TTM Success - Jason Kubel

Jason Kubel is a guy who I could have sworn that I had sent to TTM before. It turns out, I hadn't. I already had this post titled "Another TTM Success From Jason Kubel". When I was adding tags, I saw that his name didn't pop up. Hmm. Well, here we go. I added Kubel to the autograph album when these two cards came back signed. The above 2005 Flair Showcase is a relic from my days at the former card shop in Winston-Salem. I opened a bunch of these, but offloaded much of what I had at card shows back then.

I also got this 2012 Topps signed. It also turned out great.

Kubel (b. 1982) played in the majors in 2004 and from 2006 to 2014 for the Twins, Diamondbacks and Indians. He had 913 hits, 140 home runs and a .262 batting average. He finished 24th in the 2009 AL MVP voting.

I mailed to Kubel on December 5 and got the cards back on January 26, for a 52-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Jim Johnson

Another former Oriole was available for a private signing recently when Jim Johnson popped up.  I don't believe I had gotten him before, so I signed up.  I dug this 2012 Topps out of my Orioles box.  It turned out nicely.

Johnson (b. 1983) played in the majors from 2006 to 2018 for the Orioles, A's, Tigers, Braves and Dodgers.  He had a record of 38-46 with 531 strike outs and a 3.79 ERA.  He led the league in saves in 2012 and 2013.  He was an All Star in 2012.  That season he finished 7th in the AL Cy Young Award voting and 14th in the AL MVP race. 

I mailed to the signing on March 21 and got the card back on May 6 for a 46-day TAT.  I paid a $20.00 fee.

Another Care Package From Drake

My friend Drake sent me another scare package recently.  He sent me some really nice cards, some of which I'd never have been able to get myself.  The above 2019 Bowman of Ryan Costello is a really nice autograph.  Costello passed away a few years ago while playing in Australia; I never got to see him play.  My buddy Jackson was on that tour of Australia when Costello passed, along with former Wood Ducks manager, Steven Mintz.

In this batch of cards, Drake sent signed cards of Anthony Vizcaya, Brandon Winokur, Tanner Hall, Charlee Soto, Jaime Ferrer, Billy Amick, Byron Chourio and Kaelen Culpepper.  Drake gets down to Fort Myers at times and helped me by taking a 50/50 of some Twins prospects.  I don't think the Byron Chourio was originally mine.  I don't remember having a blue parallel, so it may have been part of the gift Drake paired with sending back my 50/50s.

Here are signed cards of Joshua Baez, Zach Levenson, Triston Casas, Ed Howard, Alex Binelas, Brett Baty, Ezequiel Pagan and Bobby Wahl.  I do know that the pink Joshua Baez was mine.  Drake saw Springfield and got some cards signed for me there.  The rest are extras he had gotten in the past.

Here are Thomas Jones, Justin Lavey, Hunter Mink, Blake Loubier, Kyle Gaedele and Sam Coonrod.  Drake is close to one of the Frontier League teams and also can see a few teams in the American Association.  He took some Sam Coonrod cards for me, along with a couple Kyle Gaedele.

These are a few landscape-oriented cards of Sam Coonrod and Brandon Winokur.  I know these are a few that I sent for 50/50s.

Drake also sent cards like this Jose Rondon 2015 Bowman Chrome mini purple shimmer.  He said that someone owed him cards and finally paid up.  He sent me some of the extras from that deal, I believe.

Finally, Drake sent some great surprises in the package like CC Sabathia, Allen Craig, Desmond Jennings, Miguel Olivo, WIll Venable, Tyler Glasnow, Marcus Thames and Carlos Rodon.  All of these are guys I wouldn't normally get to see.  I did see Typer Glasnow back when he was on rehab in Durham.  The Sabathia was a definite surprise.

Drake hooks me up more often than not.  I really appreciate the autographs and look forward to the next care package.  Thanks so much, Drake!

Another TTM Success From Chris Volstad

Back in 2019, I got a TTM success from Chros Volstad on several cards.  I finally sent to him again once I picked up a 2006 Greensboro Grasshoppers team set.  Volstad was in the set, and the card looked really nice.  It looks even better now that it is signed.  I bought one of the sets for my friend, Michael as well, since Orioles manager, Brandon Hyde is also in there. Hopefully Michael can get that card signed.

