TTM Success - Justin Lange

Here is a nice 2021 Topps Heritage that I got signed TTM recently by Justin Lange.  I took a chance and sent to him, hoping I could get my card signed.  I got the card done, and it turned out nicely.

Lange (b. 2001) was a first round (34th overall) pick by the Padres in the 2020 July Amateur Draft out of Llano High School in Texas.  He has played in the Yankees and Padres systems since 2021 (skipping 2024 due to injury).  He has a record of 7-10 with 221 strike outs and a 5.51 ERA.

Checking into Lange's bio revealed to me that he was born on 9/11.  I found that to be interesting. 

I mailed to Lange on April 30 and got the card back on May 20 for a 20-day TAT.

Completing a Quick IP Auto Trade

The TTMs have been trickling in since the minor league season ended, and that has pushed some 50/50s and trades back for me to post.  I figured now would be a good time to get at least one of the smaller ones out of the way, so here are three 2021 Topps Heritage Minors that I took in a trade for a few 2024 Topps Pro Debut cards that I got signed at the end of the season.

I was given a list of guys and card sets to choose from, so i figured I'd add a few 2021 Topps Heritage Minors guys that I may have missed while graphing.  I'm not building the set, but I have gotten a bunch of these signed, and I enjoy the design.  I never got to see Victor Mesa, Jr., so that was a good choice to pick from.

The Kala'i Rosario is nice.  I could have gotten Matthew Thompson, but I didn't have this card when I saw him.  He was a nice guy, so I was happy to choose his card and add it to the autograph album. 

The trade was completed on Instagram with a guy named Logan. He's not the same Logan that sees Wichita.  He messaged me looking for a Samuel Basallo 2024 Pro Debut, and the trade led to a few more cards being exchanged in the end.

May 14-19, 2024 Graphing of the Mudcats at Wood Ducks

Last week, the Wood Ducks returned to Kinston after two weeks away to face the Mudcats.  The Mudcats have very few guys with cards, but I was able to rack anyway, since the Woodies had their team set come out on Saturday and my boxes of 2024 Bowman came in on Wednesday. 

I planned ahead and picked up a couple Josh Knoth 2023 Leaf Vivid cards.  Another was supposed to come in, but didn't get here in time. The card at the top of the page is a 1/+, which is cool.  Both of the Knoth cards scanned great.

I also got my first 2024 Bowman cards signed by Cooper Pratt.

Yhoswar Garcia was tough; he refused to sign for us a couple time.  When he did stop (finally), he his everything we had.  He probably got tired of seeing me.  Oh well, his stuff is completely done, so I won't have to bother him anymore. 

Finally, the Wood Ducks team set came out earlier than ever.  It was given out as a promotional giveaway this season.  Since the team is leaving after this season, they didn't want to get stuck with a bunch in a closet somewhere. 

The set looks nice.  It rained on Saturday, but I was able to get in and get our sets prior to the game being called.  It set up a double header for Sunday, and they were giving sets out again.  All told, I ended up with 6 of them.

The 6 sets are pretty much spoken for: one for me to get signed, one for me to keep unsigned and load into the Wood Ducks album, one for Chris, one for Gerard, one for Charlie and one for any of my group that may have missed the giveaway.

The double header on Sunday gave me 4 chances to knock cards off of the list.  I almost got everyone, save for a couple pitchers.  There are a few who have already moved up to Hickory, a couple injured guys and a couple who were bumped down to Arizona.

I also got this Bowman Heritage of Marcu Smith signed for Gerard, but he let me keep it.

The Woodies won the series 4-2, which was great, since the Mudcats always play them tough.

