TTM Success - Damion Easley

So, this one definitely took a while.  I had forgotten about all of the cool cards that I sent TTM to Damion Easley, so when this one finally made its way back to me, I was really excited to see the cards that fell out of the envelope.

I actually robbed this 1994 Pinnacle from a set my mom had started to put together back in 1994.  She gave me the album at one point, and I saw this Easley in there when I was just about to send to him.  I'm actually glad I pulled from the set, because this card looks spectacular, and will be a really cool addition to my autograph album.  Thanks Mom!

I also got a Pacific Crown Royale signed (top, crown shaped card) which looks pretty cool.  The 1993 Flair beneath it also is very sharp.

I love the old 1994 Finest design (left).  It turned out great.  I also added a 1998 Topps because I love the dirt shot of the card.  Those are some nice shots on cards, when you get a good portion of the card taken up by the dirt.  Those have always been some of my favorites.

Easley (b. 1969) played in the majors from 1992 to 2008 for the Angels, Tigers, Devil Rays, Marlins, Diamondbacks and Mets.  He had 1,386 hits, 163 home runs and a .253 batting average.  He was an All Star in 1998, and was also a Silver Slugger Award winner that season.

I mailed to Easley on February 13, 2017 and got the cards back on October 31, 2019, for a 990-day TAT.

TTM Success - Craig Paquette

It took two tries, but I got a TTM success from Craig Paquette.  I had been wanting to get him for a long time, but kept putting it off.  When I finally sent to him, I picked the wrong address.  I don't know how that happened, but when the envelope came back RTS and I checked the webpages, I wanted to headbutt my wall.  Anyway, I tried again, and was successful.

I had a bunch of Paquette's cards, but had to narrow it down to four.  I had to add the ProCards AAA (at the top) to the binder.  I also need more 1994 Topps in the binder, so this one was an easy choice.

Finally, I liked the 1994 Pinnacle and Pinnacle Museum so I included both of those.  The Pinnacle Museum actually came out of an album that my mom gave me, so it was nice to get that one signed.

Paquette (b. 1969) played in the majors from 1993 to 2003 for the A's, Royals, Mets, Cardinals and Tigers.  He had 620 hits, 99 home runs and a .239 batting average.

I mailed to Paquette on March 13 and got the cards back on March 24, for an 11-day TAT.

TTM Success - Mike Stanley

A six-card return from Mike Stanley might be one of the more exciting TTM successes that I have had come in.  I used some really nice parallels and sets from the mid-90s for this success and was surprised at how nice they all turned out.

The above 1999 Flair Showcase might be one of the best-looking cards that I have sent out.  I had seen a few of these in a box at my LCS and was excited to see that Stanley signed TTM so I could try to get this one in my album.  The card looks so much better in person, but scanned pretty nicely as well.  This card had to be pre-treated with an eraser and it looks to have done the job.

Here are two other cards from the mid-90s that I was excited to add.  The card on the left is a 96 Finest.  This is another card that I used the eraser on.  Both the Finest and the Flair Showcase were actually some of the first cards I used an eraser with and they really turned out great.  I'm still learning about pre-treating the super slick cards like Chrome and Finest, but the returns have been pretty good so far.

The card on the right is a 1994 Pinnacle Museum Collection, my second such success from this parallel set.  These cards are really great when signed, and I have a couple more pending.

A 1997 Pinnacle on the right, I have a lot more of these cards than I had originally thought.  I think I got a lot of them from repack boxes and stuff, but they seem to have been pretty persistent in my random boxes and now TTM searches.  Also, I had to make sure I added a Topps card of Stanley, so I picked the 1988 shown on the right.  It also turned out really nice.

Finally, here is a 1999 Fleer Tradition to round out the success.  The card is a lot simpler than the others and was a good way to sum up the success.  I don't believe I had gotten any of these signed prior to this one, but I think I may include a few more in the future.  This is a sharp-looking card and autographs well.

Stanley (b. 1963) played in the majors from 1986 to 2000 for the Rangers, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and A's.  He had 1,138 hits, 187 home runs and a .270 batting average.  He was a Silver Slugger in 1993 where he also finished 13th in the AL MVP voting for the Yankees.  He was also an All Star in 1995.  Over 20 games played in the playoffs, Stanley hit .356, but appeared to be in the right place at the wrong time, leaving the Yankees following the 1995 season, returning in 1997, then moving back to the Red Sox.  He just missed the Yankees World Series teams of 1996 and 1998-2000.

