TTM autographs received: Drew Henson

There was probably about a two week period through the end of June where I didn't get any TTM successes - while it wasn't the end of the world, it really left me feeling high and dry.

Maybe it served me right where in all honesty, TTM returns were ending up as simply pieces of clutter to work through - I didn't know what to make out of the miscellaneous successes that have come back and needed to lay off the chase for a little bit to make things kind of special again.

I was able to get back Henson after a three week wait and was glad to see he signed my cards after I probably tried an outdated address for him earlier in the year - I was going to write a little something about Henson, but I already had a write up on him over 10 years ago!

Go figure, July started with a couple of days with multiple successes, so maybe my peace of mind is restored - even if the issue of seeing TTM results as misfit toys is still unresolved.

TTM autographs received: Jeff Shaw

The former big league closer signed my cards in about three weeks - including a 2001 Fleer Tradition, a set I'm still trying to get as many cards signed from, even after all these years.

Featured autograph - Will Clark

The former MLB superstar made an appearance during a minor league game in Lancaster California and I was able to get my 2001 Fleer Tradition set card signed - it was great for me to get his autograph for the first time and knock out a 15-year old set card.

Team staff from the host Lancaster Jethawks were adamant that Clark would signing for a 6:30-8:00 p.m. and with the volume of people who lined up for an autograph - there were no photo ops taken with him and it was strictly one autograph per person.

After the fact, I saw Clark was fairly accommodating, typically putting 'Thrill' inscriptions on non-card items like balls, flats and jerseys - while the team staff was watching over Clark, he would sign multiples if you plopped them down in front of him.

If you attended the signing with a family of people - then you racked up at least one time through the line, if not a second time through.

Featured autograph - Mark Grace

I've never counted how many I've gotten signed in-person / through the mail but I'm still plugging away at the 2001 Fleer Tradition set - even if it means randomly getting a card signed here and there, like this Grace I got when the Arizona Diamondbacks played the Angels.

At first I thought 2001 Fleer Tradition cards looked a little dumpy because of the drab card stock [used to mimic vintage Topps sets, just like the other retro product called Topps Heritage] - I picked up a set [mainly for the Albert Pujols, Ichiro and Mark Teixeira rookie year cards that was included as a part of a 50-card subset available only in factory sets] and started trying to get the other basic cards inked up since I had to use them for something.

Featured autographs - Delino DeShields

2001 Fleer Tradition was probably the first set where I tried to get as many of the cards signed in-person / TTM - at first, I thought the cards were kind of ugly [it's obviously a retro themed design, but maybe I thought the cards looked too primitive], but I ended up picking up a factory set back since it had Albert Pujols, Ichiro and Mark Teixeira rookies as part of a 50-card rookie update.

Not really knowing what to do with the rest of the cards past the 'key guys,' I started to get the cards signed in-person / TTM bit by bit - to this day I still hold out hope that I can get cards from the set signed, like the pair of cards I got inked up by the former MLB second baseman.

Random thoughts - Albert Pujols

My only rookie card of Pujols was his 2001 Fleer Tradition, which came in a 'rookie subset' available only factory sets - I can't believe it's been nearly 14 years since he was a rookie phenom, but time marches on.

He was on the firing line when he had the gall to put up his resume in his first two MLB seasons against what Mike Trout has done in his first two MLB seasons - as an Angels fan, I hope Pujols is motivated to bounce back, because it would be devastating if it was all downhill in his apparent decline phase.

When Pujols signed with the team, I thought he would be the marquee player for the Angels for years to come and that would be that - but the prospects of him replicating his astounding success early in his career was never going to come to fruition.

Pujols is an all-time great who has a lot of pride in what he has accomplished, but you don't diss the great hope realized especially when you've turned out be an injured, broken down machine - while Pujols may have been El Hombre at one point, Trout has become The Man for the Angels as well as Major League Baseball.

Autograph request through the mail received: Steve Karsay

Steve Karsay c/o home address - signed three cards in blue Sharpie including a 2001 Fleer Tradition card for my set in about about a couple of months.

I remember Karsay in the early 1990s as a high profile draft pick for the Toronto Blue Jays - after being traded to the Oakland Athletics for Rickey Henderson in 1993, he was supposed to be part of the rebuilding program in Oakland as a future ace perhaps.

