TTM autographs received: Linda Ruth-Tosetti

I mailed out some cards to the granddaughter of Babe Ruth and was one of those TTM requests I had to put together to see what would come back - my cards ended up being signed and Miss Ruth-Tosetti also sent back my letter, responding to what I'd written, saying that one thing that amazes her is how her grandfather's legacy continues to live on through this day.

Featured autograph - Cliff Pennington

This post is more about the stragglers I still need to account for as far as my all-time Angels autograph collection goes - Pennington is one player I've gotten to sign long before he spent parts of two seasons [2016-17] with the Angels.

Though the players won't be pictured as Angels and are more rank-and-file guys - I need to dig out in-person autograph cards of guys I may have gotten in the minor leagues, spring training or the fall league.

Raul Ibanez released

The Angels came up with at least several guys who can hit this season [C.J. Cron, Grant Green, Kole Calhoun and Collin Cowgill] and Ibanez wasn't cutting it - I still would have liked for him to run into a hot streak or two but he was simply a bum with the bat as an Angel.

As good of a teammate he was assumed to be in the Angels' clubhouse - he probably would have been better filling in for Don Baylor as a hitting coach than as an active player taking away at-bats from a young hitter with power potential like Cron.

Featured autograph - Mike Stanton

I got this card by Florida Marlins outfielder Mike Stanton when the Marlins came and played the San Diego Padres in San Diego - this is one of the three cards I got signed [two by Marlins backup catcher Brett Hayes] during batting practice before security on the field told me not to throw my clipboard over the dugout.

The trading card set of choice for me to get autographed are cards from the 2006-present Topps Allen and Ginter's sets - sometimes, I do like getting retro cards like Topps Heritage signed, though it is on a 'card-by-card' basis instead of an 'all-out' effort.

I didn't have time to throw a Sharpie to Stanton - so he signed my card with the blue ballpoint pen he had signed a couple of baseballs with.

2011 Topps Value Box three box recap - six packs of 2011 Topps Heritage Hobby

These six packs of 2011 Topps Heritage were from a 2011 Topps Value Box - I ended up picking up three boxes for $14.99 each at Target.

I think these new retail configurations Topps has come up over the last year or so has evolved and is doing wonders - as far as appealing to a collectors making impulsive purchases at a big box store.

In my mind, $50 is more than I want to spend at one time on cards at Target - but people have been busting a lot of these boxes on the Freedom Card Board and Blowout Cards forums because of the resale value of the two Diamond Giveaway code cards as well as potential hits on the two 2011 Topps Heritage hobby packs.

In each value box, the two 2011 Topps Heritage hobby packs maybe worth $5 each and the Diamond Giveaway code cards maybe worth $3 each - the five 2011 Topps retail packs included maybe worth $2 each, the bonus card [either a Mickey Mantle, Jackie Robinson or Babe Ruth] maybe worth $2 and the booklet enclosed with a gallery of Topps cards from the last 60 years / 2011 schedules for all 30 MLB teams maybe worth $1.

So for $50 of my actual hard earned cash - I'll take my chances on the unopened packs, but as far as guestimated value of the contents as they are packaged, I'm getting $28 worth of cards per each box.

Maybe Topps should work on something like this for baseball card shoppes that still exist - offer an attractive box of cards to entice collectors who want to purchase more than just loose packs, but don't exactly want to spend $75, $100, $125 on a full hobby box purchase.

Pack one - first box
#203 Kevin Millwood
#419 Wandy Rodriguez
#127 Dallas Braden / Trevor Cahill - Pride of the A's
#411 Michael Young
#335 Austin Jackson
C83 Justin Morneau / Joe Mauer - Twin Terrors Chrome refractor serial #'s 418/562
#18 Albert Pujols / Ryan Braun - Managers' Dream
#312 Roy Halladay - Doc Shows His Perfect Form
#64 Nick Markakis

Pack two
#351 Justin Morneau / Joe Mauer Twin Terrors
#130 Omar Infante
#307 Jair Jurrjens
#29 Terry Collins
#40 Pablo Sandoval

#486 Martin Prado - SP
#137 Babe and Mr. Huggins

#239 Brandon Beachy

#182 Cody Ross

Pack three - second box
#363 Nick Hundley
#252 James McDonald

#CCR-10 Ike Davis - Clubhouse Collection relic
#383 Daniel Hudson
#75 Chris Tillman
#338 Brett Gardner
#1 Josh Hamilton
#247 Jonathan Lucroy

