TTM Success - Jose Bautista

A while back, Jose Bautista was coaching for some team that was going to come through Kinston; I think maybe Myrtle Beach. For whatever reason, I didn't see him (COVID season, maybe?). I don't remember now.  Anyway, I had his cards pulled, then put away, then pulled again.  I finally sent to him TTM, and after quite a while, got the cards back signed.  I was glad to finally get his 1991 Crown Orioles card into the autograph album. 

I also got a 1989 Topps, 1994 Topps Finest and a 1994 Topps signed.

Bautista (b. 1964) played in the majors from 1988 to 1991 and 1993 to 1997 for the Orioles, Cubs, Giants, Tigers and Cardinals.  He had a record of 32-42 with 328 strike outs and a 4.62 ERA.

I mailed to Bautista on October 24, 2023, and got the cards back on November 25, 2024, for a 398-day TAT.

TTM Success - Scott Fletcher

Here are some 90s cards that I got back signed from Scott Fletcher.  I really like the design of the above 1990 Topps Big, but the autograph smudged.  Oh well. It still looks cool.

I also got a 1990 Topps, 1992 Flair, 1994 Finest and 1994 Score signed.  All of them look great.  The Finest is cool.  I like the mid 90s Finest cards and have been able to get a few signed.

Fletcher (b. 1958) played in the majors from 1981 to 1995 for the Cubs, White Sox, Rangers, Brewers, Red Sox and Tigers.  He had 1,376 hits, 34 home runs and a .262 batting average. He finished 17th in the 1986 AL MVP voting.  

I mailed to Fletcher on November 6 and got the cards back on January 22, for a 77-day TAT.

TTM Success - Jim Gott

Some late 80s to mid-90s cards were added to my autograph album with this TTM success from pitcher, Jim Gott.  I had held his cards in my "to be TTMed" box for a while, then finally got them in the mail.  I was glad to get the above 1994 Score Gold Rush card signed.  I have a ton of 1994 Score, but that box is at the bottom of my stack of boxes.  I should get in there sometime soon and pull some cards.

I got a coupld cards signed out of Gott's Topps run, a 1989 and a 1994.  I also had a really nice 1993 Flair.  Flair is such a nice set; I always enjoy getting those signed.  Finally, I had a 1994 Topps Finest, which also turned out great.

Gott (b. 1959) played in the majors from 1982 to 1995 for the Blue Jays, Giants, Pirates and Dodgers.  He had a record of 56-74 with 837 strike outs and a 3.87 ERA.

I mailed to Gott on May 21 and got the cards back on September 11, for a 113-day TAT.

Another TTM Success From Rich Amaral

Back in 2017, I got a few cards back signed from Rich Amaral.  I figured enough time had gone by, so I sent him a couple cards that I had that I wanted to get into my album.  The above 1994 Finest really turned out well.  These were some nice cards, and they look great signed.  I helps that Amaral has a great autograph.

I also got a 1995 Donruss signed.  I opened a ton of these back in '95, and I actually completed the set.  I like adding a few of these, here and there, to my autograph album.

I mailed to Amaral on November 21 and got the cards back on January 28, for a 68-day TAT.

TTM Success - Joe Grahe

I waited a long time to send to Joe Grahe because I saw his TAT (turn around time) was pretty slow, but I finally did send to him.  I sent the maximum of cards that I would send to someone (seven cards) and waited quite a while for them to come back.  They finally did, and I was really happy with the results.

The 1994 Topps Finest above didn't scan all that great, but it looks really awesome in person.  Those early chrome cards are all really nice, and I would like to get some more different ones in my album.

Grahe also signed a 1992 Pinnacle, 1993 Score Select, 1994 Score, 1993 Topps, 1994 Donruss and a 1995 Topps.

Grahe (b. 1967) played in the majors from 1990 to 1995 and 1999 for the Angels, Rockies and Phillies.  He had a record of 22-30 with 204 strike outs and a 4.41 ERA.

