A 2013 career change put me in the DFW area, with a return to autograph collecting. Most of my posts will be on hounding and TTM'ing, with a few generic sports and life posts here and there as well. Welcome, enjoy, and please comment! Language may get occasionally salty. Deal with it. Blog is on indefinite hiatus as of November 2020.
It's official. It's happening. And here's my schedule of games...
Friday July 22
AA Birmingham (CWS) @ Rocket City (LAA), 6:30 pm
Saturday July 23
AAA St. Paul (MIN) @ Indianapolis (PIT), 7 pm
Sunday July 24
AAA Columbus (CLE) @ Toledo (DET), 4 pm
Tuesday July 26 AA Harrisburg (WSH) at Akron (CLE), 12 pm
Wednesday July 27 through Sunday July 31
National Sports Collectors Convention, Atlantic City
Thursday July 28
DL Williamsport @ Trenton, 7 pm**
Friday July 29
Hi-A Jersey Shore (PHI) @ Wilmington (WSH), 6:30 pm
Saturday July 30
AtL Lancaster @ Staten Island, 6 pm**
Tuesday August 2
AA Erie (DET) @ Portland (BOS), 6 pm
Wednesday August 3
AAA Durham (TBR) @ Worcester (BOS), 12 pm
AA Richmond (SFG) @ New Hampshire (TOR), 7 pm
Thursday August 4
AAA Buffalo (TOR) @ Scranton-WB (NYY), 6:30 pm
Friday August 5
MLB Pittsburgh @ Baltimore, 7 pm
Saturday August 6
AA Bowie (BAL) @ Harrisburg (WSH), 6 pm
Sunday August 7
AAA Nashville (MIL) @ Norfolk (BAL), 4 pm
Tuesday August 9
AAA Jacksonville (MIA) @ Durham (TBR), 6:30 pm
Wednesday August 10
Hi-A Jersey Shore (PHI) @ Greensboro (PIT), 12 pm
Hi-A Bowling Green (TB) @ Winston-Salem (CWS), 7 pm
Thursday August 11
AA Montgomery (TBR) @ Chattanooga (CIN), 7:15 pm
Friday August 12
AA Northwest Arkansas (KCR) @ Arkansas (SEA), 7 pm
Saturday August 13
AA San Antonio (SDP) @ Frisco (TEX), 7 pm**
Anything with a double asterisk (**) is subject to change.
Draft League and Atlantic League may not be worth the time when I could spend it just relaxing in Atlantic City.
And I'll be seeing San Antonio in Frisco in May so I may not want to do it again when I can just spend Saturday arriving home and recovering.
There are three teams we'll see twice (Harrisburg, Jersey Shore, and Durham) and nine organizations where we won't see one of their teams at all. If you go across my whole life, after this trip I will have seen a minor league affiliate for every Major League team.
I don't know what all I will do on here related to it, but I do plan on doing video as much as possible at each stop.
17-20 games, 6000 miles on the road. I'm thinking 500 autographs is a pretty solid goal for it, not including what I purchase at the National-- just IP graphs. In 2018, I set a goal of 300 and got 343 across 12 games (and 574 including purchases). 500 is doable across this (that's 25 per game), especially if I do some custom 4x6 photos and grab team sets.
There's a lot to unpack here. Let's start with the month's autographs.
OCTOBER 1 Charlie Watts
OCTOBER 2 Storm Davis Steve Swisher
OCTOBER 3 Craig McMurtry Eric Plunk
OCTOBER 5 Johnny O'Brien Glenn Borgmann Ed Johnston Luis Pujols Billy Dea Kiko Garcia Mike Nykoluk Marty Pavelich
OCTOBER 6 Tim Scott Rene Lachemann Don Marcotte Ed Glynn
OCTOBER 7 Bob Paradise
OCTOBER 8 Scott Ruskin Pat Rapp David Newell Len Matuszek
OCTOBER 9 Steven Rice Marv Foley Lou Angotti Matt Ravlich Floyd Smith IP: Toby Harrah at a card show in Arlington
OCTOBER 12 Mark Miller Jack Perconte
OCTOBER 13 Brian Noonan Dick Groat Trever Miller Spike Owen
OCTOBER 14 Steve Comer Frank Bolick
OCTOBER 15 Tom Runnells
OCTOBER 16 John D'Acquisto
OCTOBER 17 Scott Servais Damir Haramina Felix Millan Tom Hutton Jack Brohamer Mike Tyson
OCTOBER 19 Mike Bielecki
OCTOBER 20 Del Unser Denny Lewallyn Mike Sadek Jim Tracy
OCTOBER 22 Steve Renko
OCTOBER 23 John O'Donoghue Dave LaRoche
OCTOBER 24 Wayne Gross (may be using a ghost-signer...) Mark Kiefer
OCTOBER 26 Barry Foote
OCTOBER 27 Gary Roenicke
Something to Address This week I stepped down from the Administrator position of the main Facebook group I was running. I was already planning to leave the position at the end of the year, but my timeline for it has moved up. My attorney has advised me not to comment further. The group has been left in highly-trusted hands and I believe Craig and Josh are more than capable as Administrators.
Among all of this, I spoke to a person regarding a known forger that I continuously try to flush out whenever his head pops up in the hobby. He expressed that the forger wants to go about making things right with the autograph community, but that constant exposure has left him unwilling and fearful of doing so. That seems to be a pretty flimsy excuse to me, but okay.
So look off to the right of the page: my lengthy warning about him is gone, leaving only links to other pages that warn about bad traders. It's been eight years, and even items on a credit report only last seven. If that's what's keeping him from stepping up and making amends, my contribution to that hurdle is now gone.
Your move, Mr. Miller. Here's your chance to do the right thing.
TGC: The Series Finale Lastly, after seven and a half years of writing, nearly 250 posts, and over 67,000 views, I believe this will be the final post I make on this blog. When I started it in 2013, I was excited to have a place to write every few days about my doings in the autograph world: the good/bad/ugly of in-person outings, TTM successes and failures, interview profiles of other collector friends, and really anything else that came to mind. I was about to return to a hobby I greatly enjoyed in a way that I hadn't been able to do since 2005 and I wanted to go all-in.
In that first year I was typically putting up multiple posts a week. For the last couple of years, it's been one a month. In 2015 and 2016 I was getting hundreds of reads per post within hours of posting. My latest one got 8 in six days. I'll be shocked if even fifty read this in a month. Print-only media is dying. Blogging isn't what it used to be, at least not on a larger platform without loads of links and non-text content. Microblogging, sub-300-character tweets, images, and videos have taken control, as we are first-hand witnesses to the phenomenon of our attention spans growing shorter but our lives growing longer. To quote my wife's favorite musician Kacey Musgraves, "Mary Mary quite contrary, we're so bored until we're buried." We as a culture have grown tired of any information that's larger than bite-sized and not entertaining enough. It's why the insultpolitik of Donald Trump & Co. is effective now after it spent decades failing: it's memorable, quick, to the point, and provokes immediate visceral reaction. Riding it to victory proves that the end justifies the means in American culture. Talking about the important things-- policies, plans, ideas-- at length gets boring and forgotten even though it's the meat of the future.
It's easier to have daily (or near-daily) updates elsewhere. So that's what I'm going to do.
Over the last few years especially while leading a Facebook group, I've had to endure doxxing, accusations of playing favorites, threats of litigation, use of my life and views outside the hobby as ammunition against me, threats of violence, and more "F you, Stalin" type of messages in my inbox than you can possibly imagine. I even had someone make ridiculous accusations of me showing up at his friend's job and getting him fired via a sexual assault claim-- either a case of recklessly mistaking my identity for someone else or an attempt at a completely fabricated hatchet job against me. It has gotten to a point where especially over the last two months I have had to ask myself numerous times if it is really worth waking up and wondering what sort of crap I'm going to end up taking from people. And all of this over a personal autograph collection!
I've hit a point where I feel like I can't make fair criticism and raise concerns without significant fear of overly-strong retribution. I'm even sitting here wondering who's going to take offense to this as I write it. Welcome to journalism in a post-Trump world.
Trying to put yourself out there to be a force for positive feels great until it turns on you. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Trying to constantly fight against me-first hobby negativity and unethical acts has led me to bordering upon paranoia about deciphering the meaning behind people's actions and words. I don't particularly enjoy that. I always joked I'd have a heart attack by 40 but this week has made me think it might not be a joke. The victories in this pro-hobbyist battle are largely Pyrrhic.
It's weird to call Twitter and YouTube positive places but in the autograph hobby they are so far. None of them have the cobwebs of a mostly-text blog. Disagreements I've had with people on YouTube have remained remarkably civil discussions of opinion; via Twitter I'm trying to avoid and unfollow accounts that are not 100% about the hobby; whereas the Facebook flareups I've seen and been involved in get out of hand quickly, and if I lay the hammer down from a position of authority I'm automatically the bad guy. Enough already! I've been banned from groups and accept that I probably deserved it when it happens. Many people I've dealt with while working with similar situations from the other side refuse to ever make that concession. The old "They hate us 'cause they ain't us" line is a load of crap: they probably hate you because you're an ass.
