More 2025 50-50s and 2026 Cubs Convention Autos From Max

My buddy Max took another box of cards from me and converted a lot of them into signed cards I could add to my autograph album. One highlight was the above Topps Archives signed by Fergie Jenkins. This is a great card. There aren't enough modern sets using the 1957 Topps design. I wish they had done a Heritage Minors set with this design.

Here are cards sigbed by Cody Acshe, Quentin Berry, Trevor Cahill, Travis Chapman, Garrett Cooper, Noah Davis, Ryan Dempster and Jim Deshaies. I thought I had these Topps cards signed by Cahill and Dempster, but I didn't, so that was nice.

These are signed by Kyle Freeland, Jason Hammel, Mike Harkey, Starling Heredia and Jaden Hill. I had sent my Hill cards to someone for a 50/50 a while back, and everything came back signed, except for a Chrome, so that puts it in the album. I was alsi happy to see a 2015 Topps Jason Hammel (middle) and it looks great.

Here are Alex Jacob, Reed Johnson, John Lannan, Ted Lilly, German Marquez, Jack Neely. Those Neelys add some 2025 Topps to the album. I thought I had gotten John Lannan before, but I suppose I was wrong because I was unable to find any.

Now we see Riley Martin, Colin Rea, Mike Remlinger, Ethan Roberts, Jackson Rutledge and Matt Szczur. I sent every Szczur card I ever owned to Max at various points in time. It was nice to get one back signed for the album. Szczur is one of Max's all-time favorite guys, so I know it was tough to part with. He knows it went to a good home.

Here are Anthony Senzatella, Ryan Sweeney, Ezequiel Tovar and James Triantos. A 2007 Upper Deck Artifacts Sweeney at the bottom left really pops. Also that blue 2007 Bowman right beside it looks awesome.

Here are Victor Vodnik, Randy Wells and Jaxon Wiggins. I saw that I had a few more Wiggins in my box, so I'll have to send a few more his way to refill his stock.

Reed Johnson, Shawon Dunston, Hoby Milner, Drew Romo and Jim Palmer are in this bunch. That 1992 Topps Gold Dunston is pretty great. It would have been cool to have been able to get Don Sutton on the card with Palmer, but it was not meant to be.

Finally here are Cubs team cards signed by Justin Grimm and Gavin Hollowell.  

Thank you so much, as always, Max. I'm sorry it took me so long to get these scanned. I have another smaller stack he sent afterward that need to be scanned. I hope to knock those out soon.

Christmas Gift From Michael

Slowly, I am catching up on posts for Christmas, at least.  I know I have said that the last few posts, but I do feel like I am on the home stretch for the Christmas stuff that I received.  One of the biggest packages I got was from my friend, Michael.  He filled up a box with autographed stuff, and a few other items.

He gave me signed baseballs of Orioles 2016 #1 draft pick, Cody Sedlock, former pitcher Jason Berken, former O's coach, Jim Presley and also a balled Michael signed himself.  He also included an 8 x 10 of former closer Chris Ray, and an Orioles giveaway hat.

Michael also gave me this really nice bat that he signed and inscribed using a gold paint pen (I think it is a paint pen; it looks bolder than a sharpie).  The bat is really nice (and really heavy).  Had Michael not signed and inscribed it, I would be tempted to take a few swings with it in the batting cages.  Its a really sweet bat!

Finally, Michael sent along four signed baseball cards.  The Geovany Soto 2009 Topps is only the second 2009 Topps I have in the collection.  I have a ton of 1981 Topps, but you can never go wrong with adding a Hall of Famer.  Michael also has a relationship with Orioles prospect, Adrian Marin, so he was able to get the two bottom cards signed for me.

Thank you so much for the awesome gift(s), Michael!  You always go above and beyond, and it is definitely appreciated!

Cubs Convention Autos From Max

My good friend, Max, has been instrumental in helping me add autographs to my album, ever since I started it last year.  He and I have an arrangement when it comes to cards, sort of a 50/50 deal.  He gives me lists of players he plans on meeting, and I hook him up with cards.  He always sends me some back, so I don't charge him for the cards or shipping.  It is a kind of perpetual deal we have going, and I love it.  He always gets me some nice stuff, and this year from Cubs Convention, Max really hit a home run!

This year was a lot easier when Max sent his list.  I had already sorted all of my Topps cards by year, so I was able to figure out which boxes to look through pretty quickly, and what used to take me a few days only took me a few hours this time.  I was also able to get Max some guys for Sox Fest (White Sox) just as easily.

I had just gotten a box of my old cards from Mom, so I had a bunch of these Pro Cards minor league cards of Dave Otto available for Max.  I was really happy to get one of them back, since it had resided in my parents' attic for so long.

Chris Bosio is on a perpetual list of guys I send to Max whenever I find him, since he is a Cubs coach.  I can't count how many I have sent him, but I was really glad he sent me the 1994 Score No Hitter card, and a 1987 Topps.  The Todd Walkers were really nice as well, since I didn't have very many 1999 Topps in my collection.  I specifically asked Max to send me the 1999 Upper Deck, since I distinctly remember passing it over in my boxes for a long time, and now have finally been able to send it off and put it to use.

I was able to get another 2014 Topps and a few 1998s from Max. The 1998s are hard to read when scanned, to the top one is Jim Bullinger and the bottom two are Glendon Rusch and Brian McRae.

