TTM Success - Steve Soderstrom

Here are a couple nice 90s cards of Steve Soderstrom that I found in my boxes and sent out TTM. The above 1994 Upper Deck Top Prospects insert was a nice find in the boxes. I remember when 1994 Upper Deck came out, it was all the rage, especially the Electric Diamond parallels.

This 1997 Bowman also turned out nicely.

Soderstrom (b. 1972) played in the majors in 1996 for the Giants. He had a record of 2-0 with 9 strike outs and a 5.27 ERA.

I mailed to Soderstrom on February 25 and got the cards back on March 20, for a 23-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Ryan Hancock

Here is a different type of prospect card that came back signed recently. I just showed a 1992 Stadium Club; this is a 1994 Upper Deck Top Prospects card signed by Ryan Hancock.  These cards are foil and also don't scan too well.  The auto is hard to see on the scan, but looks good in person. 

Hancock (b. 1971) was a 2nd round pick by the Angels in the 1993 June Amateur Draft out of BYU.

He played in the majors in 1996 for the Angels.  He went 4-1 with 19 strike outs and a 7.48 ERA.

I mailed to Hancock on October 9 and got the card back on October 25 for a 16-day TAT. 

Another TTM Success From Charlie Hough

A pass through the.bulk 70s Topps box brought the above Charlie Hough rookie to my attention.  I sent to him way back in 2016 among my first TTMs that I had sent.  I figured it was time to send again, so I put the 72 in the mail with the below Marlins cards.

You can never go wrong with early Marlins stuff.  I love their old uniforms, so I was happy to add the above 1993 Stadium Club (left) and 1994 Upper Deck (right).  Both of these are really cool.

I mailed to Hough on November 16 and got the cards back on December 8, for a 22-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Jose Vizcaino

This TTM success from Jose Vizcaino took a while to come in, but when it finally did, the results were great.  The above 1994 Upper Deck looks awesome.

He got two 94 Upper Deck cards; I guess it was because he switched teams.  That one looks nice, also.  The signature doesn't show up as nicely on the 1996 Topps due to the dark area on the right side of the photo, but it is still a nice card.

Vizcaino (b. 1968) played in the majors from 1989 to 2006 for the Dodgers, Cubs, Mets, Indians, Giants, Yankees, Astros and Cardinals.  He had 1,453 hits, 36 home runs and a .270 batting average.  He won the 2000 World Series with the Yankees. 

I mailed to Vizcaino on October 13, 2020, and got the cards back on October 23, 2023, for a 1,105-day TAT.

2021 National Free Signer - Wally Joyner

Wally Joyner's 1987 Topps card was already taken care of via a private signing, but that didn't keep me from going through his line a couple times in order to get a few other cards signed when he was at the VIP party for the National on Wednesday.  I had his 1986 Topps Traded, which will look great in my album.

I also had this really cool 1988 Donruss Baseballs Best in one of the boxes from the old card shop that I got signed.  It appears that Jack Howell is on the card with him, so if I want to complete that one, I need to see what Howell is up to these days.

I have a ton of these mini Topps Leaders cards sitting on the corner of my desk, so I was really glad to get this one (and a couple others) signed this past week.

Finally, I got Joyner's 1993 Topps and 1994 Upper Deck Home Field Advantage card signed.  I had busted a box of 94 Upper Deck a while back, and stashed them in a box.  It was nice being able to find those cards and get a few signed at the show.

Joyner and Fielder were the two baseball guys I was able to get at the VIP party for free.  Fielder was only one per, so I had to have a couple of my friends get a few extra cards done for me.  Joyner, on the other hand, signed 3 at a time for me, so I went through his line twice, and Andrew got some signed as well.  I held one card of Joyner's back from my album in order to help my friend Jackson out with a set, but the rest are going into my autograph album.

Another TTM Success From Jermaine Allensworth

Back in 2016, I got Jermaine Allensworth to sign 4 cards TTM for me.  With the ones I had built up in the time since then, I was due to send to him again.  This 1997 Topps Gallery was one of the keys to why wanted to send to him again.  I had an assortment of these that came in one of the 5,000-count boxes that I got from my former LCS.

I also had Allensworth sign a 1997 Topps Chrome, 1997 Pacific and a 1997 Leaf Limited.

