TTM autographs received: Rick Monday

The former big league outfielder and longtime broadcaster signed my cards in about a couple of months c/o Los Angeles Dodgers - he is known for saving the American flag from being burned by a couple of protesters when he was at Dodger Stadium as a member of the Chicago Cubs back in 1976.

Besides his flag saving heroics, Monday was also the first ever MLB draft pick in 1965 and had a 19-year big league career - hitting 241 home runs with a .361 on-base / .443 slugging and an OPS+ of 125, which meant he was about 25 percent better than the average MLB player.

Awesome mail day - I can't win them all

I picked up a 1969 Topps Tom Murphy card for a TTM request and pictured is what I received - admittedly, I don't know what the seller could have done shipping a $2 card, but for the times a plain white envelope has been used safely, there is always a chance that something like this will happen.

Maybe I can try to flatten the card and send out as intended - but besides trashing everything outright, I don't want to look at this junk any more than I have to.

As is, the card and the envelope may end up as a conversation piece - a cautionary tale in my collection for years to come.

TTM autograph received: Max Alvis

The former big league third baseman signed my card in about a couple of weeks - due to lack of familiarity, I'm not going to attempt to write to older, retired players unless I have their cards or they played through the junk wax era.

However, it might be fun to find straggler cards i.e. vintage / old-school or even retro cards [from the junk wax era to present] to send off to guys still living and presumably signing - though I've sent out through the mail requests for the past 25 years, I'm not like these 'TTM pros' who have a cache of old timers' cards and jump on any possible opportunity to mail stuff out.

2018 Topps Heritage Minors Jo Adell #220

I bought a copy of Adell's short printed Heritage Minors card last fall, because I thought it might be a nice low-end single, especially if he impressed in spring training - unfortunately, the crown jewel of the Angels farm system will be out for 10-12 weeks after getting hurt during a game.

While injuries suffered saps some of the prospects rankings hype for Adell entering the year - hopefully his circumstances doesn't affect his rise towards becoming a big league star, even if he'll be on the shelf in the meantime.

I got another copy of the Adell card when I recently purchased a full hand-collated set [1-220], including the SPs [201-220] - there wasn’t an incentive to get last year's Topps Heritage Minors set because I didn’t go to the Arizona Fall League to sort of get started on getting at least 15-20 inked up.

However, because of the odd in-person or TTM opportunity to get some of the cards off this set signed, it’s hard to think about not having stocked up on the most recent Topps Heritage Minors set - I’ve tried to go ‘cheaper’ in years past, only buying the base 1-200 set, but just so there are no questions about not having certain cards, I got a set with the 20 short prints.

2018 Topps Heritage blaster box #1

Pack one
#220 Carlos Carrasco
#240 Justin Smoak
#361 Checklist - feat. Aaron Judge
#24 Charlie Blackmon

#25 of 30 Victor Robles - Deckle Edge insert

#284 2018 Nationals Rookie Stars - feat. Victor Robles and Andrew Stevenson
#208 Yuli Gurriel
#3 2017 American League RBI Leaders - feat. Cruz, Judge and Davis

#166 2017 World Series Game #5 - feat. Bregman

Pack two
#190 Dinelson Lamet
#235 Buster Posey - All-Star subset
#198 Hunter Renfroe

#231 Kole Calhoun

#424 Kenley Jansen - SP
#121 Kolten Wong
#314 Checklist - feat. Cody Bellinger

#168 2017 World Series Game #7 - feat. Springer
#239 Mike Foltynewicz

Pack three
#288 Jake Arrieta
#83 Dexter Fowler
#226 Giancarlo Stanton - All-Star subset
#171 Javier Baez

#TN-4 Jim Palmer / Corey Kluber - Then and Now insert
#396 Kevin Pillar
#325 Edwin Encarnacion
#1 2017 American League Batting Leaders - feat. Altuve, Garcia, Hosmer and Hanley Ramirez; Topps goofed and it should be Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Indians pictured.
#223 Caleb Joseph

Pack four
#54 Blake Snell

#278 Aaron Judge - All-Star subset
#26 Tommy Pham
#346 Marcus Semien

#69CC-AJ Aaron Judge - 1969 Topps Collector Card; based off the 1969 Transogram figurine cards.
#13 Domingo Santana
#65 D.J. Lemahieu
#228 Wilson Ramos
#264 Carl Edwards Jr.

