplemental cards that I couldn't get in a pinch like the above 2019 Bowman green parallel of Evan Edwards.

Colin Moran was signed to High Point last Thursday, so I was able to find 8 of his cards before I pulled out of the driveway on Friday.  He signed for us twice, doing one per each time.

Jamari Baylor was the only York guy that I was able to get.  I missed Ethan Lindow and Will Stewart.  I'll try to get them sometime later this season. 

In all, we got the following autographs: Ben Aklinski x 1, Kyle Barraclough x 4, DJ Burt x 1, Evan Edwards x 4, Ryan Grotjohn x 1, Jamie Keefe x 1, Ryan Meisinger x 3, Colin Moran x 4, Neil Ramirex x 4, Austin Ross x 1 Peter Solomon x 8, Frank Viola x 17, Ryan Weiss x 1, Zander Wiel x 1 and Jamari Baylor x 8 (59 total autographs).

TTM Success - Danny Hultzen

Slowly, some past Spring Training TTM requests are trickling in, like this one from Danny Hultzen.  The above 2020 Topps Fire was a nice card to get back signed.

I also got a 2013 Bowman Chrome mini refractor.  Hultzen kept my 2020 Topps.

Hultzen (b. 1989) played in the majors in 2019 for the Cubs.  He got into 6 games for 3.1 innings and allowed no runs with 5 strike outs.  He didn't register any wins or losses.  He was the second overall pick by the Mariners in the 2011 June Amateur Draft out of the University of Virginia. 

I mailed to Hultzen on February 9, 2021, and got the cards back on May 2, 2024, for a 1,178-day TAT.

TTM Success - Dylan Bundy

This return from a private signing with Dylan Bundy helped me get two cards that I tried getting signed in Durham finally added to the autograph album.  Last season, I walked around with this 2012 Bowman Sterling for two days trying to get Bundy to sign, but got ignored both days.  The card looks great.  

This 2013 Topps short print was another one that i had hoped to get signed. I had a couple copies of this one, so it was nice to get one of them signed.  It would have been better had he stopped for us in Durham, but it's all good.  I had gotten Bundy in person myself several times.  

Bundy (b. 1992) played in the majors in 2012 and from 2016 to 2022 for the Orioles, Angels and Twins.  He had a record of 54-65 with 852 strike outs and a 4.74 ERA.  He finished 9th in the 2020 AL Cy Young Award voting.

I mailed to the signing on January 31 and got the cards back on May 1, for a 91-day TAT.  I paid a fee of $15/card.

TTM Success - Joe West

Before I paid for the signed Joe West ball that Gerard sent me, I had signed up for a private signing to get the above 2022 Topps Allen and Ginter Chrome signed.  The card turned out nicely.  I now have a card and a ball signed by West.  I hope that he makes it into the Hall of Fame soon.  He just missed it during the most recent veterans committee voting.  I believe he has to wait three years for the next voting for his category.

I mailed to the signing on February 2 and got the card back today (May 1) for an 89-day TAT. I paid a fee of $30.00.