I've tried to be a positive in the autograph hobby. I want to keep out those who would do it harm, reduce the number of those who act solely with self in mind, and educate newcomers wherever possible. My favorite phrase is "The overall health of the hobby is more important than the size of your collection." And I truly believe that, for the size of your collection won't matter if the hobby is dead or at least unattainable for most.
And the number of positive comments I got from people about the effort I put in for so long following my decision to step down from the Facebook group is evidence to me that at least my intentions have been understood and appreciated. In fact, I have not had a single negative one put to me directly from it, and that means a lot in something that has largely been a thankless job for four years. You're never going to please everyone, so all you can really focus on are those who are important to you and those who appreciate your efforts.
If a hobby is getting to where it's not as fun for you anymore, you have to ask why you're trying to preserve it for others at such a cost to yourself. I already lost all enjoyment in my previous sports broadcasting career, something that has just now started to come back after leaving it for most of a decade. I haven't hit the point I did when I left it, but I want to stop any potential skid before it hits that crash point: I don't want to have my preferred avocation completely ruined for me too.
Every collecting world seems to hit a point of unsustainable growth. How many booms and busts can you name? You had the sports card boom of the 80s and early 90s where every product had cards and every town had multiple card shops, followed by its bust in the late 90s as overproduction brought about a diluted market; Beanie Babies had their boom in the late 90s that went bust just as fast; comic books, antiques, stamps, coins, toy fads... Even each of these areas has their own internal mini-booms and busts-- Kevin Maas, anyone? Cards are seeing a crazy boom again as well: how long will it last?
We're seeing a huge bubble happen in the autograph world in terms of participation. When I came down to DFW in 2013, Rangers games had a dedicated group of maybe 20-30 collectors at the average game. I knew most of them by name quickly and we helped each other out. The last game I was at, there had to have been over a hundred, and the only ones I recognized were a few I didn't like much. When I went to an Angels-Indians game in 2018, I didn't bother graphing and I'm glad I didn't: watching from a distance, the group was ten-deep all the way down the fence. The minor leagues are getting overrun by prospectors. People who had never TTMed before or hadn't in years are getting back into it during pandemic boredom. Players are getting swamped with mail to where many excellent free signers have stopped (Rick Reuschel) or are charging fees (Jerry Browne and Tom Brunansky), and many who already charged small fees are raising those (Bob Grich). While it has brought a few tough signers out of the woodwork (Harold Baines), is it worth the cost of losing so many others? A comment from a person helping to go through five years of Dave Stieb's mail mentioned that he has gotten numerous requests of 8 or more cards, some with lazily copied letters with another player's name crossed off and his written in, return envelopes with no postage (perhaps even no envelope at all), and even one person that requested a heap of both cards and index cards with specific inscriptions requested on each with no compensation-- and sent it twice. Billy Sample said he now tends to get an average of five requests a day whereas a decade ago, it was maybe five a week.
You may not care since you already got Reuschel, Browne, Brunansky, and Grich, or you're okay with paying for the latter trio, but what about a newcomer to to the hobby? What about a kid who loves baseball history but whose $10 a week allowance would take him almost a month to get Grich? They no longer have that ability. And someday you might end up in their shoes and miss out on someone who stops because it's gotten to be too voluminous, or whose fee is through the roof. This is why I think fighting to limit hobby greed is such an important enterprise. The hobby should be accessible to all who want to participate. Think before you act out of self-interest.
Unfortunately, there will always be those who care about the monetary profit more than the hobby enjoyment, and those types will be its downfall. Collectors who go in with profit in mind first tend to have a problem with self-control when it comes to milking their newfound cash cow, much to the hobby's detriment. It's the same with riding any other boom to (or past) its bust point.
Even non-monetary gains: do you really need 20 cards a year signed by Rick Reuschel, Frank Tanana, Danny Darwin, Charlie Hough, and Tom Foley? I've sent to Tanana twice in my life. I probably have another 50 cards of him sitting here. I have no desire or need to mail out even 1/10th of them. I gave four to a friend to mail off. If someone else wanted a few, I'd give to them too.
I know I'm not going to reach every collector with my reasoning, nor am I trying to be the autograph police, nor do I think I'm going to somehow spark a worldwide change (no matter how many times people try to strawman that those delusions of grandeur are somehow my goals). All I've ever wanted to do is whatever is within my grasp to help keep the hobby civilized and thriving. Think globally but act locally; be the change you want to see in the world; we not me; you know the cliches.
So, I'm scaling back. I'm focusing on my own collection and on continuing to practice those ethics myself. And that's going to mean less public involvement and leadership. If you get anything out of this (besides off my lawn), I hope it's heeding my request to exert self-control. Take those ten cards you want to send and pare it back to four.
Thanks for reading Texas Graphing Chronicles. As the great Hal Lebovitz used to sign off: "Stay well, and see you somewhere, I hope."
The National officially announced that the 2022 show will be, as I suspected, in Atlantic City.
And thus begins the planning. On an even more positive note, I have a friend who may be able to hook us up with some amazing lodging as well.
So this actually works out well. Arron and I can expand our travel a bit and add New England to the itinerary. It's not out of the realm of possibility that we might drive up to Portland, ME and/or Manchester, NH for games in those cities before looping back down to New Jersey. That would also knock out two states I have yet to visit, and I could make it three if we drive through part of Vermont on our way to another spot like Hartford, Worcester, Syracuse, Binghamton, or Scranton-Wilkes Barre. Yeah, it's not direct but everything is close enough up there that it's certainly doable.
Yes, I plan to taunt them about how much better Ohio's maple syrup is. Vermont makes the most; Ohio makes the best. Don't @ me on this.
On the way up I can also knock out South Carolina with relative ease. Even if we can't go to a Charleston, Columbia, Myrtle Beach, Greenville, or Augusta game we likely will pass through it.
Midweek, we'll have Wilmington (1:40 drive time), Trenton (1:30), Jersey Shore BlueClaws (1:00), Philadelphia (1:00), Reading (2:00), and Lehigh Valley (2:00) as possibilities. Not quite as convenient as Cleveland's under-an-hour for the Indians, RubberDucks, and Captains, but still, we could handle this alright if a few of them play at home (preferably the first three).
Delmarva would be doable if they would just build something like the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel instead of making us take a ferry. Monday after, maybe?
So my goal of All 50 Before 50 will be even closer-- just lacking Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota in the following twelve years if we can hit all four aforementioned ones. And if we come back via the Midwest, I could knock out Nebraska with a game in Omaha, then Montana when my wife and I go to Yellowstone for a combination birthday/anniversary trip.
Here are the VIP free autograph signers for the last Atlantic City show in 2016: Ron Blomberg, Dave Cash, Von Hayes, Jim Lonborg, Greg Luzinski, Gary Matthews, Bake McBride, Kevin Mitchell, Don Money, John Montefusco, Bobby Shantz, Nate Archibald, Maxie Baughan, Bill Bergey, Seth Joyner, and Pete Retzlaff. Unfortunately, I only have a major need for a few of them (Blomberg 72 Topps, McBride 04 ATFF, Mitchell 90 DK) but I may be able to dig out a few photos on guys. Retzlaff died this year so he won't be on the list, clearly.
2020 was supposed to have Mickey Morandini, Tommy Greene, Everson Walls, and Joe Klecko (04 ATFF) to start with before its cancellation. So that gives something of an idea as to who we might see in 2022. I'll be hoping for some hockey, personally.
So, as plans come together in the next 21 months I'll keep posting on them here. Hopefully it'll be about this time next year that we start hammering down on teams' schedules-- and even their existences-- and start planning around where we can and can't go.
Other stuff: if you're on the Twitter, give me a follow @DFWGrapher. I'm shutting down my current account when it hits 10,000 tweets (hopefully that last one will come on November 4) and starting this new one up, dedicated solely to autograph content and things that don't make me want to dropkick things across a parking lot. I made the mistake of following a bunch of political shit on my regular account which can be great at times (like the three tweets I've made with over 100 likes, including one with 2000) but I'd like to just eliminate most of the infuriating stuff-- which I think will be easiest to do just by starting over again.
Lastly, bad news: the Texas Air Hogs are no more, announcing today that they are terminating operations immediately. A shame, because it was close by, had cheap tickets, and had opportunities for autographs from some former MLB players and prospects, some of whom have even returned to the majors (Tyler Matzek and Brett Eibner, anyone?). It's a nice ballpark, and I'm hoping someone will move in there. The American Association said they anticipate further 2021 Texas expansion; if so, I wonder if someone will buy the franchise's entry and bring back a team in the near future.
Then again, I've hoped for the same with the Fort Worth Cats and LaGrave Field, and that's clearly not happening.
It feels weird to say September was slow, but compared to July and August, it was. August set me a new personal record for most autographs obtained TTM at 235 cards signed. July/August combined to a two-month record of 459, and July/August/September combined to a three-month record of 619. I also had 38 sigs on 8/31 (record) in 9 successes (tied a record). And lastly, I have surpassed a new record for most TTM-signed cards in a year (1067).
