Andrew Helps With a Mattingly

My buddy Andrew lives in Evansville, Indiana and has access to cheap signings with Don Mattingly.  He reached out to me and offered to take a Mattingly card of mine and get it signed for me if I wanted to pay the fee.  I was all for that, so I sent him this awesome insert from 1990 Bowman.  The card turned out great.

Thanks for getting the card done for me, Andrew.  If they keep these signings up in Evansville, I'll definitely send another along.

Andrew Comes Through

My longtime close friend, Andrew, really helped me out recently when he made one of his weekend trips to Evansville, Indiana.  He attended a show there to get my 1987 Topps All Star Don Mattingly signed.  This was the last of three Mattinglys that I needed for the set, and this show came in at a price about half of what Mattingly normally charges.

I had also seen that White Sox prospect, Colson Montgomery, would be at the show, so I sent off the above 2022 Bowman Invicta that I had bought early last season, but missed him.  This card turned out awesome, and will look great in my album.

Finally, Andrew sent along a Christmas gift that he had found for me, a 2019 Leaf Trinity numbered 3/15 of Cody Freeman.  I love this card!

Thank you so much for helping me out, Andrew!

TTM Success - Rickey Henderson

This 1987 Topps Yankees Leaders card was a tough one to complete.  I mailed out three of them at different times to Don Mattingly, and never got one back.  I finally paid for a private signing with him and got the card signed, hoping I would, then, be able to get Rickey at the National.  Rickey wasn't at the National this year, so I had to settle for a private signing, but that's alright.  I have met Rickey twice, once getting him on a ball, and the second time, I got him on the base 87 card.  Now, I can focus on others at the National, if guys I need show up.

I mailed to the signing on November 4 and got the card back yesterday (12/27) for a 53-day TAT.  I paid a fee of $85 for Rickey, and a lot more for Mattingly.

Another TTM Success From Don Mattingly

The plan was simple.  Try to get this 1987 Topps Yankees Leaders card signed by Don Mattingly before I went to the National, so I could get Rickey Henderson while I was there.  I sent one of these cards to Marlins Spring Training in February 2020 (as I had several Spring Trainings before that), then the season was canceled, as was the National.  I sent another card to 2021 Marlins Spring Training.  No luck in a return.  Finally, I saw a private signing pop up with Mattingly, so I decided to send the card off, so it would be back in time for the National.  Of course the card came back signed, but Rickey was not at the National this year.  Oof.  So, I will either have to jump on a private signing for Rickey that just popped up, or try to wait and see if he is at the National in 2022.  Tough decision.  I probably will go ahead and mail it off to the signing and get the card secured in my album so I can cross it off of the list.

I sent to the signing on March 30 and got the card back signed on May 11, for a 42-day TAT.  I paid a fee of... quite a bit... and still have one other Mattingly that I need to get signed.

Dugan Comes Through

My good friend, Dugan, really came through for me on his last day of vacation in Miami.  He had taken a few Don Mattingly 1987 Topps with him, in hopes of getting one signed for me.  He had struck out the first few times he saw him, but in the end came away successful.  The Mattingly cards in the set have proven tough to get, but he helped knock one out.  I'll send another of his cards TTM next spring training.

Dugan also got me three Jeison Guzman cards signed.  I think these were mine that I handed off to him to get done, but I'm not 100% sure.  Regardless, they turned out great.

I really appreciated Dugan's help with these autos.  I recently helped him land several Mudcat players, so it is definitely graphers helping out other graphers.  Plus, he is a good friend, so I don't mind getting stuff done for him!

Thanks so much, Dugan!

TTM Success - Don Mattingly

Finally, I got a TTM success back from Don Mattingly.  It only took me three tries.  I had seen successes from Spring Training where Mattingly signed up to four cards, so I sent him the three cards he has in the 1987 set, as well as this oddball ad for Magic Motion Discs.  I had a whole stack of the ads in a box of cards that Mom had gotten me a while back, so I figured it would be a cool throw-in to my TTM request.

It was cool, until I got the cards back and all three of my 1987s were unsigned, and the ad card was the only one he signed.  I did laugh, however, at my misfortune.  I mean, I still got Mattingly TTM, and I bet I am one of the very few folks who actually have a signed copy of this oddball ad.  In the meantime, my good buddy Dugan got me a 1987 base Mattingly signed IP, which will be shown off soon.

Mattingly (b. 1961) played in the majors from 1982 to 1995 for the Yankees.  He had 2,153 hits, 222 home runs and a .307 batting average across 14 seasons.  He won the AL batting title in 1984 when he batted .343.  He was the 1985 AL MVP Award winner.  He was a six-time All Star and a 9-time Gold Glove Award winner.  His career was cut short due to a back injury, leaving the Yankees one season before they won the World Series, missing his chance at a ring.

He has managed in the majors since 2011, managing the Dodgers (2011 to 2015) and Marlins (2016 to present) to a total record of 650-601 (.520 win %).  His teams reached the playoffs three times, but fell short of the World Series each time.

He appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot 15 times, but only reached a peak of 28.2% of the vote.  One has to think that he would have a decent enough of a change via the Veterans Committee someday.

I mailed to Mattingly on February 8 via Marlins Spring Training and got the card back signed on May 19, for a 100-day TAT.

2012 Topps - The Inserts

2012 Topps is loaded with inserts and busting 3 jumbo boxes left me with a ton of trade bait.  I got a couple Orioles, too, so that is always a bonus.

