A Signed Sammy Sosa From Max

My buddy, Max, reached out recently to let me know that a private signing was going on with Sammy Sosa for a really good price. The problem was, most of my Sammy Sosa cards were already at Max's house. So, he showed me several of them, and I picked this 1997 Topps to get signed. I have very few 1997 Topps cards in my autograph album, so it was an easy choice. 

The card looks great. I really appreciate how Max always looks out for me. Thanks for helping me get my card signed!

More 2025 50-50s and 2026 Cubs Convention Autos From Max

My buddy Max took another box of cards from me and converted a lot of them into signed cards I could add to my autograph album. One highlight was the above Topps Archives signed by Fergie Jenkins. This is a great card. There aren't enough modern sets using the 1957 Topps design. I wish they had done a Heritage Minors set with this design.

Here are cards sigbed by Cody Acshe, Quentin Berry, Trevor Cahill, Travis Chapman, Garrett Cooper, Noah Davis, Ryan Dempster and Jim Deshaies. I thought I had these Topps cards signed by Cahill and Dempster, but I didn't, so that was nice.

These are signed by Kyle Freeland, Jason Hammel, Mike Harkey, Starling Heredia and Jaden Hill. I had sent my Hill cards to someone for a 50/50 a while back, and everything came back signed, except for a Chrome, so that puts it in the album. I was alsi happy to see a 2015 Topps Jason Hammel (middle) and it looks great.

Here are Alex Jacob, Reed Johnson, John Lannan, Ted Lilly, German Marquez, Jack Neely. Those Neelys add some 2025 Topps to the album. I thought I had gotten John Lannan before, but I suppose I was wrong because I was unable to find any.

Now we see Riley Martin, Colin Rea, Mike Remlinger, Ethan Roberts, Jackson Rutledge and Matt Szczur. I sent every Szczur card I ever owned to Max at various points in time. It was nice to get one back signed for the album. Szczur is one of Max's all-time favorite guys, so I know it was tough to part with. He knows it went to a good home.

Here are Anthony Senzatella, Ryan Sweeney, Ezequiel Tovar and James Triantos. A 2007 Upper Deck Artifacts Sweeney at the bottom left really pops. Also that blue 2007 Bowman right beside it looks awesome.

Here are Victor Vodnik, Randy Wells and Jaxon Wiggins. I saw that I had a few more Wiggins in my box, so I'll have to send a few more his way to refill his stock.

Reed Johnson, Shawon Dunston, Hoby Milner, Drew Romo and Jim Palmer are in this bunch. That 1992 Topps Gold Dunston is pretty great. It would have been cool to have been able to get Don Sutton on the card with Palmer, but it was not meant to be.

Finally here are Cubs team cards signed by Justin Grimm and Gavin Hollowell.  

Thank you so much, as always, Max. I'm sorry it took me so long to get these scanned. I have another smaller stack he sent afterward that need to be scanned. I hope to knock those out soon.

Christmas GIft From Max - Bob Welch Signed 1987 Topps

This Christmas, my buddy Max knocked another card off of my signed 1987 Topps checklist.  I still needed Bob Welch, who had passed away, so there obviously weren't any private signings or TTM I could do.

Welch (b. 1956 - d. 2014) played in the majors from 1978 to 1994 for th3 Dodgers and A's.  He had a record of 211-146 with 1,969 strike outs and a 3.47 ERA. He won the AL Cy Young Award in 1990 when he went 27-6 with 127 strike outs and a 2.95 ERA. He finished 8th in the AL MVP race that season.  He was an All Star twice (1980 and 1990).  He won the World Series in 1981 with the Dodgers and in 1989 with the A's. He appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2000 but received only 0.2% of the vote.

Thank you Max for knocking another card off of the list.  I believe I only knocked 3 or 4 cards off of the list this year.  It's getting tougher, for sure.

Max Helps With An Auto

My buddy Max has been very busy lately with things beyond graphing, so he hasn't been able to take as many cards this year like he had before. Still, i was excited when he asked me to send him some Addison Russell cards for a signing.  I found 4 cards (if I remember correctly), and got this 2016 Topps Opening Day back signed.  Russell has a cool autograph. 

Russell (b. 1994) played in the majors from 2015 to 2019 for the Cubs.  He had 480 hits, 60 home runs and a .242 batting average. He was an All Star in 2016 and finished 19th in the NL MVP race that season.  He won the World Series with the Cubs in 2016.

Thanks for helping me add this card to the autograph album, Max!

