Andrew Helps With a Mattingly

My buddy Andrew lives in Evansville, Indiana and has access to cheap signings with Don Mattingly.  He reached out to me and offered to take a Mattingly card of mine and get it signed for me if I wanted to pay the fee.  I was all for that, so I sent him this awesome insert from 1990 Bowman.  The card turned out great.

Thanks for getting the card done for me, Andrew.  If they keep these signings up in Evansville, I'll definitely send another along.

TTM Success - Todd Zeile

This TTM success from Todd Zeile was one I was really excited about.  He was someone I grew up watching and hadn't seemed to.be someone who signed a whole lot.  Then, I saw some successes from him and realized he had been signing a good bit recently.  A couple trips through some boxes yielded a few nice cards, and I sent them along.  The above 1994 Topps turned out great.  Any time I can add a 94 to the album, I'm going to take it.  It is an underrated and underrepresented set in my autograph album. 

I also got this nice horizontal 2003 Topps done.  It turned out nicely.

I sent several other Zeile cards, including a 1990 Topps, 1993 Bowman, 1996 Pinnacle and 1990 Bowman.  All of them will look great in my album. 

Zeile (b. 1965) played in the majors from 1989 to 2004 for the Cardinals, Cubs, Phillies, Orioles, Dodgers, Marlins, Rangers, Mets, Rockies, Yankees and Expos.  He had 2,004 hits, 253 home runs and a .265 batting average.  He appeared in the 2010 Hall of Fame ballot, but received no votes.

I mailed to Zeile on September 30 and got the cards back on January 29, for a 121-day TAT.

TTM Success - Wayne Edwards

I got a lot of junk wax era cards out of my box with this TTM success from Wayne Edwards.  I was surprised at all of the cards I found, and added some nice ones to my album.

I'm usually a Topps guy (and there is a Topps in the bunch, a 1991), but some of these other brands look really nice when signed.  Most aren't my first choice, but I was glad with how all of these turned out.

I've grown to like some of the older Bowman cards when they get signed.  These two are from 1991 (L) and 1990 (R).  These turned out really well with Edwards's signature.

Edwards (b. 1964) played in the majors from 1989 to 1991 for the White Sox.  He had a record of 5-5 with 84 strike outs and a 3.37 ERA.

I mailed to Edwards on May 21 and got the cards back on June 29, for a 39-day TAT.

TTM Success - Rick Luecken

I had these Rick Luecken cards in one of my boxes for a long time.  I liked his name, because it reminded me of a Pearl Jam song, and I also really liked the green border for the above 1990 Topps.  I finally got around to sending his cards to him, and got them back signed.

The above 1990 Bowman also turned out well.  I have come to enjoy seeing how well these scan.  they might be pretty plain cards, but they turn out looking pretty sharp when signed.

Luecken (b. 1960) played in the majors from 1989 to 1990 for the Royals, Braves and Blue Jays.  He had a career record of 3-5 with 51 strike outs and a 5.10 ERA.


I mailed to Luecken on September 23 and got the cards back on October 8, for a 15-day TAT.

TTM Success - Junior Ortiz

I signed up for a private signing for Junior Ortiz because I needed him on a 1987 Topps for my set.  While I was looking through some cards, I came across this 1990 Bowman that I thought looked really cool, and I had to include it with the signing.  It was worth the extra money, because the card turned out really well.  I do think Cal is safe in this picture, as he is already across the plate, and Ortiz's glove isn't touching him.

Here is the 1987 Topps that I needed to get done, and it also turned out really well.

Ortiz (b. 1959) played in the majors from 1982 to 1994 for the Pirates, Mets, Twins, Indians and Rangers.  He had 484 hits, 5 home runs and a .256 batting average.  He was a member of the 1991 World Series Champion Twins.

I mailed to the signing for Ortiz on April 6 and got the cards back on May 1, for a 25-day TAT.

TTM Success - Bret Saberhagen

I had a chance to get an autograph from Bret Saberhagen a few years ago as part of the VIP free signing at the National in 2015, but I got in late and missed out.  Luckily, I learned that Saberhagen signs TTM for a small fee to the Make a Difference Foundation.