Finally, here are the last two autos, a 1992 and a 1979.  I sent Max a nice Cardenal, but he was in a Cubs jersey and part of our agreement is that Max gets to keep his choosing of guys in Cubs uniforms.  The same goes for me if the guy is in an O's uniform.

I really wish more people would be as easy to deal with as Max is.  I would be a lot more receptive to digging through my boxes if that were the case.  It helps me to make room for stuff, and gets me a few autos on the side.  I guess I can't expect everyone to be as awesome as Max is, though, because he truly is one in a million, as far as friends goes.

Thank you so much for picking these up for me at Cubs Convention, Max!

Partial Christmas Gift From Max

I have made a lot of friends in this hobby, from the day in October 2006 when I started helping out at the former card shop in Winston-Salem, to when I started this blog in November 2008 to when I joined the Instagram card community in November of 2013.  One of the friends that count among the best of the best is my good friend, Max.  He and I have been trading for a long time now, and hung out at the National this past summer.  We text and skype almost every day.  He is an amazing person, whom I can't imagine being without.

Max sent me what he says was half of my Christmas gift.  The above Fergie Jenkis ball was something he picked up in person about a month ago for me, so I used it as an opportunity to upgrade the ball that I had.  Mine was one of my original TTM successes, but was on a China ball with a bad pen, so it has faded quite a bit.

This one looks so much better and is on an OMLB ball.  Definitely an upgrade!

Max knew someone who was doing some "graphing" recently, and was able to take every Bob Milacki card that I could find and turned them into autos.  Max and I 50/50'ed the cards and here are a few of the notable ones.

I love 1989 Topps's design, so I had to show this one.  It looks really cool signed.  I need to get myself into more TTMs on cards, because I feel like TTM autos give some of the 80s-90s cards new life, so to speak.

Speaking of 80s-90s cards, here is a nice signed 1989 Donruss, followed by the below 1990 Donruss.

In all, Max sent me 9 Milacki signed cards.  Not bad at all!  I'm really happy with them, and they will go into my TTM binder.

Max also included some signed cards by other former Orioles.  This 2012 Robert Andino is a nice one.

I was surprised last year to see that Adam Loewen popped back up in the majors in the Phillies pitching staff.  I guess his left arm is feeling better now after taking a few years off from pitching and playing as a position player.

Finally, this really cool Xavier Avery auto on a 2012 Topps.  Avery is back with the Orioles as a minor league signing.  He will try to break camp with the O's in Spring Training.  I feel like he is outfield depth at AAA, but not a bad deal on a milb contract.

So, thank you so much for the awesome package, Max.  As always, I appreciate it!

April 7, 2012 Card Show - 1969 Topps

At last weekend's card show, I picked up 6 cards for my 1969 set.  I got the below Hank Aaron for a mere $20.  It is SHARP!  I was amazed that the guy was wanting only $20 for it, so I had to jump all over it.

The Aaron is definitely a sweet card.  I got a few other Hall of Famers as well, such as the below Harmon Killebrew:

This Fergie Jenkins:

And This Walter Alston:

I didn't knock off near as many 1969s as I did '59s, but it was because I found all of the 1959s first and then didn't have time to look for '69s.  I plan on adding more at the May show, which will be here before you know it.

I still have a long way to go for both sets, so hopefully I will be able to get on the ball so to speak and knock them out.  I know there are some expensive cards still to come, both Mantles for sure.

Some More Sportlots Pickups

I was bored the other night, so I checked out Sportlots and knocked a few more cards off of my want list for 1970 and 1971 Topps...

I knocked 4 high numbers off of my 1970 Topps set.  One of which is the above Frank Lucchesi.  I'm winding down on this set, but all that are left are high numbers.  This is still going to take a while, but it is nice to begin seeing a light at the end of the tunnel...

I knocked off 10 more 1971 Topps.  A few were the leaders cards like the NL Batting leaders card above featuring Rico Carty, Joe Torre and Manny Sanguillen.

Spaceman, spin the black circle...  Ahhh, Bill "Spaceman" Lee's crazy a$$.  Have you ever seen him on Ken Burns' Baseball?  Yeah, I think he is completely nuts, but he is always fun to listen to when he gives interviews.

3 Hall of Famers on this NL Strikeout Leaders card.  Not too bad, if you ask me.

Ooh, look, 3 more Hall of Famers, I did pretty well, plus I also knocked off 7 1963 Fleer for a friend of mine who is completing that set, so all in all, it was a good mail day for me.

TTM Success - Fergie Jenkins

I got home on Tuesday to another TTM success - Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins. He charges a $25.00 fee, so I sent a check along with this ball in hopes that I could get his signature. Jenkins didn't disappoint; the auto looks great! I mailed to him on May 7, 2011 and got the ball back on May 17 - making him a 10-day TAT. Not too bad! Mostly known as a Cub, Jenkins began his career as a member of the Phillies in 1965. He was then traded to the Cubs in 1966 and played there until moving on to Texas and Boston followed by returning to the Cubs before calling it a career. Jenkins went 24-13 for the Cubs in 1971, earning the 1971 NL Cy Young Award. He went 25-12 for Texas in 1974 and finished second in the Cy Young voting that year to Oakland's Catfish Hunter. Jenkins was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1991 on 75.4% (his 3rd time on the ballot). With Gaylord Perry, I have 2 of the 3 inductees from that year; needing Rod Carew to complete the 1991 Ballot. Jenkins is my 28th Hall of Famer and my 16th TTM success.