I mailed to Grahe on April 25 and got the cards back on December 8, for a 227-day TAT.

TTM Success - Damion Easley

So, this one definitely took a while.  I had forgotten about all of the cool cards that I sent TTM to Damion Easley, so when this one finally made its way back to me, I was really excited to see the cards that fell out of the envelope.

I actually robbed this 1994 Pinnacle from a set my mom had started to put together back in 1994.  She gave me the album at one point, and I saw this Easley in there when I was just about to send to him.  I'm actually glad I pulled from the set, because this card looks spectacular, and will be a really cool addition to my autograph album.  Thanks Mom!

I also got a Pacific Crown Royale signed (top, crown shaped card) which looks pretty cool.  The 1993 Flair beneath it also is very sharp.

I love the old 1994 Finest design (left).  It turned out great.  I also added a 1998 Topps because I love the dirt shot of the card.  Those are some nice shots on cards, when you get a good portion of the card taken up by the dirt.  Those have always been some of my favorites.

Easley (b. 1969) played in the majors from 1992 to 2008 for the Angels, Tigers, Devil Rays, Marlins, Diamondbacks and Mets.  He had 1,386 hits, 163 home runs and a .253 batting average.  He was an All Star in 1998, and was also a Silver Slugger Award winner that season.

I mailed to Easley on February 13, 2017 and got the cards back on October 31, 2019, for a 990-day TAT.

TTM Success - Aaron Sele

Taking a small break from the 1987 pursuit, I got a couple nice mid-90s cards signed by former pitcher, Aaron Sele.  The above 1994 Finest was what spurred the TTM request, and it turned out fairly well.  They don't scal all that great, but the card looks nice in person.

I also added a 1995 Topps.  Sele personalized the cards, but that was fine with me.

Sele (b. 1970) played in the majors from 1993 to 2007 for the Red Sox, Rangers, Mariners, Angels, Dodgers and Mets.  He had a career record of 148-112 with 1,407 strike outs and a 4.61 ERA.  He was an All Star in 1998 and 2000.  He finished a career-best 5th in the Cy Young Award voting in 1999.

I mailed to Sele on April 27, 2017, and got the cards back on July 9, 2018, for a 438-day TAT.  He signed two of the four cards I sent.  He sent one back unsigned and kept one.

TTM Success - Andy Ashby

This was a pretty nice success from former pitcher, Andy Ashby.  I saw that he signed, so I grabbed a few cards of him and sent them along.   He wasn't someone who signed a lot of cards, so I sent four cards and hoped for the best.  I got two of the cards back signed, and they turned out really well.  I can't complain at all.  The above 1994 Finest turned out great, as everything I send out like Chrome and Finest, gets the baby powder treatment and it really works wonders.  I really like this set and want to add a few more to the album.

I also really enjoy 1996 Fleer.  Chris and I busted a box of it, and I was able to get a few of them signed.  This one really looks nice, and even better in person.  I need to go through the others that I have and get a few more ready to send out.

Ashby (b. 1967) played in the majors from 1991 to 2004 for the Phillies, Padres, Braves and Dodgers.  He had a career record of 98-110 with an ERA of 4.12 and 1,173 strike outs.  He was an All Star in 1998 and 1999 while with the Padres.

I mailed to Ashby on November 9 and got the cards back on February 21, for a 104-day TAT.

TTM Success - Mickey Morandini

This was a TTM that I was really excited about getting back, and I had to wait a while to even send it out.  I saw a while back that Mickey Morandini signed TTM, but all of the successes were from folks sending to the Phillies, so I had to wait a while until I thought it would be a good time to send.  I didn't want to send to the Phillies' Stadium toward the end of last season and have to wait until after opening day to get the cards back, so I sent them out during Spring Training.

