Another TTM Success From Justin Masterson

Here are a few cards of Justin Masterson that I got out of my boxes and sent TTM.  I had gotten him on quite a few cards before.  The above 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom is a really nice card.  I busted a couple boxes of this back then but had very little extra to try for TTMs.  I've now got this one in the autograph album, so all good there.

Here are a 2014 Donruss, 2010 Bowman and 2008 Bowman Chrome that I also had pulled for Masterson.  I'm out of his cards now, and that's fine.

I mailed to Masterson on December 3 abd got the cards back on April 2 for a 120-day TAT.

TTM Success - Gary Matthews Jr.

I was really excited when this TTM success from Gary Matthews, Jr. came in because I wasn't sure that it would.  I had to ask a friend for his Harvey book, because Matthews's address wasn't shown anywhere.  The address he hoked me up with worked, and I got a few really cool cards to show for it.

The above 2007 Turkey Red Chrome was my favorite of the bunch.  I prepped the card before I mailed, and that really made it pop.  Matthews has a nice auto that shows up really well on this card.

The Ticket To Stardom (left) card will be a first for my autograph album.  It looks really nice.  That wasn't the greatest of all sets, but it also wasn't terrible either.  I also don't have many cards from that set left over, so this may end up being the only one that gets signed for my album.

Matthews (b. 1974) played in the majors from 1999 to 2010 for the Padres, Cubs, Pirates, Mets, Orioles, Rangers and Angels.  He had 1,056 hits, 108 home runs and a .257 batting average.  He was an All Star in 2006, a season where he also finished 30th in the AL MVP voting.  For some reason, the Angels signed him to a 5-year, $50 million contract after the 2006 season, and Matthews didn't really live up to it.  At that time, the Angels must have had money to burn.  Nothing against Matthews, but that contract was crazy from the beginning.

I mailed to Matthews on February 5 and got the cards back on October 18, for a 255-day TAT.

Questionable COMC Pickup - 2009 Ticket To Stardom Chris Davis

I sold a Jake Marisnick auto that I had on my COMC page for $18.00 during the Black Friday weekend sale.  One of the cards I got took a big chunk out of the store credit and with what was left over, I picked up this 2009 Topps Ticket To Stardom ticket card of Chris Davis.  Pretty sweet, right? I thought so.  I do think the card is cool, but when I originally bought it, I thought it was a piece of the ticket to the game where Davis made his MLB debut.  Wouldn't that be awesome.

I was ready to blog about this card, so I got on Davis's baseball-reference page and looked up his MLB debut.  June 26, 2008, not May 30, 2008.  I was disappointed, to say the least.

Take a look at the back of the card.  For those who may not be able to read the back, it says: "Congratulations, you have received an authentic ticket stub of Chris Davis from 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom Baseball..."

What, exactly, does this ticket stub have to do with Chris Davis?  If there are any Rangers fans (P. A., Judson) who can help me out with this, I'd appreciate it.

I don't want to slam the card, it's damn cool, but I just think it's odd to have a random ticket stub from a random game that the player didn't even play in.  It would have been amazing if I had gotten the one from his MLB debut (and at the $4.00 price I paid).  Oh well, I do like the card, and I'm adding it to my Davis PC.  I guess I'll need to see if there are ones from his debut.

Cards From Andrew - In Person Package

I have had this team bag of cards on my desk for a while now.  Two months, almost.  Andrew handed me these cards upon our meeting in person this summer, and I have been waiting to post the cards, for no apparent reason, except to have something to talk about on a rainy day.  Well, it is raining, and I figured I have waited long enough, so here we go.

Both of the cards I am showing come from 2009, and I hadn't noticed before, but the 2009 O Pee Chee card is actually from a game between the Rangers and Orioles, before Orange Crush was sent to Baltimore.  It's a small world.

The O Pee Chee set was forgettable, like O Pee Chee offerings always are.  Not a bad looking card, really.  It's just, I don't know, O Pee Chee.  Cool thing is, I didn't have it in my collection, and as always, Andrew hooked me up.

Another forgotten set was Topps Ticket to Stardom.  I actually liked Ticket to Stardom when it came out.  I opened quite a few packs and pulled a few nice autos, even an auto and piece of ticket for some player (can't remember who it was, but I held onto it).

Thanks for the cards, Andrew!  As always, I appreciate it, and I almost have a package ready for you.