In all, we got the following autographs: Alejandro Rosario x 3, Josh Knoth x 4, Cooper Pratt x 6, Yophery Rodriguez x 2, Paul Bonzagni x 3, Willian Bormie x 3, Julian Brock x 3, Jorge Cortes x 3, Kolton Curtis x 3, DEWD x 3, Arturo Disla x 3, Kohl Drake x 3, Buddy Fultz x 3, Jose Gonzalez x 3, Wes Hunt x 3, Gleider Figuereo x 4, Kyle Larsen x 3, Jesus Lopez x 5, Carlos Maldonaldo x 3, Case Matter x 3, Wady Mendez x 3, Brayan Memdoza x 3, Danny Mendoza x 3, Chandler Pollard x 3, Brian Pozos x 3, Thomas St. Clair x 3, Justin Sanchez x 3, Luke Savage x 3, Marcus Smith x 4, Tommy Specht x 3, Marcos Torres x 5, Ryan Straney x 3, Josh Trentadue x 3, Echedry Vargas x 5, Kai-Noa Wynyard x 3, Juan Baez x 2, Yhoswar Garcia x 32 and Bishop Letson x 2 (152 total autographs). 

TTM Success - Jake Snider

The 2021 Topps Heritage Minors set is a nice one, and I have quite a few signed cards from that set.  I had heard from a friend that Jake Snider signed TTM, so I sent off to him.  The card turned out nicely.  I'm not trying for the set, but I do have a bunch of them signed, so it probably wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility for me to attempt it at some point.

Snider (b. 1998) was a 20th round pick by the Pirates out of the University of Louisville. He played in the Pirates system in 2019 and 2021 and the Roclies system in 2023.  He has 128 hits, 7 home runs and a .274 batting average. 

I mailed to Snider on August 23 and got the card back on 10/1, for a 39-day TAT.

Some Autos From Josh and Matt

My Wood Duck friends, Josh and Matt, went up to Hickory a couple weeks ago while Hudson Valley was in town.  They took the cards I failed to get signed on my trip, split them, and got a few.signed for me.

I was really glad they were able to get Spencer Jones to sign, because he completely ignored Chris and I.  Folks at the Hudson Valley game we went to kept telling us how great a guy Jones was; I didn't see him interact with folks quite like I was told he would.  I later found out that he's a lot tougher to get to sign that I was originally led to believe.  So, my cards are signed and I don't have to worry about asking him again. 

I didn't see Antonio Gomez until just before the game started when we were there.  Drew Thorpe was the starter, so he wasn't signing pregame anyway.  Sergio Santos ignored Chris and I.  Then, of course, the game was cut short due to the storm thar rolled in, so we didn't get another chance to ask for signatures.  Thankfully, Josh and Matt both got these cards signed for me.

Josh also included a couple more custom cards he made from his and Matt's MLB The Show game.  These are some pretty unique customs.

Finally, Josh surprised me with an old card from his T-ball days.  I still can't understand why he signed across his face.  I gave him a hard time (all in good fun) for signing over his face.

Josh and Matt are good dudes.  Both have been instrumental in getting a lot of cards signed for me this season.  They've really embraced graphing and seem to enjoy it.

Thanks guys for taking these cards and getting them signed for me.  It takes a lot of the annoyance away from me having missed getting them done on my trip.

An Instagram Trade for Some 2021 Heritage Minors

Many times I have stated that I hate trading.  It usually is a pain, but when a guy on Instagram offered me a one for one trade for some 2021 Heritage Minors extras that I had, I went ahead and swung the deal.

I'm not building a signed set by any means, but I do like the 1972 Topps design, and it was easy to tell the guy which guys I had missed in order to quickly complete the deal.

I had missed Terrin Vavra in January at the Orioles Caravan; he was paired with Adley Rutschman, and I was unable to get in on that signing.  I was glad to finally get a Vavra 2021 Heritage Minors signed.

I missed Cade Cavalli and Brice Turang on the cards because they were already beyond the Carolina League when the set came out.  So, those two were easy picks.

I'm glad I got the trade done easily.  I'm ok with them in the future if they're as easy as this one was.

Spring Training Returns From Carson W

My friend, Carson, made his first attempts at Spring Training graphing this year.  He hit the Rays and Tigers camps, and did pretty well.  The highlight of what he got done for me was this Topps Chrome Turkey Red insert of Tyler Glasnow.  I really appreciated Carson including it in the return package, since I tried to get it signed last year and missed.

