Mystery TTM From Gerard - Luke Lacourse

Back in 2020, when we were in the dark times, Gerard and I added autographs to each other's collections by sending mystery TTMs out to be returned to each other. We let that pass once games resumed, but recently, Gerard sent off one to a 2025 Bowman Draft guy so I wouldn't have to dig his cards up. Not too long after, I got several cards back signed by Luke Lacourse.

Lacourse (b. 2006) was a 6th round pick by the Angels in the 2025 July Amateur Draft out of Bay City Western High School in Michigan. He has yet to make his professional debut. 

Thanks for sending out some cards for me, Gerard!

A Couple Old 50-50s From Gerard

Oof. These Christian Vazquez signed cards were sitting in a team bag, in a box that I had put aside a while back and forgot about. The cards were taken as a 50/50 by Gerard some time ago, and I never scanned them.  Above is a 2019 Topps Heritage. Below is a 2008 Bowman.

If I had to guess, I probably sent these to Gerard in 2021.  I'm sure he will tell me.

I feel bad that they sat for so long without being scanned and added to the autograph album.  However, this has been rectified and the cards are safely locked in the album.

Thanks for getting these done, Gerard.  As always, I appreciate it, even though it took me so long to get them posted.

Gerard With Some Worcester 50s

There were several guys I missed when I saw Worcester this last season, so Gerard took some of the cards I missed and got them done for me.  I'm really glad he did, because it got a lot of stuff done that otherwise would have gone into the Box Of Shame. 

He got these cards signed for me: Pedro Castellanos, Jose De Leon, Hobie Harris, Kyle Hart, Nathan Hickey, Jovan Moran, Ryan Vilade and Tom Windle.  I'm pretty sure I just missed Hickey completely when I searched for guys on Worcester, because I had a ton of his Pro Debut cards but didn't take any with me when I went up to Durham for the game.  Oof.  Thankfully, Gerard helped get my blue foil parallel signed.

I ended up with a few more Tyler McDonough cards from Prizm Draft, so it was nice to get them out of the box.  I also got a few 2019 Topps Nick Burdi cards out of there.  If I remember right, he gave Burdi some of the cards.  That or he gave some of the extras to some kids.  I really don't remember. 

I need to do better in getting these 50/50 posts in, but I end up with such a backlog of TTM posts, it gets tough.  I'm powering through the end of the year, and my goal is to wrap up at least all of the 50/50 posts I have left. We'll see how that goes.  Thanks for getting these done, Gerard!

Gerard Helps Complete a Card

My friend Gerard helped me finish off a dual card that I started back in April.  I got Chandler Seagle to sign his end of the card when I saw Gwinnett in Norfolk.  Gerard then took the card to get Mason McCoy.  He sent the card out to someone taking consignment who was able to finish the card.

I got the card back a little while later.  It is nice to have a multi-player card signed.  McCoy used to be an Orioles farm hand, and I had a few team set cards that I wanted to finish.  I sent them TTM to Spring Training and never got them back.  Oof.

Thanks for finishing the card, Gerard.

Latest Stacks of Autos From Gerard

My friend Gerard has sent me a few packages of signed cards lately.  I combined them so I could try to catch up a bit on posts.  He went to the Cape Cod League over the last few weeks and got a few cards signed for me.  He told me in advance that he would see Rintaro Sasaki, so I bought two Leaf Metal cards and sent them along.  I got this numbered one back signed, and Gerard kept the base card.  It helped him have some stuff to take with him to the games and it got me a sweet card for the autograph album. 

Gerard added some Jarrod Saltalamacchia cards to the album, along with some Dennis Cook cards.  The Team USA cards also are great.  I finally added some 2025 Stars and Stripes to the album with a Derrick Smith and Alex Sosa.  The Matthew Dallas came from a pair of cards that I had prepped for graphing early in the Bird Dawgs season for one of their opponents only to find out that was the wrong Matthew Dallas.

Gerard finished off all of the Jake Sanford cards that I had.  

Not to mention, he finished off all of the Saltalamacchia cards, as well.  As far as I know, at least.  He also made a deal with someone to get Mason McCoy to sign the above 2024 Topps Update that I started when I got Chandler Seagle earlier in the year.

He took some Carolina Mudcats cards from me when we met up in Durham a month or so ago.  He got Chandler Welch and Luis Pena for me.

Finally, Gerard had this beat up 2012 Topps Allen Craig that he had gotten signed.  He gave it to me for the album, probably because I sent him so many Craig cards over the years.  Who knows why it is so beat up.

Thanks for the autographs, Gerard!

May 26, 2025, Graphing of the Redbirds at Bulls

Durham has become one of my favorite places to graph.  I typically do well there, and this time I graphed for the first time with my good friend Gerard.  I also had messaged my buddy Aidan on Onstagram that I was doing arrival in Durham, looked up, and Aidan was there.  He and I had the same plans.  He was able to meet Gerard and Mike as well, and it seems they hit it off.  Aidan is a great guy.