Karsay was out for much of the 1994 season and had to get Tommy John surgery in 1995 - he did put together a string of four serviceable seasons as a reliever from 1999-2002, but another injury suffered in 2003 was the beginning of the end for his Major League career.

Autograph request through the mail received: Jeff D'Amico

Jeff D'Amico c/o home address - signed my 2001 Fleer Tradition card in blue Sharpie along with three other cards.

This autograph request took about two weeks or so - I don't remember D'Amico for any particular reason except he was supposed to be a top pitching prospect for the Milwaukee Brewers in the mid 1990s, but got hurt a lot so his Major League career didn't really take off as expected.

I do remember another Jeff D'Amico who pitched one season with the Kansas City Royals in 2000 - I was butchering the pronounciation of 'D'Amico' and Ricky Bottalico, who I think was signing for me before an Angels / Royals game was calling me out for not being able to say 'D'Amico' right.

Featured autograph - Scott Downs

After putting it off for so long because I thought the task might be daunting - I recently only started to 'dig through' my box of 2001 Fleer Tradition autograph setters and list the cards in a database. 

After picking up a complete factory set in 2001, I decided to get as many of the cards autographed either in-person or through the mail - I think Angels free agent pick up Scott Downs' autograph was acquired in-person, likely at an Angels / Toronto Blue Jays game in Anaheim.

I basically want to have an idea of the cards I've gotten signed so perhaps I have an idea of the challenge still there to get as many of the cards from the set signed - what color ink / type of pen, how the cards were signed [in-person / through the mail], which players do I still need on any 2001 Fleer Tradition cards, any missing unsigned 2001 Fleer Tradition cards and also if there are cards I'll keep in mind to 'upgrade' if possible. 

Featured autograph - Scott Brosius

I first got Scott Brosius' autograph in-person when he played for the Oakland Athletics back in 1996 - I ended up not collecting in-person autographs in 1997 and Brosius got traded to the New York Yankees after enduring a subpar year.

After a comeback season, including being part of a 114 win team and being named 1998 World Series MVP - Brosius had enjoyed some new prominence and got kind of elusive perhaps [for a good, but generally average MLB player] and I remember seeing him last in 2000, when he was getting dropped off at alternate players' entrance at what was then Edison Field in Anaheim.

I never got him on a 2000 New York Yankees team baseball I was working on back then - it was far from complete since I know Derek Jeter wasn't on there, but it was still from a championship season.

Brosius currently coaches a NCAA Division III [Linfield] baseball team in Oregon - they were in Orange County, California, playing Chapman University this past weekend. 

After a doubleheader on Saturday, I was able to get Brosius to sign the 2000 NYY team baseball [which features luminaries like Lance 'One Dog' Johnson and Todd Erdos, but missing Jose Canseco, Jeter, Ricky Ledee among other players I still need] - more importantly I also got a 2001 Fleer Tradition set card [I'd been holding off on actually sending with a donation to Brosius' baseball program] signed.

Autograph request through the mail received: Roberto Alomar

Roberto Alomar c/o home address - signed one card in blue Sharpie and didn't return the other [2004 Topps Cracker Jack].

Alomar was considered one of the best second baseman in Major League Baseball history - a defensive wunderkind and an explosive top-of-the-lineup catalyst through his prime, he helped the Toronto Blue Jays win back to back championships in 1992 and 1993.

I received this request on Dec. 21 after a two or three week wait - this knocks out another 2001 Fleer Tradition autograph card and I've been working on trying to get cards from the set signed for about the last seven years.

Alomar was one of the guys who I have missed and just never got in-person when he was an active player - though I do remember another through the mail request sent and received back in the late 1990s, when he was still with the Baltimore Orioles.

Featured autograph - Brady Anderson

As an autograph collector, one of my collecting priorities in the last decade is trying to get as many cards from particular baseball card sets - signed either in-person or through the mail.

Probably the first set I've tried it with is the 2001 Fleer Tradition set - I didn't like the particular product when it first came out, but I picked up a factory set 'back in the day' for around $30.

The factory sets included a 50-card rookie subset with rookie cards of Albert Pujols, Ichiro and Mark Teixeira - that wasn't available through packs or hobby/retail boxes.

