TTM Success - Brett Oberholtzer

My friend, Michael, hosted a private signing recently with Brett Oberholtzer. I bought in and sent a couple cards; Michael also added a couple. The above 2015 Topps is one that I could have sworn that I had already gotten signed, but I don't see it anywhere.

I'm pretty sure Michael added the (above, left) 2009 Bowman since I sent extra cards. I didn't want any duplicates, but I was happy to provide some extras, in case Michael needed them. 

Oberholtzer (b. 1989) played in the majors from 2013 to 2016 for the Astros, Phillies abd Angels. He had a record of 14-23 with 220 strike outs and a 4.36 ERA.

I mailed to the signing on January 8 and got the cards back on February 10, for a 33-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Sean Conner

Here is a nice 2009 Bowman that I added to the autograph album.  This card of Sean Conner came back signed TTM in black Sharpie.  His signature looks very close to the facsimile autograph on the card, so i guess it hasn't changed much over the years.

Conner (b. 1987) was a 10th round pick by the Reds in the 2008 June Amateur Draft out of Palm Beach State.  He played in the minors from 2008 to 2010 in the Reds system.  He reached A ball.  He had 100 hits, 9 home runs and a .228 batting average.

I mailed to Conner on February 6 and got the card back on February 14 for an 8-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Andrew Rundle

Here is a random 2009 Bowman that I found and sent off TTM to Andrew Rundle.  He signed the card in a fat blue Sharpie.  The card looks pretty nice, even though it looks like he used every inch of that Sharpie.

Rundle (b. 1987) was a 14th round pick by the Cubs in the 2006 June Amateur Draft out of Bend High School in Bend, Oregon.  He played in the minors from 2006 to 2010 in the Cubs and Phillies systems, reaching High A.  He had 193 hits, 16 home runs and a .227 batting average. 

I mailed to Rundle on December 4 and got the card back on December 21 for a 17-day TAT. 

TTM Success - Jericho Jones

He has one of the best names that I've seen recently and I was able to get Jericho Jones to sign my 2009 Bowman TTM.  Not only does he have a cool name, he also has a great signature, even though it is a little tough to see on this scan.

Jones (b. 1987) was a 20th round pick by the Cubs in the 2008 June Amateur Draft out of Louisiana Tech University.  He played 2 seasons in the Cubs system, reaching High A.  He had 75 hits, 5 home runs and a .273 batting average.  After his two seasons in the minors, Jones answered the call to the ministry where he now serves as a youth pastor.

I mailed to Jones on January 11 and got the card back on January 19, for an 8-day TAT.

TTM Success - Marc Rzepczynski

His nickname is "Scrabble" due to the excessive use of consonants in his last name.  I believe his score would be really darn high if someone were able to play it.  We always said you can's use proper names in the game, so tough luck.  Anyway, Marc Rzepczynski signed three cards for me TTM, beginning with the above 2009 Bowman.  He pretty much covered up the photo, but the card is signed.

He also signed a 2010 Upper Deck, 2009 Topps Update and a 2010 Topps.

Rzepczynski (b. 1985) played in the majors from 2009 to 2018 for the Blue Jays, Cardinals, Indians, Padres, A's, Nationals and Mariners.  He had a career record of 14-27 with 409 strike outs and a 3.89 ERA.  He won the World Series in 2011 with the Cardinals.

I mailed to Rzepczynski on December 17 and got the cards back on January 14, for a 28-day TAT.

TTM Success - Drew Sutton

I got a couple nice 2009 Bowmans signed TTM by Drew Sutton recently.  I had his gold version (above); this card is not numbered.  I also had his base Bowman (below).

Sutton (b. 1983) played in the majors from 2009 to 2012 for the Reds, Indians, Red Sox, Rays and Pirates.  He had 72 hits, 4 home runs and a .256 batting average. 

I mailed to Sutton on November 18 and got the cards back on December 26, for a 38-day TAT.

