TTM Success - Roger Craig

I got a really cool TTM success from former manager, Roger Craig.  I really liked this 1992 Topps with the throwback jerseys.  This is actually the card that made me want to send to Craig.  I just think the retro jersey is really cool.

I didn't think about it at the time, but I also sent these two cards, a 1962 and a 1987.  When they came back signed, I realized that I had the same guy signed on a 1962 and 1987 Topps.  I think this is really cool, side-by-side.

Finally, I got this 1986 Topps signed as well.  These cards always look cool when scanned.  Craig signed for a $5 fee per card, and this was $20 well spent.

Carig (b. 1930) played in the majors from 1955 to 1966 for the Dodgers (Brooklyn and LA), he was an Original Met, and played for the Cardinals, Reds and Phillies.  He had a career record of 74-98 with 803 strike outs and an ERA of 3.83.

Craig was a graduate of NC State University and was born in Durham, NC.  He managed in the majors for the Padres in 1978 and 1979, then the Giants from 1985 to 1992.  He led the Giants to the NL Pennant in 1989 and to the infamous earthquake World Series that season.

I mailed to Craig on May 3 and got the cards back on May 12, for a 9-day TAT.

Two Days of Graphing the Wood Ducks and a Walk Off Grand Slam

I had a really productive weekend this weekend with two Down East Wood Ducks games.  I had bought a few lots of cards off of Ebay to replenish some of the players that I had gotten already this season.  I also needed some cards of a few guys that I didn't have before.  I got this really sweet 2013 Bowman red ice parallel of Ducks coach, Jeremy Moore really cheap.  I had a few conversations with Moore this weekend.  He is always friendly with us, and has been willing to sign whatever we have had.  That is always nice, when you are standing there waiting for the game to start.

I hadn't really looked for any Buies Creek players until my friend, Sam, messaged me the night before last, asking if I was planning on getting Kyle Tucker's auto.  Luckily enough, I had three of his cards in my 2017 Bowman box.  Tucker was really nice.  He signed a ball for us, and the three cards that I had.

 This was the third card that I had.  I don't know if I will be able to get the other two guys or not, but it still looks cool with Tucker's auto on it.  Chris and I actually arrived to the part too early (I thought I saw that Saturday's game was at 4, but it was really at 6), but we were able to get Tucker when he got off of the Astros team bus.  It worked out fortuitously.  In the time that Chris and I were waiting for the gates to open, we took a few laps around the stadium and found a baseball in the empty lot behind the stadium.  I don't know if it was a home run ball from the night before or a BP ball, but it was still really cool to find one.

We spoke with Tucker inside the stadium as well, and he posed for a photo.  I printed out the photo today and he signed it this afternoon for Chris.

I bought bulk lots of cards of Jeremy Moore and Josh Morgan.  Both of them are really generous with their signatures, so all told, I picked up 7 signed 2013 Bowman and one 2013 Bowman Chrome from Moore (not to mention the Bowman Ice at the top of the page) and 10 Josh Morgan signatures on 2014 Bowman.  I plan on sending the extras out to friends who have helped me get autographs in the past, so adding the bulk cards will really help out.

 I also added two more signatures on the Hickory Crawdads cards that I picked up early in the season.  If it weren't so expensive to buy the sets, I would pick up a couple more.

I ran into a few familiar faces this weekend.  One guy was graphing next to me was someone I see at the Raleigh card shows all the time.  He was nice enough to give me a blank Brett Adcock card for me to get signed in exchange for me getting an extra for him.  I had no problem with that, as we worked together to get autographs Saturday, making easy on each other.  I see a lot of folks treating graphing as a competition, but I like it a lot better when the folks out there are working together.  There's no sense in being a jerk about getting autographs.  Don't ruin the hobby for others.

