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 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.
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.
Despite quarantines and all the hilarity that has not ensued, I've hit a couple nifty milestones this month. I completed a set and harpooned a white whale.
I've also been forced to probably cancel the West Texas trip as it appears there won't be any baseball until at least July 4.
Anyways, a quick report...
MARCH 5
Frank Stams, c/o home, 5/4, 3 and a half years; wrote a short note back
MARCH 13
Dion Phaneuf, c/o parents' home, 4/4, 3 months
MARCH 18
John Van Boxmeer, c/o home, 3/2, 4 months; also signed protective index card
MARCH 19
Dmitri Bykov, c/o team, 2/1, 2 and a half months; also signed protective index card
Yes, you read that correctly: I got a TTM success to and from Russia! I figured that of the final 11 I needed for Topps Total that Bykov might be the last one I get. He only spent a year in the US and played in Boston (where I lived at the time) before the card came out. So I never had the chance to get it signed myself, and I knew no one who had gotten it signed. The postal system in Russia typically sucks so I didn't think TTMing would be possible. But when I found he was coaching a team in Moscow, I figured that was worth a try (apparently mail to Moscow and St. Petersburg is decent, but it's highly questionable anywhere else).
So, pro tip if you send to him, address your envelope in both English AND Cyrillic. It should look like this...
Dmitri Bykov | Дмитрий Быков HK Krasnaya Armiya | ХК Красная Армия CSKA Ice Palace | Ледовый Дворец Спорта ЦСКА Leningradskyi Prospekt 39/41 | Ленинградский Проспект 39/41 125167 Moscow | 125167 Москва Russia | Россия
Your SASE can be in English alone. But do yourself a favor and GET PROPER POSTAGE FOR IT!
I went on eBay and got a 45-ruble stamp. It cost me about $3 and it had to be shipped to me from Moldova, but it was worth it, clearly. Your outgoing envelope needs a US Global stamp (runs something like $1.20).
And so with that, I sit at 10 cards remaining for the Topps Total set: Paul Kariya, Jason Allison, Mike Richter, Mark Messier, Todd Bertuzzi, Tommy Salo, Lubomir Sekeras, Espen Knutsen, Miroslav Satan, and Andrei Nikolishin. A friend in Finland has my Nikolishin card hoping to get him with the KHL team he is with, and I have someone who may be able to help with Bertuzzi. Satan has been known to sign occasionally TTM, ditto on Richter, Salo, Sekeras, and Knutsen (though I have failed on all at least once). I think I can safely say that my white whales now are Messier and Kariya; as one would expect. Allison may be the third-toughest.
I put a few posts out on Facebook and Instagram hoping for some trades. And I got even better: Mike from Minnesota helped me out with the last card for my 2008/09 Upper Deck Rookie Class set, sending me the signed Steven Stamkos card that graced my mailbox today. So I'm now at three complete sets...
My hockey want list now sits at 50 cards. I may have help coming on as many as 15 of them from various trade talks and even a long-running 50/50 deal.
Lastly, I made my return to the broadcast booth a couple weeks ago, calling games for the Texas Open Floorball Tournament in Arlington. The games were originally going to be broadcast online, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, the broadcast crew was unable to make it, so we tried to cover the games as best we could with a three-person crew, a camera, a computer, and a couple mics. As soon as they're on YouTube, I'll post some links here.
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.
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.
It's been a whirlwind month but out of it comes the start of baseball season and hopefully some nice outings to Frisco. Got my first one coming April 7 against Midland. There's no publicly available Rockhounds roster so I'm going to end up half-assing it on them. But after that opening series, it's on.
March was a bad IP month (not even going to get into my Sidekicks-Sockers experience...), and slow on TTMs, but I got a few...