For $5/card, I got some nice cards signed.  The aboce 1990 Bowman promo card was a really good one to send off.  It turned out great, and I am glad I sent it.

I also sent off two 1985 cards of Saberhagen (top left - Fleer amd top right Topps) that turned out great.  The card on the bottom right is a 1990 Starline Coca Cola.  I'm pretty sure I got it out of a repack box; that is the only explanation I can come up with as to where it came from.  The 2013 Topps Postseason Heroes card on the bottom left was a cool insert to add to my album.

Finally, with the success from Saberhagen, I added my 100th 1987 Topps to my binder.  That means I was able to get at least 100 cards out of my 5,000-count (and then some) box of 87s.

Saberhagen (b. 1964) played in the majors from 1984 to 1995, 1997 to 1999 and 2001 for the Royals, Mets, Rockies and Red Sox.  He had a career recrd of 167-117 with 1,715 strike outs and a 3.34 ERA.  He was a 2-time AL Cy Young Award winner (1985 and 1989) and finished third in the NL Cy Young voting in 1994.  His best MVP finish was 8th in the AL voting in 1989.  He was also a 3-time All Star (1987, 1990 and 1994).  He also took home the Gold Glove Award in 1988.  He won 20 or more games twice (1985 and 1989) and was the AL ERA leader in 1989 with a 2.16 ERA.  He won the World Series with the Royals in 1985.

I mailed to Saberhagen on September 19 and got the cards back on October 28, for a 39-day TAT.  I paid his fee of $5/card with a check to the Make a Difference Foundation.

TTM Success - Phil Bradley

I added another former Oriole to my autograph collection with this TTM success from Phil Bradley.  He had a bunch of cards to choose from, so I wanted to make sure that I had several Orioles cards represented.  This 1990 Donruss turned out really nice, even though Bradley used a ballpoint pen.  The signature really shows up in the scan.  I was worried that it wouldn't show up.

He had quite a few Topps cards to choose from, so I selected a 1987, of course, and also 1989 and 1990.  The 1990 Bowman (bottom left) also was a nice choice.

One card manufacturer that seems to always be passed over for me is Upper Deck.  Their early 90s stuff especially just doesn't pop for me.  That being said, I wanted to send off this 1990 Upper Deck mainly because it came out of a team set of Orioles cards that I picked up way back in 1990.  The clamshell hanger case that the set originally came in has long since deteriorated, so the cards just reside in my Orioles box.  I wanted to make sure that one of them found it's way into my autograph album, and now one has!

Bradley (b. 1959) played in the majors from 1983 to 1990 for the Mariners, Phillies, Orioles and White Sox.  He had 1,058 hits, 78 home runs and a .286 batting average.  He appeared in the AL MVP voting in 1985, when he finished 16th and made his only All Star appearance.  He batted .300 or better in 3 seasons.

I mailed to Bradley on September 26 and got the cards back on October 13, for a 17-day TAT.

TTM Success - Roger Smithberg

I was really excited when this TTM success came in from Roger Smithberg.  I was searching for some cards on COMC and discovered this Alaska Goldpanners card.  It is a 1990 Lens Alaska Goldpanners card, like a retrospective of former players (Jason Giambi has a card).  According to their website, the Goldpanners of Fairbanks are a collegiate level team famous for their "midnight sun games".  Their website boasts that over 200 Goldpanners have reaches the major leagues.  Players such as Barry Bonds, Dave Winfield and Tom Seaver have played for Fairbanks.  So, adding this card to the autograph album is pretty cool, in my mind.

I had this 1990 Bowman in my TTM box for a while, but it was the only Smithberg card that I had, so I was waiting around to see if I could find any others.  I got lucky when I saw the Goldpanners card on COMC and remembered that I had one to send.  It all worked out.

Smithberg (b. 1966) played in the majors in 1993 and 1994 for the Oakland A's.  He had a career record of 1-2 with 7 strike outs and a 4.09 ERA.

I mailed to Smithberg on April 8 and got the cards back on April 17, for a 9-day TAT.

To read more about the Alaska Goldpanners, check out there website, here.