Pack five
#128 Ender Inciarte
#108 Billy Hamilton
#292 Manny Machado - All-Star subset
#151 Manny Machado

#409 Kelvin Herrera - SP
#187 Joey Votto - All-Star subset
#241 Addison Russell
#64 Johnny Cueto

#29 Andrelton Simmons

Pack six
#272 Matt Moore
#389 Shelby Miller
#101 Salvador Perez
#237 Chris Rusin

#THC-176 Corey Kluber - Chrome serial #’d 059/999
#105 Josh Harrison
#122 Ian Desmond
#270 Matt Adams
#397 Evan Longoria

Pack seven

#275 Mike Trout
#230 Ryan Zimmerman
#350 Yan Gomes

#NAP-19 Anthony Rizzo - New Age Performers insert
#182 Mookie Betts - All-Star subset
#247 Willson Contreras 
#341 Christian Yelich
#16 2018 Giants Rookie Stars - feat. Ryder Jones, Miguel Gomez and Reyes Moronta
#358 2018 Athletics Rookie Stars - feat. Dustin Fowler and Paul Blackburn

Pack eight
#368 Jason Heyward
#234 Zack Greinke
#92 Stephen Strasburg

#404 Drew Pomeranz - SP

#285 Ian Kinsler
#142 Danny Duffy
#179 Gary Sanchez - All-Star subset
#130 Andrew Benintendi
#62 Eric Thames

COMC - a couple of award winners adds

Through COMC, I've picked up assorted cards in bits and pieces to fill holes in my loose card projects - while the Web site is still an option for finding cards, with COMC's shift towards eBay consignments over the past year, shipping wait times for stuff bought on COMC are longer unless an expedited option is chosen.

My latest order cards were shipped through their Black Friday promo and while it took three weeks to finally get my cards - the Web site gives an estimated time of when to expect your cards, so I knew what to expect.

I'm still whittling away at an award winners collection and to upgrade the 1982 Topps K-Mart #42 I have for Don Drysdale [1962 National League Cy Young] - I picked up a 2002 SP Legendary Cuts S-DDr relic card for $7.

I figured the card adds a wrinkle in my collection - even though relic cards have been proven to have iffy historicity and aren't really valued as much.

Compared to a dingy, 35-year old card from a boxed set produced in the billions - I'll keep the cutesy one with the supposed game-worn swatch.

I picked up a 1969 Topps Dodgers Rookie Stars card [#552] for a dollar because it features Ted Sizemore [1969 National League Rookie of the Year] - I could have gotten his better looking second-year, single player card [1970 Topps #174] featuring the Topps Rookie Cup, but instead I just stuck with the actual rookie card.

1969 Topps Aurelio Rodriguez #653

I picked this card up for about a dollar as another vintage card 'curiosity' to put away - I've never really considered owning the card, but I've seen over the years, so I wondered if I could randomly add a copy of the 'quirky, oddball' card to my collection.

I probably first learned of the uncorrected error card picturing the California Angels' bat boy in this early 1980s book - I bought the actual book years ago when it was finally discarded and I decided to dig it out for a photo op with the actual card.

Featured autograph - Bill Stoneman

I ran into former Angels general manager Bill Stoneman this past Saturday and got him to sign the card I pulled from this break - he still works for the Angels as a consultant after stepping down from the GM position.

His claim to fame as a former MLB player was throwing two no-hitters for the Montreal Expos - despite a losing career record of 54-85, he pitched over 200 innings four years in a row and seemed to develop into a quality starter before breaking down in his late 20s.

Fairfield red jumbo pack recap

Fairfield red jumbo pack of 100 cards [$4.99 each at Target] - these repacks guarantee three 'vintage' cards from the 50's, 60's and 70s, though I'm not holding my breath.

I thought I was over these things but I'm fascinated with just wanting a brick of cards to flip through - I'd probably buy four or five of these at one time if I knew there was a real good mix of cards from over the years.

However, pulling cards from the 'junk wax years' get redundant quickly - how much more 1987 Topps, 1989 Topps and 1990 K-Mart Superstar cards can I really take in without just wanting to hurl the cards against the wall?

I say this tongue firmly planted in cheek - but I just don't think it's fair that a company can prey on the hoarding aspects of this baseball card collector.