MARCH 1
Scott Fulhage, c/o home, 3/3, a year and a half
Dirk Nowitzki, c/o team, 1/1, 3 months
Raisel Iglesias, c/o team ST, 2/2, 2 weeks
MARCH 2
Bubba Wallace, c/o team, 2/2, 3 months
Alex Bowman, c/o team, 4/4, 1 month
MARCH 4
Paul Stastny, c/o team, 1/1, 6 months
Hut Stricklin, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
MARCH 6
Dana Barros, c/o home, 4/4, 3 months
MARCH 9
Michael Andretti, c/o home, 2/2, 3 months
MARCH 16
AJ Foyt, c/o home, 2/2, 3 months
MARCH 19
Taylor Davis, c/o team ST, 1/1, 3 weeks
MARCH 23
Joey Logano, c/o team, 1/1, 5 weeks
MARCH 27
Erik Jones, c/o fan club, 4/4, 6 weeks
Some pretty cool news from the sports world, the Kraft Hockeyville USA vote was won by Calumet, MI. Their rink gets $150,000 for upgrades, plus $10,000 in hockey equipment, and an area rink gets to host an NHL preseason game (I'd guess Michigan Tech's MacInnes Arena that's just down the road will get that honor if the Colosseum doesn't; Dee Stadium also has a chance).
The Calumet Colosseum, formerly the Calumet Armory, is where my dad learned to skate as a kid. It opened in 1913 and has been in use ever since-- the longest continually-operating ice rink in the world. The aforementioned Dee Stadium is 7th-- and only because the original Amphidrome burned down in 1927.
Me at The Dee, July 2016. I'll add a 1920s photo of the Colosseum from my grandmother's collection later.
The successes came in all the way up until the last day of the year. I opted to skip on the Rangers' Toy Drive this year as the list of players was underwhelming (much like the Rangers as a whole). But I did do some mailing and got some quick responses.
DECEMBER 19
Chris Davis, c/o home, 1/1, 1 week
Maurice Cheeks, c/o team, 3/3, 1 week
DECEMBER 21
Jack Sikma, c/o Sikma Enterprises, 5/5, 1 week
DECEMBER 22
Dick Schofield Sr., c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
Ann Meyers-Drysdale, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
DECEMBER 26
Scott Manning, c/o work, 2/2, 3 months
Craig Ehlo, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
Hersey Hawkins, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
Terry Porter, c/o team, 2/3, 2 weeks, returned one unsigned
DECEMBER 27
John Stearns, c/o home, 4/5, 2 weeks, kept one
DECEMBER 31
Tippy Martinez, c/o home, 4/4, 3 weeks
Danny Ferry, c/o home, 4/5, 3 weeks, returned one unsigned
Gail Goodrich, c/o home, 2/2, 3 weeks
Jerry Sloan, c/o home, 5/5, 3 weeks
Cale Yarborough, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks, personalized both
Looking back through the numbers, 2018 was my biggest year in the hobby. I ended up getting close to 1500 items signed myself (1476 to be exact), plus picked up another 300-400 in trades, purchases, pack pulls, and gifts. I had my biggest ever single month (270 in August), two-month span (528 in July/August), and three-month span (767 in June/July/August), and a record long streak of daily mail successes (25 delivery days from September 13 to October 12).
I finally got around to mailing off a bunch in early September once my stamp order came in. Slowly they're coming back in...
SEPTEMBER 4
Tyler Ervin, c/o Texans, 2/2, 2 years
SEPTEMBER 11
Tom House, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week
SEPTEMBER 13
Jim Gabarra, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week
Cleo James, c/o home, 1/1, 1 week
SEPTEMBER 14
Jim Burt, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week
SEPTEMBER 15
Bill Lee, c/o home, 1/1, 1 week
SEPTEMBER 17
Tim Cullen, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week
USPS say I have another three coming in today. Based on the postmarks and my list of mailings, my guesses are Dan McGinn, Frank Reberger, and Paul Doyle. Let's see how good my guess is...
Whew. We had a busy few days after my return (had a good friend stay with us one night, band practice Saturday), I finally had a moment today to photograph almost everything. Not pictured: Set cards, items I got signed for others, and the 100+ hockey sig lot I picked up for Lee Alexander.