TTM Success - Jon Kibler

I got a couple older Bowmans out of my boxes with this TTM success from Jon Kibler.  He signed a 2009 Bowman and 2009 Bowman Chrome.  Both cards look really nice, and Kibler has a nice signature.

Kibler (b. 1986) was a 30th round pick by the Tigers in the 2007 June Amateur Draft out of Michigan State University.  He played in the Tigers system from 2007 to 2010 and then in Independent ball from 2011 to 2012.  His minor league was 31-27 with 339 strike outs and a 3.53 ERA.  He had one really great year for the West Michigan Whitecaps in 2008 when he went 14-5 with a 1.75 ERA.  It earned him a promotion AA Erie in 2009, but he faltered, going 6-9 with a 4.08 ERA.  I wonder if he would have benefited from being moved along more gradually, maybe to High A, before being promoted all the way to AA.

I mailed to Kibler on November 16 and got the cards back on December 12, for a 26-day TAT.

TTM Success - Ben Lasater

I've been dipping more and more into my Bowman boxes, trying to get cards out that have been in there for a long time.  I was able to get this 2009 Bowman Ben Lasater signed TTM, and it turned out really well.

Lasater (b. 1984) was a 29th round pick by the Marlins in the 2007 June Amateur Draft out of the College of Charleston.  He played in the Marlins system from 2007 to 2013 and got as high as AAA.  He had 608 hits, 63 home runs and a .273 batting average.

I mailed to Lasater on October 8 and got the card back on October 27, for a 19-day TAT.

TTM Success - Brooks Pounders

I went through my old rookies box and pulled out a few more cards of guys who signed TTM, and came across two Brooks Pounders cards that I could send out.

I was glad to get the above 2009 Bowman out of the box.  It turned out well, I think.  Blue Sharpie might have been a bit better on the card, but black is ok too.

I also got this 2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition signed.  I had several cards from this set, but haven't gotten many signed.  This one turned out pretty well, I think.

Pounders (b. 1990) played in the majors from 2016 to 2019 for the Royals, Angels, Rockies and Mets.  He had a career record of 4-2 with 47 strike outs and a 8.47 ERA.

I mailed to Pounders on May 13 and got the cards back on June 18, for a 36-day TAT.

TTM Success - Josh Geer

I took a couple cards out of my old rookies box that I had and sent them out for signatures.  These cards of Josh Geer turned out fairly well.  I liked the above 2009 O Pee Chee.  I don't know why Upper Deck brought back the O Pee Chee brand in the late 2000s, but they did.  It was a cheap alternative to Topps Total, I suppose.  Still, the design was nice, and the card looks good signed.

This 2009 Bowman also turned out well.

Geer (b. 1983) played in the majors in 2008 and 2009 for the Padres.  He had a record of 3-8 with 70 strike outs and a 5.28 ERA.

I mailed to Geer on May 14 and got the cards back on June 12, for a 29-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 - Matt Antonelli

I dug these Matt Antonelli cards out of the depths of my boxes, got them signed TTM and can now put them in the autograph album.

I forgot how sharp 2009 Upper Deck Goudey cards looked, and the above one turned out nicely.

This 2009 Bowman didn't look as good, but I'll take it.  The card is at least signed.

Antonelli (b. 1985) played in the majors in 2008 for the Padres.  He had 11 hits, 1 home run and a .193 batting average.

I mailed to Antonelli on March 16 and got the cards back on April 2, for a 17-day TAT.

TTM Success - John Jaso

I added some pretty sweet cards to my album with this TTM success from John Jaso.  The above 2010 Topps Update is a card that I was really happy to see come back signed.  I love the horizontal shot, and the headfirst slide.  This card is really great!

I was also able to pull a couple old cards out of my boxes, the above 2009 Bowman has been in there since 09, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get any more of those out of there.  The above 2011 Topps Heritage was something I threw in right as I was preparing my envelope for mailing, and it turned out really nicely as well.

Jaso (b. 1983) played in the majors in 2008 and from 2010 to 2017 for the Rays, Mariners, A's and Pirates.  He had 573 hits, 55 home runs and a .258 batting average.

