TTM Success - Jeff Heathcock

1986 Fleer is a nice set that often gets forgotten. The dark blue border looks nice. This 1986 Fleer of Jeff Heathcock came back signed TTM recently.

Heathcock (b. 1959) played in the majors in 1983, 1985, 1987 and 1988 for the Astros. He had a record of 9-9 with 64 strike outs and a 3.76 ERA.

I mailed to Heathcock on December 18 and got the card back on January 16, for a 29-day TAT. 

2022 National Free Signer - John Montefusco

John Montefusco is another player that I had gotten TTM previously who was one of the free signers at this year's National. The problem is, I never posted the TTM success from him. It was a ball that I had mailed in 2012 and got back signed in 2018, 6 years later.

Anyway, I added a bunch of his cards to my album and they turned out great.

Montefusco (b. 1950) played in the majors from 1974 to 1986 for the Giants, Braves, Padres and Yankees.  He had a record of 90-83 with 1,081 strike outs and a 3.54 ERA.  He was the 1975 NL Rookie of the Year and finished 4th in the Cy Young race that season. He was an All Star in 1976.

TTM Success - Bert Roberge

I got a TTM success back from Bert Roberge recently that helped get an old Fleer card out of my box.  That box is at the bottom of the closet, so it is always tough getting in there, but sometimes I make it through.  This is a 1986 Fleer, a pretty basic design, but it is a nice set, nonetheless.

I also got 1980 Topps, 1983 Topps and 1986 Topps signed by Roberge.  He used a ballpoint pen, but the auto is still nice.

Roberge (b. 1954) played in the majors in 1979, 1980, 1982 and 1984 to 1986 for the Astros, White Sox and Expos.  He had a record of 12-12 with 119 strike outs and a 3.98 ERA.

I mailed to Roberge on March 5 and got the cards back on March 16, for an 11-day TAT.

TTM Success - Jay Tibbs

The cards that I got back from Jay Tibbs all turned out really well.  I really like this 1986 Fleer.  These are cards that I don't have many of, so it is nice to add them to my album.

I had to get my 1987 Topps signed for my set.  It will complete only my second page in my 87 album.  I also got the 1989 Topps signed, since it has Tibbs as an Oriole.

Tibbs (b. 1962) played in the majors 1984 to 1990 for the Reds, Expos, Orioles and Pirates.  He had a career record of 39-54 with 448 strike outs and a 4.20 ERA.

I mailed to Tibbs on November 17 and got the cards back on March 8, for a 111-day TAT.

TTM Success - Jim Clancy

Here are some more signed cards from the 1980s that I was able to add to my album with this TTM success from Jim Clancy.  I especially liked this 1986 Fleer that I got signed.  There is a whole lot of blue on this card, now that I am paying some more attention to it.  Still, it looks nice.

I added some nice Topps cards, including another 1987 Topps for the album.  As of today, I am sitting on 99 signed cards from that set.  Not too bad.  The 1989 Topps Traded (bottom right) turned out really nice, as well.

Clancy (b. 1955) played in the majors from 1977 to 1991 for the Blue Jays, Astros and Braves.  He had a career record of 140-167 with 1,422 strike outs and an ERA of 4.23.  He was an All Star for the Blue Jays in 1982.  He was a member of the inaugural Blue Jays team of 1977.  He pitched 3 games for the Braves in the 1991 World Series, picking up a win, but the Braves ultimately lost to the Twins.

I mailed to Clancy on September 20 and got the cards back on October 17, for a 27-day TAT.

TM Success - Andre Thornton

This was a nice TTM return from Andre Thornton on some cool 1980s cards.  The above 1986 Topps Indians leaders card really turned out well.  I like these cards, and they look really nice when signed.  Thornton has a really interesting signature, and it really pops on this card.

I also added a 1981 Topps, 1987 Topps, 1984 Fleer and 1986 Fleer.  They all look good, but none of them matches the 1986 Indians leaders card.

Thornton (b. 1949) played in the majors from 1973 to 1979 and 1981 to 1987 for the Cubs, Expos and Indians.  He had 1,342 hits, 253 home runs and a .254 batting average.  He was an All Star twice (1982 and 1984) and won the Silver Slugger Award in 1984.  He received MVP votes three times in his career.  His best finish was 19th following the 1984 season for the Indians.