FINAL TOTALS
Miles driven: 3,358
States visited: Fourteen
Games attended: Twelve
Autographs obtained, whether in-person, trade, purchased, or pulled from a pack: 574
A gigantic rundown-- and this doesn't include signed photos or the unsigned items I snagged...
Time has just been incredibly limited, sleep is at a premium, and my brain is melting. So please forgive my lateness. Caffeine is my friend.
DAY 7
START TIME: 8 am Eastern
STARTING CITY: Macedonia, OH
STOPPING POINT: Westlake, Cleveland, Akron, and Macedonia, OH
STATES VISITED: Ohio
MILES DRIVEN TODAY: 164
MILES DRIVEN TOTAL: 1,812
The first full day of the National saw Arron handling the 'graphing while I went searching the tables. Signers were Isaac Curtis, Ross Browner, Len Barker, and Tom Cousineau. At the tables, I mistly spent my time at a $1 autographs booth, where I managed to pull over 100-- mostly for Lee, with a few for me. I also grabbed a few 1972 Topps set needs, and a few random cards to TTM. I also got to spend the show with my dad.
Meanwhile in the evening, it was down to Akron for the RubberDucks game against the Bowie Baysox. We went for Akron inside, and they were excellent. We never say Triston McKenzie, but signers for us included Rob Kaminsky on 2/4, Mitch Brown on 4/4, James Karinchak on 1/1 (finishing my Lake County No-Hitter card), Kieran Lovegrove on 1/1, Matt Whitehouse on 2/2, Logan Ice on 2/2, Sam Haggerty on 1/1, Mark Mathias on 4/4, Joe Sever on 2/2, Tyler Krieger on 2/2, and Ka'ai Tom on 2/3. Inside postgame we got Dillon Tate, who was charting. He signed 2/2.
Postgame we went to the Bowie bus. Before a group of overzealous, rude, and demanding kids ruined it, we got Brian Gonzalez on 2/2, Ryan Mountcastle on 1/4, Yusniel Diaz on 1/1 (he's now one-per), and D'Arby Myers on 2/2.
Side note, apparently a dealer had his inventory confiscated and was taken into custody by the Cleveland Police's Financial Crimes unit over selling alleged forgeries. Apparently his forgeries have been known to the hobby for AT LEAST five years too (check the latter link and you'll see a poster at Net54 calling Posada's company My Favorite Forgeries). Keep on busting the big fish-- it helps to keep the petty scammers like like Andrew Miller from getting too comfortable.
RUNNING TOTAL: 197 autographs
* * * * * * * * * *
DAY 8
START TIME: 9 am Eastern
STARTING CITY: Macedonia, OH
STOPPING POINT: Cleveland, Eastlake, and Macedonia, OH
STATES VISITED: Ohio
MILES DRIVEN TODAY: 88
MILES DRIVEN TOTAL: 1,736
Friday put me back into the autograph lines for Charles White, Steve DeBerg, Livan Hernandez, and Rico Petrocelli. Petrocelli was a non-ticketed signing (yay!) limited to one item per person (boo...). So given the option of my 11x14 photo, 1972 Topps set card, or 1965 rookie card that I procured for a dime the day before, I went with the photo. He signs by mail for $5, I could knock out the other two next week if I really want to (and I do). White got started late, talked a lot, and people randomly jumped into his line so it took forever. I was able to get through DeBerg's line while I was waiting and not lose much time (two for me, two for Arron, and one for another friend we were helping out). Finally I got through and got a total of ten items signed by the former Heisman winner-- six for me, four for Arron. Hernandez's start time got moved up which I didn't notice, but I was able to get to him quickly even though he started while I was still in White's line. Knocked out six items there-- two for me, two for Arron, two for another friend. Hernandez was on his phone the whole time, but did respond at least when I thanked him.
With the All-Access Super VIP package, we got five free authentications, so I used one each on White and Hernandez. We never ended up using the other three at all. Mostly since I didn't think to do it.