I mailed to Jaso on January 14 and I got the cards back on January 28, for a 14-day TAT.

Texas Trip Day 2 - Meeting Raffy

The second day of our trip was exciting for me, because I planned for that day to be a trip to Cleburne, Texas.  In Cleburne, there is an independent league team, and one of their players just happened to be Rafael Palmeiro.  The stadium is new, so new that it didn't pop up in the rental car GPS.  Luckily, I had decent enough service that I used Google Maps to get there.

For an independent league team, they have a really nice stadium.  It reminded me of Jim Perry Stadium at Campbell University, where the Buies Creek Astros play.  Everything was turf, which is kind of cool.  I don't think I would want to see an all-turf field all of the time, but when it is at a game here and there, it's ok.

Everyone we talked to while we were there was very friendly.  We told anyone that would listen that we were visiting from NC.  Chris and I had gotten there several hours before the gates opened, because I thought we would have some other things to do in the area.  Unfortunately, when we got there, the temperature was 115 degrees, so after a few laps around the stadium looking for home run balls (we found three), we drove to a nearby Sonic and got some massive slushies.

We got tickets right beside the dugout, front row, for $12 a piece.  Raffy came out and signed autographs pre-game, and posed for a photo with me.  He signed 4 of the 8 cards I put out and signed as many for Chris.  While Raffy was signing for us, a girl from the promotions department had come down to talk to us about how we traveled all the way from NC.  She invited Chris to come onto the field to say play ball, which he reluctantly agreed to do.  I also told Raffy that I had been a big fan since I was really young, and we traveled all the way from NC to see him.  He thanked me, and shook my hand.

While Chris was on the field getting ready to say "play ball", Patrick Palmeiro (who is also on the Cleburne team) told Chris he would give him a bat.

The bad turned out to be a broken Rafael Palmeiro bat!!  We ended up shipping it back home the day after the game.  I was stunned by being able to take it home.

My cell phone doesn't do terribly when it comes to action shots, I've found.  Here is a pitch being delivered to Raffy, which he hit out of the park.

That's right, Rafael Palmeiro hit a home run in his first at bat while we were there.  When he returned to the dugout, he chatted with Chris, since we were beside the steps.  Chris congratulated him on the homer, and asked Raffy if he would sign the bat we had gotten.  Raffy agreed to.

The Railroaders provided a really fun experience, and a really nice ballpark.  There were train engines and cars all around the stadium, and there were a good many people there.  I bought a hat, a shirt, and a mini bat for Chris.

Here is a pic of Chris in front of the stadium as we were leaving.  I definitely would go back to Cleburne for a game, even if Raffy isn't there.  The Railroaders lost the game to the Sioux Falls Canaries 6-3.  Raffy went 1-4 with the homer, his third of the season.

Like I said above, Raffy signed 8/16 cards for us.  I wasn't sure how many to show when he was graphing, so I just laid my book out, opened, with 4 cards on each page.  He chose a page and signed/  Luckily, the pages he chose out of my and Chris's books were all of the main cards I wanted signed.  The above 2005 Bowman Heritage mahogany parallel was the #1 card I wanted to come back with signed.  I definitely wanted one in my album, and this one was really awesome paired with my Staedtler pen.

I also wanted to put this goofy Bazooka Comics insert card into my album.  I definitely didn't have one of these signed, and it actually turned out pretty nice.

Chris wanted to keep two of the cards he got done, and I sent one to my friend, Max.  We also got two extra ones signed because I loaned my pen to a lady beside us, and she had her grandson get two of my cards signed post game.  He didn't want to keep them, so that worked out for me.

My good fried, Gerard, was kind enough to figure out which players on the Railroaders and Canaries had cards, and also sent me some for 50/50s.  He had a bunch of Angelo Gumbs, who was really nice.

I actually had this card of starting pitcher, Josh Hodges.  It felt really good to get this 2009 Bowman out of my box and into my album.  That was really gratifying, especially since I went through so many cards to find one that I had of one of the Railroaders.

