TTM Success - Joe Martinez

This random 2009 Topps Allen and Ginter card of Joe Martinez kept showing up when looking through boxes so I sent it out TTM.  It came back signed nicely.

Martinez (b. 1983) played in the majors in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013 for the Giants, Pirates, Diamondbacks and Indians.  He had a record of 4-3 with 32 strike outs and a 5.82 ERA.

I mailed to him on December 3 and got the card back on March 31 for a 118-day TAT.

Another TTM Success From Chris Volstad

Back in 2019, I got a TTM success from Chros Volstad on several cards.  I finally sent to him again once I picked up a 2006 Greensboro Grasshoppers team set.  Volstad was in the set, and the card looked really nice.  It looks even better now that it is signed.  I bought one of the sets for my friend, Michael as well, since Orioles manager, Brandon Hyde is also in there. Hopefully Michael can get that card signed.

I found these other cards of Volstad when I sent.  I had forgotten that I got him back in 2019, so the 2009 Allen and Ginter is a duplicate, except the previous one he signed was in black. The 2012 Topps turned out well, also.

I mailed to Volstad on May 24 and got the cards back on August 12, for an 80-day TAT.

TTM Success - Scott Lewis

For some reason, 2009 cards are vastly underrepresented in my autograph album. I believe that is because I offloaded a bunch of that stuff at past shows. In hindsight, I probably should have kept some of it, but at the time, I wasn't getting cards signed. Oh well. I added two 2009 cards to my autograph album with this TTM success from Scott Lewis. He signed this 2009 Topps Crome and a 2009 Allen & Ginter.

Lewis (b. 1983) played in the majors from 2008 to 2009 for the Indians. He had a 4-0 record, 18 strike outs and a 3.49 ERA.

I mailed to Lewis on March 28 and got the cards back on May 31, for a 63-day TAT.

TTM Success - Josh Whitesell

Here are some nice cards that came back signed TTM from Josh Whitesell.  The above 2009 Topps 206 really is a nice card.  I have had a bunch of these that I haven't been able to do much with, so getting this one signed was nice.

He also signed a 2009 Allen & Ginter, 2009 Topps gold and a 2009 Upper Deck.  I kind of forgot how nice 09 Upper Deck looked.  I just think it is a solid design, and I don't have many of those cards.

Whitesell (b. 1982) played in the majors from 2008 to 2009 for the Diamondbacks.  He had 23 hits, 2 home runs and a .200 batting average.

I mailed to Whitesell on September 22 and got the cards back on January 28, for a 128-day TAT.

TTM Success - David Freese

Sometimes, the reason I send out a TTM request, it is because I really want a certain card in my autograph album. When I saw that David Freese was signing, one particular card came to mind that I wanted to send. The above 2015 Topps is part of the dumbest short print idea I've ever seen, the "sparkle" short prints. If you look closely at the ball, it has a sparkle on it. Yeah, those parallels were hard as crap to identify, and I imagine a bunch of them are sitting in bulk boxes at shows, never to see the light of day again. Did I say that I hated that idea?

I had that card in my card show box for a long time, but no one ever was interested in it. Who knew? So, I pulled it from the box and got it signed instead.

I also added Freese's 2009 Bowman and 2009 Ginter to the request and both of those came out nicely, as well.

Freese (b. 1983) has played in the majors since 2009 for the Cardinals, Angels, Pirates and Dodgers. He has 1,041 hits, 113 home runs and a .277 batting average. He was an All Star in 2012 and won the World Series with the Cardinals in 2011.  He was the 2011 NLCS and World Series MVP.

I mailed to Freese on April 28 and got the cards back on May 7, for a 9-day TAT.

TTM Success - Chris Volstad

I have been working on finding some guys who sign TTM from the mid-to-late 2000s, so I can move some of those cards out of my boxes.  I found a handful of guys, and sent out a ton of cards.  I was glad to get these cards back from former pitcher, Chris Volstad.

The above 2008 Topps Heritage rookie card looks pretty great.  I love the 1959 Topps design, and this one looks good.  The only thing that could make it better would have been a higher quality Sharpie.

Volstad also signed these four cards: 2005 Topps Update, 2008 Topps Update, 2009 Allen & Ginter and a 2009 O Pee Chee.

Volstad (b. 1986) played in the majors from 2008 to 2013, 2015 and 2017 to 2018 for the Marlins, Cubs, Rockies, Pirates and White Sox.  He had a career record of 37-58 with 481 strike outs and a 5.00 ERA.

I mailed to Volstad on September 30 and got the cards back on October 8, for an 8-day TAT.

With these five cards being added to my album, I have now filled 11 albums with autographed baseball cards.  Not too bad, since I started the albums in 2016.  Additionally, that does not include my signed 1987 Topps album.

Set Complete - 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter

FINALLY!!! I finished 09 A&G! Took me long enough. Here is the completer card - Jimmy Rollins, card #350. Woooo!

Cards From Play at the Plate

I got a package the other day from Brian over at Play at the Plate. He's working on getting a patch card from me. I think he's well on his way.
Here's a pretty sweet Mike Mussina. I liked the mid 90s Fleer offerings. Its too bad that Fleer flooded the market and spread themselves too thin. Upper Deck also really blew it when they tried to re-do Fleer. Another of UDs epic failures of the past few years.

Hey everyone, a Brooks card I didn't have! Wooo. Pretty sweet card. I don't have a whole lot of Topps' American Pie stuff. It never really appealed to me, but this card looks good.

Ahh, Larry Bigbie. I went to 2 Orioles games in 2005 and watched Bigbie jack homeruns in each game. He (last time I heard) is playing in Japan because of the Mitchell Report. It really is a shame, because I liked Bigbie. I still do, actually. I'm not sure that I blame him. He was a young kid trying to make it to the majors. He roomed at David Segui's house while a rookie, and I'm sure he was introduced to bad habits at the time.

I also got some more 2009 Allen & Ginter that I needed for my set. I only need 3 more, woo hoo!!

Thanks Brian! I really appreciate it!

Birthday Stuff Part 2- in 2D

Along with the awesome Brooks Robinsons from my Mom, Pete from http://droppedthirdstrike@blogspot.com got me a blaster box of Topps Chrome-and several 2009 A&Gs I needed for my set. AWESOME!!! Thanks Pete and Kim!!!
Kim made me an awesome birthday card as well. She sure has talent. Pete has talent too, he has an awesome impersonation of Mr Herbert from Family Guy. Hahahaha.

My Two Biggest Hits From Allen & Ginter

I sat on my boxes of Allen & Ginter from Friday to Sunday, mostly due to wanting to keep a promise to Max that I would wait to crack them with him, and pretty much because I really didn't have a whole lot of time to bust them until Sunday anyway...

It was well worth the wait. I do have to say that I am disappointed that I bought 4 boxes and STILL need 36 cards to complete my set, but that just makes it more of a challenge, which is fine by me. I was also very disappointed to see that a lot of the cards came with a line going down the middle from the printing process... Uncool, Topps!!!

Those are the only complaints and I'm far over them. Max and I had a good time as always busting wax. It has become a nice little ritual between the two of us. I'll let him blog about what he pulled. I will display my two biggest hits (in my opinion).

An 'on card' autograph of former Negro Leaguer Clyde Parris (never heard of him, but still cool nonetheless).




My first GU Jersey of TIM LINCECUM!!! Freaking awesome! I read the other day that he was taken by the Giants with the 8th pick in the 2006 draft...
The Orioles chose Billy Rowell with the 7th pick. I reeeeally don't like Rowell anymore... fml.