Anyways, I'll try to do better with a single month updated at a time. Granted, I said that on SCF too, and even have fallen off on daily updates of the YouTube channel.
I have a lot to list here, so I'm keeping it shorter than usual: date, name, fees, and just for the hell of it if I got a set card signed or something. Any specific questions (where I sent, how many, how long, etc.), just leave a comment.
May may have held the record for most items signed TTM for a bit, but that record has been shattered in July. Here's a list of new personal records now that we're through month #7...
Most TTM sigs in a single day: 37 (July 6, 2020)
Best single month of TTMs: 224 items signed
Best two-month period of TTMs: 374 items signed in June and July
Best three-month period of TTMs: 570 items signed from May through July
All of those come up well short of my all-time record of TOTAL autographs in those categories (131, 270, 528, and 767, respectively), but considering I can't do any IP graphing and even TTMs are starting to see some changes due to the volume of collectors looking for a new project, I feel like those are some nice numbers.
Speaking of new projects, I've been helping a friend who is using TTMs as a summer geography lesson for her kids. She's started out with just Kansas City Royals (with successes from Mark Gubicza, Greg Gagne, Terry Leach, Kevin Koslofski, Jerry Don Gleaton, Jim Eisenreich, Rick Luecken, and Jeremy Guthrie all coming back in under two weeks so far) but plans to expand out to other teams soon.
Anyways, here's the rest of my month after the previous entry...
JULY 13
Mark Teahen, c/o Sorso Wine Room, 4/4, 2 months
John Gordon, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks
Damian Rhodes, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
Wallace Johnson, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
David Maley, c/o home, 4/5, 2 weeks (did not sign Fleer Throwbacks or explain why he won't sign it)
Bob Rodgers, c/o home, 6/6, 2 weeks
JULY 16
David Segui, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
JULY 17
Keegan Thompson, c/o home, 3/3, 1 month
JULY 18
Rich Becker, c/o home, 4/4, 2 months (postmarked from FL)
JULY 20
Steve Smith, c/o home, 6/4, 3 weeks (wrote back a short note and signed protective index card)
Lenny Randle, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks
JULY 21
Steve Searcy, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week
Mike Peluso, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week
JULY 22
Charles Hudson, c/o home, 4/4, 1 month
Sergei Gonchar, c/o home, 6/6, 1 month (postmarked from TX)
Jose Cruz, c/o home, 2/2, 1 week (paid $3 each)
Scott Pearson, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week
JULY 23
Olaf Kolzig, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
Rick Schu, c/o home, 5/5, 2 weeks
JULY 24
Dustin Hermanson, c/o home, 4/4, 6 weeks
Steve Trachsel, c/o home, 3/4, 1 month, returned one unsigned
Lastly, I forgot to mention I did a second appearance on the TTMCast podcast back in early June. Make sure you check it out (as well as all their other episodes)!
If you've subscribed to my YouTube channel you've likely seen these already. But June was a month almost on par with May for quantity of success and July is shaping up to be similar.
My daily success streak ended at 25 days on June 9, but I did manage to set a few more personal records: most autographs obtained TTM in a day, second highest number of individual successes in a single day, second fastest response, most TTM autographs in a two-month span, and working on most in a three-month span.
I've mailed out a ton and have even more ready to go soon. I should likely break my record for most mailings in a single year as well: I sent 357 in 2017 and I'm at 226 this year. I should be close to 300 by the end of the month. I could potentially hit 400-700 this year if I keep this up.
Made a bunch of trades too, adding to several of my sets.
And, if the current pandemic is manageable by December, I'm considering a trip to the National-- just for a weekend and not the full five-ish days. I can fly here to Newark late on Friday for $200 roundtrip, drive two hours down to AC, and stay outside the city in like Millville or Vineland and go to the show Saturday, Sunday, and maybe even early Monday, flying out late Monday. We'll see. Being close to Philly and NYC, perhaps the hockey content will be better than that of the Cleveland shows.
Anyways, the TTM recap...
JUNE 1
Billy Sample, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks
JUNE 2
Dan Pasqua, c/o home, 3/3, 3 weeks
JUNE 3
Don Hood, c/o home, 4/2, 2 weeks, added two signed photos, personalized all
Keith Lockhart, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week
JUNE 4
Jim Palmer, c/o home, 2/2, 1 month, $10 each fee
Steve Braun, c/o home, 2/1, 1 month, wrote note back, $4 fee
Dan Ford, c/o home, 4/4, 3 weeks
Dan Peltier, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week
JUNE 5
Richie Scheinblum, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
Bob Grich, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks, $5 fee
JUNE 6
Don Aase, c/o home, 4/4, 1 month
Ricky Bones, c/o home, 3/4, 2 weeks, kept one card
JUNE 8
Lee Guetterman, c/o home, 5/4, 1 month, added signed card
JUNE 9
Willie Fraser, c/o home, 5/5, 2 weeks
Terry Leach, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
JUNE 15
Buck Showalter, c/o home, 3/3, 1 month
JUNE 16
Kelly Holcomb, c/o home, 2/2, 2 months
Dave Goltz, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week
JUNE 18
Mike Paxton, c/o home, 3/2, 2 months, signed protective index card
Bruce Gossett, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
JUNE 19
Ted Power, c/o home, 3/3, 1 month
Dave Lemonds, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks
Vance Law, c/o home, 6/6, 2 weeks
JUNE 20
Buddy Groom, c/o home, 4/4, 5 days
JUNE 22
Joe Morgan, c/o home, 4/3, 1 week, wrote note back
Art Howe, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week
JUNE 23
Mario Marois, c/o home, 6/6, 6 weeks
JUNE 25
Jay Howell, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
JUNE 26
Bill Mueller, c/o home, 3/3, 2 months
Ed Hobaugh, c/o home, 3/2, 2 weeks, signed letter
JUNE 27
Bob Bailor, c/o home, 4/4, 6 weeks
Pat Neshek, c/o home, 4/6, 2 weeks, kept two cards
JUNE 29
Rich Amaral, c/o home, 5/5, 7 weeks
Dave Johnson, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
Scott Terry, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week
Anthony Telford, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week
JUNE 30
Don Gordon, c/o home, 5/4, 3 weeks, added signed card
Rick Kehoe, c/o home, 2/2, 1 week
Bob Tewksbury, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week
Jim Johnson, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week
Alexei Gusarov, c/o home, 6/6, 1 week
JULY 2
Vincent Damphousse, c/o work, 4/4, 2 months
Brad Jones, c/o home, 3/4, 2 weeks, returned one unsigned
Yuri Khmylev, c/o home, 5/5, 2 weeks
JULY 3
Kip Gross, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
Tyler Stephenson, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
Eddie Tucker, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks
JULY 6
Vida Blue, c/o home, 2/2, 1 month, $10 each fee
Chris Hammond, c/o home, 5/5, 3 weeks
Drew Henson, c/o home, 4/4, 3 weeks
Tim Stoddard, c/o home, 6/6, 2 weeks
Dimitri Khristich, c/o home, 6/6, 2 weeks
Mark Sweeney, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
Phil Stephenson, c/o home, 6/6, 2 weeks
Jim Eisenreich, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
JULY 9
Bubba Starling, c/o home, 2/2, 3 weeks
JULY 10
Jose Tabata, c/o home, 4/4, 3 weeks
Jamie Moyer, c/o home, 6/6, 1 week
JULY 11
Bob Weiss, c/o team, 3/5, a year and a half, kept two cards
And Mayflowers bring pilgrims. And I had a record setting number of cards make a pilgrimage to my mailbox this month!
My last entry I mentioned being in way over my head with the combination of the 1972 project, All-Time Fan Favorites sets, and Diamond Kings; so much so that I almost decided to completely end my work on all but the 72s and trade off what I had.
Instead, no. I'm going to keep working on them, but they're definitely getting de-emphasized. When it comes to paying for players who charge to TTM, the 1972 sets come first. Then the others second. I'll still keep trading and just working on freebies and cheapies any time I can.
Sometimes you just need a momentary freakout to really clear your head.
With the fact I'm a Moderator In Training at SportsCardForum, I was asked by their assistant GM if I might make some TTM success videos. This has now turned into an entire YouTube Channel. Check it out and subscribe!
I also added on a few moderators to the Facebook groups I run.
With the fact that I'm still working from home through the current pandemic, my wife was able to get unemployment since both of her jobs shut down, and we got our Donnie Dollars, I decided to go ahead and mail off a ton of TTM requests. Several tough signers have started picking up the pen, and a few long waits have come back to me. Overall, I got 193 sigs by mail, which breaks my previous single-month TTM record of 177 set in November 2017. That month saw me set three other personal records (Most TTM successes in a day, then did it again, and most total TTM sigs in a day) but never saw a streak of more than six delivery days in a row with a success.