A Few More Autos From Max

Soon, I'll be able to spend a little time with my buddy Max.  Hes a great guy and always hooks me up with autographs.  He sent over a handful of signed cards recently.  This 2022 Topps 87 Chrome Silver Pack card of Jake Burger is a great addition to the autograph album.   I'm not sure if I sent this to him to get signed or if it was an extra he sent to me.  I love these silver pack cards and getting them in the album is great.

Max also sent these autographs from Manny Acta, Jerry DiPoto, Gabe Speier, Caleb Thielbar, Alek Thomas and Nick Pratto.  Im pretty sure at least a couple of these are ones that I sent.  Max loves to help me knock out team set cards.  I forgot all about the 2018 SAL Top Prospects card.  I still have a few unsigned cards from that set but over the years, a bunch of them have been signed.

Max sent a cpuple team cards sugned by Jerry DiPoto, Emerson Hancock and Luke Little.  Max helps big time with helping me get these out of the boxes.  Im glad they can get put to use as opposed to sitting in some boxes.  These really do come in handy.

Finally, Max sent me another Wander Franco signed 1987 Topps design card. Franco has become a bit of a running joke between Max and I.  I'm not going to get into the specifics on Franco.  We'll never see him again.  However, sone of these cards may be important if I ever want to assemble some of these 87-themed insert sets, so I'm definitely not going to refuse them.

As always, thanks Max for the autographs.  I can't wait to take you to dinner when I'm in Chicago.

Spring Training 2025 Plus Other Autos From Max

As he always does, Max delivered a huge package of autographs a few weeks ago.  He went to Cubs Convention and Spring Training and took a bunch of my cards with him to get signed.  I was glad to get a bunch of room cleared in my boxes.  The above Topps Pro Debut relic card of Ryan Vilade was a big hit.

Here are cards sigbed by Riley Adams, Paul Bako, Moises Ballestros, Matthew Boyd, Rob Brantly, Alex Call, Dave Clark.  I liked getting the Winston-Salem Spirits card signed by Bako. I'm pretty sure I got to see him play at Ernie Shore Field.  

These cards are signed by Kenedy Corona, Ryan Dempster, Bob Dernier, Chris Devenski, Sean Doolittle, Joe Espada, Jose Fermin, Daxton Fulton.  I'm certain that I am out of Dernier cards at this point.  It was funny Max got Corona for me; I just got him myself while seeing Sugar Land last week.

I finally got my old Greensboro team set card back signed by Joe Espada.  That was a cool team set to pick up for $5.  Well worth it to have something for Espada to sign.  I was also glad to add a Jose Ferrer card to the album ince I saw him past year but had none of his cards on me at the time.

This group is Ryan Flaherty, Ben Gamel, Stone Garrett, Luis Guillorme, Ricky Gutierrez, Jon Jay.  I did a search and I didn't see that I had any Flaherty signed cards until this moment.  I'm glad I finally found these.  I think Max asked me for Flaherty stuff early last year and it took me forever to find when I had mine sitting.  My Ben Gamel Bulls team set card finally got done, as well.  I was afraid that one wouldn't get done. 

I found several more Luis Guillorme to take with me to the Durham game while Sugar Land was there but Guillorme wouldn't stop and sign for us.  He was in a hurry to catch their flight.

These are Chris Johnson, Reed Johnson, Matt LeCroy, Bill Madlock, Brice Matthews, CHas McCormick, Victor Mesa, Jr., Noble Meyer.  That 2024 Panini Crusade of Meyer turned out nicely.  I had heard that Chris Johnson was a tough graph but Max got him on several cards, which helped get a good many out of my boxes. 

The next batch is of Brian McRae, Jake Meyers, Drew Millas, Rodery Munoz, Connor Norby, Glenn Otto.  That Diamond King Otto is pretty cool.  I didn't even know I owned that card before.  Max really helped to get some older team set cards signed.  That's great because they just end up sitting in a box unsigned otherwise. 

Daniel Palencia, Mitchell Parker, Nate Pearson, Konnor Pilkington, Cal Quantrill, Ethan Roberts, Drew Rom are in this next group.  I love the 2019 Topps Holiday Cal Quantrill.  Those are fun cards to add to the album.  I finally have Drew Rom, a former Oriole farm hand who is in the majors with St. Louis.

Here are Jackson Rutledge, Jon Singleton, Mike Soroka, Geovany Soto, Caleb Theilbar, James Triantos.  Thay 2010 Topps Pro Debut says Kyle Heckathorn on the card but it is actually Caleb Thielbar pictured.  That was a cool novelty card to get done.

