TTM Success - Rob Natal

Never give up hope. These cards had been sent out TTM to Rob Natal for over 6 years.  They finally came back the other day, and look great.  I was going for some old Marlins uniforms, and had picked out some good cards like the above 1993 Stadium Club. 

I also sent off a 1993 Donruss, 1993 Fleer and a 1995 Topps.

Natal (b. 1965) played in the majors from 1992 to 1997 for the Expos and Marlins.  He had 57 hits, 4 home runs and a .197 batting average.

I mailed to Natal on September 20, 2017, and got the cards back on December 9, 2023, for a 2,271-day TAT.

TTM Success - Sherman Obando

Here is a nice TTM success that saw me get my Japanese card that my good friend, Ryan, gave me signed.  I had this Sherman Obando Japanese card in my Orioles box for a long time, and finally checked to see if he signed, and found out that he did.  So, I sent the card out, along with the below 1993 Stadium Club.  Both cards turned out great, and I have rescued the Japanese card from my box and put it in a better spot in the autograph album.

Obando (b. 1970) played in the majors in 1993 and from 1995 to 1997 for the Orioles and Expos.  He had 85 hits, 13 home runs and a .239 batting average.

I mailed to Obando on October 15 and got the cards back on December 9, for a 55-day TAT.

2021 National Free Signer - Brian McRae

Brian McRae was one of the few free signers at the National this year who I hadn't gotten TTM, or at past Nationals.  He was pretty nice, and I had to ask him about his dad, Hal McRae.  I have needed Hal for my 87 set, but have struck out so far.  Brian said his dad doesn't sign much, and I left it at that.

The above 1993 Stadium Club turned out great.  When I had only one voucher, this was the card that I absolutely wanted to get signed.  It turned out really well, and I was able to find a few more vouchers, so I got some other cards signed as well.

I believe I am out of McRae cards in my boxes, now that I got all of these done.  I could be (and probably am) wrong, however.  He signed a 1991 Fleer, 1992 Pinnacle, 1991 Upper Deck and a 1992 Donruss.

Finally, I got this 1995 Leaf signed.  These cards were some of my favorites to open in the parking lot of the card shop back then with my mom.  They turn out really well when signed, and the set had some really great inserts.  The only drawback was that they, like most 90s cards, were over-glossed and tend to stick together and become bricked after a while.  Don't store your cards in an attic, boys and girls.

McRae (b. 1967) played in the majors from 1990 to 1999 for the Royals, Cubs, Mets, Rockies and Blue Jays.  He had 1,336 hits, 103 home runs and a .261 batting average.

Another TTM Success From Cris Carpenter

I had these two Marlins cards of former pitcher, Cris Carpenter, and I wanted to get them in my autograph album.  I enjoy the bright colors of the early Marlins uniforms, so I thought these both would look great in my album.  The above card is a 1993 Team Stadium Club, which turned out really well.

Carpenter also signed a 1993 Topps.  He actually signed two of them, so I sent the extra off to my good friend, Dugan, who is a Marlins super collector.

I mailed to Carpenter on October 23 and got the cards back on November 2, for a 10-day TAT.

TTM Success - Jerry Browne

It is obvious that there really is no rhyme or reason to who I mail to and what cards I send.  The exceptions, however, are 1987 Topps cards and Orioles.  Still, one could say that my lack of a pattern is a pattern.  Really, what I look for, in the simplest of terms, is for cards that I think will look cool when signed.

That being said, I really enjoyed the 1995 Score set, and wanted to get a few of those cards in my autograph album.  When I saw that Jerry Brown signed TTM, I pulled the above 1995 Score, and went through my boxes for other cards to send along with it.  I had a bunch of Browne's stuff, so I sent 5 cards out to be signed.

Of his Topps issues, I sent out the above 1992 and 1993 Topps.  Both turned out really well.

I also sent out the above 1992 Upper Deck and 1993 Stadium Club.  These also look great.