This month, no records for most in a day, but I've only had two delivery days without a success (with an 18-delivery day streak rolling into June) and the quality has been incredible.
MAY 1
Charlie Hall, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week
Carl Hairston, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks
MAY 2
Luke Walker, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks - 1972 Set Hit!
MAY 4
Cleo Miller, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
Rance Mulliniks, c/o home, 6/6, 1 week
Russ Courtnall, c/o home, 3/5, 1 week, kept two cards
MAY 5
Lonnie Chisenhall, c/o home, 5/5, 2 weeks
Ruben Amaro, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week
MAY 6
Dave Schmidt, c/o home, 5/5, 1 year - DK Set Hit!
Jose Lind, c/o home, 5/5, 2 weeks, paid $1 per
MAY 7
Kurt Stillwell, c/o home, 4/4, 3 weeks - DK Set Hit!
Paul Assenmacher, c/o home, 3/4, 3 weeks
Mike Fischlin, c/o home, 3/4, 2 weeks
MAY 8-9
The only two mail delivery days with no successes...
MAY 11
Kevin Maas, c/o home, 5/5, 2 years - ATFF Set Hit!
Jim Lachey, c/o home, 4/4, 3 weeks
Sal Bando, c/o home, 2/2, 3 weeks - 1972 Set Hits!
Steve Bono, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week
MAY 12
Clay Carroll, c/o home, 2/2, 1 week, paid $5 each - 1972 Set Hits!
Cleon Jones, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks, paid $10 each - 1972 Set Hits!
Steve Kemp, c/o home, 6/6, 2 weeks
MAY 15
Rick Wise, c/o home, 4/3, 2 weeks, paid $5 each, he added an extra card - 1972 Set Hits!
MAY 16
Tim McCarver, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks, paid $10 - 1972 Set Hit!
Andre Ware, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks - Heisman CIC Set Hit!
MAY 18
Alex Dickerson, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
Ben Petrick, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks
Erik McMillan, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week
MAY 19
Lou Piniella, c/o home, 2/2, 1 month, paid $5 each - 1972 Set Hits!
Roberto Hernandez, c/o home, 6/6, 3 weeks
Harold Baines, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week, paid $10 total - DK and ATFF Set Hits!
Terry Adams, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week
Bill Swift, c/o home, 6/6, 1 week
MAY 20
Jim Acker, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week
MAY 21
Ken Singleton, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks, paid $5 - 1972 Set Hit!
Franklin Stubbs, c/o home, 6/6, 2 weeks
Mark Chmura, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
John Friesz, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
Craig Paquette, c/o home, 5/5, 2 weeks
MAY 22
Jeff Andretti, c/o home, 1/1, 3 weeks
Ken Oberkfell, c/o home, 6/6, 2 weeks
MAY 23
Fredrik Modin, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
Jeff Ballard, c/o work, 5/5, 2 weeks
Willie McGinest, c/o home, 5/5, 2 weeks
MAY 26
Steve Garvey, c/o home, 2/2, 9 months, paid $5 - 1972 and DK Set Hits!
Jean-Guy Talbot, c/o home, 4/3, 5 months, added a signed photo
Bryan Oelkers, c/o home, 3/3, 1 month
Denny McLain, c/o Top of the Mound Enterprises, 2/1, 3 weeks, paid $5, also signed protective index card - 1972 Set Hit!
Lee Elia, c/o home, 1/3, 2 weeks, returned two unsigned
MAY 27
Michael Cuddyer, c/o home, 1/1, 3 weeks
MAY 28
Jeremy Guthrie, c/o Texas Houston South Mission, 4/4, 1 week, kept a card, wrote short note back
MAY 29
Jermaine Allensworth, c/o home, 5/5, 3 weeks
Dave Ford, c/o home, 3/4, 3 weeks, kept a double
R.A. Dickey, c/o home, 1/2, 1 week, kept one card - 2013 72 Mini Set Hit!
MAY 30
Broderick Perkins, c/o home, 3/3, 1 month
Juan Marichal, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks, paid $10 each - 1972 Set Hits!
So if you're scoring at home, that's 19 new sigs added to the 1972 Topps set, one added to the 2013 72 Minis, four Diamond Kings, three ATFFs, and a Heisman Index Card.
And that's only the TTMs.
I've started listing my entire tradeable signed card inventory on SCN just to see if I can get a few bites. It's a hell of a process. We're talking nearly 5000 in baseball alone, another 3000 or so in hockey, and a bunch in basketball, football, auto racing, and indoor soccer. And there's no way to just upload the entire list as a spreadsheet or anything. We're talking player by player.
But boy have I ever gotten some bites...
I worked a few trades and purchases on SCN, ABC Unlimited, eBay, and Facebook. So far, I've gotten three for my ATFF sets (Tommy John and two Maury Wills) and two for 1972 (Dusty Baker and a likely-ghost-signed Joe Coleman that's at least a decent placeholder and was just a throw-in on the trade), plus I bought several signed Indians cards of Brandon Phillips. You may know he refused to sign Indians cards after being traded from them in 2006 (a policy he kept at least until 2010 and I haven't heard anything of him changing it in the last ten years).
I'm awaiting shipment on several 1972s that I bought through a long-time collector on Facebook (Tim Foli, Moe Drabowsky, Bob Lemon, Paul Blair, Duke Sims, Phil Regan, Bob Barton, Jim Fregosi, Tommy Davis, and Mark Herrmann); a 1972 Don Eddy from a trade with a collector via SCN/Facebook; DKs of Kevin Seitzer and Keith Moreland plus a 1972 of Marty Pattin from a trade with a friend via Facebook; a 1972 Bruce Kison via a SCN trade; and a John Smiley DK from eBay.
So once those are done, I'll be getting another 13 1972 sigs, and three DK sigs.
And I'm working on another potential deal for some DKs right now. A collector on SCN has eight I need, and I have ten 1991 Upper Deck needs of his...
The YouTube channel is likely going to get a lot of content put on it, even when I don't get any TTMs. Maybe a couple videos on advice for how to write letters, IP graphing etiquette, my sets, my collecting biography, spotlighting other channels and podcasts and forums and such, and anything else that comes to mind. Maybe if I get enough subscribers, some live streams and chats just showing off some items in my collection.
Obviously, I have no IP reports to talk about. But I hit the mailing hard at the end of the month and plan to do so in early May as well.
APRIL 3
Orland Kurtenbach, c/o Canucks Alumni, 3/2, 4 months, wrote a short note back
APRIL 7
Luis Melendez, c/o home, 3/3, 5 months
APRIL 14
Gene Alley, c/o home, 3/4, 5 months, returned one unsigned
APRIL 16
Tom Tupa, c/o home, 4/4, 4 years
APRIL 27
Keith Millard, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week
Charles Nagy, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week
Reggie Cleveland, c/o home, 1/1, 1 week, paid $2 signing fee
Will Wilson, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week, personalized all
APRIL 30
Chris Perez, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week
Bobby Witt Jr., c/o home, 2/2, 1 week
Goose Gossage, c/o home, 1/1, 1 week
MAY 1
Charlie Hall, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week
Carl Hairston, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks
From April 20-27, I've sent off 45 requests. I have enough stamps to send 55 more domestically, plus 20 outgoing stamps for international requests. One is going to Japan. I also have about $100 in cash to get some players who charge.
And that leads me to something I'm thinking about. I might decrease my number of sets I'm working on.
I don't plan to give up on the indoor soccer or hockey sets. I'm super close to being done on all of those. Football, Nascar, I could go either way on those.
But the baseball sets are pure hell. The 1972 Topps set has 787 cards and when you include all the multi-player cards, it'll take 863 sigs to complete (this includes a random cardless player/coach/owner/broadcaster/organist on the team card, and an umpire on each checklist). I have 383 at last count. I'll never complete it-- I mean Mays, Aaron, and Mike Marshall, all want well over $200 per sig, plus Clemente, Don Wilson, Jim McGlothin, Danny Frisella, Danny Thompson, Bob Moose, and Thurman Munson all died before 1980. And I plan to hit the 2021 Heritage sets super hard too-- by which I mean the regular, high numbers, AND minor league sets.
I also have been working on the 2003-2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites sets. 442 cards in them. I have 183 signed including several now deceased. But again: Mays, Aaron, Reggie Jackson, Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, and several others who charge way more than I can afford, plus several deceased that I never got. I'll never finish it either.
And I've been doing the 1982-1991 Diamond Kings because clearly I am a masochist; not even going to get into those.
Maybe it's time to scale back and drop the ATFF and DK sets. There's a LOT of trade bait in there-- Ernie Banks, Nolan Ryan, Yogi Berra, Jim Bunning, Don Sutton, Alan Trammell, Sparky Anderson, Ernie Harwell, Fergie Jenkins, Whitey Herzog, Goose Gossage, Harold Baines, Wade Boggs, Brooks Robinson, Duke Snider, Andre Dawson, Ralph Kiner, Ryne Sandberg, Monte Irvin, Tony LaRussa... and that doesn't include the non-HOFers like Joe Carter, Dale Murphy, Jim Kaat, Johnny Pesky, Don Zimmer, Jose Canseco... I think you get my point. And I didn't even touch on the DKs (Canseco, Gossage, Tony Gwynn, Tim Raines, Ivan Calderon...).