I was able to get some more cards signed by Wood Ducks manager, Howard Johnson.  He is usually really busy as he is coming out of the clubhouse, but he has always stopped for us.  I have enjoyed getting all of these different cards signed.  This 1986 Fleer turned out really nice.  It really matches the Mets color scheme.  I did ask Johnson today the $100,000 question.  He did not have any relation to the old Howard Johnson hotel chain, even though their color scheme was very close to that of the Mets.  He did mention that he wished he had done something with them in the past, as it would have been pretty cool.

My wife was a real trooper this weekend.  She was tired from work yesterday, so Chris and I went by ourselves to the game last night.  She met us at the park today (she passes by it on her way home from work) and spent Mother's Day with us there.  She was able to "run" the bases with Chris (they actually walked them) after today's game.  She also got in free this afternoon.  She stood with us today and got this card signed for me.

Chris also helped get autographs for me, and also some for himself.  He really wanted the Flair card (bottom left), so that one is going into his collection.  He hasn't come in here yet to tell me which other cards he wants, but I plan on at least giving him the 1986 Topps as well.

Luckily, Chris got the 1989 Fleer signed.  That one is going to a graphing friend of mine who is building that set.  We have worked out a deal for it, and I imagine it will be shipped out soon.

Like I said before, Josh Morgan is really generous with his time and his signature.  I think because he always has stopped and talked to Chris and I at games, I will be starting a PC of him.  I also want to get some more of his shimmer cards like the one above and get them signed.  They look so great.  This one, I got off of Ebay for around $4, and it is numbered 29/50.  I really want to get the orange parallel, but have missed out on it so far.

Finally, the Wood Ducks won today's game and snapped a 6-game losing streak.  They won the game in grand fashion (pun intended) when Morgan launched a grand slam to beat the Astros 10-6.  It was the first time I have seen a walk off grand slam live.  I called the shot to my friend, Jacob.  I think it was really awesome that Morgan was kind enough to inscribe this card with "walk-off grand slam".  I had given Jacob my remaining Morgan cards, but he was nice enough to give me this 2017 Bowman Chrome.  This card will definitely look awesome in my album!

I am not too sure when I will be graphing the Wood Ducks next.  I am taking some 50/50s now for a few friends, especially my good friend, Gerard.  He has a package on the way containing a few guys that he needs, and he will be returning the favor by getting me some Pawtucket Red Sox.

Stay tuned next week for what is going to hopefully be my next graphing recap, of the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

TTM Success - Frank Lary

One of the last guys I sent to following the February card show finally came through TTM for me with his success from Frank Lary.  I had bought a number of vintage cards at that show to send out, with the focus on 1955 Bowman.  The Bowman came back looking really nice, as can be seen above.

The pink 1958 Topps aren't the best version from that set, but they still turn out nice.  I also love the old Tigers logo.

Here are two cards that I added from my vintage box.  I'm surprised that I can still put my vintage cards in a box, since I have robbed from it so much for TTMs.  The 1964 Topps is especially nice.  The 1963 is a bit beat up, but most of my 63s are for some reason.

Lary (b. 1930) played in the majors from 1954 to 1965 for the Tigers, Mets, Braves and and White Sox.  He had a career record of 128-116 with 1,099 strike outs and an ERA of 3.49.  He won 20 or more games twice in his career, with 1963 being his best season.  He won 23 games that year, finished 3rd in the AL Cy Young Award voting and 7th in the AL MVP voting.  He was also named to his second All Star team that year (his other prior nod was the year before).

I mailed to Lary on February 13 and got the cards back on May 11, for an 87-day TAT.

TTM Success - Nick Green

This TTM success was really nice due to the more recent cards that is entailed, and that two of them were horizontal cards that turned out really well.  The above 2005 Topps Update was a nice card to get back from Nick Green, but I would have much rather it have been a base Topps instead of an Update.  I don't consider Update cards when I count cards toward my Topps Autograph Project.  Still. it is a nice card, and looks even better now that it is signed.

Here are the two horizontal cards that I got signed.  The 2009 Heritage High Number card turned out great.  I love the 1960 design, and this one really looks good.  I never had a problem with Upper Deck's last issue of cards, 2010, and Green's card looks great when signed.  You don't even notice that you can't see logos.