It was a lighter day at the tables for me-- a small amount spent at a random 12 for $10 autograph table, but not much else. I wanted to be able to have a total bonanza the final day.
That night, it was off to Lake County. We got the Captains again pregame on a few cards that we had left over from the team set-- coach Kyle Hudson on 3/3, Felix Tati, Ulysses Cantu, Todd Isaacs, and Juan Acevedo each signed 1/1, and Will Benson did 1/2. I also got Bowling Green coach Manny Castillo to sign 5/5 and shortstop Taylor Walls on 1/1. Postgame I got Mikey York on 2/2, and Will Benson on my last card.
RUNNING TOTAL: 225 autographs
* * * * * * * * * *
DAY 9
START TIME: 10 am Eastern
STARTING CITY: Macedonia, OH
STOPPING POINT: Cleveland and Macedonia, OH
STATES VISITED: Ohio
RAPID TRANSIT LINES USED: Red from Brookpark to Tower City and back
MILES DRIVEN TODAY: 60
MILES DRIVEN TOTAL: 1,796
Arron handled the lines the final day as I hit the tables. I went back to the 12 for $10 autographs and bought a bunch from that box as well as a $5 box that had several set needs for 1972. I also grabbed a ton of Dave Stieb in the first box-- I'll gladly grab everything for $1 from a guy who charges $10 to sign! I also snagged a bunch of non-personalized Doug Drabek and Cecil Cooper sigs. Gotta love having trade bait on the cheap.
Over in the autograph lines, Arron got Randy Jones, Gregg Jefferies, Jose Rijo, and Marty Cordova. Marty's pen slipped a bit on my photo, but it still looks alright. So from this, I added three from Jones, one Jefferies, one Rijo, and three Cordova.
We kept the graphing light since we were close to dead at this point. Pregame, the Indian had Jim Poole and Eric Plunk signing in the center field plaza, and each did a card for me. I wish I had known they would be there: I have tons on them at home, and had to quickly scan through some cards my dad found at his place (found a 1992 Topps on each for Arron) and open up the 1991 Score factory set I got for $2 on Thursday (found both for myself). Corey Kluber looked like his Cy Young self, pitching a complete game shutout. Exactly four years to the day was my last game at The Jake, where I saw Kluber go seven, allowing one run in a 7-1 win over Cincinnati.
RUNNING TOTAL: 235 autographs
* * * * * * * * * *
DAY 10
START TIME: 9 am Eastern
STARTING CITY: Macedonia, OH
STOPPING POINT: Fort Wayne, IN and Cedar Rapids, IA
STATES VISITED: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa
MILES DRIVEN TODAY: 608
MILES DRIVEN TOTAL: 2,404
Sometimes you just get on a roll and want to knock out an entire drive. So we went all the way to Cedar Rapids after the Fort Wayne game.
My friend Shawn texted me updates as he helped us out getting the last day's signers-- Tommy Helms, Benito Santiago, Tom Browning, Joe Charbonneau, and Billy Sims. From those, he got ten for me (three from Helms, two each from Sims, Santiago, and Charbonneau, and one from Browning) and several for Arron.
Meanwhile in Fort Wayne, I got the two Lansing players I had items for before the game-- five from former outfielder (now coach) Matt Young, and two from former shortstop (now pitcher) Emerson Jimenez. The Tincaps were in no mood to sign before the game since they had an on-field signing session postgame. So at that, we immediately went for MacKenzie Gore who signed 1/2. The only ones signing multiples were Austin Smith on 2/2 and Mason Thompson on 3/3. Granted, I only had one card on most of these guys-- each signing 1/1 were Caleb Boushley, Tom Cosgrove, Osvaldo Hernandez, Aaron Leasher, Evan Miller, Luis Patino, Ben Sheckler, Jalen Washington, Juan Fernandez, Esteury Ruiz, Tirso Ornelas, Jeisson Rosario, and Jack Suwinski. I had two of Luis Almanzar, but he only signed one.
