TTM Success - Dennis Sarfate

Dennis Sarfate is a blast from the past for Orioles fans.  He was part of the trade that sent Miguel Tejada to the Astros from the Orioles.  I got a TTM success from Sarfate recently that included the above Japanese baseball card that u had gotten from my friend, Ryan. 

I also got this really nice 2005 Gold Leaf Rookie signed. The card didn't scan well, but it looks great in person.

Sarfate (b. 1981) played in the majors from 2006 to 2009 for the Brewers, Astros and Orioles.  He had a record of 5-4 with 131 strike outs and a 4.53 ERA.

I mailed to Sarfate on February 23 and got the cards back on March 25, for a 30-day TAT. 

August 19, 2023, Graphing of Revolution at Rockers

Yesterday, Chris and I met up with my friend, Tyler, and the three of us graphed York Revolution at High Point Rockers.  I had wanted to get back to High Point since my two cards of Daikan Yoh (aka Dai-Kang Yang) came in.  The above 2013 Topps Tribute WBC card turned out amazingly.  It should have; I spent a good bit on the card.

I had also picked up this awesome Japanese card of Yoh.  This also looks awesome.

I had a bunch of cards pulled for High Point, so I graphed them by the dugout pregame.  I got most of the guys I needed, so we graphed by our seats at the York dugout post game.  I only needed a few York guys, so I finished off who I could outsode post game, then went over to the High Point side and finished off everyone I could over there.  I finally was able to get Cam Bedrosian when he was one of the last guys out of the clubhouse.  I was really happy to get the above 2014 Topps Update red foil card signed.

I picked uo a team set for High Point before the end of the game, and was able to get a few guys on that.  I also got a 2011 Bowman Chrome Taylor Guerreiri and some 2018/2019 Shed Long cards out of the boxes.

I didn't sweat too hard over trying to get the team set guys done. I just got who I saw.  I probably will try to finish some of those guys off if they come back next season.  The set was cheap enough; I'm just happy with what I got. 

Between Chris, Tyler and I, all of the Frank Viola cards I had pulled over the course of the last two seasons have been signed.  I'll have to do a deep dive through some of my boxes if I want to find more cards of him.

These two might be my favorite Viola cards that I added to the album.

There weren't a whole lot of York guys with cards, but I was still able to get a few things done. I did miss Richard Urena, so that was disappointing. 

Tyler gave me a 2020 Bowman Drew Mendoza, since I couldn't find any in my Bowman box.  I also had the above Nellie Rodriguez sitting on my desk for quite a long time.  It is now resting in the album, finally out of the way.

In all, I got the following autographs: Cam Bedrosian x 4, Ryan Dull x 2, Albert Gonzalez x 1, Taylor Guerreri x 2, Shed Long Jr × 7, Frank Viola x 21, Dai Kang Yang x 2, Joe Johnson x 1, Trent Giambrone x 2, Drew Mendoza x 1 and Nellie Rodriguez x 2 (45 total autographs). 

TTM SUccess - Leo Gomez

I was finally able to get another of the Japanese cards signed that Ryan gave me a while ago.  The first one, Don Buford, didn't turn out as nice as this Leo Gomez did.  Buford signed in a blue ballpoint pen that dug into the card.  Gomez, on the other hand, signed in blue Sharpie, and the difference obviously shows.

He switched pens and signed this 1993 Topps in black Sharpie.  This card turned out really nice, as well.

Gomez (b. 1966) played in the majors from 1990 to 1996 for the Orioles and Cubs.  He had 466 hits, 79 home runs and a .243 batting average.

I mailed to Gomez on January 31 and got the cards back on April 11, for a 70-day TAT.

TTM Success - Don Buford

I'm always happy to receive TTM successes from former Orioles.  When I got this one in from Don Buford, I was equally excited that I was able to get signed one of the Japanese cards that my friend Ryan gave me.  I had hoped that Buford would sign it in blue sharpie, but the ballpoint pen will have to do.  The card is still really cool, and will look nice in my album.

I was also able to repurpose a beat up 1969 Topps that had been in my Orioles box.  I also raided my 1972 Topps partial set to add another card to the package.  They all turned out pretty nice, I think.

Buford (b. 1937) played in the majors from 1963 to 1972 for the White Sox and Orioles.  He had 1,203 hits, 93 home runs and a career average of .264.  He was an All Star in 1971 and finished as high as 15th in the AL MVP voting (1968).  He won the World Series with the O's in 1970.

I mailed to Buford on November 5 and got the cards back on November 12 for a 7-day TAT.  I sent along $5.00 to cover his signing fee.

Amazing Mail From Ryan

I got a really cool package in the mail the other day from Ryan over at O No Another Orioles Blog who recently took a trip to Japan.  Among some of the Orioles cards that I definitely needed was the above 2003 Topps 205 Polar Bear mini.  This is a really awesome card that scanned so well.

Ryan included some Japanese cards as well, above you can see the back of the Koji Uehara card that I got.  I thought this was so cool!  He also included Tsuyoshi Wada, Dennis Sarfate, Sherman Obando, Davey Johnson and a couple other former Orioles.

One of the coolest-looking Japanese cards that Ryan sent was the below 2012 Genesis Dennis Sarfate.  This one looks so cool.  I'm really amazed by the stuff Ryan sent.  He's a really good guy and if you haven't traded with him before, you definitely should!

Thanks again, Ryan!  I really appreciated all of the stuff you sent!