Green (b. 1978) played in the majors from 2004 to 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013.  He had 254 hits, 17 home runs and a .236 batting average.

I mailed to Green on February 27 and got the cards back on May 8, for a 70-day TAT.

TTM Success - Larry Haney

Here's a pretty cool TTM success that I waited quite a while to return.  Larry Haney is a former Oriole, which puts him on the priority list for TTM, but he also was a Seattle Pilot, so I definitely wanted to get his autograph on some cards.  The cards that I sent were all really cool cards, starting with the above 1981 The Franchise 66 Orioles.  I have no idea where I got this card, but it is the only one of these that I own, so it is a nice piece to add to the autograph album.  The post on the card looks awfully familiar...

A lot of folks complain about some instances where Topps recycles photos, etc.  I don't necessarily mind it, because it kind of adds some nuances to sets.  Take the two cards above.  The one on the left is a 1969 Topps, the one on the right is a 1968.  Haney wasn't a "switch catcher", the photos are reversed.  I thought this was really cool, and it was an accident that I had these two cards to get signed.  It just worked out that way.

Finally, here is a really cool action shot of Haney on a 1975 Topps.  I like all of the colors on this card, which makes it stand out.  Also, there are a lot of empty seats in that stadium.

Haney (b. 1942) played in the majors from 1966 to 1970 and 1972 to 1978 for the Orioles, Pilots, A's, Cardinals and Brewers.  He had 198 hits, 12 home runs and a .215 batting average.  He was a member of the 1966 Orioles and 1972-74 A's, all of which won the World Series, but his only appearance in the Fall Classic was for two games in 1974.

I mailed to Haney on November 15 and got the cards back on May 8, for a 174-day TAT.

TTM Success - Tuffy Rhodes

Ok, I was late to the party on this one.  I didn't make the connection between Karl Rhodes and Tuffy Rhodes until just recently.  I had seen his cards and that he signed, but had no idea that Karl and Tuffy were one in the same.  I got two nice Topps cards signed, the above 1991 and 1995.  They turned out really nice.

I had these other cards of Rhodes that I had found.  The 1994 Score Gold Rush was the card that got me started on him.  I was also able to knock off a 1990 CMC AAA from Mom's attic box.

Rhodes (b. 1968) played in the majors from 1990 to 1995 for the Astros, Cubs and Red Sox.  He had 132 hits, 13 home runs and a .224 batting average.  The story doesn't end there.  Rhodes turned himself into a prodigious power hitter in Japan, and hit 464 home runs.  He played in Japan for 13 seasons and hit 40 or more home runs in 7 of the 13 seasons.

Rhodes began playing professionally in 1986 at the age of 17.  He played until 2009, missing the 2006 season.  Over his 23 professional seasons, Rhodes had 2,863 hits, 531 home runs and .280 batting average.  I wish I had made the connection sooner; I would have been much more excited when I got the cards back.  After reading all of his stats, I'm sitting here and thinking - WOW!

I mailed to Rhodes on January 26 and got the cards back on May 7, for a 100-day TAT.

TTM Success - Pete Redfern

I got a nice little run of Topps cards signed TTM by former pitcher, Pete Redfern.  I had been collating his cards for a few months, since I got my bulk 1981 Topps in.  I completed what I had planned to send following the February card show and sent everything along.

I always enjoy getting a run of Topps cards together and putting them next to one another.  This is the reason why I had so much fun with my Topps autograph project.  I still am keeping track of how many cards of each year are coming in.  If you want to check it out, there is a link on my wishlist page to my google docs spreadsheet.

Redfern (b. 1954) played in the majors from 1976 to 1982 for the Twins.  He had a career record of 42-48 with 426 strike outs and an ERA of 4.54.

I mailed to Redfern on April 25 and got the cards back on May 3, for an 8-day TAT.