RUNNING TOTAL: 272 autographs
So, my goal of 300 is in reach if this rain holds off. We got into Cedar Rapids at about 1 am after our second longest day of driving to this point. It rained overnight and looks pretty cloudy this morning. At the very least, I need to buy a hat. I was born in Cedar Rapids but we left when I was about a year and a half old to move to Ohio. I went back for a week in 1990, but haven't been here since. Back when my family lived here, they were still the Cedar Rapids Reds. My parents saw the likes of Eric Davis, Paul O'Neill, Rob Murphy, Ron Robinson, Terry Lee, Kal Daniels, Chris Sabo, Kurt Stillwell, Lenny Harris, and Joe Oliver come through before they made it in Cincinnati. Now the Kernels, I need to get a hat to go with the ones I bought for the Indians, RubberDucks, and Captains on the trip.
We'll be heading onward to Des Moines later as well for the Iowa Cubs vs. Las Vegas 51s. Thinking we likely will skip the Royals-Cubs game, and may pull double duty on the Cubs-51s since they play at noon tomorrow as well, and we'll be right there in Des Moines already.
START TIME: 9 am Eastern
STARTING CITY: Macedonia, OH
STOPPING POINT: Eastlake, OH, and Macedonia, OH
STATES VISITED: Ohio
MILES DRIVEN TODAY: 53
MILES DRIVEN TOTAL: 1,648
Usually I like rain. And then it affects graphing.
We took off under cloudy skies to head up to the Great Lakes vs. Lake County game. We stayed dry early-- inside the ballpark I got Juan Hillman on six cards, pitching coach Joe Torres on four, Oscar Gonzalez, Jose Vicente, and Tyler Friis each on one, three from Jonathan Laureano, and two from Francisco Perez.
And then the rains came. The game did finish just fine, but it was just enough to make us not want to go for anyone postgame. And since the weather looked questionable for the afternoon and evening, we figured it was a good day to cancel the trip out to Toledo.
So, our first double will be delayed until we hit Iowa next week. On the positive side, the rest was much-needed.
RUNNING TOTAL: 155 autographs
DAY 6
START TIME: 12 noon Eastern
STARTING CITY: Macedonia, OH
STOPPING POINT: Brookpark, OH, and Macedonia, OH
STATES VISITED: Ohio
MILES DRIVEN TODAY: 58
MILES DRIVEN TOTAL: 1,706
Despite having to scramble a bit when I realized that my computer clock is still in Central time, we got to the National on time and got all the signers. We went for Luis Tiant first since his line was a mile long. Mike Hargrove came second, Calvin Murphy third. Then the regularly scheduled signers of Eric Metcalf and Ickey Woods did their thing, and all was good.
Pretty simple really. Short entries for short days. But be prepared: it all hits the fan with a full day of the National and a return to 'graphing in Akron.
Three weeks until we leave for the Road Trip to the National. I plan to have a prelude posting maybe about a week out. Also got one Frisco game on the Schedule of Likely But Still Changeable Outings before it.
Meanwhile, some successes, both IP and TTM...
JUNE 4
Hayden Hurst, c/o team, 2/2, 1 month (personalized index card, signed on the back)
JUNE 7
Randy LaJoie, c/o The Joie of Seating, 3/3, 7 months
JUNE 16 - Wichita Wingnuts at Texas AirHogs
Franklin Perez, 2/2
Brent Clevlen, 3/3
JUNE 18
Brian Quinn, c/o San Disgo Soccer Club, 6/6, close to 3 years
JUNE 29
Ronald Jones, c/o team, 2/4, 2 months (kept two)
JUNE 29 – Springfield at Frisco
Victor Roache, 5/5
Ian McKinney, 2/2
Jeremy Martinez, 1/4
Chris Chinea, 3/3
Lane Thomas, 3/3
Connor Jones, 2/2
Anthony Gose, 1/4
Ariel Jurado, 3/3
Brett Martin 1/1
JULY 1 – Tulsa at Frisco
Yusniel Diaz, 3/3
Keibert Ruiz, 1/2
DJ Peters, 1/3
Drew Jackson, 2/7, 2/2
Dave Borkowski, 1/1
Stetson Allie, 6/6
Dylan Baker, 1/1
Andrew Sopko, 9/9
JULY 2
Darrell Evans, c/o home, 2/2, 2 months
The countdown begins: 24 days until we pack up and hit the road. First stop: the Birmingham Barons play at home against the Tennessee Smokies!