Browne (b. 1966) played in the majors from 1986 to 1995 for the Rangers, Indians, A's and Marlins.  He had 866 hits, 23 home runs and a .271 batting average.

I mailed to Browne on April 21 and got the cards back on May 1, for a 10-day TAT.

TTM Success - Darrell Whitmore

I added some cool mid-90s cards to my album with this TTM success from Darrell Whitmore.  I sat on the cards for quite a while, then finally got around to sending to him.

The cards turned out really well, and he even kept my 1995 Topps.  I really like the early Marlins teal; those helmets/hats really stand out.

Whitmore (b. 1968) played in the majors from 1993 to 1995 for the Marlins.  He had 67 hits, 5 home runs and a .203 batting average.

I mailed to Whitmore on September 23 and got the cards back on October 4, for an 11-day TAT.

TTM Success - Eddie Zosky

Here is another one of those guys who kind of hung out in my card box for a long time until I finally got around to sending TTM.  I like this 1990 ProCards AAA that was in an old attic box from Mom.

I also sent out a 1992 Topps, 1993 Topps and a 1993 Stadium Club.  All turned out really well.

Zosky (b. 1968) played in the majors in 1991, 1992, 1995, 1999 and 2000 for the Blue Jays, Marlins, Brewers and Astros.  He had 8 hits, no home runs and a .160 batting average.

I mailed to Zosky on January 2 and got the cards back on March 11, for a 68-day TAT.

TTM Success - Jeff Juden

I moved some cards out of my TTM box when this success came in from Jeff Juden.  I had his cards set aside for a long time, and finally got them in the mail.  They came back looking really nice.

I sent his 1990 Topps and 1993 Topps, along with the 1998 Score, to go with the 1993 Stadium Club at the top of the page.

Juden (b. 1971) played in the majors in 1990 and from 1993 to 1999 for the Astros, Phillies, Giants, Expos, Indians, Brewers, Angels and Yankees.  He had a career record of 27-32 with 441 strike outs and a 4.81 ERA.

I mailed to Juden on October 22 and got the cards back on December 11, for a 50-day TAT.

TTM Success - Donn Pall

Donn Pall was a player who had been in my box probably since I first put it together and organized it for TTMs.  For whatever reason, I kept bypassing him and kept sending to other players, when I finally decided to get his cards out in the mail.  The above 1993 Topps Stadium Club White Sox was a unique card in the box that I really wanted to send.  In the end, I have no idea what took me so long, but here we are with a success.

The only drawback to the success was that this card, the one I really wanted to see come back, was damaged in transit.  It is hard to see from the scan, but the bottom left corner took a major hit.  It will be forever protected in my binder from here on out, but I hate that it got damaged in the first place.  I have been lucky that my hundreds of cards come back safely, so I can't complain too much.

I sent off four Topps cards, a 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1993.  The 1992 is hard to see the signature in person, but the scan picked it up.

Finally, here is a 1990 Fleer.  I had a big box of these somewhere, but can't seem to find them.  These are really clean cards and look great when signed.  I think the box is shoved under a bed somewhere, so I hope to find them sometime.

Pall (b. 1962) played in the majors from 1988 to 1994 and 1996 to 1998 for the White Sox, Phillies, Yankees, Cubs and Marlins.  He had a career record of 24-23 with 278 strike outs and a 3.63 ERA.

I mailed to Pall on January 8 and got the cards back on February 15, for a 38-day TAT.

TTM Success - Archi Cianfrocco

I added a few 90s cards to my autograph album with this success from Archi Cianfrocco.  The above 1993 Upper Deck SP turned out really nicely, with Cianfrocco's autograph.  I don't recall that I have any of these SPs in my album, and I really don't know where this one came from, but it looks good.

Here are the other cards that I had signed, all from 1993.  I have his 1993 Stadium Club, 1993 Topps and a 1993 Donruss.  It is always nice to see the old Montreal Expos jerseys and logos on cards, so I was glad to get these signed.

Cianfrocco (b. 1966) played in the majors from 1992 to 1998 for the Expos and Padres.  He had 308 hits, 34 home runs and a .241 batting average.