I found these other cards of Volstad when I sent.  I had forgotten that I got him back in 2019, so the 2009 Allen and Ginter is a duplicate, except the previous one he signed was in black. The 2012 Topps turned out well, also.

I mailed to Volstad on May 24 and got the cards back on August 12, for an 80-day TAT.

June 6, 2024, Graphing of the Long Island Ducks at High Point Rockers

The past few days have been a whirlwind.  Chris's graduation from high school was on Saturday, and we had planned a trip to High Point on Friday to see Pablo Sandoval. I had PDOs to burn, so I went ahead and took both Thursday and Friday off to prep for the trip.  We had some family stuff happen earlier in the week with my grandma, along with Chris getting off of work on both Thursday and Friday, so we went ahead and went up Thursday morning. I prepped some cards for the Long Island Ducks in case we could get by there Thursday night after sitting with Grandma for a bit.  We got to High Point and absolutely racked Long Island.

I was excited to see Wei-Yin Chen again; I had gotten him on a baseball a while back, but never on a card (as far as I can remember).

Another player I was excited to see was Josh James.  I had him pulled a while back, then missed him.  He was with Memphis earlier this year but was repeased before i could get him.  He had been elusive until after Thursday's game.  He signed everything Chris and I had as he was leaving the dugout.

It had rained off and on during the game, resulting in two rain delays.

I was glad to get Mike Montgomery because i had tracked him with a radar gun in Kinston back in 2009.  He was really nice and did two per for Chris and I.

Chance Sisco was another player I had wanted to get for a while, and finally cleaned out all of the cards I had pulled of him. 

I had gotten Ryan McBroom TTM a while back, but he signed my 2020 Topps in black. I upgraded that card with this one in blue.  I also cleaned out all of my Lew Ford cards, along with all of the Ford cards that Max sent me.

I split all of the Fords between Max and I.  I hope he likes the ones I sent him. 

My Wei-Yin Chen cards look cool signed in Mandarin Chinese.  I cleaned out some old cards when I pulled my Daniel Corcino and Hector Gomez cards. I also found an Ivan Castillo card at the last minute and was able to get it out of the box.

I had pulled a bunch of Alexi Casilla cards to try him TTM a few years ago.  I never got around to dropping those cards in the mail, but I knew exactly where to find them.  He signed everything we brought with us; another player who cleaned us out.

Finally, as we were walking out of the stadium, we ran into Colin Moran.  He was good for one per, so I got the 2013 Donruss Elite Extra Edition signed, while Chris got my 2022 Topps Heritage done.  Moran was the only High Point Rocker that we went for, so we wouldn't miss the Ducks guys that we needed.

In all, we got the following autographs: Colin Moran x 2, Alexi Casilla x 17, Ivan Castillo x 3, Wei-Yin Chen x 4, Daniel Corcino x 1, Lew Ford x 16, Hector Gomez x 3, Josh James x 16, Ryan McBroom x 3, Mike Montgomery x 4 and Chance Sisco x 9 (78 total autographs). 

Some Autographs From Aidan

My friend Aidan took some cards from me for the Cape Cod league to get signed this summer.  He sent me back a few signed Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Aidan got a few Saltalamacchias done and also sent me back some other random cards like the above 2017 Update Jacob Faria and the 1988 Donruss Jose Mesa.

All of the cards loom great.  Thank you so much for the autographs, Aidan!

TTM Success - Brent Lillibridge

Here is a nice TTM autograph I got on a 2012 Topps from Brent Lillibridge.  I had to wait almost a year for it, but it finally came back.

Lillibridge (b. 1983) played in the majors from 2008 to 2013 for the Braves, White Sox, Red Sox, Indians, Cubs and Yankees.  He had 145 hits, 19 home runs and a .205 batting average.

I mailed to Lillibridge on November 10, 2022, and got the card back on September 12, 2023, for a 306-day TAT.