It's been a while since I 'graphed baseball outside of MLB and the affiliated minors. But now that the American Association's Texas AirHogs have a few former major leaguers as coaches, I've hit a few games of theirs over the past few weeks...
MAY 12
Ed Hobaugh, c/o home, 1/2, 3 months (returned one unsigned)
MAY 12 - concert
Jim "Rev. Horton Heat" Heath, 1/1
MAY 15
Wayne Gretzky, c/o PRIVATE ADDRESS, 2/2, 2 weeks (NOT AUTOPENNED!)
MAY 16 - Cleburne at Texas
Rafael Palmeiro, 3/3
Greg Golson, 1/1
Garth Iorg, 6/6
Kevin Joseph, 1/1
Larry Hardy, 3/3
MAY 18
Derrius Guice, c/o Redskins, 2/2, 2 weeks
MAY 19
Christian Kirk, c/o Cardinals, 2/2, 2 weeks
MAY 19 - Fargo-Moorhead at Texas
Garth Iorg, 1/1
Kevin Joseph, 1/1
Chris Coste, 6/6
Tommy Mendonca, 1/1
Trey McNutt, 4/4
Keury De La Cruz, 2/2
Greg Golson, 2/2
MAY 26
Buddy Bell, c/o Reds, 1/1, 2 weeks
MAY 26 - Royals at Rangers
Mitch Williams, 2/2, 2/2
MAY 28 - St. Paul at Texas
Dante Bichette Jr., 2/2
Garth Iorg, 1/1
Jake Esch, 1/1
Tom Wilhelmsen, 3/5
JUNE 1
DeAndre Goolsby, c/o Lions, 3/2, 1 month, wrote a short note thanking me for my support
JUNE 1 - Sioux City at Texas
Luis Durango, 4/4
Patrick Schuster, 4/4
James Dykstra, 11/11
Jay Austin, 2/2
NHL Draft prep is well underway right now, got 1500+ cards pulled. The National has added a few more names to the VIP list as well, namely Tom Browning, Isaac Curtis, Tom Cousineau, and Billy Sims. I'm about a month away from my SportLots ordering time for the trip, and am considering buying a few team sets online from various places.
It's baseball season, I'm in the space between two major pro sports drafts that are in DFW, and the National is also inching ever closer.
So, I've gotten a little behind.
On the positive side, I got to do some mailing recently since I'm close to having the National trip paid for. So hopefully some more successes will come rolling in.
Without further ado, April: a month of low quantity but high quality, including four set hits!