After realizing I was stuck with this complete set, I ended up attempting to get the 400-card set signed - minus the 50-card rookie subset.

Fast forward to 2009 and I've probably half of the set signed in one ink or the other and either in-person or through the mail - there are some players who have slipped through the cracks [that I've never gotten] and some players who have died [Ken Caminiti and Darryl Kile].

Brady Anderson was one of the players whose card I still need signed from this set and I'd stumbled on a supposed list of signers through the Major League Alumni Marketing - which I assume is a way for the Major League Players Alumni Association to raise money.

Anderson [$15] and Ray Lankford [$20] were the two players that stood out [other notables included Stan Musial - $85, Mike Schmidt - $70 and John Smoltz - $70] - as 'sorta tough to get guys, now they aren't playing,' whom I still needed on 2001 Fleer Tradition cards.

So I looked at the list and wondered if it was worth getting Anderson and/or Lankford at a mail-in signing, so I could get them out of the way - I'd gotten Anderson's autograph a handful of times in his playing career, but before the 2001 Fleer Tradition came out.

I'd never gotten Lankford before and while I'd equally needed both of their 2001 Fleer Tradition cards signed - Lankford was the more intriguing name.

I'd looked at the list late Tuesday night and was still thinking about it Wednesday - not a big deal I suppose, though I had a couple of options to be able to knock out a couple of set cards.

I go to the Angels day game against the New York Yankees [9/23] and walking up the aisle from the field level before the game - and out all the random people I might see [among former players perhaps], there is Anderson [though he is in his mid 40s, he still looks like he is in his early 30s] coming up from the ramp, looking for his seats, somewhere in the terrace level.

I literally smack myself in the head, since I was thinking about the chances I'd ever see him - to get him to sign his 2001 Fleer Tradition [#77].

However, there was no 2001 Fleer Tradition card with me - I'd leafed through a stack of various setters [particular brands of baseball cards to get signed under the premise in the first paragraph] I'd put together last night and Anderson was the top card.

It never occured to me to bring any card [much less the 2001 Fleer Tradition] of Anderson - it looked like he had some sort of 'field pass' thing he was wearing around his neck, but I didn't know why he would be at Angel Stadium.

Anderson was still trying to figure out where his seat was and I was following him like I was some sort of lost puppy - when he finally sat down, I asked him to sign a blank page out of my autograph book. He asked for my name and I dilligently spelled it out so he could scribble it out, add a short inscription and sign his name.

It was pretty cool to get Anderson - though I keep thinking of the ways [now], how I can be prepared for the next time I see someone I need on one of my setters.

Featured autograph - Bobby Abreu

Even with Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter out, the Los Angeles Angels' offense has been rolling because guys like - Chone Figgins, Mike Napoli, Kendry Morales, Juan Rivera, Erick Aybar and even Maicer Izturis have each put together pretty good offensive numbers.

It looks like the spring training offense when you can put up five or more runs on a consistent basis and come back - against opposing teams who have jumped ahead early in the games.

Bobby Abreu has been in the middle of the Angels' offensive attack and one wonders, where to begin with the praises for this savvy veteran - who signed with the Angels with about two weeks left to go in spring training.

Even though the $5 million Abreu is being paid is still a lot of money to the average folk - it was a bargain for the type of player he has been and the type of season he is having now.

Abreu has given the Angels a different type of pure hitter - with Abreu's ability to recognize pitches, adapt to situations and patience [61 walks/an on-base percentage over .400], he can either set the table, but also be a middle-of-the-order presence.

He hasn't reached double digit home runs yet, but he is closing in on another 100 RBI season - while the RBI stat maybe more of a function of the guys getting on-base infront of him, give Abreu some credit for being an RBI machine.

As a batter, he might guess here and there - but even at 35, it doesn't look like he really has lost any bat speed with a batting average currently over .300.

Abreu has been dogged for maybe not being adept defensively and also for not being the best baserunner - but it seems like there maybe an emphasis to be a little more conscientious with the Angels. As a baserunner, he has been opportunistic, stealing 21 bases and only being caught five times.

At this point, it looks like he is going to finish up with another strong season - hopefully Angels fans have enjoyed watching him perform, watch him finish strong and see how much he might want in order to come back next year [or the next couple of years].