A highlight of the trip was getting this 2024 Bowman Chrome gold refractor of Tre Morgan signed.

I freed some cards from the Box Of Shame with some guys on Memphis.  My Nick Anderson cards were left over from last year's trips to Norfolk.  I also got some Rob Kaminsky cards that I had been holding into for a while. The yellow 2015 Bowman was a great hit.  I also got a green parallel from 2024 Topps Heritage High Number of Alex Fernandez signed.

Drew Rom was really great.  He got us on the board on arrival, and signed for me a second time pregame on two cards that I missed.  Thomas Saggese was happy to see Chris and I.  He hadn't seen Chris in a few years.  Saggese usually personalizes, but didn't for us. Apparently, that was a surprise to some other graphers.

Joe Boyle made a new friend in Gerard's brother, Mike.  Boyle really isn't too friendly to graphers, and it showed when Mike revealed his page of Boyle cards "ugh, you have too many. I'm only going to sign one..." "OK, that's fine, can you sign the yellow one?" "No." Gerard told me later in the week that Boyle did sign for him again, and was friendlier.

The main reason Chris came along was so that he could see Mason Englert in person again.  We missed him when we were in Columbus seeing Toledo last season.  He is now in the Rays system, and it was awesome seeing him again. 

Ha-Seong Kim was in Durham on a rehab assignment.  I didnt have any cards pulled for him, but two boys that were there gave me one of their extra cards after I gave them a few guys they didn't have.  It worked out doubly for me in that I got Kim and got rid of some cards that would have gone back in the boxes.

I cleared a few Andrew Stevenson cards out of the boxes, which helped clear a little room.  I also got a couple Durham team set cards taken care of.  I also got a couple Cole Wilcox cards that have been in my Durham box since last season signed.

Carson Williams was the last guy that we got.  I had made the decision to head out after getting a few autos post game, and the rain had returned.  I got Chris, turned around to say goodbye to Gerard and Mike, and saw them getting ready to get Williams.  Chris and I grabbed our books and knocked out two cards. 

One of the nicest guys we saw on this trip was another rehab assignment guy, Kevin Kelly.  I love this 2023 Topps Heritage.

We had a great time graphing with Aidan, Gerard and Mike.

In all, I got the following autographs: Nick Anderson x 2, Luken Baker x 2, Ian Bedell x 2, Howie Clark x 2, Jimmy Crooks x 2, Jose Fermin x 1, Ryan Fernandez x 2, Rob Kaminsky x 4, Michael McGreevy x 3, Cesar Prieto x 13, Drew Rom x 4, Thomas Saggese x 2, Mike Siani x 4, Andy Yerzy x 1, Zack Weiss x 1, Joe Boyle x 2, Mason Englert x 5, Brock Jones x 4, Dominic Keegan x 2, Kevin Kelly x 3, Ha-Seong Kim x 1, Tyler Ladendorf x 1, Tre Morgan x 2, Tanner Murray x 2, Pat Phelan x 1, Andrew Stevenson x 6, Jacob Wagiespack x 1, Cole Wilcox x 2, Carson Williams x 2 and Aidan Warnock x 1 (81 total autographs).

An Owen White Autograph From Gerard

While cleaning up my stack of backlogged autographs, I found this 2024 Topps signed by former Wood Duck, Owen White.  The card was given to me by my.good buddy, Gerard.  I had sent one to White during Sprong Training, but it never came back.  Oh well.  Let's check his current career stats.

White (b. 1999) has played in the majors since 2023.  He has gotten into 5 games and is 0-1 with 4 strike outs and a 16.71 ERA.  That's a terribly small sample soze.  Let's hope he gets more chances to work on those stats.

Thanks for the card, Gerard!

Gerard Gets Salty

My buddy, Gerard, got a few more Jarrod Saltalamacchia cards signed for me at the Cape Cod League.  I had pulled several this past winter and was glad to dig them out for him (and also a few for my buddy, Aidan).

Both of these cards turned out nicely.  Gerard got me a few more signed, but they were duplicates.

Thanks for getting my cards signed for me, Gerard!

Joe West Signed Baseball

My friend, Gerard, sent me this signed baseball that he got done for me recently of Joe West.  West is a former umpire who likely will be elected to the Hall of Fame at some point.  He missed out during the most recent veterans committee voting, but is likely to be the next unprecedented to get in at some point. 

West (b. 1952) umpired from 1976 to 2021, for a record 43 seasons.  He resigned during the 1999 Umpires strike, but was rehired in 2002.  Born in Asheville, NC, West later moved to Greenville, NC and attended ECU and Elon College.  He was part of the inaugural ECU football team, but transferred to Elon after that first season when the then ECU coach was fired.  He is a graduate of JH Rose High School in Greenville.