Finally here are some landscape oriented cards that I got signed, a 1994 Upper Deck Top Prospects and a 1998 Stadium Club.  All of the cards look great, and I am glad to be able to move them into my album.

I mailed to Allensworth on December 22 and got the cards back on January 11, for a 20-day TAT.

Another TTM Success From Rich Becker

I had gotten Rich Becker TTM once before, back in May 2017, so I figured it was time to send to him again.  I had a bunch of nice cards, and needed to make room in my box.  The above 1994 Upper Deck Electric Diamond turned out really well.  It was pretty much the card that inspired me to send to him again.

I also sent a 1993 Bowman, 1998 Stadium Club, 1998 Topps and a 2001 Topps.

I mailed to Becker on October 26 and got the cards back on November 3, for an 8-day TAT.

TTM Success - Ben Grieve

These cards took forever to get here, but after they did, I was glad to add them to my album.  The above 1994 Upper Deck looks really nice.  I like the yellow.

I really like the 2000 Topps HD.  Those are some really cool cards, and look awesome when signed.  Grieve also signed a 1998 Fleer Ultra and a 1999 Topps Gold Label.  Those Gold Label cards also look awesome.

Grieve (b. 1976) played in the majors from 1997 to 2005 for the A's, Devil Rays, Brewers and Cubs.  He had 864 hits, 118 home runs and a .269 batting average.  He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1998; he was also an All Star that season.

I mailed to Grieve on February 27, 2017, and got the cards back on June 25, 2020, for a 1,214-day TAT.

TTM Success - Dave Weathers

I had put these cards away after not seeing any successes from Dave Weathers for a while.  I found the cards again when I was going through a box, and checked to see if he had started signing again.  He was, so I sent these cards off.

The above 1995 Topps is a really good shot, and I was glad to get it signed.

I also got a 1994 Upper Deck, 1995 Fleer and 2008 Topps signed.

Weathers (b. 1969) played in the majors from 1991 to 2009 for the Blue Jays, Marlins, Yankees, Indians, Reds, Brewers, Cubs, Mets and Astros.  He had a career record of 73-88 with 976 strike outs and a 4.25 ERA.  He won the World Series with the Yankees in 1996.

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

More Signed Franks From Max

I went ahead and picked up a few more signed Franks out of Max's stash that he has built up.  The cards that I got this time around were the above 1994 Upper Deck Home Field Advantage, the 1996 Topps Gallery below and the 2007 Topps Trading Places.

I also picked up a few extras, so I could spread around some love.  I hope the folks I sent them off to enjoy them as much as I do!  Thanks, as always, Max.

TTM Success - Erik Hanson

Some 90s cards got signed during this TTM success from former pitcher, Erik Hanson.  I had a ton of his cards, and narrowed it down to just three, and ended up with some pretty nice autos.

I had a ton of 1991 Fleer in a box in a closet.  They were unopened packs from back then, and I figured I would go ahead and open them.  They look really nice when signed.  I know a lot of people who don't like the yellow borders, but they really aren't that bad.

I also got a 1996 Topps and a 1994 Upper Deck Electric Diamond signed.

Hanson (b. 1965) played in the majors from 1988 to 1998 for the Mariners, Reds, Red Sox and Blue Jays.  He had a record of 89-84 with 1,175 strike outs and a 4.15 ERA.  He was an All Star in 1995.

I mailed to Hanson on October 3 and got the cards back on November 14, for a 42-day TAT.

TTM Success - Terry Steinbach

Here is a TTM success that took a long time to get here.  It also took me a long time to send the cards, but I got around to it, and then waited.  I had some pretty cool cards of Terry Steinbach for the autograph album, like the above 1995 Score Summit Edition.  I remember these from when I opened packs as a kid, but a lot of them got trashed because they all stuck together.  This one was one of the few that actually survived that era, and will now be in my album.

I had these two horizontal cards to send.  Both of them look really cool.  I especially liked the 1994 Upper Deck Homefield Advantage card.  I had been wanting one of them for the album, and finally got this one in.

He doesn't have a 1987 Topps, but I did send his 1987 Topps Rookies card in.  I also added a couple mid-90s Topps to my album.

