Another TTM Success From Armando Rios

These Armando Rios cards were in some of the boxes that I got from the former card shop.  I found them right after I had sent to him TTM a while back.  I had thought about sending to him again, but I waited a while, just in case he would remember my name and decide not to sign.  I really liked the above 1999 Fleer Ex Century card, so it was worth the wait.

I also got a 1999 Bowman and a 1999 Bowman Chrome signed.  The 2002 Topps Chrome refractor was a card that I had sent to him in my original TTM request, but it had come back unsigned.

I mailed to Rios on January 23 and got the cards back on April 10, for a 77-day TAT.

2023 National - Pre-Show Dinner With Max

One of the (many) benefits of having the National in Chicago ever other year is that I can get there and visit with one of my very best and longest friends in the card community, Max.  He and I are approaching 10 years of knowing each other, and it has been really cool watching him grow up and also helping each other add to our respective binders.  Over the course of this season, so far, Max has been helping me get a bunch of cards out of my boxes.  We have our long-standing agreement of providing cards for each other, knowing a lot of what I send will be coming back my way, signed.

Not only does Max get me current major leaguers, he also gets coaches.  This helps me really clear out some room in the boxes where I would normally have stuff just sitting idle.  Guys like Darnell Coles and John Mabry (above) would normally be buried in these older boxes, but now, these cards have been signed and moved into the album.  The 2001 Upper Deck Jason Hart (bottom row, left) would normally be a needle in a haystack, but now the card is done (and looks great; 2001 Upper Deck is such an underrated set).  I also like that I was able to get a 2023 Topps Jon Berti (top row, right) signed.

Kristoper Negron (middle row, right) is a player that I tried to sent to Spring Training TTM, but never got my cards back.  I had some leftovers that I had pulled, so it was easy to find him and send the remainder to Maxx.  I had gotten Brad Keller TTM before, but had a lot of cards left over, so Max got a bunch more signed for me.  The two Mike Blowers cards (middle row, left and middle) turned out great.  For some reason, I had pulled Tom Murphy.  I think it was because someone was supposed to see him, but didn't.  That made it easy to find his cards, as well.

I had tried to get Logan Gilbert back when I went to Charleston (West Virginia Power) back when I visited my good friend, Josh.  I missed Gilbert, so it was nice to get a card back signed by him.  I also moved a couple Isaac Paredes cards from the box of shame.  That made some room for a few guys that I missed this season in Durham.

The Gabriel Arias 2022 Topps Cosmic Chrome turned out awesome.  I enjoyed opening that box, and I have been able to get a few cards from the set signed.  I was also glad to add some signed cards of former Buies Creek Astro, Myles Straw.

I love the 2019 Bowman Heritage set, so adding the Brad Keller (middle row, left) to the album was great.  I got a couple more 2023 Topps signed in Scott Barlow and Nick Pratto.  The Cubs Sticker is signed by Brant Brown.

Max and I use the team stickers for the same goal; have something with you, in case you run into someone who you don't have cards for.  These two are signed by Eduardo Salazat and Paul DeJong.

There were quite a few landscape-oriented cards, so I had to separate them for scanning purposes.  The 1996 Score Select John Mabry (third row from top; right) turned out great.  Those are some really nice-looking cards.  The bottom two team cards are signed by Kyle Freeland (bottom, left) and Angel Sanchez.

These team cards are signed by (starting top left): Andrew Knizner, Jason McLeod, Danny Hultzen, Tom Ricketts, Peyton Battenfield, Brayan Rocchio. Carlos Estevez and Eduardo Salazar.

These are signed by (starting top left): Steve Cishek, Rich Nye, Pete LaCock, Adam Russell, Cole Tucker, Michael Reed and two more Cole Tucker.

Finally, these are signed by: Freddy Fermin, Jose A Herrer, Jim Hickey, Paolo Espino, Jim Hayes (who couldn't believe Max wanted his autograph.  He does a podcast that Max listens to, and Max wanted to get him to sign something), Jose Fermin and Marty Brennaman with a Hall of Fame inscription.

Thank you so much for adding all of these autographs to my album, Max.  I enjoyed dinner, and hope that we can get together much sooner!

Another TTM Success From Ben Davis

Ben Davis signed some cards for me TTM back in 2017.  I found several more cards to send, so I decided it was time to get them signed.  He signed this 1997 Upper Deck SP, which turned out nicely.

This 1997 Upper Deck SP also looks really nice.  I got both of the SP cards out of one of the free 5,000-count boxes from my former LCS, and they have provided some different stuff to send out for signatures.

Finally, I got a few Topps cards signed.  I had a 2002 TOpps Chrome and a 2002 Topps; along with a 2003 and 2004 Topps.  All of them look good and are now in my album.

I mailed to Davis on December 21 and got the cards back on January 16, for a 26-day TAT.

TTM Success - Jason Tyner

I added some nice cards to my autograph album with this TTM success from Jason Tyner.  I found a few of them at my LCS, and a couple others were ones from my boxes here at the house.  The above 1999 Finest looks a lot better in person.  I found it at the LCS.  It was one of those types of cards that used to have the protective film over it, that had to be removed.  I prepped it with powder, and it turned out pretty well.

I also got a 2002 Topps Chrome, 2002 Upper Deck and a 2003 Topps signed by Tyner.

Tyner (b. 1977) played in the majors from 2000 to 2003 and 2005 to 2008 for the Mets, Devil Rays, Twins and Indians.  He had 373 hits, 1 home run and a .275 batting average.

I mailed to Tyner on October 14 and got the cards back on December 9, for a 56-day TAT.

Another TTM Success From Jay Bell

I had found quite a few Jay Bell cards while looking through boxes during several trips to the LCS and while at the National.  The above 1995 Stadium Club acetate card was just too cool to not send TTM.  I found that one in a dime box at the National.

Since Bell signs a bunch of cards when you send to him, I grabbed these from the LCS and sent them with the acetate card.  All of them turned out great.

The 2000 Topps Gallery (bottom left) is yet another set that I missed out on when I was in college and not collecting cards.  I found a stack of them at the LCS, so I grabbed a couple of some guys that I knew signed TTM.  While I was at the shop picking up the 2002 Chrome, the clerk sold me sets of 2002, 2003 and 2004 Topps that had been in storage for a while.  I was lucky enough that they weren't all stuck together, and got them for a great price.  Some of those cards will pop up in some later TTM posts.

I mailed to Bell on October 15 and got the cards back on October 22, for a 7-day TAT.