Featured autograph - Minnie Minoso

I don't think Minoso registered for me other than a MLB fan favorite who had the feat of appearing in five different decades - I picked up this 8x10 photo from the 2006 National for about $20 [or less] just because it represented a little bit of diversity out of the autograph photo choices from a dealer's table.

With his election to the Hall of Fame along with other greats like Jim Kaat and Tony Oliva - it might be time to give them a second look.

TTM autographs received: Rafael Palmeiro

The former big leaguer signed my two 500 home run 8x10 photos in exactly a week - I mailed my request off to Palmeiro on a Monday and by Friday, I checked the tracking status on my self-addressed photo mailer and it was already out of Palmeiro's hands.

I was anticipating my results and hoping there were not any complications - because it’s a couple of 8x10s I sent and not just loose cards for his current TTM fee of $20.

The afternoon my photo mailer was to arrive, I hoped to meet the mail man as he drove by to deliver the mail [these COVID-19 pandemic adventures are getting too crazy] - but maybe it was too hot and I was thinking of something else in the small window of time when the mail man had stopped by.

I waited around and when I checked my mail, I found my photo mailer was crammed in the mail box - I had to fish my mailer out out delicately and while the thick cardboard envelope a little bent out of shape, my 8x10 photos survived enclosed a photo sleeve / backing board.

Featured autographs - Edgar Martinez and 2001 Seattle Mariners All-Stars

I sent in a 2001 Seattle Mariners All-Star 8x10 and paid $35 to have it signed by longtime Mariners star Edgar Martinez - I bought the photo in 2002 since the Mariners were coming off a 116 win season and they were one of the top teams to chase for autographs [at the very least for Ichiro], though I didn't realize it would take 12-13 years to complete.

I even brought the photo to a Seattle trip I took earlier this year, hoping I'd random see Martinez at the lone Mariners game I was able to go to - no dice on that, but I eventually saw a post through the SCN message boards where someone was taking items for Martinez to be signed.

I thought it might be a good opportunity to get the photo signed and not have to worry about carrying it around - though it seemed pretty ballsy to send the photo in to a random person who was going to get it signed for a fee.

I assume the person taking items has some sort of agreement to get at least a certain number of items signed - from what I stumbled upon, I assume the signing was at Sun Times show - Martinez was scheduled to appear on Sunday [Nov. 24], so that was when my item was probably inked up.

My biggest fear about this whole deal was something catastrophic happening - maybe my Priority SASE gets lost or banged up, the autograph was signed on the toploader [not likely, but who knows] or the autograph is imperfect and/or comes back wrecked.

I sent my photo, money order and SASE out early in November and got my package at the end of the month - upon closer inspection, the autograph was just a little imperfect, so I let out a faint groan, but it doesn't look bad at all and I can finally put it away, knowing it's finished.

The toughest autograph to get was Kaz Sasaki - he wasn't fond of signing or being mobbed, but I managed to get the 8x10 infront of him, where he relented to scribble on it.

Ichiro was running with black when I got him to sign - that kind of messed things up, but can't worry about when he maybe one of the toughest.

Obligatory Greg Maddux retirement post

Greg Maddux signed this autograph in-person when he was still with the San Diego Padres a couple of years back - his autograph has never been much, but I was glad to get him anyway.

In the last part 10 years of his career Maddux has seemed to be under the radar, but with Roger Clemens' career 'tarnished forever,' Maddux maybe considered the greatest pitcher of his generation - it says something that Maddux was at his very best when offense in Major League Baseball was booming and Clemens was sputtering in last four or five seasons with the Boston Red Sox.