These are Keegan Thompson, Luis Vazquez. Christian Walker, Donovan Walton, Ryan Weathers, Forrest Whitley.  Another 2019 Midwest League All Star Card got done.  Im down to just a handful of these.  I couldn't believe I didn't have the 2015 Topps Chrome Christian Walker in the album yet.  He's really gone on to have a good career.

The Jacob Young above is a really cool card.  I didn't know I sent that one also or maybe Max gifted it to me because he's such a great guy. I was also surprised I had and Jordan Wicks cards left in the boxes to send out.

These are 2024 Topps Heritage minis of Rilety Adams, Jose Ferrer and Dane Myers.  I loved last year's Heritage.  Hopefully this year's using the 1976 design looks good as well.

These horizontal cards of Ron Coomer, Stone Garrett, Reed Johnson, Konnor Pilkington, Cesar Salazar, Jesus Tinoco mixed upky alphabetization of the signatures, but that's ok.  They all look great.

Max also helped with several generic cards by getting Paul Bako, Anthony Bender, Declan Cronin, Joe Espada and Calvin Faucher to sign.

Here are more team cards: Colton Gordon, Ronny Henriquez, Ryan Ignoffo, Bryan Lavastida, Andrey Lara, Jon Lieber, Riley O'Brien, Javier Sanoja.

Finally Eric Wagaman and Carlos Zambrano signed a bunch of these. 

Again, thanks so much for taking the cards from me and getting some signed, Max.  I always appreciate it, even though it seems like it takes me forever to scan and upload them.  Here's to another season of graphing!

Christmas From Max 2024

Max came through again with some cards to help out with my 1987 Topps set.  Crossing off the tough Mark Portugal (above) was something I was really happy to do once I opened his gift.  He also got me another signed card from the set, but I had already gotten the same guy from a private signing, so Max's will be used to trade for someone else that I need and will be posted later on.

Portugal (b. 1962) played in the majors from 1985 to 1999 for the Twins, Astros, Giants, Reds, Phillies and Red Sox.  He had a career record of 109-95 with 1,134 strike outs and a 4.03 ERA.   He finished 6th in the 1993 NL Cy Young Race and won a Silver Slugger Award in 1994.  He was part of the Teins organization when they won the World Series in 1987, but did not pitch in the playoffs.

Max also found this Wamder Franco signed 1987 Topps-design insert when he was looking for signed 87s and picked it up for me.  He got it as a joke, and i definitely chuckled when I saw it.  What a shame, though.  Wander was really cool the couple of times when I met him in Durham.  I'm going to refrain from discussing his issues much more other than I know we will never see him play in the majors again. Still, it's a nice card and I'm still putting it in the autograph album. 

Thank you so much for the Christmas gift Max.  You always come through.  

Max With the Last of the 2024 50-50 Returns

Catching up came be tough when you've got a lot going on and a lot to do in the coming weeks.  I made time today to scan a ton of cards so I could pre-load some blog posts that should carry me through Thanksgiving. 

One of the most important batches of cards that needed to be scammed was the final box of signed stuff that Max took care of this past season.  He really helped me out with moving cards out of my boxes.  He also hooked me up with some great autos, like the above 2022 Topps Heritage Andrew McCutchen.  I haven't been able to get Cutch TTM or IP, so this was an awesome addition to the autograph album. 

Max sent me thhis 2023 2023 Topps White Sox team set carx signed by Pedro Grifol.  It appears that Max got Grifol pretty close to the time he was let go by the White Sox.  I loved Max's note on the penny sleeve.  I kept it on the card in the album. 

I was glad to finally get this 2015 Bowman Chrome mini shimmer of Kyle Freeland signed.  I kept coming across it in the boxes; it is nice to fi ally have it locked in place in the autograph album. 

Max always helps me move these random team cards.  They always come in handy while graphing, whe. You run into guys who either don't have cards or you weren't able to find any in a pinch.  He got me: Jeff Bannister x 3, Brody Basso, Cam Boozer, Henry Blanco, Bob Carpenter and Ryan Borucki.

This batch of cards consists of: Darnell Coles, Hunter Gaddis, Willie Harris, Porter Hodge, Marcus Jensen and Chris Johnson x 3.

This next batch: Chris Johnson, Don Kelly x 3, Torey Lovullo x 2 and Tyson Miller x 2.