Pack four
#45 Evan Longoria
#315 C.C. Sabathia - Sabathia Tosses a Curve
#367 Dan Uggla

#39 Erick Aybar
#129 Carlos Quentin
#311 Derek Jeter - Jeter Makes the Double Play
#106 Yadier Molina
#406 Tyler Colvin
#158 Atlanta Braves - Team Card

Pack five - third box
#197 Casey Blake
#389 Ryan Doumit
#123 Aaron Hill
#70 Justin Morneau

#NAP-6 Ubaldo Jimenez - New Age Performers insert
#58 2010 National League Wins Leaders
#336 John Lackey
#153 Marco Scutaro
#128 Joel Pineiro
#4 of 6 Checklist

Pack six
#362 Greg Halman
#319 Tim Lincecum - Lincecum Shows His Stuff
#214 Chris Sale
#401 Matt Kemp / Andre Ethier - Dodgers Dandies

#433 Kyle Davies - SP
#88 Joe Girardi
#353 Neil Walker
#242 Manny Acta
#96 Jered Weaver

Recycling baseball images on cards

2010 Bowman Draft J.P. Arencibia #BDP 103 - from the crease of his pants, it looks like his fly is down, like the old-school Claude Raymond Topps cards from 1966 and 1967.

2011 Topps Heritage J.P. Arencibia #368 - the image is the same one used on his 2010 Bowman Draft card, except we don't get a crotch shot since the crop is much tighter.

I'm pretty sure recycling images on baseball cards isn't all that unique - it probably doesn't take a lot of time or effort to use the same image for two or three different brands of baseball cards from the same company.

2010 Bowman Draft Mike McCoy #BDP 107

2010 Topps Series II Mike McCoy #482

2011 Topps Heritage jumbo pack - recap

2011 Topps Heritage jumbo [$4.99 each at Target] - splurged on some retail mainly to beat the blues.

Top section
#368 J.P. Arencibia
#46 Cole Hamels
#303 Daric Barton
#24 Detroit Tigers team card
#129 Carlos Quentin

#456 Jeff Keppinger SP
#142 Coaching the Dodgers - Babe Ruth
#393 Hanley Ramirez
#96 Jered Weaver

Bottom section
#136 Babe Joins Yanks
#334 Tampa Bay Rays team card
#51 AL Batting Leaders
#88 Joe Girardi
#353 Neil Walker

#128 Joel Pineiro
#242 Manny Acta

Featured autograph - Mark Trumbo

I thought Mark Trumbo was more of a suspect than a top prospect since he was signed out of high school and he didn't get to the Major Leagues for a cup of coffee until he was 24 - however, maybe the Angels patience in Trumbo is finally going to payoff as the 25 year old has enjoyed a fine spring and is looking to play in his first full season in the Major Leagues.

Featured autographs - Chris Petit and Andrew Romine

Featured autograph - Jordan Walden

Jordan Walden was the first player I was able to get at the Angels FanFest - I think Walden was one of the players signing by himself.

I think one of the lessons learned by the Angels' personnel from previous FanFests was not to release information as to who the scheduled signers are - I'm pretty sure this was due to people holding up the autograph lines and causing a bottleneck, when the Angels want to get as many people through.

I'd picked up a couple of Walden's early minor league cards - but the novelty of getting his latest 2011 Topps Heritage card signed at the Angels Fanfest was too much to pass up.

2011 Topps Heritage blaster recap

2011 Topps Heritage blaster box [$19.99 at a Target] - my biggest complaint against Heritage is despite the massive appeal, most of the cards I'll pull, are base cards I'll be able to find out of someone's common boxes later.

This is probably the case for most average pack or blaster breaks, but maybe I assume busting Heritage is a little more special than busting the latest baseball card offering from Topps - at times the cheesy inserts I may or may not pull in Topps Heritage are often times boring and I'm not sure what to make of the Heritage line.

