TTM Success - Khalid Ballouli

I went through the box of 2004 Topps that I picked up from my LCS and pulled some guys that I saw were signing TTM.  One of those was Khalid Ballouli, who signed this card.

Ballouli (b. 1980) was a 6th round draft pick by the Brewers in the 2002 June Amateur Draft.  He played 5 seasons in the minors, reaching as high as AA Huntsville.  He had a career minor league record of 21-29 with 351 strike outs and a 4.96 ERA.

I mailed to Ballouli on July 7 and got the card back on July 17, for a 10-day TAT.

Another Hall of Famer on Mom's Ball - Lefty Gomez

Mom thinks I forgot about this amazing baseball that covers my birthday and Christmas presents from now until something like 2034, but I did need something to kick off the birthday posts.  Yeah, my birthday was almost a month ago, but I do like to stretch things out, and since this year was a nice round number, I figured I wasn't in any kind of a hurry to get things going on that.

Anyway, here is the last Hall of Famer on Mom's ball that I didn't yet have in my collection.  I kept getting Lefty Gomez and Lefty Grove mixed up, but Grove is the tougher of the two, having died in 1975.  On this ball is Lefty Gomez.  This Lefty is a Yankees legend and still a "tough get" as far as single signed baseballs go.  Mom was worried that I would only want single signed baseballs of these guys, but I'm happy taking what I can get.  My entire collection was built on a budget, and if I can knock out 3-4 guys on one ball, let's do it!

Gomez (b. 1908 - d. 1989) played in the majors from 1930 to 1943 for the Yankees and Senators.  He had a career record of 189-102 with 1,468 strike outs and a 3.34 ERA.  He was a 20-game winner 4 times (1931, 1932, 1934 and 1937) and an All Star in seven seasons (1933 to 1939).  He won the pitching Triple Crown in 1934 and 1937.  His best MVP finish was 3rd in 1934.

Gomez won the World Series 5 times with the Yankees, in 1932 and 1936 to 1939.  He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972 via the Veterans Committee.

Gomez's numbers don't quite stack up to some other starting pitchers in the Hall.  He may be benefitting from being on the Yankees.  There is a pitcher not in the Hall of Fame who appeared in 17 seasons (albeit one game in one of those seasons) who has a similar won/loss record (177-135), more strike outs (1,534) and an almost comparable ERA (3.39).  The other pitcher won 20 games only once, however, and also had only one World Series win.  Anyway, Gomez is in, and you can't take that away from him.

Gomez is my 151st Hall of Famer on a baseball.  There's another nice round number.

When I can get caught up with some other posts, I will come back to this baseball and feature the other guys on the ball.  That will be a lot of fun, and should happen sometime in the not-too-distant future.

Again, thanks for the awesome ball, Mom!

TTM Success - Jerry Royster

Another day, another private signing.  This one was for Jerry Royster, and I sent along a 1981 Topps with my 1987.  The 81 turned out really nice, as can be seen above.

The 87 also looks really nice, of course.

Royster (b. 1952) played in the majors from 1973 to 1988 for the Dodgers, Braves, Padres, White Sox and Yankees.  He had 1,049 hits, 40 home runs and a .249 batting average.  He managed the Brewers to a 53-94 record in 2002 over 147 games.

I mailed to the signing on May 26 and got the cards back signed on July 17, for a 52-day TAT.  I paid a fee of $15/card.

TTM Success - Andruw Jones

When I take part in a private signing, they don't always have to be someone in the 1987 Topps set.  Sometimes, if I see one at a decent price and/or if I have a nice card I want done, I'll send in for the signing.  When I saw one come up for Andruw Jones, I decided that I would spend the money to get this 2003 Topps 205 done.  The card looks amazing.  It may be one of the best TTM signed cards that I have gotten back, and I have gotten some really good ones.  Jones has a great signature, and on this card, it looks amazing.

Jones (b. 1977) played in the majors from 1996 to 2002 for the Braves, Dodgers, Rangers, White Sox and Yankees.  He had 1,933 hits, 434 home runs and a .254 batting average.  He was a 5-time All Star (2000, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006) and a 10-time Gold Glove Award winner (1998-2007).  He led the NL in home runs in 2005 with 51 and his best MVP finish was 2nd, that season, behind Albert Pujols.

Jones has appeared on the last 3 Hall of Fame ballots (2018-2020) with this year's vote total (19.4%) being the highest he has received.  I'm sure his vote totals will increase in the coming years, but in the end, I doubt he is a Hall of Famer.  His drop off after his age-30 season was remarkable.  It really is a shame, too.  He was on pace for Hall of Fame numbers, for sure.

I mailed to the signing on May 30 and got the card back on July 17, for a 48-day TAT.  I paid a fee of $24.99 for the signing.

A Little Graphing Done By Andrew L

I got a message on Instagram earlier in the year from a guy named Andrew, who does some 50/50s with me during the minor league season.  I can't remember where he was going (I think he went to Spring Training) and got me a few cards signed.  This was really nice, it turns out, because I wasn't able to do hardly any 50/50s due to the pandemic.  So, Andrew got me a few cards signed by Alex McKenna.  I had pulled McKenna's cards, since I thought he might have ended up at Fayetteville this year, so his stuff was easy to find.

I had pulled Zach Kirtley because I was going to try him at Spring Training, so his stuff was all in one spot, as well.  I was glad to get a 2017 Bowman out of my box, as getting those signed has slowed down big time, since the cards are getting older now.

Finally, Andrew got me a few Korry Howell cards done.  Again, these were all in one place, because I had them pulled for the upcoming Mudcats season.

I'll have to do some major reorganizing of my boxes before next season (if there is one), because a lot of things will be changing on the minor league landscape.  Hopefully, graphing won't change all that much, but that remains to be seen.

TTM Success - Mike Nagy

It took two attempts, but I finally got these cards back from former pitcher, Mike Nagy.  He signed the above 1970 Topps and the below 1971 Topps for me, after I got a RTS and had to look up another address for him.

Nagy (b. 1948) played in the majors from 1969 to 1974 for the Red Sox, Cardinals and Astros.  He had a career record of 20-13 with 170 strike outs and a 4.15 ERA.  He finished 2nd in the 1969 AL Rookie of the Year voting behind Lou Piniella.

I mailed to Nagy on September 30, 2019, and got the cards back signed on July 17, 2020, for a 291-day TAT.

A Great TTM Success From Paul Molitor

I found a 1995 Leaf Statistical Standouts Paul Molitor on COMC for a really good price, so I picked one up to send TTM to him.  I always loved the design of these cards, and wanted a signed version in my album.  I figured, at his fee, Molitor would be a great one to add.

The card turned out great, and I'm really happy with it.  The card itself is numbered 4,309 of 5,000.

I mailed to Molitor on July 6 and got the card back signed on July 17, for an 11-day TAT.  I paid his fee of $20.00 out of some money my sister gave me for buying her dinner one night prior to when I mailed.  So, thanks, Christy, for the $20, haha.