Here are Carlos Narvaez, Mickel Otanez, Max Schuemann, Derek Shelton, Cade Smith and Caleb Thielbar.

Finally, this Yankees card is signed by Luke Weaver.

These landscape-oriented cards are of Jorge Lopez, Torey Lovullo, Joe Ryan and Will Venable.  I was crossing my fingers that Max could help me out with the Joe Ryan.  That is such a cool card, I would have hated for it to stay in the Bowman box missing ink.

These are Spencer Arrighetti, Javier Assad, Brandon Bielak, Daz Cameron x 3 and Willi Castro x 2.  A couple team set cards got taken care of, which was good.  I don't know if I ever would have gotten a chance to get the Arrighetti signed.  Getting those Daz Cameron cards really helped me clear out some room in the Box Of Shame because I had those left over from when he was with Norfolk last season.

The next cards are: Travis Chapman, Enyel De Los Santos x 2, Ezequiel Duran, Damion Easley x 4 and Carlos Febles.  Check out De Los Santos's autograph. It is a pretty nice one, especially on that 2019 Bowman Heritage.  I also got some Febles done that I had left over from when he was a coach with the Red Sox.

Here are some more: Carlos Febles x 2, Kyle Finnegan, Jake Fraley, Kevin Frandsen, David Fry, Ryan Goins, Brad Goldberg and Jon Gray.  Even more Febles got signed, which pretty much wipes me out of his stuff (other than one I found tonight while looking for something else).

This batch: Mark Gubicza x 2, Ricky Gutierrez x 2, Willie Harris, Nico Hoerner, Jeff Huson, Tim Hyers and Jimmy Jones.  The Ricky Gutierrez 1995 Topps are cool cards.  I happened to have the base and the Cyberstats parallel.  I also had the Willie Harros for a long time, since he came through Kinston as a coach for Myrtle Beach in 2017.  The card got buried in a box following that season, and I was able to locate it and get it out to Max.

Even more: Jimmy Jones, Jakob Junis, Andrew Knapp, Justin Lawrence, Korey Lee, Luke Little, Jorge Lopez and Nicky Lopex x 2.  A lot of these came out of a box that I had kept aside of guys who I thought I'd see in Kinston (like the Korey Lee, Luke Little, or the 2018 Heritage Minors Nicky Lopez).  I was glad to ckear stuff out of that box.

These cards are of Luke Maile, Nick Martinez, Sam Moll, Eli Morgan, Jerry Narron x 2, Tomas Nido, James Paxton and Mitchell Parker.  I've gotten Narron in person, finally, but had several cards left over.  He's not the easiest to graph, so these getting done was great.  I had the Tomas Nido left over from when I saw Syracuse last year and missed Nido.  I had bought the card with the hope of getting him IP, but he wouldn't stop.  With Max's help, the Bowman Hi Tek is now signed.

These cards are of Bo Porter, Mike Redmond, John Schneider, Jon Singleton, Josh Staumont x 2, Tyler Stephenson and Ross Stripling x 2.  The 2016 Freddie Freeman signed by Bo Porter was a cool touch by Max.  I doubt I'll be able to get Freeman, but you never know.

Here are: Ross Stripling, Brent Suter, Jayce Tingler, Ezequiel Tovar, Ildemaro Vargas x 2, Will Venable, Jeff Ware and Ron Washington.  Obviously, I have Washington in my 1987 set, so this one goes in my regular autograph album.   I'm also surprised that I didn't already have that 1992 Topps Jeff Ware signed already.

This final batch is of Ron Washington, Alika Williams x 2 and Jacob Wilson x 3.  My buddy Josh probably would love these Jacob Wilsons, since he's a huge Jack Wilson fan.  I'm pretty sure I sent him a few unsigned Wilsons. 

This Jacob Young 2024 Topps retail blue parallel looks pretty nice.  I had forgotten I pulled this one.

Finally, this Tanner Banks 2022 Topps update wraps up the stuff Max sent.  I need to look at trying to get Bennett Sousa to sign his side of the card at some point.

It took me longer than I wanted, but I finally get everything Max sent scanned and uploaded.  I hate that it took me so long, but life gets in the way sometimes.  I look forward to the next lists that Max sends me.  Let's hope some of the names come out of the Box Of Shame or maybe a few from what Max calls the Death Pile; the pile of stuff that gets sent back unsigned.  I keep all of those separated with the hope that either of us gets a second chance at these guys.

Thanks so much for hooking me up, as always, Max!