TTM Success - Jason Johnson

Initially, I was really excited to get these cards back signed from Jason Johnson.  That is, until I posted them on my Instagram and had someone comment saying that they were ghost signed.  I took a look at certified autos of Johnson and they do appear different that certified autos of his.

That's not to say that he didn't rush the signatures or that he signed cards differently than he signs balls and photos.  I probably have a few other subjects who may have ghost signed, but I don't know for certain.  Ghost signed means that someone else signed them on Johnson's behalf (maybe an agent, or his wife).

Still, these cards were sent to an address listed for a Jason Johnson, and they came back signed.  I will treat them as such and still will put them in my album.

These two cards were the ones I was most excited about.  Especially the 2015 Topps Pride and Perseverance.  It is a really cool card that talks about Johnson's use of an insulin pump while he pitched.

Johnson (b. 1973) played in the majors from 1997 to 2006 and 2008 for the Pirates, Devil Rays, Orioles, Tigers, Indians, Red Sox, Reds and Dodgers.  He had a career record of 56-100 with an ERA of 4.99 and 810 strike outs.

The Orioles picked Johnson up in 1999 in a trade with the Devil Rays for former Orioles prospect, Danny Clyburn.

I mailed the cards to Johnson on January 2 and got the cards back on January 13, for an 11-day TAT.

Julie Sends the First Holiday Package of the Year

I got my first holiday care package of the season in the other day from Julie.  She writes the fantastic blog "A Cracked Bat".  She was nice enough to include some really good cards.  The above Zach Britton relic from 2015 Topps Update was a nice addition to the collection.  The Orioles were kind of a middling team this past season,  but they still had 4 all stars.  Not bad!

I need to see if the other All Stars have relics.  Those would be nice cards to pick up.

Julie included this base auto from 2015 Chrome of Christian Walker.  I need to try to get the color parallels of Walker's 2015 autos, but that is something I will do later on.  Walker is a good player, but I would be completely ok with him playing this season at AAA Norfolk.  Especially if that means that Chris Davis will be coming back.  Come on guys, sign the man!

Finally, Julie sent me this really nice insert from 2015 Topps of Jason Johnson.  Johnson doesn't have a whole lot of cards these days.  He is significant for me because he was the first ever player I got an auto of IP.  He was really nice at the time, and I always hoped that he would pitch well for the O's.

Thank you so much for the care package, Julie!  I really appreciate it!

March 30, 2012 Bargain Bin Pack Pickups

No mail again, so I went to the Kinston card shop to pick up this week's Prime 9 card (Ernie Banks) and bought a bunch of loose cards and bargain bin packs.  Lots of junk wax in the bargain bin, but they are always fun to open.

I bought two packs of 1989 Donruss for 50 cents and the highlight of both packs was this Randy Johnson RC.  The good thing about 1989 Donruss is that it is a decent looking set and has a bunch of future HOF rookie cards in it.  Not bad at all.  The Big Unit looks a little annoyed that someone was taking his picture.  Oh well, 300+ wins and 4,000+ strikeouts later, he is bound for Cooperstown.

I got a pack of 1992 Topps Stadium Club for 75 cents and pulled this Matt Williams.  A very good player in his day, Williams was always a big pull for us when we were growing up.  He now coaches on the DIamondbacks.

 Finally, I got a pack of 2004 Topps Total for $1.  I didn't pull anything of note, really, except for this Jason Johnson.  My wife and I met Johnson back in 2001 and he was a really nice guy.  He was my first in person MLB auto.  Not too bad.  I still have mine, my wife's ball has faded.

So, I didn't do all that bad considering I spent less than 3 bucks on the packs.  I'm going to go through the other cards from the packs and sort them out to my regular trade partners.  I hope I get to the loose cards I bought in the next few days, but we'll see.  I hope they get preempted by some good mail tomorrow.  That would be nice.