2023 National Free Signer - Scott Spiezio

Scott Spiezio was the next free signer at the National.  I had a good many of his cards, so it was nice to get a few out of my boxes and into my album.  The above 1997 Flair Showcase is a really cool card, and it turned out nicely.

I also got a 1997 Bowman Chrome hometown, 1997 Finest Blue Chips and a 2005 Topps signed.

Spiezio (b. 1972) played in the majors from 1996 to 2007 for the A's, Angels, Mariners and Cardinals.  He had 996 hits, 119 home runs and a .255 batting average.  

He won the World Series with the Angels in 2002 and the Cardinals in 2006.

Spiezio was really nice.  He commented on my Frederick question mark jersey (which it the reason why I wore it).

First 2022 TTM Success - Mike Mussina

Right before the holidays, I sent off a batch of TTMs to wrap up the year.  One of the requests was a repeat to Hall of Famer, Mike Mussina.  I had several cards of his sitting aside waiting to be sent out, and I had a little bit of money available to pay his fees.  So, I took the four cards that I most wanted to get back and sent them out.  The above 2020 Topps Turkey Red turned out so well.  This card is super sharp; I am glad I chose it to send out.  It was my 4th choice to send, but might look the best of all of these.

Here are the other three cards that I sent.  The one on the left is a 1999 Fleer Ex clear acetate card that looks amazing.  In the middle is a 1997 Flair Showcase and the one on the right is a 2000 Pacific Invincible.  All of the cards I chose turned out great.  I have several more that I probably will send sometime later on.  I have to recover from the holiday spending and some of the private signings that I have taken part in.

I mailed to Mussina on December 22 and got the cards back today (January 3), for a 12-day TAT.  I paid his fee of $10/card.

TTM Success - Hal Morris

This success from Hal Morris turned out really nice.  Especially the above 1997 Flair Showcase.  The card scanned really well, with all of the glitter in the card really showing up.

These 1996 Pinnacle Museum parallels also look really nice when they are signed.  The cards don't really stand up all that well to time, as some of them, the foil will begin to peel.

Finally, here are the two other cards, a 1997 Finest Competitors and a 1994 Studio.  Both of these turned out really great.  I enjoyed each of the cards that I had sent Morris.  Each of them was a really nice example to put into my album.

Morris (b. 1965) played in the majors from 1988 to 2000 for the Yankees, Reds, Royals and Tigers.  He had 1,216 hits, 76 home runs and a .304 batting average.  He finished third in the 1990 NL Rookie of the Year voting, and 15th in the 1994 NL MVP voting.  He won the World Series in 1990 with the Reds.  Morris appeared on the 2006 Hall of Fame ballot and received 1.0% of the vote.

I mailed to Morris on February 9 and got the cards back on May 2, for an 89-day TAT.

TTM Success - Danny Tartabull

This TTM success may have had some of the coolest cards come back that I have sent out so far.  I had a ton of Danny Tartabull's cards, and had a really tough time narrowing down the last few cards I selected.  This first couple of cards I added to the envelope were no-brainers, like this 1997 Pacific Prisms.  This is just a cool card.  It has a little clear plastic window at the bottom with Tartabull's face, and an overall cool looking design.  I had a couple cards of guys from this set that I had sent out, and Tartabull is the first one to have come back.  I'm really glad it did, because this is going to look so cool in my album.  There are a couple other Pacific sets I've seen that I really want to score some TTMs with, but I need to find some of guys who are signing.

This is a 1997 Flair Showcase.  Unlike the Pacific above, I have a couple of these signed already.  They all turn out great, even though the scan doesn't do the beauty of the card any justice.  In person, it looks awesome.

This 1994 Stadium Club had potential to be a really cool success, but the auto is a bit smeared.  I don't let that bother me all that much.  The card itself has a really cool photo, and I always liked this design.  That is also a lot of grass on this card.  I think it frames the photo nicely.  I wouldn't be opposed to a card set having a "grass" border, much like 1962 and 87 Topps have the wood borders.

Finally, here is an oddball Classic card I found at my LCS along with the Flair Showcase and Pacific Prism.  This card's yellow border really scans well.  This is a 1987 Classic.  The back only has Tartabull's high school stats from 1980 for some reason.

Tartabull (b. 1962) played in the majors from 1984 to 1997 for the Mariners, Royals, Yankees, A's, White Sox and Phillies.  He had 1,366 hits, 262 home runs and a .273 batting average.  He was an All Star in 1991 with the Royals, and had his best finish in the AL MVP voting (12th) that season.

I mailed to Tartabull on November 18 and got the cards back on February 24, for a 98-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 - Todd Greene

It took two attempts, but I got a TTM success from former catcher, Todd Greene.  This was a request I really wanted to push, because I had so many cool cards of Greene that I wanted to see come back signed.  This 1997 Stadium Club Millennium card was one that I really was excited about when I picked it up from the LCS.  The card looks great; even better in person!

I liked the old Angels logo on the 98 Pinnacle Performers card.  It was in one of the boxes that Mom picked up for me last year.  This is a really cool-looking set, and I have a fer others from it that I want to get back.

Here is a 2006 Topps, as well, so I can add another tick mark on my tally for Topps sets.  I used to have a ton of 2006 Topps, but offloaded a ton when I was selling Topps base at card shows.

Finally, here is a 1997 Flair Showcase Wave of the Future that Greene signed.  It also turned out nicely, I think.  I got this at my LCS, as well.  During a prior trip through that box, though, I found a really cool David Arias (Ortiz) that I was able to sell for a nice profit.

Greene (b. 1971) played in the majors from 1996 to 2006 for the California and Anaheim Angels, Blue Jays, Yankees, Rangers, Rockies and Giants.  He had 397 hits, 71 home runs and a .252 batting average.

I first mailed to Greene on November 1, but he sent the cards back unsigned with no explanation.  I saw that some folks had gotten him after, so I tried again on January 11.  The cards came back on January 21, for a 10-day TAT.