Stay tuned for the next day of our trip: where Chris and I were reunited with some old friends from the Wood Ducks.

Chrome Care Package From Nick C.

I got a nice care package in recently from my friend, Nick C. that had a few nice Chris Davis Bowman Chrome parallels, as well as a few other cards.  I have helped Nick's Maikel Franco PC quite a bit, and he finally got around to hooking me up with these cards.

The 2013 Bowman Chrome blue refractor at the top of the page is numbered 209/250.  The above purple parallel is numbered 147/199.  After consulting my Davis spreadsheet, I learned that I didn't have the blue parallel yet.  I do have another purple parallel, but extra numbered cards are always welcome.

I also have another of these 2014 Finest refractors somewhere in my box, but I failed to log the numbering on my spreadsheet.  I'll have to remember to figure that out sometime.  In the meantime, I will have this one logged and put in my box.

Chris Davis wasn't the only player in the package from Nick.  He also included this 2009 Bowman blue parallel numbered 372/500.

There was also this 2006 Bowman Chrome Nolan Reimold form the Futures Game.  I had one of these in my collection.  You would think that I would have had more of them, but I guess I never picked any other up.  This one will get logged in a few minutes as well.

Thank you so much for the package, Nick!  I enjoyed all of the cards.  I'll have to keep an eye out for some nice Phillies stuff for you.

Some Recent Chris Davis Pickups

This post will serve two purposes for me.  One, it will catch me up on the Chris Davis cards I got recently via my LCS, COMC, Ebay and the December card show.  The other purpose is that this is a test of my new laptop and printer/scanner.  I finally was able to upgrade both of those devices this weekend and am really happy with the results so far.

The above card was found at my LCS in the dollar bin.  It is a 2008 Topps Heritage High Number rookie card.  It scanned really nicely, if I do say so myself.  I just can't believe this card sat in that dollar bin as long as it did.

Next up is the 2013 Topps Opening Day purple.  I had no idea these existed until a couple months ago when I saw one on Ebay for $20.00.  I'm glad I waited because I found this one for less than $5.  I just hope there aren't Target Red or Wal Mart Blue versions of these.

I found this 2006 Bowman gold Davis in a dime box at the December card show.  I got a bunch of Davis cards at the show, actually.  I know Scott is happy that I am combining all of them into one post, instead of breaking them out to multiple posts.

I liked that I found this 2008 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Davis in another bargain box at the show.

Same with this 2009 Bowman Chrome Refractor.

This 2010 Topps Gold came from a COMC purchase (from September, I think).

Finally, here is a 2013 Bowman Gold Davis that I found at the show in one of the same dime boxes as before.  I feel like I did a really good job getting Davis cards for my PC there.

So, there you have it, you're all caught up for the time being on my Chris Davis PC.

Christmas From Weston

Weston, from the blog Fantastic Catch, was kind enough to send along a Christmas package of Orioles stuff, which I received a couple days ago.  In it was the above 2007 UD Ultimate America's Pastime Brian Roberts relic.  The card is numbered to 75.  I like how the colors scanned, it really is a sharp looking card.  Also, to answer a question both Andrew and Weston asked, yes, I did need this card in my Roberts PC.  This will probably be the last card I add to my Roberts PC for some time.  My wounds have to still heal from him signing with the Yankees.

Another card that Weston sent was one that has been on my Wishlist for quite a while now, the 2009 Bowman Chrome Refractor Nolan Reimold.  He also sent some other sweet Orioles, but I didn't have time to scan them all.

Speaking of my wishlist, I took the time yesterday, at the urging of both Andrew and Weston, to add a top 10 to my page.  They're attainable cards, nothing like the 1952 Mantle, or T-206 Wagner.  Most everything on the top 10 will be had by me at some point.  Just keep an eye out!

Thanks for the Christmas present, Weston!  I enjoyed it, as I hope you enjoyed yours!