TTM Success - Max Sapp

A 2008 Bowman Chrome came in signed TTM from Max Sapp. Getting one out of the Bowman box was nice, as usual.

Sapp (b. 1988) was a first round pick by the Astros during the 2006 June Amateur Draft out of Bishop Moore Catholic High School in Florida. 

He played in the minors from 2006 to 2008 in the Astros organization, reaching A ball. He had 165 hits, 7 home runs and a .224 batting average. 

I mailed to Sapp on December 3 and got the card back on December 12, for a 9-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Tom Hagan

This 2008 Bowman Chrome refractor of Tom Hagan came back signed TTM recently. He signed it in black Sharpie, and it turned out nicely.

Hagan (b. 1983) was a 39th round pick by the Pirates in the 2006 June Amateur Draft out of the University of Virginia. He played in the minors from 2006 to 2008 in the Pirates systems, reaching A ball.  He had 156 hits, 10 home runs and a .286 batting average. 

I mailed to Hagan on November 14 and got the card back on November 24, for a 10-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Paul Winterling

Another former Oriole was added to the autograph album when this 2008 Bowman Chrome came back signed TTM by Paul Winterling.  I vaguely remember Winterling from back in the day.  I probably saw him with Frederick at a Winston-Salem Warthogs game.  That would likely be the only tome I would have seen him.

Winterling (b. 1983) was an undrafted free agent signed by the Orioles out of Johns Hopkins University. 

He played in the minors from 2005 to 2008, all in the Orioles system.  He would reach high-A Frederick. I probably saw him in 2008 at the same game that I saw Brandon Snyder and Matt Wieters.

Winterling had 153 hits, 21 home runs and a .231 batting average across his 4 mi or league seasons.

I mailed to Winterling on November 20, 2024, and got the card back on October 17 for a 331-day TAT.  The coolest part was the letter that Winterling sent along with the card.  Take some time to check out the letter; you'll have to zoom in, but it's a great read:

Another TTM Success From Justin Masterson

Here are a few cards of Justin Masterson that I got out of my boxes and sent TTM.  I had gotten him on quite a few cards before.  The above 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom is a really nice card.  I busted a couple boxes of this back then but had very little extra to try for TTMs.  I've now got this one in the autograph album, so all good there.

Here are a 2014 Donruss, 2010 Bowman and 2008 Bowman Chrome that I also had pulled for Masterson.  I'm out of his cards now, and that's fine.

I mailed to Masterson on December 3 abd got the cards back on April 2 for a 120-day TAT.

TTM Success - Matthew Klimas

This is a 2008 Bowman Chrome that was rescued from my Bowman box.  I sent to Matthew Klimas and the card came back signed in black Sharpie. 

Klimas (b. 1987) was an 8th round pick by the Giants in the 2006 June Amateur Draft out of Texarkana College.  He played in the minors from 2006 to 2010 in the Giants system.  He was able to reach AA.  He had 124 hits, 2 home runs and a .276 batting average. 

I mailed to Klimas on December 18 and got the card back on December 31 for a 13-day TAT.  Klimas also sent me a note back saying "Thank you for sending me a card and making my day!"

TTM Success - Clint Robinson

Here are some nice cards that I got back signed TTM from Clint Robinson.  He signed my cards with a lime green Sharpie.  It was an interesting choice, but the cards look pretty nice. The above 2008 Bowman Chrome scanned nicely, even though the signature kind of blends onto the background of the card.

I also got a 2011 Topps Heritage Minors and a 2017 Topps signed.  They also look nice with the green Sharpie.

Robinson (b. 1985) played in the majors in 2012 and from 2014 to 2016 for the Royals, Dodgers and Nationals.  He had 133 hits, 15 home runs and a .257 batting average. 