TTM Success - Tommy Milone

This blue sparkle parallel from 2013 Topps on Tommy Milone is a card that I really wanted to add to my autograph album.  It took a while, but I was able to get it signed TTM, and it looks cool.

I also got a 2010 Topps Pro Debut and a 2012 Topps signed.  The Pro Debut is nice to see done because I've had it for so long.

Milone (b. 1987) has played in the majors since 2011 for the Nationals, A's, Twins, Brewers, Mets, Mariners, Orioles, Braves and Blue Jays.  He has a record of 53-53 with 713 strike outs and a 4.58 ERA.

I mailed to Milone on February 23 via Mariners Spring Training and got the cards back on September 5, for a 194-day TAT.

TTM Success - Jeff Karstens

Here is another TTM success that I got on some cards that took me a while to send out. I had this 2009 Topps Gold parallel of Jeff Karstens that I wanted to get signed, and finally dropped it in the mail.  The card turned out well.

I also sent off a 2006 Topps Rookie 52 and a 2012 Topps. 

Karsten (b. 1982) played in the majors from 2006 to 2012 for the Yankees and Pirates.  He had a record of 26-40 with 330 strike outs and a 4.44 ERA.

I mailed to Karstens on March 8 and got the cards back on April 17, for a 40-day TAT.  

Autographs From Max - Some Cubs and Rangers

The partnership with my awesome friend, Max, and I has helped me move a lot of cards out of my boxes and has helped me add some cool stuff to my autograph albums.  Max is the person who really helped push me toward concentrating on signed cards, as opposed to baseballs.  Now, I have something like 18 full albums of signed cards, which is kind of crazy.

I had this 2021 Bowman Chrome ray wave refractor of Ed Howard for a while, and Max finally got it signed for me.  I had sent it off to someone else for a 50/50, but it came back unsigned.  I am glad it is finally done.

Max took some Rangers guys from me recently, and hit it big on a few of them.  I believe he is cleaned out on Ian Kennedy, so I am going to help provide some more to him in short order.  He also helped me add Jon Gray and Josh Smith to the autograph album.

I was glad to get a few of these "mojo" refractors signed, since I had a bunch of them.  The silver pack Dane Dunning 1986 Topps chrome turned out pretty great, as well.

Here are a couple nice Cubs cards that Max got signed for me.  The top one is Justin Steele and the bottom one is Miles Mastrobuoni.

Finally, Max got a Cole Ragans card signed for me.  I had a bunch of his cards hoarded, since I thought he was going to come through the Wood Ducks.  He skipped Kinston, so I missed out completely.

Thanks for getting these signed for me, Max, I really appreciate it!

Matt F With 50-50 Returns

There should be a bunch of 50/50 returns coming in soon now that .inor league seasons are wrapping up. I'm glad that I'm getting a handle on my posts, because that means a ton of cards are headed back (hopefully).

A friend of mine from Instagram (Matt F) took some 50/50s last season and this year, we expanded further and sent out a ton of stuff to each other. Matt may have gotten me the most out of everything I sent to everyone, as far as 50/50s go. I had pulled these Joe Boyle cards when I busted 2020 Bowman Draft and had hoped I could send them TTM. It's never able to fi d a good address for him, but got lucky when I saw that Matt could take him.  The cards look awesome and now I don't have to worry about getting them signed.

Parker Meadows was another guy I had held cards for TTM, but sent them to Matt, instead. I'm glad he got these done for me, as well.

I love getting random cards out of my boxes and sent out for TTMs and 50/50s.  I've become a bit of a hoarder, as far as cards go, and making room for new stuff is always good.  I kept running into the 2015 Heritage Chi Chi Gonzalez in my box, so it was nice to finally get it signed and into my album.  I was also tired of seeing these two James Marinans in the Bowman boxes, and now they're done, as well.

Matt really hooked me up with some guys this season, and it is really appreciated.  I moved a bunch of recent Bowman stuff out of my box.

Matt's home minor league team was Dayton, but I ust found out that he moved. I'm hoping he can take 50/50s next season, since he does so well with getting my stuff signed. It is going to be tough not being able to knock out Dayton guys as easily as I had with Matt. I guess I'll have to find someone else who sees them.