I hate giving up on a project that I've sunk so much time, effort, and money into, especially when the 1972 is a comparatively recent thing for me (I started the ATFF sets in 2007, the 1972 Topps set in 2014, and the DKs around maybe 2016). But sometimes you just have to know when to turn your attention to something a bit more viable. At the very least, maybe someone will be willing to trade my ATFF Fergie Jenkins for their 1972s, my ATFF Brooksies for their 72s, something like that. I don't know. It's not official yet, but I'm giving it some major consideration.
Meanwhile, expect to see a lot more of me (screenname of *censored*) at SportsCardForum. I've become a made man... err, I mean a moderator there. I have a training period to go through first, but I'm on my way moving up the ladder there. With that, I'm going to be adding a few moderators to the Facebook groups in which I'm an admin (Baseball TTM Autographs; Ballpark Graphers; Baseball Autograph Traders) this weekend.
As expected, it was a light month. On the positive side, the guitar amp is out of the shop and sounding incredible. So barring any unforeseen expenses, I should be back to mailing out pretty soon. We're also only a month away from the start of baseball season, so Frisco runs should start happening pretty soon too.
FEBRUARY 1 – Dallas Renegades Practice
Lance Dunbar, 3/3
Eric Dungey, 2/2
Landry Jones, 4/4
Frank Alexander, 1/1
Daryl “Moose” Johnston, 3/3
Greer Martini, 2/2
Sean Price, 1/1
Hau’Oli Kikaha, 4/4
Derron Smith, 2/3
Bob Stoops, 1/1
Tre Watson, 2/2
FEBRUARY 7
Rick Wilson, c/o business, 1/1, 1 year
FEBRUARY 19
Brad Maxwell, c/o home, 4/4, 1 month
FEBRUARY 21
Ken Holtzman, c/o home, 1/1, 1 month
FEBRUARY 22
Terry Labonte, c/o home, 4/4, 10 months
FEBRUARY 25
Ryan Reed, c/o team, 3/3, 10 months
I'm also looking at doing another graphing mini-trip with Arron in early June. We can catch Corpus Christi at Midland, Las Vegas at El Paso, Salt Lake City at Albuquerque, and Midland at Amarillo all in a four day span on June 3 through June 6. So that's pencilled in on the calendar. It's a good holdover until the 2022 National trip.
Speaking of that, we're now less than a year away from the 2021 Topps Heritage set being released with the 1972 design. I plan to go nuts on this set with TTM and IP and trading to get as much signed as I can in the base set, the high-numbers set, and the minor league set. I already have an improbable piece of work with the 1972 set project; I might as well add more to the Sisyphusian task.
Help me out here fans/collectors: what's my best way of doing this? Buy a hobby case? Retail case? Blaster case? Just grab a few complete sets off eBay? Snag a bunch of base lots from people breaking cases? Maybe a combination of a blaster case plus a box or two of hobby or retail?
I'm not looking to make a killing on inserts or SPs or anything like that, but I'd like at least two complete base sets, preferably three or four just for an overabundance of preparedness. And I'd like to do it in the most cost-effective way possible, knowing I'll have to lather-rinse-repeat in the fall with the high-number and minor league sets.
Very light month. Had a bunch of car repairs and my new guitar amp is in the shop too, so any spare money has gone toward those instead of mailing stuff out. On the positive side, most of my Canadian requests have come back successfully
JANUARY 3
Bob Baun, c/o home, 4/4, 3 weeks
Dick Duff, c/o home, 5/3, 3 weeks, added a short note and signed photo
Brad Park, c/o Bruins Alumni, 3/3, 2 months
JANUARY 6
Tyrone Bogues, c/o home, 4/4, 1 year
JANUARY 7
Bobby Rousseau, c/o work, 4/3, 1 month, added signed photo
Reggie Leach, c/o home, 2/2, 1 month
Leo Boivin, c/o home, 2/2, 1 month
JANUARY 9
Larry Hillman, c/o home, 4/4, 1 month
JANUARY 11
Gilles Gilbert, c/o home, 3/2, 1 month, signed protective index card
JANUARY 13
Pete Koegel, c/o home, 2/1, 2 weeks, signed protective index card
JANUARY 21
Rogatien Vachon, c/o home, 4/4, 2 months
JANUARY 22
Marcel Dionne, c/o work, 1/1, 3 weeks, $10
JANUARY 25 - Rangers' Peek At The Park
Tyler Phillips, 1/1
Taylor Hearn, 1/1
Ivan Rodriguez, 1/1
Willie Calhoun, 3/3
JANUARY 28
Murray Costello, c/o home, 2/1, 1 month, added a short note
Dallas' XFL team has an event tomorrow that I'm going to hit up. Looks like my major card batch is getting here in time despite having a SportLots dealer who decided to sit on my order for a while. Players I'm hoping to get: Moose Johnston, Jim Jeffcoat, Bob Stoops, Simmie Cobbs, Landry Jones, Jonathan Massaquoi, Lance Dunbar, Cameron Artis-Payne, Derron Smith, Hauoli Kikaha, Sean Price, James Quick, Eric Dungey, Tre Watson, Greer Martini.
Winters are always light on the IP front, especially with the Rangers being so woefully underprepared for the Toy Drive. I didn't go this year. I heard they didn't announce who was in what group until people were already in line inside. I have never understood why the organization has such absolute disdain for its fans.
I did at least get to go to a practice for the new XFL team and got a few there. I might have to see about going and graphing some of their games. Several former NFLers are on teams' rosters, coaching staves, and front offices. And I know I have cards of a few. I'll give a rundown at the end of the post.
DECEMBER 5
Johnny Bucyk, c/o Bruins Alumni, 3/3, 3 weeks
Casey Cox, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
DECEMBER 6
Don Money, c/o home, 4/4, 3 months
Terry Harper, c/o home, 2/2, 1 month
DECEMBER 7
Ken Hodge, c/o home, 2/2, 3 weeks - He signed one on the back and added a note that Ed Westfall is depicted on the front
DECEMBER 9
Bill Baker, c/o home, 2/2, 3 weeks
DECEMBER 12
Jim "Mudcat" Grant, c/o home, 1/1, 3 weeks, $10
DECEMBER 13
Jim Craig, c/o home, 3/2, 1 month
Rob McClanahan, c/o home, 2/2, 1 months
DECEMBER 14
Bryan McCabe, c/o Florida Panthers, 4/4, 1 month
DECEMBER 14 - Dallas Renegades XFL practice
Stacy Coley - 2/2
Jim Jeffcoat - 3/3, 5/5
DECEMBER 21
Steve Christoff, c/o home, 2/2, 1 month
Bruce Savage, c/o home, 7/6, 1 month
DECEMBER 23
Mario Andretti, c/o home, 1/1, 3 months
DECEMBER 24
Ed Westfall, c/o Bruins Alumni, 3/3, 6 weeks
JANUARY 3
Brad Park, c/o Bruins Alumni, 3/3, 2 months
Dick Duff, c/o home, 5/3, 3 weeks to Canada
Bob Baun, c/o home, 4/4, 3 weeks to Canada
I also got my new guitar amp bought. A nice Craigslist find netted me what appears based on the serial number to be a 1975 Fender Twin Reverb. At the very least it's a silverface with no tail on the Fender logo and the push-pull master volume knob to turn the overdrive on and off-- so 1974-1980. New caps and tubes on it, and I love the sound it gets. I've tried all my guitars through it just clean without pedals. And I still have about $200 left to spend on other pedals and/or a keyboard.
Or stamps. Maybe stamps. Yeah, probably stamps. $50 for stamps, $25 for a noise gate pedal, and $125 for a keyboard. I like that. (EDIT: I just ordered the noise gate pedal)
So, XFL. I'm sure there are more than these guys, but just off a cursory reading of the rosters, here are guys that are involved and that I'm relatively certain have cards...
DALLAS: Daryl "Moose" Johnston, Jim Jeffcoat, Landry Jones, Stacy Coley, Simmie Cobbs
DC: Ray Hamilton, Kurt Gouveia, Tyree Jackson, Cardale Jones, Donnel Pumphrey, Malachi Dupre, Eli Rogers, Sam Montgomery, Scooby Wright, Matt Elam, Orson Charles
HOUSTON: Chris Miller, Connor Cook, Akrum Wadley, Andre Williams, Sammie Coates, Jalen Saunders, Kony Ealy, Ed Reynolds
LOS ANGELES: Winston Moss, Mike Wilson, Jerry Fontenot, Pepper Johnson, Otis Smith, Martin Bayless, Josh Johnson, Keyarris Garrett, KD Cannon, Jordan Smallwood, Nick Novak
NEW YORK: CJ Ah You, Cris Dishman, Matt McGloin, EJ Bibbs
SEATTLE: Jim Zorn, Mike Riley, BJ Daniels, Chase Litton, Austin Proehl, Keenan Reynolds, Cyril Richardson, Stansly Maponga, Will Sutton
ST. LOUIS: Jonathan Hayes, Chuck Long, Az Hakim, Chris Crocker, Jordan Ta'amu, Taylor Heinicke, Christine Michael, Daniel Braverman, Jordan Lasley, L'Damian Washington, Terrance Williams, Will Hill, Marquette King
TAMPA BAY: Jerry Glanville, Aaron Murray, Rannell Hall, KJ Maye, DeAndre Goolsby, Jalen Collins
St. Louis is pretty stacked and play Dallas' home opener on February 9. I might look into that and see about how much tickets are and what I have in the way of cards. At the very least, there might be some solid TTM opportunities.
