A Couple Older 50-50s From Dylan

My desk is quite a mess. I had hoped to clean it off during the offseason, but I haven't been any less busy than I usually am in-season.  So, little by little, I am clearing things off and getting small stacks of cards scanned.  

I got a few cards back recently from a Spring Training 50/50 I sent out to my friend, Dylan.  Both of us have been busy and haven't talked with each othet like we had in the past.  No hard feelings or anything, just life getting in the way.  Dylan was finally able to get my cards back to me, and I was able to get them scanned and loaded into the autograph album. 

He took a few cards for Cardinals Spring Training this past season, and got the above 2024 Topps Heritage Mini of Jose Fermin and the below 2023 Topps and 2024 Topps Update Michael Siani cards signed.

The cards turned out great, and I appreciate Dylan getting them back to me.

I ended up seeing Siani last season in Durham, but had no cards left.  I probably should have held onto a few, but in the end, it doesn't matter. 

Thanks, Dylan,!

Past 50-50s From Andrew

Graphing season is about to start up next week, and I have been thrashing to get some stuff together for an early-season series out of town.  In doing so, I had to search for a snap case of cards I didn't get signed last season, which led me to go through a ton of stuff on my desk.  I realized that I had a ton of stuff that still needed to be scanned and blogged.  That means I'm going to have to start back doing blogs at least twice a day to knock down some of the non-TTM stuff I have sitting here.  The first of which was a stack of cards I got back from Andrew while we were at the National.

Andrew actually had these cards since at least the 2019 season, when Chris and I visited him in Evansville.  He was going to get Wander Franco on a ball for me that year (he did, thanks, Buddy!) and also took some 50/50s.  COVID messed up us meeting in 2020, so I had to wait til the 2021 National to collect some of the cards he had waiting for me.  The above completed dual of Mike Siani and Jonathan India is one I actually forgot about, but was happy to see in the stack.

I'm pretty sure all of these came from Andrew.  The problem was, stacked fall over from time to time, and stuff gets mixed up.  I remember him giving me the Amir Garrett 2016 Heritage Minors and the Harrison Bader 2017 Bowman.  He maybe had the 2015 Naquin as well, or I may have picked it up, myself.  Andrew can tell me, but I think he did give it to me.

So, I'm hoping to reduce this stack of non-TTM autos in the coming days, but the fun part is that there is some nice stuff that I completely forgot about.  I guess that's a sad thing to say about the condition of my desk.  Thanks for the cards, Andrew!

This Year's 50/50s From Matthew F.

The 50/50s that I sent out this season have finally come in, for the most part.  I sent out a ton of cards, and while some of the 50/50s were a bit disappointing for me, this one that I got back from Matthew F. really was awesome.  There were a few cards in the batch that I was really excited to see come back signed, and Matthew really came through.

I had this 2010 Topps Chrome Red Hot Rookie Logan Morrison for a long time, and had been wanting to get it signed.  I held off sending it TTM, since I didn't want to lose it.  I, then, held it to see if I could get him at a High Point Rockers game this season, but he was signed by the Reds before I could get to a game.  Luckily, he was stashed at the Reds AAA (Louisville) and Matthew got the card signed for me.

Matthew got three other LoMos signed for me, two of which are above, and the other has been sent to a buddy of mine who is working on a set.

The best card of the whole bunch may be this 2021 Bowman Chrome green sparkle refractor of Clayton Beeter that he got signed for me.  The card is numbered 30/99 and Beeter actually inscribed it to Matthew, but Matthew was able to clean the card off for me.  You can't tell he fixed it, and the card looks awesome when scanned.

I had gotten a couple Lyon Richardson cards signed a couple years ago from another 50/50, but Matthew hooked me up with quite a few here.  I especially like the 2019 Bowman Heritage, which is the rightmost card.

I had been wanting to get Timmy Lopes to sign the 2010 Bowman USA card for a long time, and Matthew came through once again.  I also added a 2020 Topps to the album, and it turned out great.

I like these 2020 Topps Heritage Minors Scratch Off cards, and Matthew got a couple of them done for me.  The above Miguel Vargas turned out really well.

I was also happy Matthew got my Vargad Midwest League All Star card signed.  I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get that signed.

He got an Austin Drury card from that same set done, as well as some other team set cards, like my Hickory Sam Hellinger (former Wood Duck) card, or my Mudcats team set cards of Mario Feliciano or Quintin Torres-Costa.

Matthew helped me get a bunch of older Bowman cards out of my box, like the 2017 Bowman Morgan Cooper, or some 2019 Bowmans, like the Jack Little or Mike Siani.

These also turned out great, and there's another scratch off card from 2020 Heritage Minors.  I was really glad to move a lot of this stuff, and Matthew was a big help.

I got Matthew a bunch of Low A guys, and I know I will be sending to him again next season.  He probably hooked me up more than most people did this season, and he was really easy to work with.

He missed a few guys due to early season COVID restrictions and player movement.  Still, this was a very successful 50/50.  Thanks Matthew.

TTM Success - Mike Siani

I added another prospect's autograph to my collection with this TTM success from Mike Siani.  I saw that he was signing when 2018 Bowman Draft came in, so I sent the two cards that I had.  They came back looking really nice.

This one was really cool.  I saw that Jonathan India was signing prior to Spring Training, but I didn't get this card out to him in time.  I may see if he is signing during the season and try to complete this dual.

Siani (b. 1999) was a 4th round pick by the Reds in the 2018 June Amateur Draft.  He played in 46 games in the Appalachian League (rookie level) and had 53 hits, 2 home runs and a .288 batting average.

I mailed to Siani on January 14 and got the cards back on February 22, for a 39-day TAT.