West umpired for a record 43 seasons and a record 5,460 games.  He umpired three All Star games (1987, 2005 and 2017) and six World Series (1992, 1997, 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2016).

Thanks for getting this ball done for me, Gerard.

Hall of Fame Signed Baseball - Peter Gammons

My good friend, Gerard, got this baseball signed for me by Hall of Fame sportswriter, Peter Gammons.  Gammons was a signer at a show near Boston, so Gerard took the ball for me and dropped it off so I could add another Hall of Famer to my collection.  My 173rd Hall of Famer on a baseball came as a result.  The ball turned out great, and Gammons added the HOF inscription for free.

Gammons (b. 1945), after graduating from UNC Chapel Hill, joined the Boston Globe in 1969, covering the Red Sox and/or penning national baseball coverage from 1969 to 1975 and 1978 to 1986.  He worked for Sports Illustrated from 1976 to 1978 and 1986 to 1990.  He joined ESPN as an on-air baseball analyst, and worked there until 2009.  He was selected for the J. G. Taylor Spink Award for outstanding baseball writing given by the Baseball Writers Association of America in 2005, enshrining him in the Hall of Fame.

Thanks for getting my ball signed, Gerard!

Signed 1987 Topps Mitch Webster From Gerard

My good friend, Gerard, found this Mitch Webster signed 1987 Topps for my set.  Gerard has helped a bunch with the set.

Webster (b. 1959) played in the majors from 1983 to 1995 for the Blue Jays, Expos, Cubs, Indians, Pirates and Dodgers.  He had 900 hits, 70 home runs and a .263 batting average.  

Thank you so much for the help with the set, Gerard!

Hall of Fame Signed Baseball - Joe Castiglione

My good friend, Gerard, picked up this signed baseball for me of newly minted Hall of Famer, Joe Castiglione.  He was just named as the 2024 Ford Frick Award winner.  Gerard saw him at a recent card show.

Castiglione (b. 1947) has been the Red Sox radio announcer since 1983.  Prior to that, he capped games for the Brewers and Indians.

I had a chance to get Castiglione on a ball when I was in Boston in July and again in Baltimore in October.  I reacted too.slowly both times. Thankfully, Gerard got him for me and I can add a new Hall of Famer to the collection.  Castiglione is my 171st Hall of Famer on a baseball. Thanks Gerard!

Some 50-50s and Spring Training Autos From Gerard

Stacks of signed cards from sources other than TTMs continue to pile up on my desk.  I need to scan and post a bit more frequently to catch up, or I will remain behind on scanning and cropping for a long time.  I wanted to go ahead and get these cards from Gerard onto the blog, since I still had a team bag full of these cards he got done for me last season.  I combined these Red Sox cards from last year with the Rays cards he got signed for me recently at Spring Training, and hae a lot of stuff to add to the autograph album.

Gerard helped me finish off some Carolina League Top Prospects cards from a couple seasons ago with the above Jarren Duran and Bran Mats.  I was also glad to get a 2021 Heritage Minors Hudson Potts signed, and the Bryan Mata 2018 Bowman Chrome refractor.  I also enjoyed that he got me the 2019 Bowman Heritage Mata at the top of the post.  I really like that set, and was glad to add another of those to the album.

I may have seen Durbin Feltman with Salem or Greenville, but I don't remember, so it was nice to add these three to the album.  I know I saw Cameron Cannon, but I'm still glad to get a few extras of him, as well.

Getting cards from 2018 Bowman is starting to get tougher, as a lot of those guys have moved up and on from the teams I see, or they are now out of baseball.  It's funny how quickly a card set can get, maybe not obsolete, but out of the forefront of what you're seeing in a current season's autograph book.

When Gerard told me he could take some Rays for Spring Training, I was excited to get this 2022 Bowman Chrome green shimmer refractor of Curtis Mead signed.  The card is awesome, and I almost couldn't find it before I sent the package off.  Thankfully, I found it in the last place I looked and got it into the package.

I had hoped that this was a 2021 Topps Charlie Culberson, and not a Topps Update, because I have only 9 2021 Topps in my autograph album.  I don't count updated toward my Topps statistics, but this one is, in fact, an Update.  Oh well.  I still like the card, it just won't run my numbers for 2021 Topps into double digits.  I did send a bunch of 2021s to Spring Training for TTMs, but results from those have been super slow.

Gerard helped me get some generic team cards into the album by getting these 2010 Topps Tampa Bay Rays cards signed.  From left, Jordan Qsar, Kevin Kelly and Colton Brewer.

He also helped me get a few cards out of my box for older prospects cards like the 2014 Topps Heritage Minors Daniel Robertson, a 2018 Bowman Michael Mercado and a 2019 Bowman Logan Driscoll.

