I think he ended up as a 'scratch the itch' TTM guy, where I had a random card of his to send out and ended up with one more - however he had apparently moved where there were no new address available in the meantime, so I waited until other collectors started reporting new successes with an updated working address.
I wasn’t sure whether he was still signing but I saw some sporadic successes digging around on a forum and took my chance to put together a request - go figure, I found a couple of more unsigned cards [1993 Upper Deck B.A.T. Triple-Folders] of McDowell's I might be tempted to send out at some point.
When he finally found his groove as a big leaguer, Miller was a weapon out of the bullpen for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Indians - despite only having one MLB season where he recorded 30 or more saves.
I ended up settling for Eckersley since it was on my watch list, which may help guide me towards alternatives to think about - though a card added to ‘my list’ might not be available anymore or perhaps ‘my list’ may not reflect what I might want at the moment.
Eckersley wasn’t exactly ‘one of my guys’ or someone I seriously considered a ‘national star’ but I was vaguely familiar with Eck’s narrative - as a guy who battled substance abuse problems and was a floundering veteran starting pitcher before coming under Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan’s tutelage in Oakland during the mid 1980s.
While Eckersley was a goat a few times in postseason play [1988 World Series and 1992 American League Championship Series] - he was one of the GOATS for the run he had as a dominant, one-inning closer through the early 1990s and maybe Eckersley getting to the Hall of Fame made me take a second look at how he turned things around.
Long affiliated with the Boston Red Sox as their TV broadcasts color guy, Eckersley has had run-ins with Jackie Bradley Jr. and David Price because he doesn’t have a filter at times - I didn’t know Eckersley has a brother in prison and also an adopted daughter who is otherwise homeless.
Through the early 1990s, I was familiar with Belcher as a junk wax guy with the Los Angeles Dodgers - after playing for the Dodgers, he bounced around a bit and was an innings eater when healthy.
By the time Belcher pitched in his last two MLB seasons with the Angels - his right arm was toast and was immortalized in a peculiar brawl with Chan Ho Park.
Once he plays in a regular season game for the Angels, I can add this signed card to my Angels all-time autograph collection - I probably got this autograph in-person when Valbuena played for the Cleveland Indians.
Pacific Trading Cards may have been the first card company to incorporate a swatch of a baseball into a card - but Upper Deck was the first company to popularize this type of autograph with their Sweet Spot product in 2001.
I picked this 2001 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Signatures card of one the most fearsome big league hitters to play in 1990s - when looking at completed auctions on eBay, maybe it's a little weird to see that Belle's autographs don't really go for much.
Maybe it's hard to call Belle a typical baseball 'fan favorite' when he seemed like a mean, angry SOB as a player - but he put up numbers, hit home runs a long way and didn't take any nonsense from anyone who dared challenge him.
Belle was robbed of the 1995 American League MVP because he didn't want to deal with the media at the time - though a hip injury cut his career short in his 30s, he might have garnered stronger Hall of Fame support if he had been a little friendlier to the press.
As I fill holes in my award winners collection, I try to make 'era appropriate' card finds - this doesn't mean always looking for original player-era cards, but any cards picturing players with the teams they've won an award with as well as finding cards that sort of focus on the award winning season.
I'm trying to weed out cards in my award winners collection that seem mismatched, even if the card pictures the player - it seems odd to use a manager card for Piniella to represent an award he won as a player and for Chambliss, using a late career card that doesn't picture him with the team he won an award with.
I probably sent a TTM request out to Huff 9-10 years ago when he still had some upside to his pro career as the 39th overall pick by the Cleveland Indians in 2006 - he has pitched in parts of 8 seasons at the big league level, with his biggest run of success [3-1 W-L, 1.85 ERA] coming with the New York Yankees in 2014.
In recent years, Ramirez has tried to hang on as a player, even spending time playing in Taiwan in 2013 - as is, he is a ‘has been’ whose Hall of Fame caliber hitting stats clash with PED allegations / suspensions.
The guy was moody about signing and the way he signed his autograph is all over the place - I was 'browsing around' for random subjects and picked up a certified autograph card with a scribble that is cleaner than the chicken scratch he has inked up.
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When the coach was walking down the right field line with another ball, I finally realized he was Cleveland Indians pitching coach and former Angel Mickey Callaway - I called out to him and he actually tossed me the ball, which bounced towards me, but landed in an exclusive section of seats 'on the field.'
I had to get the attention of a woman - so she could come over and pick up the ball for me.
"He's got butterfingers," quipped the father of a collecting acquaintance.
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I thought the ball was nice and clean though it's kind of disappointing to see the hologram is blemished as seen in the pictures - it doesn't affect the way I could display the ball and I didn't bothering complaining, but I always know there is something imperfect about this purchase.
Smith seems to be a reliever who doesn’t throw hard and doesn't close out games - maybe a smarter MLB team might find a way to acquire pitchers with some potential flailing around in the minors or veteran MLB pitchers who've bounced around, looking for another chance to pitch.
The Indians probably need Swisher and Bourn to provide a bit more offense in 2014 - and who knows if this team will be able to contend if they can't find another set of Scott Kazmir and Ubaldo Jimenez types for cheap.
Between Carlos Santana and Yan Gomes - the Indians got good production out of their catchers this past season.
Right now, his status as far as a potential Hall of Fame inductee is in the air and maybe he is more of a marginal candidate than a guy you have put in with the greats - the numbers guys seem to marginalize his career as far as snubbing him for the HOF while the so-called old school guys have cited his Game 7 performance in the 1991 World Series and his overall workmanlike efforts through the 1980's as reasons as why he should have a plaque in Cooperstown.
As far as the autographed card, I've associated Morris with the Minnesota Twins but never have seen him in-person until the Toronto Blue Jays visited the Angels a couple of weeks ago - I was able to spot him through the crowd and was the first to end up getting his autograph.
Lately, Kazmir has looked like the way he was when he pitched in Tampa Bay - though he took the Angels for a ride and had to sort of rebuild his career, including playing for an independent league team in 2012.
When the Indians signed him in the off-season, I thought this guy wasn't going to make the MLB roster - no matter what he did, I'm always expecting him to fail because of how he sucked so badly with the Angels.
If Kazmir hadn't gone through a hiccup in his career - maybe he's just another good MLB pitcher, but there is something interesting and maybe inspiring when a professional athlete fails and has to find a way back to where he once was.
Maybe I'm warming up to the Scott Kazmir comeback story of 2013 - though I wonder how long he can keep it up and whether he's found new life.
Jimenez will probably be never be better than a No. 4 starter but he has put up more serviceable, if not great numbers this year - it remains to be seen how many 'dud' starts both he and Kazmir have left and how many starts they have left, where the results mimic some of their early MLB successes.