TTM autographs received: Gary Pettis

The former Angels outfielder signed my cards in black Sharpie in about three weeks c/o Houston Astros - where he is the third base coach.

Pettis as an all-world center fielder and while he didn't hit much - he got on base at a decent enough clip, was a speedster and in his prime, no one matched his prowess as a defender.

Like Devon Whyte, I saw at least one TTM success posted on Instagram this year and figured I might as well send off a letter to see - if I could get ink on four of my random junk wax era cards.

Pettis was a long time coach with the Texas Rangers, where I probably got his autograph in-person at least a couple of times - he wasn't really a tough guy to get, but it still felt like a chore to actually try and get him

He just didn't care for signing and didn't pay much attention to signing his autograph - when he did sign, the autograph on your item might be upside down, sideways, over his face, but never upright and neat.

1986 Topps Kurt Sohn #100

I must have seen this card somewhere online and I wanted a copy of the card because it shows this NFL player, football in-hand glaring with his game face on - maybe Sohn was stuck on the bench, but the eye black makes it like he's ready to get involved in the action at any given moment.

Sohn played in parts of 7 NFL seasons back in the 1980s and was a wide receiver / punt and kick returner - his best year was in 1985 when he caught 39 balls for 534 yards.

Featured autograph - Mike Scioscia

Every year there seems to be an MLB organization that is outed as having a miserable, laughable, Mickey Mouse atmosphere behind the scenes - Scioscia's Angels fit that narrative this year and he might get the ax despite the money and years left on a long term contract he signed.

Winning smooths out a lot of the dysfunction but the Angels aren't competing for squat any time soon - with a bunch of gimpy, overpaid, underachieving fools save for Mike Trout and maybe one or two other guys.

It maybe petty and I'll always be an Angels fan, but there maybe is a little schadenfreude on my part to see the Angels struggle - as a guy who tries to go his share of Angels home games, every time I see Mark Trumbo or Jered Weaver turn their back on fans wanting their autographs, the ballpark experience cut short by overzealous ushers / ballpark security, I think what a fraud this organization has been and I just chuckle.

It all trickles down when there isn't enough winning done on the field - right now, it looks like the organization has no farm system, no clue and it is a dark time for Halos fans at the moment.

2010 Topps Million Card Giveaway Results - 1986 Topps Gary Carter and 2002 Topps Rico Brogna

I pulled two Million Card Giveaway code cards from my last Topps blaster box break from the previous post and was going to hold off since the cards are fun to redeem if you are looking for a couple of minutes of boredom to kill - I did get the itch to put the codes into the system sooner than I thought, even though it looks like it was spitting out crap cards [well at least crap cards from the last 20-25 years instead of cards from the last 35 years or so].

My first card was a 1986 Topps Gary Carter - he is the only Hall of Famer I have in my collection at Million Card Web site, though the card is still an 1986 Topps card and I picked up a few 1986 Topps star cards [Ryne Sandberg, George Brett, Mike Schmidt] a show for a dime each several months ago.

My second card was a 2002 Topps Rico Brogna - I thought I was actually looking for a Brogna card, though it is a 2001 Fleer Tradition card that may not actually exist, so scratch that notion.