TTM Success - Herschel Cobb

Some folks that I've talked to don't really care for getting autographs of descendants of former MLB greats.  I actually like reaching out to some and getting some cards signed.  This was the case of my TTM success from Herschel Cobb, grandson of Hall of Famer, Ty Cobb.  I was happy to get these three cards signed, but I was equally as happy to get the above card from the 2017 National signed by someone.

This Heritage Auctions card was part of the VIP pack from that National.  It is an oversized card, much like the size of the pre-1957 Topps offerings.  Cobb signed the card using Ty's fountain pen and green ink.  The ink bubbled a bit, but I don't care.  The card still looks cool.

I also got these two cards signed by Cobb.  The card on the right, a 2017 Topps Memorable Moments insert didn't really accept the ink at al.  You can see the faint remnants of the signature on the card.  It probably wasn't allowed to dry fully before it was put back in the return envelope.

The card on the left is a 1982 Donruss Diamond Kings and turned out to be the best of the bunch.  It is a nice card anyway, but looks really cool now that it has a signature on it.

Herschel Cobb is now 77 years old and wrote a book - Heart of a Tiger - Growing Up With Ty Cobb, which I need to pick up.

Ty Cobb (b. 1886 - d. 1961) could perhaps be the greatest baseball player that ever lived.  This, obviously, has been up for debate for quite a long time, but his career stats are among the top in each category.  He was one of the first five players to be inducted into the Hall of Fame (1936).  He had 4,189 hits, 117 home runs and a .366 batting average.  He was the MVP in 1911 and a 12-time batting champion.  Surprisingly, Cobb never won a World Series.  

Cobb was always known as a fierce competitor, and had his troubles on and off the field.  The book, Ty Cobb - A Terrible Beauty does a really good job debunking a lot of the urban legends regarding what we thought we knew about Cobb as a person.  The author of this book goes a long way in discrediting the well-known biography of Cobb by Al Stumpf.  Apparently, Stumpf fictionalized a lot of the accounts in his book to make a name for himself.

I mailed to Herschel Cobb on October 16 and got the cards back on October 28, for a 12-day TAT.  Cobb included a signed note and also an index card with Ty's signature stamp that Ty used in his lifetime.

Orioles Relics and Autos From The National

There are, by far, not all of the relic and auto cards I picked up at the National.  I hit some of the bargain bins pretty hard the whole time I was there and ended up with some really nice cards.  This 2017 Tribute Adam Jones patch was probably the best of the bargain bin finds.  Numbere 9/25, it has a 3-color patch that looks pretty great.

This Adam Jones relic was also pretty cool.  I was glad to find some of his stuff for cheap at the show, since I haven't added a lot to the Jones PC in a long time.  Jones has been with the club since 2008, and has begun to pass some Oriole legends in some of the all-time stat rankings.  I hope he can finish his career as an Oriole, but that remains to be seen.

I thought it was pretty odd to find a Manny Machado patch in a bargain box, but this one was in there.  Since I love Museum so much, I picked it up.  I don't remember what I spent, but it wasn't much at all, and I am pretty sure I got it in a bulk deal with some other stuff anyway.

Finally, I added this Bill Ripken certified auto from 2005 Leaf Century Collection.  The card is numbered 63/250.  I believe this is only the second Bill certified auto that I have been able to find.  The other being the Cal/Bill dual auto that Drew got for me a while back.

I looked at my stack of National finds today and realized that I am just about done posting about the show.  I'm not as far behind as I thought I was.  Maybe I can get the rest posted soon and move on to other things.

Graphing the Last Wood Ducks Regular Season Home Series

It has been a long Wood Ducks season, but as the calendar winds down, I have experienced the last home series of the 2017 Wood Ducks season.  This series was the only time that the Lynchburg Hillcats would visit Kinston, and I did my best to maximize my efforts while graphing.  I think by the end of the series, some of the players were tired of seeing us, but we were pleasant and friendly with them, nonetheless.