Top section
1989 Topps Glossy Rookies Ron Gant #9

1989 Topps Steve Peters #482

1989 Topps Jeff Blauser #83 - my opinion on a 23-year old set may not matter, but these cards have no redeeming quality; the images lacked a certain sharpness, were often dark and drab.
1989 Topps Oddibe McDowell #183
1989 Topps Doyle Alexander #77

1989 Topps Steve Curry #471
1989 Topps Larry Owen #87
1989 Topps Jim Leyland #284
1989 Topps Terry Kennedy #705
1989 Topps Wayne Tolleson #714
1992 Leaf Ramon Martinez #297
1992 Leaf Jose Offerman #322

1996 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Joey Hamilton #701
1996 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Pete Schourek #114
1994 Upper Deck Gregg Jefferies #265
1993 Upper Deck Phil Plantier #774
1996 Upper Deck Felipe Lira #71
1989 Donruss Rick Honeycutt #328
1990 Score Bobby Rose #604
1987 Donruss Mike Moore #70
1992 Donruss Scott Sanderson #227
1991 Donruss Kevin Elster #304
1990 Topps Willie Fraser #477
1991 Upper Deck Greg Blosser #70
1991 Donruss Tim Crews #294
1999 Topps Carl Pavano #264
1990 Donruss Jack Armstrong #544
1989 Fleer Bryn Smith #394
1999 Topps John Jaha #307 x2
1999 Topps Kerry Ligtenberg
2000 Topps Chrome Francisco Cordova #171
1992 Fleer Bobby Bonilla / Will Clark #699
1987 Donruss Jimmy Key #244

1991 Topps Larry Andersen #761
1992 Pinnacle Gregg Olson #61
1991 Topps Juan Agosto #703
1994 Upper Deck Ryan Klesko #64
1990 Donruss Jeff Reardon #119
1992 Upper Deck Kirk McCaskill #128
1987 Donruss Glenn Braggs #337
1989 Topps Terry Blocker #76
1990 Topps Jeff Reed #772
1992 Upper Deck Kurt Stillwell #705
1991 Leaf Pat Borders #23
1990 Fleer Luis De Los Santos #105
1991 Fleer Ultra Jerome Walton #70
1992 Score Jerome Walton #457
1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Chris Snopek #77
1988 Topps Benito Santiago #7
1987 Topps All-Stars Wade Boggs #18

Bottom section

2001 Upper Deck David Ortiz #129

1969 Topps Bill Stoneman #67 - this card is the 'vintage one,' though I have it already and I got it signed through the mail.

1977 Topps Carl Morton #24

1977 Topps Jerry Koosman #300
1981 Topps Ron Reed #376
1985 Topps Greg Minton #45
1990 K-Mart Superstars Wade Boggs #19
1990 K-Mart Superstars Mickey Tettleton #24
1990 K-Mart Superstars Dennis Eckersley #29
1990 K-Mart Superstars Tony Gwynn #5
1987 Hygrade Baseball's All-Time Greats Bob Feller NNO

2005 Upper Deck ESPN Mike Piazza #56
1991 Donruss Dave Righetti #275
1991 Donruss Geno Petralli #137
1993 Donruss Jeff Brantley #100

2003 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic Chris Chambliss #13
2003 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Ivan Rodriguez #49
2003 Leaf Certified Materials Richard Hidalgo #74
1991 Donruss Ivan Calderon #203
1993 Leaf Jose Mesa #374
1980 Topps Bill Stein #226
1994 Fleer Ultra Randy Myers #462
1993 Topps Daryl Boston #399
1993 Topps Terry Pendleton #650
1995 Donruss Tom Gordon #494

1993 Topps Stadium Club Jeff Bagwell #384
1989 Donruss John Dopson #392
1989 Donruss Rick Aguilera #526
1993 Topps Albert Belle #635
1993 Topps Stadium Club Brian Harper #95
1988 Fleer Bill Long #404
1988 Fleer Shawon Dunston #419
1988 Fleer Mike Campbell #372
1988 Fleer Dan Gladden #12
1988 Fleer Bruce Ruffin #313
1988 Fleer Mike LaCoss #86
1988 Fleer Wally Joyner #493
1988 Fleer Rob Mallicoat #452
1988 Fleer Mario Diaz / Clay Parker #649
1988 Fleer Keith Hernandez #136
1987 Topps Bill Swift #67
1987 Topps Dan Schatzeder #789
1987 Topps Astros Leaders #531
1987 Topps Chuck Tanner #593
1987 Topps Ronn Reynolds #471
1987 Topps Ted Simmons #516
1987 Topps Dave Gumpert #487
1987 Topps Scott Bankhead #508
1987 Topps Scott Sanderson #534
2004 Upper Deck Morgan Ensberg #136