Carson got a bunch of Rays stuff out of the prospects boxes and also the box of shame. I had missed Tyler Zombro (for good reason; he had been out after being hit in the face by a batted ball).  I never saw Greg Jones, who Carson got some cards signed by.  He also helped me with Carson Williams who was one per then didnt sign the rest of the time Charleston was here last year. 

Carson hooked me up with the above Shane McClanahan relic and the Cooper Kinney 2022 Pro Debut.

Finally, Carson got a Curtis Mead done for me, as well as two Colt Keith cards from Tigers camp.

Thanks for taking these, Carson. I owe you some Wood Ducks autos soon.

Some 50-50s From Bryan

Some more 50/50s are out of the way now, with one more team bag to go after this one.  This was a return that came in at the end of last season from Bryan in Texas.  He has become my default guy in Texas after the guys I used to 50/50 with have grown up and moved on.  I appreciate having someone who can get AAA Round Rock, especially.

Bryan helped me knock out some team set guys who I missed in the past.  I had been waiting a long time to get AJ Alexy on the 2019 Wood Ducks set.

I didn't send a whole lot to Bryan, but what he got was definitely quality.  I was glad to get a Davis Wendzel back from him.  I had sent one to someone else the season before, and the guy held that card hostage for what seemed to be a five for one trade.  I told him that he could just keep the card and send me the rest of m stuff back.  I hate it when people do stuff like that.

Finally, I got some much older stuff out of my boxes when Bryan got my 2003 Bowman Chrome Matt Hagen, my 2010 Bowman Josh Sale and 2011 Heritage Minors Josh Sale signed.

Thanks for taking these, Bryan.  I hope to send some more this season.

50-50 Returns From Cam

More 50/50 returns came in over the last few days (along with some more TTMs), so I have some nice cards to show off.  A package came in from Cam, who got a few Pennsylvania teams for me.  The above 2020 Bowman Chrome of Bryson Stott turned out nicely, and is a huge addition to my autograph album.

Cam hooked me up with several former Greensboro Grasshoppers who have moved on, so these were able to come out of my boxes.  I love the Nick Gonzalez from 2020 Bowmans Best, as well as the Heritage Minors cards he helped me with.

I'm pretty sure I'm officially out of Tim Cate cards.  I had split them between Cam and my friend, Patrick, and I believe all have come back signed.

The Hoy Park cards went out to my friend, Gerard, earlier in the season with the hope that he would get them done, but a change in his plans cause them to not get signed.  Thankfully, he sent them back fast and I was able to get them on to Cam.  I had forgotten that Cam was going to pick me up a Myrtle Beach set, so he got Kevin Made for me and also a couple guys I got on my own.  So, now, I have two Myrtle Beach team sets I can pull from.

Finally, here is another 2021 Heritage Minors that Cam was able to get done for me, Ji-Hwan Bae.  I really enjoyed this set, and have gotten a ton of them signed.  I'm not pursuing the entire set as of yet, but it would be a fun one to try.

Thank you so much for the 50/50 returns, Cam.  I hope we can do this again next season.

More 50-50 Returns From Logan

The rest of the cards my friend, Logan, got signed for me this season came back today.  He was waiting to finish out Wichita's season since they reached the Texas League finals.  Logan was hoping to get the above 2021 Bowman Invicta signed by Austin Martin.  I wanted to get the card done myself when we visited Wichita earlier this year, but missed Martin.  He looked right at me after the second game we saw, but didn't come over.  Logan was able to finally get him the last game he was at, which was great.  I can now put this card in my album.

Logan also took some Tulsa guys and got Gus Varland for me.  I had gotten Gus's brother, Louie, while we were visiting the Wind Surge, and I was able to get these two 2020 Bowmans out of my box, thanks to Logan.

Logan also got me a 2021 Heritage Minors Brandon Lewis signed, as well as these two Landon Knack cards.