I took 50/50s from my friend, Gerard, and also picked up some cards to send out to my friend, Parker and his brother, since they are big Indians fans.  I had 4 of the above 2017 National Exclusive Bowman Chrome Triston McKenzie, and got them all done.  Parker, Hayden, my son Chris and I all will take one.

McKenzie was one of the nicest non-Wood Ducks that we met this season.  He graciously signed everything we had.  I talked with him each time he signed across the three days.  He pitched the first game of the series, and did really well.  The kid has a ton of talent, and I will enjoy seeing him progress through his career.  The purple Asia exclusive parallel isn't numbered.

I had a lot of different stuff of McKenzie. I really hope he of all people wasn't annoyed with us.  I knew we wouldn't see him again, as I have a feeling that he will rise very quickly through the Cleveland system.

Ka'Ai Tom was also really nice.  He helped me with the pronunciation of his name (pronounced Kuh-eye) and explained that the apostrophe in Hawaiian acts as a pause.  He was really cool, and I appreciated him signing for us and helping with my butchering of his name.  The purple Bowman Chrome refractor is numbered 147/250.

Between McKenzie and Argenis Angulo, I got two more cards signed from my 2017 Carolina League Top Prospects set.  I also added another 2010 Bowman USA card in that of Sean Brady.  He is almost unrecognizable with a full beard now.  Of course, he was 16 in this photo and that was a while ago.  The purple parallel (left) is not numbered and the blue (right) is numbered 67/199.

I got to say "Go O's" a few times to former Oriole, Kyle Hudson.  He also chatted with Chris and I about playing for Buck Showalter, and alongside Nolan Reimold.  Of course, he had great things to say about both guys.  This Hudson 2012 Topps Mini gold parallel is numbered 21/61.

I had picked up a few cards for this series off of COMC.  One of which was this Bowman Heritage card of Kevin Howard.  I really like how this card turned out.

I added a 2012 Topps from Hudson to my Topps Autograph Project.  The 2004 Howard is actually a Topps Rookies and Traded, so it won't count toward the 2004 base set.  The 2004 Bowman is actually a refractor, but the scan didn't pick it up.

Rigo Beltran was a really cool signer.  I had to walk across the stadium to the visiting bullpen to get him, but when I got there, I ended up chatting with him for about 15 minutes.  We talked about McKenzie's talent and then about former Frederick Key, Austin Hays, who is tearing it up in AA Bowie now.  Hearing Beltran's analysis of Hays was really cool, and I could talk to the guy about baseball all day long if I could.  I really hope to run into him again, as he was such a nice guy.

I did have a few Wood Ducks left over.  I almost missed recent call-up, Kyle Cody.  I had him in my 2017 Hickory set and also my 2017 South Atlantic League set.  He has been really good so far for the Wood Ducks and I don't think he will be in this league for long.  I imagine he will start next year for AA Frisco.

I finished up all of the 50/50s I had of Howard Johnson for my friend, Gerard.  I also knocked out a bunch of the ones I had remaining in my snap case.  I really appreciate how Howard has stopped and signed for us this season.

Johnson was a star when I first started watching baseball, so to have some conversations with him this season, and to get his autograph several times has really been awesome.  I plan on cutting back on getting him next season, as I really don't think there are any cards left of his that I don't have in my album.

I might possibly go to the Buies Creek game against the Wood Ducks next Saturday and graph one final time this season.  I am leaning heavily toward it, especially since Brett Martin is starting.

If I don't go, however, I will end today's graphing having had a grea time this season.  I enjoyed doing the 50/50s for my friends and helping others work on auto sets.  By my math, between the Orioles-Tides exhibition game to today's final home game, I have gotten at least 894 baseball cards signed.  I added up all of the numbers and was amazed by how many I had gotten done.  I, of course, had a lot of help and need to thank my wife, my son, my nephew, my brother Andy, Nikolas, Logan, Angela, Andrew, Max and Gavynn for helping me out this season.

2017 National Card Show - The Big Pickup

It seems that every year, I have one huge pickup from the National, and this year was no different.  I didn't stop at the 1955 Bowmans that I grabbed for the collection.  I had in my mind that if I could find a decent Hank Aaron rookie at a reasonable price, I would leave the show with one.