I mailed to him on January 8 and got the cards back on February 14, for a 37-day TAT.

TTM Success - Pat Listach

I had met Pat Listach back in 2011 when I saw the Pirates play the Cubs at PNC park with my cousin, Andreas.  I got him to sign a ball back then.  I'm not quite sure which cabinet the ball is in now, but I'm sure it is buried under a bunch of other signed baseballs.  Listach was actually one of the first players that I set aside for TTM purposes, then for whatever reason, I waited to send to him,  I kept collating cards of his, and kept seeing him pop up when I would search for someone to send to.  I finally got around to sending to him a few weeks ago; I sent to him via the Tacoma Rainiers (which is why I waited so long to send to him).  I sent four pretty awesome cards, and got this one 1993 Stadium Club back.  I guess of all of the cards for him to send back, this one was the coolest, with the over-exposure.  It turned out really nice.

Listac (b. 1967) played in the majors from 1992 to 1997 for the Brewers and Astros.  He had 444 hits, 5 home runs and a .251 batting average.  He was the 1992 Rookie of the Year for the AL, and finished 18th in the MVP voting that season.

I mailed to Listach on April 7 and got the card back on April 17, for a 10-day TAT.

TTM Success - Zane Smith

There are a lot of things I like about guys who sign huge lots of cards.  One of them is that I get a nice variety in my return, and aother is that when I finally get around to posting the cards, my 'to be blogged' stack goes down more.

This TTM success from Zane Smith was a long time in the making.  I kept meaning to send to him, but other stuff kept getting put in front of his cards.  By the time I did send to him, I had a huge stack of cards to choose from because I kept pulling every card of hims that I saw.

This 1995 Collector's Choice SE is probably my favorite of the bunch.  The blue borders are really nice, and paired with the Pirates yellow, the card is pretty sharp.

Here is the requisite assortment of Topps cards.  The bottom right is actually a 1995 Topps Rookies and Traded that I pulled out of a $1.00 pack I found at the Raleigh card show right before I mailed to Smith.  I had to add in the 1987, of course, and I included the 1992 and 1993 because I don't have many versions of those in the album compared to other Topps sets.  The 1995 beat out Smith's rookie card from 1986 since I had a bunch of that set signed already by other players.

Finally, here are two horizontal Smiths from 1991 and 1993 Stadium Club to round out the success.  When you want a nice signed card, Stadium Club is always a great choice.  Both of these turned out great.  Smith has a really nice signature, and these two really showcase it.

Smith (b. 1960) played in the majors from 1984 to 1996 for the Braves, Expos, Pirates and Red Sox.  He had a career record of 100-115 with 1,011 strike outs and an ERA of 3.74.

I mailed to Smith on February 20 and got the cards back on February 27, for a 7-day TAT.

TTM Success - Ozzie Canseco

I was able to add a cool TTM success of a player who I remember had a lot of hype, but didn't really pan out that way.  Ozzie Canseco, twin brother of Jose, came into the league with expectations that he would be a huge slugger.  He didn't last too long in the league, but he still creates a bit of a novelty, as far as cards go.  When I found out that he signs TTM, I had to send off a couple cards.

Canseco (b. 1964) played in the majors in 1990, 1992 and 1993 for the A's and Cardinals.  He had 13 hits, no home runs (Jose hogged them all) and a .200 batting average.

I mailed to Canseco on April 18 and got the cards back on May 5, for a 17-day TAT.

Surprise Care Package From Adam K.

As my TTM success have been piling up (I got 10 successes yesterday, alone), I have also gotten a few care packages and trades in.  Adam K., who writes the blog "Infield Fly Rule" was nice enough to send me a care package of 90s Orioles.  The stack was pretty big, but I chose the above Fernando Valenzuela to show off.  A lot of people forget that Valenzuela pitched for the O's at the end of his career.  While it was a forgettable season for him, it still is pretty cool that he was an Oriole.

Thanks so much for the care package, Adam!  I appreciate it!