TTM Success - Jason Botts

These Jason Botts cards hung out in my boxes for a super long time.  Way back when I got back into collecting, which was around 2005, I used to pull all rookie cards and drop them in a box.  Years later, I'd go through the box and pull guys who were doing pretty well (this helped me save a couple Trout rookies at the time, the Topps Update got sold immediately, pretty dumb of me) and the rest would just kind of stay in that box forever.  The above 2007 UD Spectrum, while not a rookie, found its way into that box.

The above 2006 Bowman Chrome and 2006 Topps Opening Day also were held in the rookies box.  I kept seeing the cards during searches through the box and I finally saw that I could try to get Botts to sign TTM.  The cards came back after being out for quite a while, and all of them look great.

Botts (b. 1980) played in the majors from 2005 to 2008 for the Rangers.  He had 65 hits, 5 home runs and a .230 batting average.

I mailed to Botts on March 3 and got the cards back on November 20, for a 262-day TAT.

Christmas Gift From Ryu

I got a package in the mail that was waiting for me to open the day after Christmas.  It was among 3 packages that were there, this one being from my good friend, Ryu.  Inside the package was a nice note from him, and this 2007 UD Spectrum Miguel Tejada patch card.  The card is numbered 47/50.

I was a fan of Tejada when he was first signed as an Oriole; and he had several good seasons for them, but then I kind of soured on him toward the end of his deal.  He seemed really pouty at times, and was pretty much the star on some terrible Orioles teams.  Add into it that he was named in the Mitchell report a day after he was traded away to the Astros, and also the ESPN interview where they surprised him with his real birth certificate (making him 2 years older than he was listed).  I actually felt really bad for Tejada at that moment.  I forgave him for a lot of things during that interview, and really began to sour on ESPN themselves.  Just my opinion, though.

All of that being said, I have two Tejada cards that I cherish.  One was given to me by an old friend, and this one given to me by my buddy, Ryu.  It is a beautiful card with a really nice patch.  We all know how I love patches.

Thank you so much, Ryu!