I priced Aarons the last few days of the show, and used my memo feature on my phone to log the table numbers where I saw each card and at what price.  I actually did this for several of the cards I ended up buying, and it made the chore of remembering where the heck I saw a card so much easier to manage.  I had also bought portable batteries for my phone in case I ran my charge down.  I was really smart about my phone usage on this trip, and it paid off that Sunday when I got a nice deal on this Aaron.

Yeah, the card isn't in mint condition, but neither are my Banks or Kaline rookies.  I could make a nice run at the 1954 set, now.  I might take a look at the bulk cards that I have and see if I can manage it, but in the meantime, I am just going to sit back and enjoy the fact that I finally have this awesome rookie in my collection.

2017 National Card Show - Chris Davis Pickups

Well, this 2017 Panini Diamond Kings Chris Davis Sketches Swatches relic auto looks a lot better in person.  My scanner didn't pick up the foil name at the bottom of the card.  Kind of weird looking scan, really, but it is such a nice card.  I actually have three of these, the other two in my 'to be blogged' pile.  I'm now officially way behind on posting again, woo hoo.

I picked up some nice Chris Davis cards at the National.  This 2017 Tier One relic auto numbered to 30 was a nice pickup.

This Panini Prime Cuts was really cheap, as well.  It also scanned a lot better than the other Panini card.

For unlicensed products, I do enjoy National Treasures.  This relic auto numbered to 25 was a nice, cheap pickup.

That was the good thing about being a Chris Davis fan at the show; I was able to pick all of these up, and not break the bank.

I think this was my third 2017 Museum Collection Davis that I was able to find.  I had scanned two others to be blogged, but I haven't gotten them posted yet.  I will, soon, though!

2017 National Card Show - Vintage Pickups

I picked up some nice vintage cards while I was at the National Card Show in Chicago.  I wanted to pick up some 1955 Bowman Hall of Famers.  The above Mickey Mantle was the prize of what I found at the show, and I got it for a great price.  With that pickup, I decided to try to find a couple other stars, and I feel like I did pretty well.

I liked this Hank Aaron, and picked it up on the final day of the show.  I picked up another Hank Aaron card, but I will have to show that another time.

Finally, I got a nice deal on this Willie Mays.  It is in really good shape.  I liked the price on it.  I went to get another 55 Bowman, but realized that I had blown my budjet, so I stopped with this card.

2017 National Card Show - Trey Mancini Autos

I realized when I got home from the National, I picked up a bunch of Trey Mancini autos!  I got most of them really cheap, with the exceptionof this 2016 Bowman purple refractor auto and the below graded 9.5 10 refractor auto.  I bought these two cards as "investments" and plan on getting the purple graded.  It is numbered 211/250 and should get a pretty decent grade.

This graded refractor auto is a pretty cool card.  I had some help in picking it up, as Anthony and Max showed this and the purple to me.  I made a deal for the both of them, and saved a good bit of money.

I got this 2017 Stadium Club auto from a guy named Parker at the Saturday trade night.  I traded him my Gleyber Torres Pro Debut red parallel numbered to 10 for this and $20.

I made a bulk deal for this 1/25 Mancini dual patch auto from Diamond Kings.  I got a nice discount on the whole lot that I purchased, but this card was the key to the deal.

I traded my Royce Lewis relic/auto to a kid named Griffin for this Mancini Bowman auto.  He is a Twins fan, so he was really excited to pick up the Lewis.

This was one of the last cards I picked up at the show.  I randomly asked a guy if he had any Mancini stuff, and he said that he had the "Bowmanized" inception for a great price.  I think this card looks so cool, so I picked it up.

Finally, this was my first purchase at the entire show.  I got this from a fellow Orioles fan, so I paid a bit of a premium for it, but I finally had an Inception auto from this year, after getting shut out on a few on Ebay.