I mailed to Robinson on January 16 and got the cards back on January 29, for a 13-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Nevin Ashley

Sometimes, there isn't a whole lot of rhyme nor reason to how cards come in from TTMs.  Other times, I'll get a bunch of similar cards back all at once.  This 2008 Bowman Chrome that I got back TTM from Nevin Ashley came among some early 80s stuff that I had gotten back at the end of October.  I've got a lot of random single card guys from older Bowman years that I'll drop in the mail.  Getting them back adds to some randomness of my autograph album, which I like.

Ashley (b. 1984) played in the majors in 2015 for the Brewers.  He had 2 hits, no home runs and a .100 batting average.

I mailed to Ashley on October 11 and got the card back on November 1, for a 21-day TAT.

TTM Success - Chris Valaika

This 2008 Bowman Chrome was a card I found at a show that I was hoping I could get signed TTM.  The card is an orange refractor numbered 16/25, and I was able to send it to Wrigley Field to get it signed by Chris Valaika.

Valaika (b. 1985) played in the majors in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 for the Reds, Marlins and Cubs.  He had 59 hits, 5 home runs and a .238 batting average.  He is the brother of former Oriole, Pat Valaika.

I mailed to Valaika on August 7 and got the card back on December 4, for a 119-day TAT.

TTM Success - Brandon Waring

It's really nice to see a card showing a Wofford uniform.  My younger brother, Adam, is a Wofford Alum and he and I have talked about Brandon Waring in the past.  When Waring went to the Orioles, it was Adam who let me know that Waring had formerly played at Wofford.  When I saw Waring at a minor league game, I got a ball signed for Adam (back when I thought the Wal Mart balls would hold a signature).  The ball had since faded, but I was able to get one of the above 2008 Donruss Elite Extra Edition card signed for him.  I'm sure with it having the Wofford uniform on it made it that much better.

I had held onto Waring's cards for a long time, hoping that I would be able to find a working address and try to get him to sign TTM.  I finally found an address, and was able to get my cards signed.

Waring (b. 1986) is actually from Columbia, SC.  My brother lives there now.  Maybe he and Waring can meet up for a beer.  Waring was a 7th round pick in the 2007 June Amateur Draft out of (you guessed it) Wofford College, in Spartanburg, SC.  He played in the minors from 2007 to 2014 in the Reds, Orioles and Twins systems, reaching as high as AAA.  He had 807 hits, 172 home runs and a .250 batting average.

On December 9, 2008, the Reds traded Waring, Ryan Freel and Justin Turner to the Orioles in exchange for Ramon Hernandez.  Kind of interesting that Turned ended up becoming a pretty big star.  Freel's story is really sad and is something to be discussed another day.

I mailed to Waring on September 22 and got the cards back on December 17, for an 86-day TAT.

Mail From Cam

I got a package in the mail the other day from Cam over at "The Bullpen Cardboard".  He is a nice kid whom I have traded with on occasion.  He got wrapped up in school, so this package was some 3-4 months in the making, but that wasn't too big a deal to me.

Cam sent me a bunch of early to mid 90s Oriole cards.  One of which was this 1991 Topps Billy Ripken.  1991 Topps doesn't get the praise it deserves in the annals of Topps history.  The 2009 set (where Topps vastly improved their photo quality) appeared to be a throwback to the 1991 set; a minimalistic border and fantastic photos and action shots.  I really like the 1991 set.  I might build it again, just for fun, since I see 1991 boxes all over the place, and cheap!

Cam was nice enough to include a Bowman Chrome blue parallel of Tim Lincecum for my son, Chris.  It is too bad that Timmy is having such a terrible year.  Chris doesn't quite understand that, yet, but even if he did, I doubt he would leave as a Timmy fan.

Finally, Cam included this 2000 Topps Alex Gordon auto.  No, not THAT Alex Gordon.  This Alex Gordon was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Orioles in 1998 at the age of 18.  He displayed decent power potential in the minors hitting 54 homers in 356 minor league games.  He never got any higher than High A ball before his career ended in 2004.  I wonder what he is up to now?

Thanks for the package Cam!  I mailed something off to you today.