APRIL 5
Skeeter Barnes, c/o home, 5/5, 6 weeks
Phil Garner, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week
APRIL 7 - Tulsa at Frisco
Yanio Perez 2/2
Jason Hart 2/2
Peter O'Brien 1/3, 1/1
Michael Ahmed, 1/1
Kyle Garlick 1/1
Terrmel Sledge 9/9
Leo Garcia 4/4
Josh Sborz 3/3
Drew Jackson 1/2
Keibert Ruiz 1/1
Will Smith, 1/1
Ariel Jurado 5/6
Joe Mikulik 3/3
Pedro Payano 1/1
Michaek De Leon 2/2
Scott Heinemann 1/1
Josh Morgan 4/4
Clayton Cook 4/4
Ryne Slack 1/1
APRIL 10
Carlos Baerga, c/o home, 4/4, 7 months
Fred Lynn, c/o home, 1/3, 1 week, personalized
APRIL 11
Brian Downing, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week, personalized
APRIL 14
Larry Biittner, c/o home, 3/3, 3 weeks
Juan Gonzalez, c/o home, 6/6, 3 weeks
APRIL 17
Ernie Irvan, c/o home, 4/4, 7 months
APRIL 26 - NFL Draft IP
Rich Eisen 1/1
APRIL 30
Glen Cochrane, c/o Anaheim Ducks, 2/2, 1 month
MAY 3 - San Antonio at Frisco
Michael Gettys 1/4
Austin Allen 1/4
Jimmy Jones 9/9
Cal Quantrill 1/1
Rowan Wick 2/2
Dillon Overton 2/2
Erik Johnson 1/7
Matt Strahm 3/3
Trevor Hoffman 2/2
Logan Allen 3/3
Eric Yardley 1/1
Luis Marte 2/2
Luis Mendez 2/2
Michael De Leon 1/1
Ariel Jurado 3/3
Michael O’Neill 2/2
Jose Trevino 3/3
Collin Wiles 4/4
Correlle Prime 4/4
MAY 5 - Midland at Frisco
Tyler Marincov 1/1
Mikey White 7/7
J.B. Wendelken 2/2
Richie Martin 2/6
Tommy Everidge 3/3
Keith Comstock 7/7
Preston Beck 3/3
Richelson Pena 1/1
Brett Martin 2/2
Cody Palmquist 2/2
And one almost throwdown with everyone's favorite scammer/forger/all-around scumbag Andrew Miller (When he missed Rougned Odor I said "That's okay, you can just forge him later when you get home" and that set him and Amanda both off; I fully expect him to try to run me down with his car someday, sooner rather than later. Apparently he got called out in the Autographs 101 Facebook group too.)
MAY 7
Mark Price, c/o home, 2/2, 1 week
Had a few names added to the National since my last post on it-- Rico Petrocelli, Mike Hargrove, Luis Tiant, Calvin Murphy, Eric Metcalf, and Ross Browner will all be there. Should be about six more yet to be named. I have most of my intel assembled on the ballparks we'll be seeing
Getting stuff ready for the NHL Draft as well-- a giant binder of cards, custom index cards, some pucks I have on hand, maybe some photos. Looks like I'll get to meet up with part of my former Boston 'graphing crew as Russ and Larry will both be there.
I also mailed out to some NFL Draft Picks and UDFAs to their camps. The draft itself went badly on both the 'graphing front and the Browns front (seriously contemplating becoming a Packers fan) so hopefully this nets me a few. I need to mail off a few others soon-- Buddy Bell has been signing, which is a nice surprise.
For the 2014 National, I made business cards to promote my blog. They turned out alright, but a little tough to read since I had so much info to put in.
So for 2018, I figured I could make a few-- one for each sport that I collect. Even better, I found a place that will print in standard trading card size (2.5x3.5 instead of the 2x3.5 of a business card), so I came up with these...
Clockwise from Top Left: Baseball in the 1972 Topps design; football in the 1990 Pro Set design; Hockey in the 2002-03 Topps Total design; and Indoor soccer in the 1989-90 Pacific design. Didn't do one for racing. Yet...
I'm thinking 50 of each is a good start, and then I'll also do 100 or so in a regular business card size for promoting the Facebook groups I run as well as the baseball stuff I collect. I don't have the back done yet, but here's the front of that one...
The T-205 set is is the bee's knees. It'll put the pepper in your porridge and... something-something-turn-of-the-century lingo...
So, that'll be fun.
Got stuff ready for Frisco, Tulsa, and Springfield this weekend. My guesses were decent for most rosters-- had stuff on a few guys who are going to be in OKC or Rancho, but only missed one who made it in Tulsa (Justin DeFratus, who I got last year anyway) and one in Frisco (James Dykstra, whom I scrambled to order more of). I was about 50/50 on the Cardinals, but I was able to put in a last-minute order on the five I missed. Hopefully they come through by Saturday.
A busy 2018 season is officially underway! Here we go...