Winter Caravan dates and places are out-- mostly at the Miller Tavern at Texas Live on Thursday nights, and midweek afternoons at a few Whataburger and Comerica Bank branches. The only weekend event is the annual Frisco event on Saturday January 18. Last year you were limited to ONE autograph line. No thanks. I might check out the Thursdays since it's right up the road. We'll see when they decide to announce what players will be there.
I'm sure a few of these names will need clarification, so I'll just get that out of the way now.
As you probably know by now, I'm a musician. I played bass and keyboards in a band called Leisuresuit Salesmen when I was in 8th and 9th grade for a talent show and New Year's Eve party, drums in a band called 45 Percent for my high school's variety show as a senior, drums (with some keyboard, guitar, bass, and vocal contributions) in CC40 in college (not the CC40 Blues Band that comes up first on Google, but a short-lived punk/alternative project from Boston that had the name long before they did), and drums and guitar with Death Before Breakfast for a few years. Recently I joined a new project called The Nothing. I was in my high school's orchestra as a percussionist. I also play a little mandolin and possibly could still play some trombone if I tried. I might record some solo stuff that I've written, and maybe some covers of some Great Lakes folk songs.
Anyways, my biggest influences and favorite bands list would likely change a lot from day to day, but the Top Five always tend to be Guns N' Roses, Weezer, Dropkick Murphys, the Funk Brothers (Motown's backing band), and the New Bomb Turks. You probably know the first two reasonably well, perhaps the third. The fourth is a little more esoteric since they were rarely credited-- the Motown marketing machine tended to concentrate on the singers while the musicians were left largely uncredited until Marvin Gaye released What's Going On, and then got pretty well screwed over by the label moving to Los Angeles with no warning given to them. Several of them found out by showing up to play and finding a note on the door. The Brothers finally started getting recognition on a wider scale with the release of the book and documentary Standing In The Shadows Of Motown. Only two of them are still living: guitarist Joe Messina and percussionist Jack Ashford.
Anyways, the last one, the New Bomb Turks, are a garage punk band of my fellow Clevelanders who assembled in Columbus, OH in the early 90s and accidentally kicked off the garage rock revival of the late 90s and early 00s. Without the album !!Destroy-Oh-Boy!!, there's a good chance you wouldn't know The Hives, The Hellacopters, The Vines, The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Black Keys, The Dandy Warhols, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, and a ton more. It wasn't until I was in high school, around 2000 or so, that I really started getting into punk rock. The Turks parted ways not long after, with their final album coming in 2003. And since I had parents who believed you might fall off the edge of the earth if you go west of Euclid, I never got out to many (any) shows.
Over the next 15 years, NBT would occasionally get together and play a couple shows, do a short tour, play a festival, whatever. None came near me though. The closest was Austin when I was in Wichita Falls, but having close to no disposable income at the time and having to work on weekends, I had to miss it.
So when I found out they were going to open for Rev. Horton Heat in Detroit and Chicago with the Voodoo Glow Skulls (both of whom I saw back in February together in Dallas), I knew I had to try to go. Long story short: we went to both shows, I got an album signed by two members, got one of the drummer's sticks, got called out from the stage by their lead singer in Chicago, and then had him swipe my hat and beat a couple people with it in Detroit. Awesome show, 10/10 would recommend. My only complaint is they did not play Defiled.
So, when you're asking yourself "Who are Eric Davidson, Jim Weber, and Sam Brown?" now you know. I missed having Brown and bassist Matt Reber sign my album, but I'm sure I'll get them eventually.
I also was able to get my grandfather's 12-string guitar from my uncle when we passed through Michigan. I need a new high G string (tee-hee-hee, yeah yeah, laugh it up) since it broke when I tuned it, but aside from that it's good.
NOVEMBER 9
Dave Schultz, c/o Hammer Enterprises, 2/2, 1 month, included fee of $10 per
NOVEMBER 12
Curtis Granderson, c/o Marlins ST, 1/1, 9 months
NOVEMBER 15
Ty Dillon, c/o Germain Racing, 4/4, 6 months
Bobby Knoop, c/o home, 3/3, 6 weeks
NOVEMBER 18
Nick Fotiu, c/o home, 2/2, 1 week
Ted Harris, c/o home, 3/2, 1 week, also signed protective index card
NOVEMBER 19
Tony Oliva, c/o Twins ST, 1/1, 9 months
NOVEMBER 20
Bobby Hebert, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week, personalized all
NOVEMBER 21
Phil Roberto, c/o home, 3/2, 1 week, added signed photo
Eric Nesterenko, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week
Jim Pappin, c/o home, 2/2, 1 week
NOVEMBER 22
Bob Froese, c/o home, 4/4, 1 week
NOVEMBER 23
Bert Marshall, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks
NOVEMBER 24 - Dallas Card Show
Rocket Ismail, 1/1
NOVEMBER 25
Dave Keon, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
Ralph Backstrom, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
NOVEMBER 26
Harry Sinden, c/o home, 1/2, 2 weeks, kept the second card
Don Marshall, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks
Fred Stanfield, c/o home, 2/2, 1 week
Alexei Yashin, c/o home, 2/2, 1 week
John Harrington, c/o home, 2/2, 1 week
NOVEMBER 29
Jim Rutherford, c/o team, 3/3, 3 weeks
Jim Schoenfeld, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
Grant Mulvey, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
Joe Watson, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
Steve Janaszak, c/o home, 3/2, 1 week, also signed protective index card
NOVEMBER 29 - Voodoo Glow Skulls, New Bomb Turks, Rev. Horton Heat concert
Eric Davidson, 1/1
NOVEMBER 30
Mike Davis, c/o home, 3/3, 2 years
Mark Wells, c/o home, 3/2, 2 weeks, also added signed business card, paid $5 per
Phil Verchota, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
Craig Patrick, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
NOVEMBER 30 - Voodoo Glow Skulls, New Bomb Turks, Rev. Horton Heat concert
Jim Weber, 1/1
Sam Brown, concert-used drum stick
I got a little busy: joined a new band, had the find of a lifetime while sorting which I'll get to at the end, and am preparing for a couple trips later this month. So I'll sneak in this update while I have half a moment.
SEPTEMBER 7
Dick Tracewski, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks
Joe Tait, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks
SEPTEMBER 9
Monte Moore, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
Dave Lemonds, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
Steve Zungul, c/o home, 1/1, 2 months
SEPTEMBER 10
Steve Brye, c/o home, 3/3, 3 weeks
Enrico Ciccone, c/o Quebec Parliament, 2/2, 1 month
Mark Karpun, c/o home, 1/1, 3 weeks
SEPTEMBER 11
Fred Cambria, c/o home, 2/2, 1 week
SEPTEMBER 12
Syd O'Brien, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week
SEPTEMBER 13
Bob Heise, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week
SEPTEMBER 14
Al Spangler, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks
SEPTEMBER 17
Denny Matthews, c/o home, 2/2, 3 weeks
SEPTEMBER 19
Booker T. Jones, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks
SEPTEMBER 26
Charlie Hough, c/o home, 4/4, 6 weeks
Bob Gallagher, c/o home, 3/3, 3 weeks
Mel Behney, c/o home, 2/2, 1 month
OCTOBER 1 - Rangers Development Camp
David Garcia 1/1
Josh Jung 1/1
Julio Pablo Partinez 2/4
Jonathan Ornelas 2/4
Leody Taveras 2/4
Cole Winn 4/4
OCTOBER 5 - Rangers Development Camp
Sam Huff 1/1
Josh Jung 1/1
Davis Wendzel 1/1
Cole Winn 2/2
Leody Taveras 1/1
Julio Pablo Martinez 2/2
Jonathan Ornelas 2/2
David Garcia 1/1
OCTOBER 15
Hal Lanier, c/o home, 3/3, 6 months
Mason McReakin, c/o home, 4/2, 1 week, added a signed IC and a note
OCTOBER 22
Gene Clines, c/o home, 1/1, 1 week
OCTOBER 25
Ted Giannoulas, c/o home, 3/2, 2 weeks, added a note
OCTOBER 29
Tony Esposito, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks, $10
NOVEMBER 1
Pete Mahovlich, c/o home, 2/1, 2 weeks, $10, added an extra signed card
So yeah, quite a hodge-podge in there. Three that I paid for, which I rarely do, but I had some spare cash on hand and needed them for sets. Two IP outings. Fifteen new additions to the 1972 Topps project (plus three I bought on eBay). Two for the Topps/OPC Archives hockey set. Two for the MISL project. One for the Fleer Throwback hockey set. And three just for the hell of it. Clines finished the 1971 Topps dual with Cambria, McReakin pitched in the Braves org in 2018 and is a member of the Facebook autograph groups I run, a well-known mascot in Giannoulas (The Chicken!), and Jones is my first music-related success.