I mailed to Thornton on September 16 and got the cards back on October 16, for a 30-day TAT.

TTM Success - Ken Forsch

I still have a huge stack of TTM successes on my desk that I really need to make a dent in.  So, I'm going to try to get multiple posts in each day and see if I can make some headway on my piles of stuff sitting here.

Here is a success from Ken Forsch.  I was able to get him on some nice cards, especially the 1980 Topps on the bottom left which shows off a cool Astros jersey.

Here is a nice 1986 Fleer.  I actually have a few from this set, I just need to find out if some of the guys that I have sign TTM.  The cards look great, so I definitely want to get more signed.

Forsch (b. 1946) played in the majors from 1970 to 1984 and 1986 for the Astros and Angels.  He had a career record of 114-113 with an ERA of 3.37 and 1,047 strike outs.  He was a 2-time All Star (1976 and 1981).  He appeared on the 1992 Hall of Fame ballot, but didn't receive any votes.

I mailed to Forsch on November 22 and got the cards back on December 5, for a 13-day TAT.

TTM Success - Tippy Martinez

I was able to send off a 5x7 photo for a TTM, along with some cards to former Orioles reliever, Tippy Martinez.  I got the photo signed and four of the five cards that I sent, signed.  One of the cards, a 1978 Topps appeared to be stuck to one of the others, so that is probably why he didn't sign it.

This photo is from the October 2009 "Evening With Brooks" event that I attended with my brother, Andy.  We met Martinez, Chris Hoiles and Brooks at the event.  I now have my photos with Martinez and Brooks signed.  I need to get my photo with Hoiles signed as well.  The photo turned out pretty well, I think.

I was able to get two Topps and two Fleer cards signed.  They are: 1977 Topps, 1983 Topps, 1985 Fleer and 1986 Fleer.

Martinez (b. 1950) played in the majors from 1974 to 1986 and 1988 for the Yankees, Orioles and Twins.  He had a career record of 55-42 with an ERA of 3.45 and 632 strike outs.  He was an All Star in 1983 and finished 27th in the AL MVP voting.  He won the World Series with the Orioles in 1983.

I mailed to Martinez on September 27 and got the cards back on October 7, for an 11-day TAT.

TTM Success - John Tudor

I got a huge TTM success on Friday (March 18) when I got 8 signed cards back from former pitcher, John Tudor.  I mailed to him on March 2, and got the cards back with a 16-day TAT.

The cards I got signed all contribute to my Topps autograph project, save for two.  I just thought they would look cool.

The above 1984 Topps has Tudor in a Red Sox uniform and is the 5th signed 1984 Topps that I have.  His signature looks really good on this card, I think.

Here we have another old school Pirates uniform, this time on a 1985 Topps.  This might be my favorite of the bunch.  I am finding that 1985 Topps looks really good with a signature.  This is the 7th signed 1985 Topps that I have.  I'll have a tough time deciding which one will represent this set in my autograph project.

Of course, 1986 looks really good, too!  The signature that Tudor put on this one really pops.

Here is another 1986, this time the All Star version.  This, and the one above it make five 1986 Topps that I have that are signed.

What I once thought was a boring design really comes to life when signed TTM in a blue sharpie.  This 1988 Topps really looks good, and surprisingly, is only my third out of a year of Topps that I thought I had coming out of my ears.  I think I might have to backtrack on my opinion of this set once I see some more TTMs come out of it.  This one looks really sharp.

Again, I enjoy the 1989 Topps design.  This one didn't turn out as sharply as the others, merely because the backdrop is so dark.  It doesn't really take away from the card, but it kind of hides the signature. This is the fifth 1989 Topps that I have that is signed.

I included a couple other cards that I thought would look cool signed.  This 1986 Topps Mini turned out really nice.  I hope to get a few of the Topps Leaders cards signed in the coming TTM successes, but we shall see.

Finally, here is a 1986 Fleer that I sent off.  Over the course of my collecting career, both as a teen and now as an adult, I have not come across very many 1986 Fleer.  I don't really know why.  I like the solid blue design.  I think it is a really crisp, clean design, and turns out really nice when signed.