Finally, a couple more older cards with a 2016 Bowman Nick Burdi and a 2019 Midwest League All Star Niko Hulsizer.  He also helped me get a 2022 Topps Update Chrome purple Rene Pinto and a 2022 Topps Update Rene Pinto signed.

Thanks for getting all of these cards signed for me, Gerard.  This was a good start to this season's 50/50s for the two of us, and I look forward to what else we can get ink on this season.

Christmas Gift From Gerard

My friend, Gerard, hooked me up with some nice stuff for Christmas.  The above 2022 Topps Gallery of Yohel Pozo is really nice.  I never got a chance to open this product, so it was a nice surprise.

Gerard did some signings recently with James Triantos and Jared Shuster.  These are some pretty nice cards.  I wanted to participate in the signings, but didn't get time to go through my stuff.  Gerard helped out and I can add these to my album.

It was also really cool that Gerard knocked three guys off of my 1987 Topps checklist.  These three are tougher guys to get, and I am glad to knock them off of the list.

Thank you so much for the Christmas gift, Gerard.  I really appreciate it, and am glad you have helped me with this set.

Birthday Gift From Gerard

Another birthday has come and gone.  This one wasn't very eventful, which is what I wanted.  I took the day (was a Wednesday) and then the following Thursday and Friday off.  I was going to try to travel to a game, but ended up staying around the house since we were down a car.  I used the time to organize my card room a little better and also to scan a bunch of cards (hence all of the posts).

Meanwhile, I got a couple birthday packages in; this one is from my buddy, Gerard.

Gerard sent me some autographs of current and former Wood Ducks.  Those have been put away for now.  At some point, I want to put an album together of those kinds of cards, but in the meantime, they are in a box labeled "Wood Ducks".  I'll probably buy an album and box of pages specifically for certified autos of current and former Wood Ducks and just fill it randomly as cards come in.  That's an idea, at least.

Gerard also sent me these cool graded proof cards of Cody Freeman for the PC.  I think these are really awesome, and are pretty unique for me.

Thank you so much for the gifts, Gerard.  I really appreciate it.

A Signed Card From Gerard

I got a package in from my good friend, Gerard the other day that had some birthday stuff (that I'll post later) and this card that he was able to get signed for me by Andy Fox.  I like the design of the card, a 1996 Select.  I have a thing for wood-grain cards, and this is a nice one.

Fox (b. 1991) played in the majors from 1996 to 2004 for the Yankees, Diamondbacks, Marlins, Expos and Rangers.  He had 461 hits, 30 home runs and a .239 batting average.  He won the World Series in 1996 with the Yankees.

Thanks for getting this signed for me, Gerard.  It will look great in the album.

An Assortment of Autographs From Gerard

Falling behind of posting stuff has led to a huge stack of signed cards that still need to be scanned.  This stack can hopefully be managed quickly, especially if I combine posts of stuff from the same person.  Scattered among the cards were several that Gerard has sent me over the past few months.

He recently did a signing with Franklin Perez that I didn't write down nor count toward my TTMs.  I had sent several Perez cards to Gerard just after the National with several that he could use for himself.  I found the above 2018 Bowman Chrome purple shimmer refractor in a dollar box at the National and decided that this would be the key to what I wanted back from the signing.

I also sent off the 2018 Topps Pro Debut showing Perez in a Buies Creek uniform.  I couldn't find my team set card; I think I sent it TTM to Perez and never got it back.  Gerard provided the 2017 Carolina League Top Prospects card, which was nice (because mine was sent in that lost TTM).

Gerard had also arranged a private signing with Terry Kennedy, and since I needed the 1987 Topps Padres leaders card signed, I jumped in that signing as well.  I included my 1991 Crown Orioles card, since I'm not officially working on that set, but want to get them out of my box and signed.

My hope is that Gerard can get Andy Hawkins to do a signing so I can complete the leaders card.  Gerard also provided a base 1987 Topps of Kennedy so I could upgrade mine from black ink to blue.

Here are a bunch of random cards that Gerard sent back from past 50/50s and other signings.  I was glad he gave me the 2003 Bowman Heritage of Nate Spears.  I love that design.  I probably got Matthew Lugo on my own 2019 Bowman Draft, but this one will go in my album anway.

The 1991 Topps Oddibe McDowell was one of the last mystery TTMs that came in; back when we were doing those.  THat kind of stopped with the both of us getting really busy.  I might pick that up on a limited basis.  I thought about doing that for maybe one of my nephews or nieces.

Finally, here are a couple landscape oriented cards.  The 2019 Topps Rangers card is signed by former Rangers manager, Chris Woodward.

The Christian Vazquez seems to be the first 2022 Topps Heritage to make its way into my album.  I really appreciate all of the cards from Gerard.  I'm also glad that I am at a point where I can clean my desk up.  It is never too early to prep for next season.