So, the new band. We're called The Nothing. Right now I'll likely be splitting time on drums and guitar. I'm most comfortable on drums, but as long as I can stick to rhythm guitar then I'm competent on six strings. We're still looking for a bassist and hopefully a lead guitarist (so that I can be solely on rhythm and the lead singer can stick to just vocals instead of both vocals and rhythm guitar). I do need to get a better guitar amp soon though.
Which brings me to the find of a lifetime.
With the baseball autographing season winding down in September, I figured it was time for a cleanup. It had been a couple years since I had sorted any new additions into my inventory of stuff. I had several boxes of unsorted/barely sorted cards across pretty much every sport, whether purchases, gifts, or stuff I had pulled from inventory and failed to get signed. So to clean up, organize, and just overall make sure I had my shit together so that I didn't forget something when pulling for an outing, I decided to spend a few months sorting. We're in mid-November and I'm almost done-- I just have to finish hockey R-Z and soccer. I'll be done by Thanksgiving.
Anyways, as I was searching and sorting, within the span of about 24 hours I found three BIG cards I didn't know I had, just sitting in boxes: Patrick Mahomes' 2017 Prizm RC, Mike Trout's 2012 Topps Heritage card...
... and the 2018 Topps Ronald Acuna Jr. bat-down photo variation.
I had pulled it from a random pack a while back. I remember even getting it in the pack and just going "Wow, an Acuna RC, cool" since this was not long after my friend Arron pulled the 2018 Pro Debut Acuna auto. I figured okay, maybe this would be a $5-10 card, not knowing about the photo variation. So I just stuck it in a box and forgot about it.
Over the next few months I forgot I had it, but saw a few posts on Facebook groups about the card heating up and going for big money and thinking to myself "Man, I never have pulls like that." So when I pulled it out from this random box, I was hyperventilating and close to shaking-- pretty sure my wife was about to dial 911.
I put it in a sleeve and case and immediately made preparations to run it over to Beckett-- along with the Trout, the Mahomes, my 1989 UD Griffey RC, and an old T-205 gold border tobacco card that my in-laws had given me. A month later, I picked them up yesterday...
Mahomes: 9 overall with subs of 9.5/9.5/9/8.5 (I knew the centering was bad)
Griffey: 9 overall with subs of 9.5/9.5/9/9
Trout: 9 overall with subs of 9.5/9.5/9/8.5 (somehow the surface got knocked down)
T-205 Tom Downey: 1 overall, no subs, which I expected; I mostly just wanted to protect it in a slab
The Acuna came back as one of the 32 best in the population report. There is one Black Label 10, and 27 regular 10s. There are only four 9.5s that have subs of 10/10/9.5/9.5 including mine.
Considering the range of 9.5s have all gone for $400-600 over the last two months, I'm hoping the two 10 subs and two 9.5 subs will get me $1000. I mean really, you cannot get a better 9.5, and I've only seen two 10s come up for sale, both of which accepted a Best Offer on eBay so I don't know the actual price-- only that they were originally listed at $3000, $2300, and there's one up now at a price of $2350. PSA 10s are going in the $1500 range. I figure a BGS 9.5 with 10/10/9.5/9.5 subs has to be about equivalent to a PSA 10, right?
So, I figure that's how I'll get that new guitar amp.
I'll have my September update coming in the next week or so. Got a crowded few days ahead of me including some baseball IP outings!
In almost every base set for four decades, Topps produced the loathsome checklist card. No one wanted to pull it from a pack: it didn't feature a player, just a list of who was on what card. In the early days, kids would mark them off and use them for their intended purpose. In later days, everyone wanted a 100% mint condition set, so it was little more than space-filling junk.
1992 birthed the brainchild (or spawned the brainbastard, depending on your outlook) of the parallel set. Take the base set, tweak something but change nothing else, and whammo, new tough-to-find collectible! Topps Gold was the first to do this before every company followed suit and now today you have the crazy rainbow chasers who need every single variety of a guy's Chrome or Prizm or whatever card.
So of course, the last thing ANYONE would want is for their short-printed parallel that they pull from a pack to be the checklist card. Instead of leaving gaps in their sets, Topps printed what I call the phantom parallels: inserting players to replace the checklists, but those players didn't have a regular card.
I'm always interested in oddball cards to get autographed so I started to wonder how many of these would be possible to get signed. I haven't gone that far, but I did finally assemble a list of who the phantom parallels were in each set.
1992 BB Gold
131: Terry Mathews
264: Rod Beck
366: Tony Perezchica
527: Terry McDaniel
658: John Ramos
787: Brian Williams
132T: Kerry Woodson
1992 FB Gold
109: Freeman McNeil
218: David Daniels
316: Chris Hakel
341: Ottis Anderson
452: Shawn Moore
563: Mike Mooney
759: Curtis Whitley
1992-93 BK Gold
197: Jeff Sanders
198: Elliot Perry
395: David Wingate
396: Carl Herrera
1992-93 HK Gold
525: Alan Conroy
526: Jeff Norton
527: Rob Robinson
528: Adam Foote
* * * * * * * * * *
1993 BB Gold
394: Bernardo Brito
395: Jim McNamara
396: Rich Sauveur
823: Keith Brown
824: Russ McGinnis
825: Mike Walker
1993 FB Gold
329: Terance Mathis
330: John Wojciechowski
659: Pat Chaffey
660: Milton Mack
1993-94 BK Gold
197: David Wingate
198: Frank Johnson
395: Will Perdue
396: Mark West
1993-94 HK Gold
263: Martin Lapointe
264: Kevin Miehm
527: Myles O’Connor
528: Jamie Leach
* * * * * * * * * *
1994 BB Gold
395: Bill Brennan
396: Jeff Bronkey
791: Mike Cook
792: Dan Pasqua
1994-95 BK Spectralight
197: Keith Jennings
198: Mark Price
395: Chris Webber
396: Mitch Richmond
1994-95 HK Special Effects
274: Rudy Poeschek
275: Michael Peca
549: John Druce
550: Matt Martin
It doesn't look like Topps did any phantoms for the 1994 Football Special Effects set. Shame, as I'd love to have seen some punters or long snappers represented. The parallel craze died (for Topps at least) following the 1995 Series 1 baseball. Of course Pacific ran the concept into the ground in the late 90s, but they also didn't print checklist cards in the base set. Topps got smart and eventually made the checklists as a random one-per-pack insert that wasn't part of the set, then took from Upper Deck and put them back in the set but put a player or something interesting on the front with the list on the back.
There were a few similar to this in the O-Pee-Chee baseball sets that I'll need to assemble a list of as well. I know Delino Deshields and Nate Minchey both had a 1988 card after the Expos drafted them (Deshields replacing Earnest Riles and Minchey replacing the Nolan Ryan Record Breaker card), and there were several cards replacing the All-Stars in the 1992 set. O-Pee-Chee also typically denoted trades on their cards, such as Dennis Lamp's 1987 card that shows him as a Blue Jays but has Chief Wahoo and a "Now with Indians" notation, and even gave Blue Jays catcher Rick Cerone his own 1977 card instead of just stashing him on the Rookie Catchers card that Topps had, where he was still with the Indians. Granted, the OPC set usually was an abbreviated set rather than a true parallel and a guy might be on card 630 in Topps, but then on 390 in OPC. But aside from that, the cards look the same. So finding a card that wasn't in the Topps set but was in the OPC set is kind of a phantom in its own right.
Of course, some of these guys might not sign, and some-- such as Rod Beck and Terry Mathews-- may even be dead. But if you're looking for some oddball items to potentially get signed, look no further than the phantom parallel.
As they come to a close I noticed 2019 was a vastly slower year for my baseball IP outings. 9 games (plus two just watching) vs. close to 30 last year. Even non-ballgames, this year had the Vegas MISL event, whereas last year had the NFL and NHL drafts, the National, and the NASL event.
Is my career winding down? Do I just need a break? I dunno. Maybe a little of both. I'm 35. This certainly isn't a hobby that's viewed favorably by the masses when done by anyone my age or older, even when done by those of us who aren't in it for a fast buck. I think I'll have a major resurgence once the 2021 Heritage sets come out-- though MLB IP graphing will suck in the Rangers' new ballpark. But 2022 should be a banner year with the 2021 Heritage Minors set and another planned roadtrip to the National. I'll have to hit the TTMs pretty hard for the MLB guys.