Tudor (b. 1954) played in the majors from 1979 to 1990 with the Red Sox, Pirates, Cardinals and Dodgers.  He had a career record of 117-72 with a 3.12 ERA and 988 strikeouts.  He won 21 games in 1985 with 10 shutouts and an ERA of 1.93, but finished second in the Cy Young voting that year to Doc Gooden (he also finished 8th in the NV MVP voting).  Tudor won the World Series in 1988 with the Dodgers.

Another Package From Weston

I am feverishly working to catch up on all of the mail I've gotten recently (and a few more Ebay wins are on their way).  That being said, I have been needing to post the awesome package Weston sent me the other day (I think it came in sometime last week).  He sent a ton of Orioles cards for my and my son, Chris.  There were a few vintage cards in the package, like the above Mark 'The Blade' Belanger.  Belanger was an 'all glove, no hit' shortstop in his career.  His life ended way too short when he passed away from lung cancer in 1998 at the age of 54.

I'd love to say that I didn't already this 1986 Fleer Star Stickers Cal Ripken, but the thing is, and I've said it on here before, I don't know anymore which Cal cards I do and do not have.  I feel like I didn't have this one as it definitely doesn't look familiar, but I guess I need to dig through my 500+ Cal cards and see if it resides in there or not.  I'm so lazy.

Finally, I got this sweet Ty Kelly 2012 Bowman Chrome purple refractor.  Kelly was traded to the Mariners yesterday for Eric Thames in a move that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.  they have a glut of outfielders at AAA Norfolk and adding Thames just increases the logjam.  That is, unless, another trade is in the works.  Hmm, if it is for a legit starting pitcher, then I'm ok with it.  We'll see.

Anyway, I jumped off topic enough.  Thanks for the package Weston!

Cards From Checkoutmycards

So, I'm sure you all are wondering how I have been doing on COMC so far.  Well, I have sold 3 of the 50 cards that I had listed so far.  I like the site, so I sent them another box of 115 cards (mostly SPs and parallels - a lot less high end stuff this time) and one graded gem mint 10 Bowman Chrome card.  Maybe I can flip that stuff and get some needs met off of my want list again like I was able to with the cards below.

I can't believe I didn't own a single 1986 Fleer Cal Ripken card.  I had seen them plenty of times,  but for whatever reason, they didn't end up in my collection.  The above card is the base card for the year and below is his League Leaders card.

He was also featured on the below card with Alan Trammell; two of the best shortstops of their generation.  Why Trammell isn't in the Hall of Fame is anyone's guess.

I saw the below 2004 Delmarva Shorebirds Nick Markakis for $0.99, so I added it to my cart.  I hadn't seen any of them before, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to add it to my PC.

The below Nolan Reimold 2009 Topps Finest redemption RC is direct from my want list.  Apparently, there are a few harder to find parallels of this card, but I haven't ever seen them.  I intend to keep my eyes peeled for them, though, because the parallels I have of other players (notably, Brian Roberts) look pretty good.

I also knocked the 2009 Heritage SP RC off of my want list.  I still need the Chrome, though.

I got my first Kevin Gausman card.  Here's to hoping that the Orioles' pitching depth is finally significant enough that Gausman won't be rushed to the majors like Jake Arrieta and Brian Matusz were when they were brought up.  Give Gausman plenty of time to develop in the minors and then call him up when he is ready to join a rotation anchored by Dylan Bundy.

I don't know about you, but I thought the Bowman Ice parallels scanned really nice.  The below Markakis and McCutchen cards are really awesome.

I really wanted the red parallels, but those are commanding pretty hefty prices right now, so I am going to keep my eyes opened for them and hope to get a bargain later on.

Finally, I don't know how I missed it while I was there, but this is a 2012 National Show Leaf Brooks Robinson.  I love adding new Brooks cards to the collection, so this was a 'must have.'

Well, I think I was pretty successful in flipping three cards for 10.  I feel like I made an Andy MacPhail-type trade.  The cards I sold so far were a 2011 Topps Diamond Die Cut Reggie Jackson, 2008 Bowman Chrome no sig Kosuke Fukudome and a Topps Finest Yu Darvish RC.  Not a bad haul, I think.  Make sure you guys take a look at my wares and stay tuned for more cards to be added soon!