Finally, Logan got this Wind Surge team set card of Alex Isola signed for me, as well as this 2019 Midwest League All Star card of Chris Betts that I have been carrying around for a while.

Thanks again for getting all of these done for me, Logan!  I know we will be doing another league swap next season!

A Ton of Autographs From Drake

This post may seem like a card/scan dump.  I regret that I didn't break my friend, Drake's shipments up and post them when they came in.  I know Drake was disappointed that I waited to scan and post everything that he has sent me this past year.  I got busy trying to catch up on TTMs and then in-season graphing, I let his stack of cards get super huge.

Still, I finally sat down to scan everything, and even though my scanned froze several times, I finally got through it.

Drake has taken a ton of cards for 50/50s from me over the last two seasons.  He sees some teams in Florida and also Illinois.  He also has been able to see some players on rehab assignments in Florida, and I believe he also went to Tampa for a Rays game.  He was going to get Randy Arozarena and Wander Franco for me, but I don't think he was able to.  I am really happy with the Josh Lowes he got signed.  He has my 2020 Topps Heritage Minors blue parallel still, and that should be coming in the mail soon.

It was really hard sorting the stiff he had sent into some kind of pattern that would make it easy to post and discuss, so I decided to try to put stuff together that was similar, even though they may not all be the same teams.  Drake knocked out a bunch of Bowman products for me.  Several minor leaguers I may not have been able to see, he got them.

That's what appeals to me the most about doing 50/50s with folks.  They take cards from me of guys I wouldn't normally see, and I get them guys that I see.  We swap, and everyone is happy.  It also helps me clear space in my Bowman boxes for new product, and keeps teams that I never see from just sitting there collecting dust.

I especially like knocking out 2021 Heritage Minors cards.  I'm not working on the set, by any means, I just like the colorful cards and I also like reducing the stack that I have here at the house.

Drake took a couple Jordan Walkers from me that helped reduce the leftovers I had from my trip out west.  Maybe next season, he and I can get together and graph.  I'd enjoy it.

Drake also has helped me clear out some extras that I have here at the house.  He loves doing "blind trades" where he is happy taking any set number of cards and exchanging them card for card.  He doesn't mind obscure players or team personnel, so I try to send him some stuff he wouldn't normally see.  He does the same for me.

This has put several random team set cards in my album, and since I enjoy the randomness of my album pages, the cards fit right into my theme.

Here are some older Heritage and Heritage Minors cards that Drake has sent me.  I feel like Heritage and Heritage Minors are nice cards to get signed.  I also appreciate that they don't have to be prepped.

The Bowman cards Drake sent go back to the early 2010s.  I have some from those years, but seeing guys who were in those sets are getting tougher and tougher to see.  I have to go to places like AAA to see some of those guys, or wait until they become coaches.

I wonder just how man extra autographs Drake must have, since he sent me a ton.

He also included some older Topps cards that I can use to check off of my Topps ledger for some of those early 2000s sets.

This Tirso Ornelas was one of those 2017 Bowman Chrome minis.  I have seen them around, but never pulled any.  I have a few of them from some former Wood Ducks.

So, Drake really hooked me up with a bunch of stuff.  I hate that it took me so long to scan and post them, but they're finally here, and also have finally been added to my autograph album.

Thank you so much, Drake, for all of the cards, and also for taking all of the 50/50s the past two seasons.

TTM Success - Hudson Head

This past spring, a few Pirates prospects offered to sign some cards TTM for a small fee.  I took advantage and sent two cards to Hudson Head.  The cards turned out great, even though after I had sent the cards and fee out, I saw Head in Greensboro and got the same kinds of cards signed.

Head (b. 2001) was a third round draft pick by the Padres in the 2019 June Amateur Draft out of a Texas high school.  He was traded to the Pirates prior to the 2021 season.  He has 143 hits, 18 home runs and a .227 batting average.

I mailed to Head on January 15 and got the cards back on April 7, for an 82-day TAT.  I paid the fee of $10.00/card.