Matt hit me up on a bunch of the coaches for Dayton and some other guys from that league.  He also sent me a few extra autos he had, as I had done with him. 

He was able to get Bryan LaHair for me on a few cards, which was great.  I was also glad to move a few Jimmy Jones out of my Topps boxes.

Finally, Matt got a couple Juan Samuel cards signed for me.  He had gotten a little difficult the last couple of years, as far as signing his mail.  I think I opted for a private signing to ensure that I got my 1987 Topps Phillies leaders card signed; I should have waited. Thing is, had I have waited, he may not have signed for Matt.

Thanks so much for getting all of these cards signed for me, Matt.

TTM Success - Zach McAllister

Here are a couple cards that I got back signed TTM that floated around my box for a long time.  Someone somewhere offered to get Zach McAllister 50/50 for me, but they weren't able to in the end.  Then, I couldn't find the above 2007 Bowman Sterling for the longest time. Finally, I found a working address and sent these two cards out.  I'm glad they finally came back. 

McAllister (b. 1987) played in the majors from 2011 to 2018 for the Indians and Tigers.  He had a record of 29-35 with 542 strike outs and a 4.09 ERA.

I mailed to McAllister on November 16 and got the cards back on March 3, for a 107-day TAT. 

Some Juan Uribe Signed Cards From Max

Max hit me up recently for an assortment of former and current players to find in my boxes for upcoming signings.  One of them was Juan Uribe.  I found him a bunch of cards, and he sent me a few back for my efforts, which I always appreciate.

In return, I got the 2015 Topps Update at the top of the post, and the above 2012 Topps and 2013 Topps Update.

Uribe (b. 1979) played in the majors from 2001 to 2016 for the Rockies, White Sox, Giants, Dodgers, Braves, Mets and Indians.  He had 1,568 hits, 199 home runs and a .255 batting average.  He won the World Series in 2005 with the White Sox and in 2010 with the Giants.

I love doing these player card searches for Max, and I'd like to take on a few more from some other folks, so that may be something that ends up happening.  Thanks, Max!

Some Awesome IP Autos From Billy

When the Down East Wood Ducks held their first exhibition game against Mount Olive College, the second person I met at Grainger Stadium (the first being my friend, Scott) was a guy I knew for a long time as the "Pickle Man."  He always wore a Mount Olive Pickles hat, which is why I referred to him as such.  After graphing together for a while, I struck up a friendship with Billy.  He has been coming to Grainger Stadium for quite a while, and I marvel at the players that he saw come through Kinston.

Recently, we decided to trade some autographs that we had gotten in the past, and he brought a small stack of cards today.  Telling me I could keep them all, I was blown away at what was in the stack after he said was a "20-minute search through his boxes..."  Amazing.  Obviously, the card that really got me was the above 1992 Topps Manny Ramirez.  I know Manny came through Kinston back in the day, but here is an early autograph, before Manny was Manny.

The hits kept coming, an Adrian Gonzalez, Tom Glavine, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jake Arrieta.  All of these guys were amazing finds in the stack.

I liked this Jose Constanza because it is just a really cool auto.  It looks similar to some other guys I've seen.

It just amazes me to think of all of the guys that Billy has seen come through as he has graphed ove the years.  I believe he told me he has gotten autographs in Kinston since the 70s.  He also told me that he used to be a popcorn vendor there, which must have been a sight!

A lot of these guys are players that I have heard of over time.  I would love to get a chance to really dig into his albums and boxes to see all of the stuff he has gotten signed over the years.  It also makes me think of just how others could be amazed at the stuff I've gotten signed over my short time graphing.

These 2001 SAL Top Prospects cards were also really cool.  I like these old team sets, especially when you are able to see whatever stadium is in the background.

Thank you so much for the cards, Billy.  Most importantly, though, thank you for the camaraderie over the last several years at the games.  Like I said earlier today at the game, this is fun and all, but it is so much more fun when you can go to the games and have someone to enjoy it with.  I'm glad we have gotten close, and I look forward to many more games and experiences together.