Steinbach (b. 1962) played in the majors from 1986 to 1999 for the A's and Twins.  He had 1,453 hits, 162 home runs and a .271 batting average.  He was an All Star 3 times (1988, 1989 and 1993) and won the World Series with the A's in 1989.  He finished 21st in the 1996 AL MVP voting.

I mailed to Steinbach on October 16, 2017, and got the cards back on April 19, for a 185-day TAT.  I paid his fee of $2/card.

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 - David Mantle

I actually had a few people look at me like I was crazy when I said that I had sent a couple Mickey Mantle cards off to his son to see if I could get them signed.  A while back, I had sent to, and received success from the widow of Jackie Robinson, Rachel Robinson.  I figured that it would be cool to take a few of the extra Mantle cards that I had and have his son David sign them.  I also have sent out an attempt to Julia Ruth Stevens for one of her signatures.  I think it is pretty cool to reach out to a relative of a deceased player, as long as the request is tasteful.  It is all in how folks view it, I guess.

I did get a Topps year taken care of with this 2010 Topps.  It still counts, in my mind.  I like the "Son of the Mick" inscription.

He also signed these two Upper Deck inserts that came out of my 1994 box that I busted with Chris.  They turned out really nice, even though they didn't scan as well.

I mailed to Mantle on March 20, and got the cards back on April 22, for a 33-day TAT.

TTM Success - Johnny Ruffin

The process in which I send a TTM out to a player takes some time to evolve, unless I buy cards specifically to send to someone.  Meaning, unless I have bought some vintage cards that I have to send out to someone right away, it takes me a bit to finally get the motivation to send to a player.  One of which is tonight's TTM success, Johnny Ruffin.

Usually, I will start on a player when I find an interesting card at the card shop on in one of my boxes.  Ruffin came about when I was sorting my extra 1995 Topps for my set.

I took the extra cards from my box break of 1995s, sorted them in order, then I went through the checklist on sportscollectors.net and pulled everyone with a decently high success rate (60% +) or recent successes within 6 months or so.  Then, I went through my boxes to see if I had anything of those players.

I had a few cards of him, but most came from some box searching at my local card shop.  The Gold Leaf Rookie at the top of the page and the above 1995 Ultra Gold Medallion came from the LCS.  The 1995 Score Gold Rush and 1995 Collectors Choice came out of my boxes.  The 1994 Upper Deck came from the box I busted with Chris a while back.  I got all of these cards together, plus some extras and sent them out.  I'll put Topps cards in the envelope first, then I will pick ones from interesting sets that I think will look nice in my binder.  Finally, I will add in some sets that I feel may be under represented in the album.  The remaining cards, if any, go in a "sent" row in my box, which will then be sent out to kids starting out on TTMs.

Ruffin (b.1971) played in the majors from 1993 to 1996, 2000 and 2001 for the Reds, Diamondbacks and Marlins.  He had a career record of 10-6 with an ERA of 4.13 and 163 strike outs.

I mailed to Ruffin on January 24 and got the cards back on February 2, for a 9-day TAT.

TTM Success - Matt Walbeck

I took yesterday off from posting TTM successes and other stuff to put the sole focus (as I think is right) on the Hall of Fame announcement.  Now, I can get back to trying to whittle my stacks down to something more manageable.  I can make some headway today by showing this TTM success from Matt Walbeck, which I got on quite a few cards.

This 1994 Gold Leaf Rookie looks a lot better in person than the above scan shows.

The success from Walbeck extended across a bunch of cards, like this 1994 Upper Deck.  It is a horizontal card showing some cool catcher's gear.  I pulled this card from a box of 1994 Upper Deck that I busted with Chris.  I'm glad to have this one come back looking so great.

Here is a really nice 1996 Fleer Metal and a 1994 Topps Future Star.  Both of these turned out great as well.

Finally, here are a couple of Topps base cards that look great.  I didn't have very many 2000 Topps; and the 1995 came from my building of that set.  I ended up with a bunch of extras from 1995, so I will be seeing more come in, in due time.

Walbeck (b. 1969) played in the majors from 1993 to 2003 for the Cubs, Twins, Tigers, Angels and Phillies.  He had 492 hits, 28 home runs and a .233 batting average.

I mailed to Walbeck on November 14 and got the cards back on December 23, for a 39-day TAT.