Pack one
#48 C.C. Sabathia
#324 Tommy Hunter
#276 Darwin Barney
#21 Carl Pavano
#264 Jeff Niemann
#BF-9 Frank Robinson - Baseball Flashbacks insert
#3 David Ortiz
#8 John Danks

Pack two
#71 Jonathan Sanchez
#344 Fernando Salas
#245 Jason Bartlett
#207 C.J. Wilson
#C44 Casey Coleman - Chrome parallel serial #'d 0670/1962

#194 Jordan Walden
#300 Carl Crawford
#230 Francisco Liriano
#143 Babe's Pitching Record
Checklist 3 of 6

Pack three
#288 Mike Stanton
#146 Placido Polanco
#105 Max Scherzer
#86 Alex Presley
#460 Justin Verlander

- SP
#108 Matt Kemp
#365 Howie Kendrick
#99 Brandon Snyder
#404 Mark Trumbo - between my blister pack break and this blaster box break, I'm happy I pulled the four base cards of the Angels rookies [Hank Conger, Walden, Andrew Romine and Trumbo] out of the 2011 Topps Heritage set.

Pack four
#11 Joe Nathan
#10 Andrew McCutchen
#396 Carlos Gonzalez
#79 Jordan Zimmerman
#334 Tampa Bay Rays
#C73 Sabathia Tosses a Curve - Black refractor parallel serial #'d 17/62
#145 Dallas Braden
#403 Jonathan Papelbon
#67 Zach Duke

Pack five
#291 Bobby Cramer - it must be nice for the former independent league pitcher to get a Major League rookie card after making his Major League debut in 2010.
#51 2010 American League Batting Leaders
#303 Daric Barton
#332 Alcides Escobar

#NAP-4 Roy Halladay - New Age Performer insert
#243 A.J. Burnett
#268 Ervin Santana
#371 Victor Martinez
#28 Vernon Wells

Pack six
#101 Jacoby Ellsbury
#354 Hunter Pence
#24 Detroit Tigers
#246 Andrew Bailey
#488 Koji Uehara
#187 Jon Lester
#167 Wilson Ramos - here is a story about Ramos' ascent to the Major Leagues.
#414 Jarrod Dyson
#304 Brett Myers

Pack seven
#227 Cliff Lee
#256 Ruben Tejada
#139 Babe Hits 60
#103 Brandon Phillips
#TN-5 Mickey Mantle / Prince Fielder - Then and Now insert
#75 Chris Tillman
#338 Brett Gardner
#134 Brett Cecil
#423 Fear the Beard - Brian Wilson and Buster Posey

Pack eight
#184 Kurt Suzuki
#386 Michael Cuddyer
#210 Evan Meek
#129 Carlos Quentin
#NF-5 U.S. Navy Seals Are Activated - News Flashbacks insert
#137 Babe and Mgr. Huggins
#383 Daniel Hudson
#13 Cliff Pennington
#265 Derrek Lee

2011 Topps Heritage blister recap - my turn at-bat

I was wondering how to deal with the new 2011 Topps Heritage coming out - I'm not going to pick up a hobby box for $75-$80, but like a lemming I wanted to see what the 2011 Topps Heritage cards looked like in-hand.

I don't think I've really loved any particular year of Topps Heritage - maybe 2009 was the last year I really liked how the Heritage cards looked.

I understand they are supposed to mimic Topps' sets from the past, but perhaps I have to be a set-builder to understand the appeal of Heritage - when at times I find the cards dull and boring.

For now, I picked up a 2011 Topps Heritage blaster box and also a three-pack blister [$8.99 each at Target] - the blisters come with '3 exclusive black parallel' cards, which maybe the ideal lure for collectors looking for a non-blaster Heritage purchase.

Black parallel pack
#C30 Clay Buchholz
#C48 Chone Figgins
#C60 Will Venable

Pack one
#208 Rickie Weeks
#68 Travis Snider

#238 Ichiro
#165 Adam Jones
#199 Aroldis Chapman
#156 Hank Conger
#159 Joba Chamberlain
#209 Andrew Romine - is it weird that I imagine being a professional baseball player for the Angels, taking a baseball card picture like Conger and Romine do on their cards?
#153 Marco Scutaro

Pack two
#280 Hiroki Kuroda
#212 Roy Oswalt
#72 Philly's Men Up the Middle - Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley
#320 Jason Heyward
#NAP-14 Felix Hernandez - New Age Performers insert
#167 Wilson Ramos
#414 Jarrod Dyson
#266 Jose Ceda
#155 Brian Wilson - I love this card but everyone has seen it, haven't they? The card is awesome but perhaps Topps should have gone with an image featuring Wilson's trademark beard.

Pack three
#150 Miguel Cabrera
#38 Coco Crisp
#276 Darwin Barney
#65 Robinson Cano
#458 Ian Kennedy - SP
#137 Babe and Mgr. Huggins
#383 Daniel Hudson
#219 Jeremy Hellickson
#191 Ryan Dempster