 Ok, the mini 87 Topps are a pleasant surprise.  1987 was one of my favorite sets and was one of the first ones I completed.  I still have a 5,000ct box of 1987 Topps (in order) if anyone is interested in it.  I was happy to get this Adam Jones.

 I was able to add some Ripkens to my PC.  They look similar, but that's ok.  The card design is reminiscent to the stuff that Topps has issued over the last few years, so I guess these fit right inline.

 I was slightly disappointed that Topps didn't use the shot of 'Complacent Reynolds' from last season.  Oh well.  The Golden Parallels look really nice.  Ryan, if you want this Reynolds, let me know.

Here is another new Ripken added to the collection.  I'm pretty much over the dual cards that Topps has put out for the last several years.  Oh well.  They look sharp at least.

 The classic walk-offs look nice.  A lot of empty space.  Probably for sticker autos.

The Golden Moments inserts look nice.  More room for sticker autos.  I like this Kaline who is a very underrated player.

For my Yankee fan friends, here are a couple featuring some classic Yankees.

This Don Mattingly is already spoken for, I'll be sending it to Pete.

All in all, I like the inserts.  I don't feel like the inserts dominate the set like in years past.  I could do without the dual cards.  I also think there is a good bit of wasted space on some of the cards.  Gone are the Topps Town and Topps Attax.  Probably a good thing.  I like the Golden parallels and they would look pretty awesome in some other colors.  What do you all think?

Stay tuned for a post on the base cards!

Thoughts on 1986 Donruss Highlights

I didn't get any mail today, so I thought I would put down some thoughts on an old box of cards I found in my collection.

I have had this box of 1986 Donruss Highlights for around 20 years.  I remember when I got it, it was worth quite a bit due to the Jose Canseco and Roger Clemens cards included.   Heh.  Little did we know...

Yes, when I bought it, I paid $14.00.  Probably worth around $5.00 now.  Oh well. 

 The first thing you see when you open the box is this Hank Aaron puzzle.  It is really cool, I think.

 Something really cool in this set is that they showed the players who were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986.  I think this is something that should be featured each year.  Above is one of the best TTM signers around, Bobby Doerr.

Here is another '86 inductee, Ernie Lombardi.  I wrote a post last year on Lombardi.  You can check it out here.

The last Hall of Famer featured is Willie McCovey.  I need to get more McCovey stuff.

Bo Knows

 

So, I really like the design of the cards.  There are a bunch of good players in the set.  The set is 55 cards featuring highlights of the 1986 season.  From record setting performances to individual milestones to players of the month for AL and NL for each month of the 1986 season.  Not too bad.

Blast From The Past - 1991 O Pee Chee Premier

I was cleaning out an old album of cards so my son would have somewhere to put his wrestling cards when I discovered several pages of some cards that I remembered form my collecting days as a kid...

 1991 O Pee Chee Premier.  Oh yeah!  I remember when these came out.  No longer were O Pee Chee cards going to look EXACTLY like Topps cards from that year.  No, they finally had their own design, and a premium price point as well (if I remember correctly, they were pretty expensive for that era).

Loving Donnie Baseball's mullet in this picture, by the way.

This was right at the wave of card companies trying to cash in on the baseball card craze of the late 80s - early 90s.  Score, Fleer, O Pee Chee, Pacific, Leaf, Donruss, Upper Deck, Topps; so many card companies to choose from.  Oh, then you had to choose spin off brands as well: Triple Play, Collector's Choice, Stadium Club, Ultra, Flair, Fleer Metal, Aficionado (which I still really like), Score Select, Topps Finest, etc etc etc...

No wonder cards of this era aren't worth a thing.  This is what happens when you flood the market.  The cards look pretty good, though. Nice, basic design.  I also was remarking at how many big names I had in the album: Mattingly, Eddie Murray, Gary Carter, Robin Yount, George Brett, Nolan Ryan, etc.  They all went into a box for my son to look through when he gets into older cards.

I figured you guys would enjoy this trip down memory lane...

Meet the New Boss, Not the Same as the Old Boss...

It's no secret that I have been following the Dodgers a lot more lately, since my best friend is a Dodger fan. In order to keep our baseball conversations fresh, I try to make sure I'm up to speed on all things Dodgers as he has done the same with all things Orioles.
It was announced today that Donnie Baseball is going to replace Joe Torre as the Dodgers' next manager.

I think this is awesome for many reasons. My best friend's team gives a true baseball icon a chance to helm the club next year and there will be new Don Mattingly cards issued to celebrate his place as Dodger manager.

I have so many friends who LOVE Don Mattingly. He is my mom's favorite player of all time (yes, Mom is a Yankee fan). My good friend Pete is a huge Mattingly fan as well.

I'm sure some Yankee fans will throw up in their mouths a little when they see the former Yankee Captain on cards in a Dodger uniform. My thought is: I really hope he does well and punches his ticket to the Hall of Fame. Wouldn't it be weird if he wins a couple World Series as Dodger Manager (my prediction is that he will) and goes into the Hall with a Dodger cap on?

How do you Yankee fans feel? Is it bittersweet that you are stuck with Joe Girardi? Or, would you be afraid of Mattingly managing where he is a legend and most assuredly would be fired at some point? Everyone knows most managers hre hired to be fired. This is the biggest reason I don't think I want Cal Ripken as the Orioles' manager (which I believe he has no interest in becoming O's manager), however, I'm perfectly happy with Buck SHowalter at this point.

I'm already excited for next season. I am very happy for Don Mattingly to finally get his chance to prove himself at a new position in the game. Good luck to him and good luck to the Dodgers!!!