In the meantime, I collected a bunch of his cards that I found at the card shop and waited.  It was worth the wait.  Check out the 1997 Flair Showcase above.  This card was the one I wanted to get signed the most.  I pre-treated it with baby powder before I mailed it and it turned out so nice.

I really had put together some really nice cards of Morandini.  This 1997 Fleer Metal is so cool, too.  I have gotten a few of these cards signed, and I love them all.  I really enjoyed collecting the Marvel set of Fleer Metal when they came out, and having a few of the baseball card versions in my album really is awesome.

The Morandini package actually started with the 1993 Fleer Golden Moments (left).  I thought the card would look nice in my album, and it grew from there as I found more and more cards.  I had to include a Topps card in the package, and what better one than the above 1999 Topps showing Morandini in a Cubs uniform?  I figured my buddy, Max, would like seeing that one.

Finally, here is a 1994 Topps Finest that I also had to pre-treat with baby powder.  It looks pretty cool, as well.  These cards sign really well, and are a lot of fun to look at in the album.

Morandini (b. 1966) played in the majors from 1990 to 2000 for the Phillies, Cubs and Blue Jays.  He had 1,222 hits, 32 home runs and a .268 batting average.  He was an All Star in 1995 while with the Phillies.

I mailed to Morandini on February 8 at Phillies Spring Training and got the cards back on February 18, for a 10-day TAT.

TTM Success - Bobby Witt

I have gotten some really cool cards signed TTM since I started sending cards last year, but I seem to always amaze myself with some of the successes that have come in.  This success from Bobby Witt was a really good one, topped with the above 1994 Topps Finest.  This card looks awesome in person, Witt's A's jersey really matched well with the borders of the card.  I was really happy to get this one back.  The card was treated with an eraser prior to sending out for signature.

I had a bunch of Witt cards to choose from, so I picked the 1986 Topps Traded and the 1989 to represent some Topps series.

I also had to go with a 1993 Flair; you can never go wrong with getting those signed.  I also had this 1997 Pacific, which there aren't many of in my album.

Witt (b. 1964) played in the majors from 1986 to 2001 for the Rangers, A's, Marlins, Cardinals, Devil Rays, Indians and Diamondbacks.  He had a career record of 142-157 with an ERA of 4.83 and 1,955 strike outs.  He won the World Series with the Diamondbacks in 2001.

I mailed to Witt on November 9 and got the cards back on December 30, for a 51-day TAT.

TTM Success - Ricky Bones

It might be hard to tell, but this 1994 Topps Finest is signed by former pitcher, Ricky Bones.  The scan takes a little bit away from the card, but the player also used a ball point pen to sign it.  Still, it is a really cool card.  I always liked this design of Finest and wanted to get a couple of them signed.  My LCS has a box of cards from the 90s that I have been picking from, so hopefully some more cards like this one will come in.

This 1992 Topps turned out better.  I used to have a ton of this year of Topps, but unloaded them a long time ago.  I kind of regret all of the cards I've unloaded, but I did have to make a lot of room, so it makes sense.  I do wonder, though, what really cool cards did I get rid of that I would have loved to send TTM?

Finally, here are a couple other cards that I got back.  These horizontal cards are pretty nice.  Again, we see a 1995 Stadium Club.  The top card is a 1995 Flair.  I still have a bunch of both of these kinds of cards, so I'm sure I will be getting some more of them signed and placed in my album.

Bones (b. 1969) played in the majors from 1991 to 2001 for the Padres, Brewers, Yankees, Reds, Royals, Orioles and Marlins.  He had a career record of 63-82 with a 4.85 ERA and 564 strike outs.  He was an All Star in 1994 for the Brewers.  I don't remember him being on the Orioles, but that was the 1999 season, and I was fully immersed in college. I followed the Orioles then, but wasn't collecting baseball cards, so that kind of explains why I don't remember him being there.

I mailed to Bones on November 22 and got the cards back on December 6, for a 14-day TAT.