Anyways, a recap of the month...
AUGUST 1
Dave Hoggan, c/o home, 5/5, 3 weeks
AUGUST 2
Joe Torre, c/o MLB Offices, 4/4, a year and a half
Von Hayes, c/o home, 1/1, 3 months
AUGUST 17 - DallasCardShow and Kansas City T-Bones at Texas Air Hogs
Tatu, 17/17
Shawn O'Malley, 1/1
Daniel Nava, 3/5
Henry Owens, 3/3
Chris Bando, 6/6
AUGUST 22
Dale Mitchell, c/o home in Canada, 7/7, 5 weeks
AUGUST 24
Tim Wittman, c/o home, 3/3, 3 weeks
AUGUST 24 - Northwest Arkansas vs. Frisco
Scott Blewitt, 3/4, 1/1
Zach Lovvorn, 2/2
Brady Singer, 1/1
Daniel Tillo, 3/3
Blake Perkins, 4/4
Khalil Lee, 1/1
Tyler Zuber, 1/1
Doug Henry, 9/9
Gabriel Cancel, 2/2
Abraham Nunez, 3/3
Kevin Merrell, 3/3
Walker Weickel, 3/3
Greg Hibbard, 4/4
Jackson Kowar, 1/1
Leody Taveras, 1/1
AUGUST 26
Bobo Lucic, c/o team in Slovenia, 3/3, 7 weeks
AUGUST 28
Bobby Brown, c/o home, 1/1, 1 week, 3 weeks
AUGUST 29 - KC T-Bones at Texas Air Hogs
Shawn O'Malley, 1/1
Daniel Nava, 3/3
Erik Manoah, 1/1
Carlos Contreras, 5/5
Zech Lemond, 9/9
Chris Bando, 9/9
Henry Owens, 3/3
Brett Eibner, 1/1
Kevin Joseph, 2/2
AUGUST 31
Bill Crook, c/o home, 5/5, 7 weeks
I mailed off several in the last few weeks, with a few more ready to go soon. I'm venturing out into a few musical requests as well this month: custom index cards to Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper (of Booker T and the MGs), as well as Jack Ashford and Joe Messina (the last two living members of the Funk Brothers, Motown's instrumentalists).
Speaking of music, my previous band kicked me out, so I'm in search of a new one. Also, I built a guitar out of a National Treasures box.
It's been a while since I've gone totally off the topic of collecting, but I was thinking about this recently and figured I'd put it out there into the world.
What's the longest trade chain that you can think of in current baseball?
By this I mean picking a player who was acquired by his current team for a player, who was traded for a player, going on back as far as you can get until you hit a wall with a player who was drafted or signed as a free agent.
A recent example would be the Indians: Yasiel Puig was acquired for Trevor Bauer, who was acquired for Shin-Soo Choo, who was acquired for Ben Broussard, who was acquired for Russell Branyan. That goes back to 1994: not bad.
Travis Fryman was an interesting one for the Tribe just because of the sheer volume of third basemen involved: Fryman for Matt Williams, for Jeff Kent, for Carlos Baerga, for Joe Carter, for George Frazier, for Toby Harrah, for Buddy Bell. Of the eight players involved, six played at least a significant bit of time at third for the Indians and spans a 1969 draft pick on up to a 2002 retirement. You can even sub in Jose Vizcaino for Jeff Kent: both were acquired for Baerga and both were shipped out for Williams and both played a bit at third in their careers (though only Kent did for the Indians).
Of course, the longest one for the Tribe now is Corey Kluber, who can be traced back through eight trades to Jerry Dybzinski's 15th round selection in the 1977 draft (14 slots after him? NBA All-Star Danny Ainge!). And with the trade rumors that have circulated around Kluber for the last year-plus, that chain could grow longer (Currently: Kluber for Jake Westbrook for David Justice for Kenny Lofton for Willie Blair for Alex Sanchez for Bud Black for Pat Tabler for Dybzinski).
Looking through the closest team to me geographically, the Rangers don't really have any longer than one or two links: most acquisitions have been via free agency and drafts lately, or a single chain like Willie Calhoun for free agent signee Yu Darvish. Even most departing players have been as free agents or retirements with zero return (Matt Garza, Julio Franco, Josh Hamilton, Mitch Moreland).
So, who has the longest current chain in all of baseball? Who has the longest one for your team? Any fun oddities like the third-base-heavy chain of Bell to Fryman?
EDIT
A few fun ones from some googling, as the question has been asked before...
The Mets can trace Robinson Cano's acquisition back to drafting Tim Bogar
Martin Prado of the Marlins goes back to Charles Johnson
Every four years or so, I make it a point to go to the National Sports Colllectors Convention because it's typically in my hometown of Cleveland. I went last year, I went in 2014, and before missing a few years in the 2000s due to a lack of funds, I went in 2004, 2001, and 1997. This year's show in Chicago is getting skipped, as almost certainly will next year's Atlantic City show and 2021's Chicago show. But I'll be back to Cleveland in 2022. The plans are already being set in motion...
Meanwhile, you may know my favorite baseball player of all-time is Cory Snyder. Ever since I was four years old, I have no idea why, but Snyder was my favorite and remained my favorite even after the Indians shipped him to the White Sox, and he bounced on to the Blue Jays, Giants, Dodgers, Red Sox org, Padres org, and finally Spring Training in 1997 with the Cardinals. I even had a Dodgers hat when I was in third and fourth grade.
Anyways, out of 1068 career games, Cory Snyder played 657 of them in an Indians uniform.
So you can imagine how dumbfounded I was when I heard he was one of the VIP autograph signers at the National this year. Not one of the Cleveland shows, but in Chicago, where he played a whole 50 games (and batted only .188, thanks to Walt Hriniak's "my way or no way" approach to coaching hitters).
So, I'm missing out on a chance to meet my favorite player. But I did apply for Cory Snyder Super Collector status over at SCF today (the same day he's signing at the National).
While I wait for approval or denial, take a look at some of the photos I took of my collection. I don't have all the cards photographed, but here are a few of the better items and oddities.
Glad I got the May-to-mid-June one out of the way, so I can just knock out the end of the month through this past week.
JUNE 20
Jim Evans, c/o home, 1/1, 2 months
JUNE 24
Mark Eaton, c/o home, 4/4, 6 months
JUNE 30 - Midland at Frisco
Bobby Crosby 4/4
Zack Erwin 6/6
Logan Verrett 5/5
James Jones 3/3
LeDarious Clark 1/1
DeMarcus Evans 1/1
Tony Sanchez 2/3
Grant Holmes 2/2
Daulton Jefferies 6/6
Taylor Motter 2/2
Mikey White 6/6
Kevin Merrill 3/3
Leody Taveras 1/1
JULY 2 - MISL40, Day 1
Brad Smith, 3/3
Dave MacKenzie, 9/9
Alan Mayer, 8/8
Juli Veee, 10/10
Godfrey Ingram, 19/19
Gordon Jago, 4/4
Perry Van der Beck, 9/9
Gerry Gray, 7/7
Zoltan Toth, 16/16
Nick Megaloudis, 1/1
Guy Newman, 1/1
Norman Piper, 1/1
Dave D'Errico, 1/1
JULY 3 - MISL40, Day 2
Gus Mokalis, 8/8
Jim Sinclair, 1/1
Len Bilous, 1/1
Kai Haaskivi, 26/26
Doc Lawson, 16/16
I was going to do the latter half of May and all of June in one post, but I'll be out of town at the time when I'd be putting that together. So, here's one for the last month-ish.
MAY 13
Ron Bryant, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
Dennis Higgins, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks
Ken Sanders, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks
Jerry Bell, c/o home, 1/1, 2 weeks
JUNE 15 - Northwest Arkansas Naturals at Frisco Roughriders
Abraham Nunez, 3/6
Taylor Featherston, 2/4
Gabriel Cancel, 2/2
Travis Jones, 1/1
Nelson Liriano, 5/6
Brady Singer, 1/2
Khalil Lee, 1/2
Doug Henry, 8/8
Andres Sotillet, 1/1
Andrew Beckwith, 1/1
Anderson Miller, 2/3
Meibrys Viloria, 2/2
Preston Beck, 2/2
James Jones, 6/6
Jonathan Hernandez, 6/6
Michael De Leon, 2/2
Christian Lopes, 1/3
Tony Sanchez, 2/3
Juremi Profar, 1/1
Joe Barlow, 1/1 (I'm an idiot; I thought he was Joe Palumbo so it's on Palumbo's game program...)
JUNE 17
Ryan Newman, c/o team, 4/4, 4 months
Tyler Reddick, c/o team, 3/3, 6 weeks
So as the link above says, I'll be in Vegas for a MISL 40th Anniversary Reunion event. I might try to do the Aviators-Aces game while I'm there, but likely will have to miss that-- the only games while I'm there are at the same time as major reunion weekend events. I will be going out to Frisco again on June 30 though. Got Midland coming to town again and a pair of Bobby Crosby jersey cards that need a sig on them.