2017 National Card Show - Trade Night Pickups

One of my favorite things from this year's National was that a fellow Instagrammer hosted trade nights at a neighboring hotel for a couple nights after the show.  We made it to trade night for Friday and Saturday nights.  At the trade nights, I was able to pick up a couple nice Trey Mancini autos from a couple folks that I'll show with the rest of the Mancini suff that I picked up.  I also was able to purchase two different Bowman's Best Riley Pint autos from a guy named Phil.  He had the Pint cards because he used to play against him in local ball, but was ok with letting them go for cheap.

I believe I picked up both Pint autos for a total of $30.  I was really happy with that, and will likely hold onto both of them as I follow Pint's career.  I have shuttered my Sonny Gray side PC, since he is a Yankee now, and am likely to sell off all of those cards.  It will be nice to transition to another player who isn't an Oriole.  It also helps that I have met Pint in person.

Another fellow Instagrammer made a point to seek me out at the trade night and work up a deal for me to land this Cal Ripken auto from Upper Deck Sweet Spot.  This is a rare Sweet Spot auto that didn't fade all to crap, but the surface of the card itself is pretty jacked up.  The trader (TimHudsonfan) made a great deal with Max for the card, and I then bought the card off of Max for cheap.

Remember the lady I spoke about who helped me with Ron Davis?  Well, I had told her about the trade nights, and her and her boys showed up on Saturday.  It turned out that her oldest son was someone I traded with on Instagram back when I was first getting started.  We worked out a deal for another Trey Mancini auto, along with this Mountcastle patch auto.  We also discussed a future 50/50 since both of the boys are Indians fans and I will be seeing Lynchburg soon.

I also met a fellow Instagrammer (santiagosportscards) who has been following me for a long time.  We discussed an orange parallel that I had gotten out of my box of Pro Debut.  I was just going to give it to him, but he insisted I take this Jonathan Schoop auto, as well.  He also had a gold refractor auto Schoop from 2014 Topps Chrome.  I almost walked out of the trade night with that card, but he said he didn't really want to sell it.  So, I told him that he should keep the card, but let me know if he ever wanted to move it.

Finally, I got this graded 1987 O Pee Chee Barry Bonds RC as a throw in to one of the deals that I made at the trade night.  I can't remember who I got it from, but I figured I would pick it up since it was a nice RC that I didn't have.  Also, since it was a throw in, I couldn't argue about the price!

So, I know that if I go next year, I will definitely make time for the trade nights, if they are being hosted.  I had a great time and left with some really cool stuff!

2017 National Card Show - The Rest of the Free VIP Signers

I'm really happy with the success I had at this year's National with the free VIP signers.  Last year, I gave up about halfway through the show since the lines were ridiculous.  This year, I did so much better, and even was pretty smart about getting some autos, instead of getting mentally defeated about it.

I had cards for every free baseball player, except for Ron Davis, but I was able to take care of that in line.  I used the free sessions to add some Topps cards to my ongoing project, like the above 1973 Topps Fritz Peterson.  He was really nice, like most of the free signers were this year.

I picked up this Scott Williamson from COMC right before I left for the show.  Luckily, the package got here in time, and the card turned out really nice.  I was in line for Peterson when Max came up wanting to chat.  Williamson's line was pretty short, so he volunteered to go through that line while I was waiting for Peterson.

Max hooked me up by using the two VIP vouchers that I had.  The 2004 Topps Chrome red parallel is the better of the two cards, but adding another 2001 Topps to the album was nice, too.

On Friday morning, Rico Petrocelli was signing right as VIPs were allowed in the show.  He was a free signer, and a voucher was not required for his signature.  Andrew and I got in early enough to where the line wasn't long at all.  Andrew had an extra VIP pass, so he was able to get the 1969 Topps (left) for me and a 1973 Topps signed for himself.  I had the 1968 in hand for quite a while since I had heard that Petrocelli would be signing.  He was very friendly and talked to the both of us.  The handler wasn't too happy letting Andrew get two cards signed, but let him with the two VIP passes.  I'm glad, because the 1969 is pretty beat p, and someone wrote on the back of the card, so I'm not sure what else I would have been able to do with it, short of leaving it in someone else's dime box had I not gotten it signed.