I mailed to Stanley on November 8 and got the cards back on December 8, for a 30-day TAT.

TTM Success - Danny Darwin

I really enjoy it when a player who had a long career will sign TTM.  It is even better when they will sign multiple cards.  This is the case with Danny Darwin.  I had so many cards of his to choose from, I had to leave out a ton.  I was able to, however, make a nice mix of cards from his career and they all came back looking great.

I found the above 1994 Pinnacle Museum Collection at my LCS and since I knew I was going to send to Darwin, I picked it up.  It was the first card of his that I pulled when I started getting my request together.  The card came back looking great.  Even if it was the only card I got back, it would have been worth it.

Luckily, I got back everything that I sent (all 7 cards).  I found the 1983 Fleer (left) in a box of old Fleer cards that Mom picked up for me.  The 1991 Fleer (right) came out of a bunch of packs that Chris and I busted a couple weeks ago.  Those packs had been residing in my closet forever, so we finally decided to open them.  Now, at least one of the cards will be part of my TTM/IP auto album.

I had opened a ton of these 1994 Leaf way back when they had come out.  Unfortunately, most of what I had from back then melded together, as is the case for a lot of mid-90s junk wax.  The gloss on the cards melts if the cards are stored in a hot location (attic) and the cards get sealed together in some sort of a brick, suitable for kindling.  My mom found a box of cards that had a bunch of the 1994 Leaf, so I decided to send this one along so that the Leaf set was represented in the album.

Finally, I sent a few Topps cards along from my boxes so that I could add some tick marks to different Topps sets for my Topps Autograph Project (which is coming along nicely, I may add).  The above 1988 Topps looks great, and that set has really grown on me as one of the better ones to get signed.

Darwin's choice of a blue Sharpie really pops with these two specimens.  The 1982 (left) and 1985 (right) Topps really look nice.  Pair that with the cool, retro Rangers jerseys, and I ended up with an awesome TTM success!

Darwin (b. 1955) played in the majors from 1978 to 1998 for the Rangers, Brewers, Astros, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Pirates, White Sox and Giants.  He had a career record of 171-182 with 1,942 strike outs and an ERA of 3.84.  He played in the majors for 21 seasons and never appeared in a playoff game and also never appeared on any Cy Young or MVP ballots.  He did appear on the 2004 Hall of Fame ballot, but did not receive any votes.

I mailed to Darwin on November 7 and got the cards back on November 15, for an 8-day TAT.

TTM Success - Jay Bell

Yesterday, a ton of TTMs came rolling in, after not receiving many this past week.  Now, with no mail today, I might be able to catch up a little bit.  Maybe not.  Anyway, I was really happy with this TTM success from Jay Bell.  I was able to get some great cards signed, a few of which I picked up at my LCS.

The above 1994 Pinnacle might be my favorite of the bunch, and I believe it either came from one of the boxes Mom got me, or it may even be from my original childhood collection.  I don't remember, but regardless, it is a great shot.  Horizontal cards always look best when signed, and this one does as well.  The action shot helps also!

I'm pretty sure that these two Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion cards came from my LCS, I believe.  They are from 1998 and 1999 and both look really cool.  I was out of the hobby when these came out, but I think I would have really enjoyed opening packs of this had I stuck around.

Finally, here is a 1997 Bowman.  I guess this is Bowman Chrome, but it is more foil than chrome, so I don't really know.  The card looks great, though.  I'm really happy I found this at the LCS and was able to get it signed.

Bell (b. 1965) played in the majors from 1986 to 2003 for the Indians, Pirates, Royals, Diamondbacks and Mets.  He had 1,963 hits, 195 home runs and a .265 batting average.  He was a two-time All Star, was a Silver Slugger Award winner and Gold Glove Award winner.  He finished as high as 12th in the NL MVP voting (1991) and won the World Series with the Diamondbacks in 2001.  He appeared on the 2009 Hall of Fame ballot and received 0.4% of the vote.

I mailed to Bell on October 24 and got the cards back yesterday for a 17-day TAT.