As much as I had wanted to get Vern Law signed in person, his line was taking way too long.  So,  I jumped over to Steve Trachsel's line so I could ensure that I would be able to use each voucher I had compiled for him.  Luckily, while I was in line for Trachsel, I was able to ask a lady who was in line for Law to take my voucher and card and get the card signed for me.  I have gotten him TTM, but since I had the 1966 Topps available, I figured I should go ahead and go for getting it signed.

I'm actually glad I went through Trachsel's line.  I had picked up this 2005 Topps Chrome black refractor off of COMC, and while in line, I was torn as to how it should be signed.  I knew for certain that I wanted it to be the primary card I got from him, so when I reached the handler and turned in the voucher, he took the card and marveled at it himself.  I asked him what color he would get on it, and he said gold would look amazing.  I agreed, and the results are awesome.  I'm really glad I listened to the guy.  Even Trachsel held up the card and took a long look at it.  I like it when you have something that makes the autograph subject stop and take notice.

I made a joke with Trachsel about the 2007 Topps.  I asked him if they didn't pay him enough to get him to smile.  He laughed and said that he had rolled out of bed 15 minutes before and was told that it was baseball card photo day.  I told him how it reminded me about when I had my student ID made for UNCC and had to walk around with that terrible photo for 6.5 years.  He asked me "doctor?" to which I replied, "No, geologist."  He and I shared a laugh, and I thanked him for signing for me.  I also was able to go back through his line with two wild cards and get the Topps Emotion and 1998 Topps Chrome signed.

I kept ending up with free vouchers for Ron Davis, and kept selling and trading them away.  Finally, I got a stack of vouchers from Max, and went ahead through Davis's line, after bumming a card off of a nice lady who was in front of me in Steve Trout's line (below).  She handed me a nice 1967 Topps that she had duplicates of and I went ahead through Davis's line.  Except, when I was in line and had the card in my hand, another collector took notice and informed me that I had the wrong Ron Davis.  Luckily, he was nice enough to give me his extra, the above 1980 Topps.  Still, I knew there was a nice lady getting ready to go through his line with the wrong card as well, so I asked around to a couple other guys and picked up a 1983 Donruss of him for free.  Then, I saw the lady in the other autograph line, flagged her down and passed the correct card (and the wrong one she had given me) to her.  We met up afterward, where she thanked me for taking care of the issue.  I would tell her about the trade night that was scheduled for that evening and ended up seeing her and her boys there later on.  It worked out great for everyone.

Steve Trout's line moved pretty quickly, once I got done with Ron Davis.  I got the two above 1987 Topps signed to push my total up for that set, but I did realize when I got home that Max had already given me a signed 1987 Topps (right) of Trout.  So, the one above will likely be in my next Instagram giveaway.

I had another 1987 Topps card that I traded to the lady in line for this 1983 Topps.  I used the three vouchers I had for Trout, and used up all of the cards I had for him.

I used a voucher and some wild cards on Pat Zachry, so I could get most of the cards I had of him signed.  I had given someone a 1985 Fleer of him, but they ended up giving it back to me after deciding not to go through his line.

Ron LeFlore was the last signer that I got, so I made sure to use as many wild cards as I could on him.  That made it possible to get this Hostess card that I got from Max signed.  I have gotten a few of them signed, and it makes me happy to see them scattered throughout my albums.  They came from one of my first trades with Max, so I like being able to see them again.

I used two vouchers to get the bottom two 1981 Topps LeFlores signed, and the VIP vouchers on the rest.

Since I knew I wouldn't be getting any other signers, I cashed out as many cards and wild cards as I could.  I ended up missing one 1981 Topps that had gotten put in the back of my snap case.  One of the extra 1983 Donruss cards will be part of my next Instagram giveaway as well.

Now that I am finally through the free signers, I can start getting into the actual pickups from the show.  I hope you all continue to stand by to see what I picked up.