I want to say something about occasionally having an old-school and/or vintage card and seeing if can still send it off TTM - maybe it takes me different places in my mind, where at least I get an idea of former MLB players who would have never registered in my memory banks.
I don't think I can keep up with all the pros who send out stuff on a regular basis and get responses back almost at an every other day rate - even if I was a TTM whale, maybe too much of a good thing ends up being clutter, so I want to feel like I can space out requests sent at my own pace.
From the monthly card show, I ended up with a 350-card dime [nickel] box haul - among the cards I threw into my bricks was a 1994 Topps Archives Series Gold card of the former big league righthander.
Because I'd written to the 87-year old and got a success [with $10 added] back in 2020, I was hoping he still signed - even though I consider most TTM fee requests a 'one and done' affair, maybe it was worth it to make a $10.05 investment to get another success from Pascual.
I did realize it wasn't the weekend and it may take time for guys possibly setting up - to be on that weekday grind with real life stuff in the way.
I don’t know if it was the same guy at this particular table I stumbled on, but I recognized some old school / vintage material from the very first show I attended this year - there maybe a couple of binders with vintage football sets on display and a showcase with some modern and / better stuff.
There were was a couple of piles of $5 cards and I doubt I would find anything - but I ended up with a 1973 Topps Carl Yastrzemski #245 and a 1985 Fleer Kirby Puckett RC #286.
The Yastrzemski was the mutton chops Yaz card featured an episode of The Simpsons, so there was some novelty there - I saw the Yastrzemski displayed before, but the table setup changed up over the past several shows.
With ‘here and now’ interests taking priority, maybe the Yaz was just another card collecting dust in a seller’s stash somewhere - but I was able to to find it again today and it’s worth $5 to have it in-hand.
Come to think of it, I’ve never had a Puckett rookie so it maybe a start to looking for his more common rookie cards - the 1984 Fleer Update is the XRC to have, but that maybe a card that I'm not going to run into anytime, while I still kind of think his 1985 rookies were kind of ‘second tier’ at best.
Puckett was a larger than life superstar during the junk wax era and I ended up with his share of cards - he was a gamer and was on his way to posting more significant counting number through his mid 30s, sbefore he was diagnosed with glaucoma late in his career.
When he was playing, there was never a bad thing spoken about him on or off the field - but he was a flawed human being, who wasn’t the most savory of characters, especially after retirement.
I thought I'd gotten his autographs in-person 20 years ago - but it might be interesting to see if I can get these miscellaneous cards inked up through the mail.
It looks like the 85-year old Grant is still alive and has signed TTM for $5 each - I wrote out a letter, put together a request and these are my results.
I think requested for him to sign Jim 'Mudcat' Grant since I only saw him scribble out 'Jim Grant' on the successes I've seen - though he actually only wrote out his nickname and last name.
Though compared to teammate Kirby Puckett, I considered Hrbek more of a regional, team star - I was familiar with Hrbek for the junk wax era cards I might have seen or had in-hand picturing him.
He played on Twins World Series championship teams in 1987 and 1991 - where he engaged in some chicanery, pulling Ron Gant off the bag in Game 2.
I got Kaat's autograph in-person 25 years ago when during the pre-Internet days, I might get a glimpse a guy on TV and bring his card to my local big league ballpark in case he might show up with a particular team [Kaat was a broadcaster with the visting New York Yankees] - I don't think I ever saw him again, but must have gotten another autograph [through the mail] in the early 2000s.
I'd gotten Kaat's 1973 Topps card from COMC [?] because few vintage pitchers hitting cards exist otherwise - I don't think 'image dominant' mini-collection cards particularly need an autograph, but I thought I might as well send my card to the 81-year old, who presumably is still able to sign in the here and now.
As a manager, Molitor just got fired by the Minnesota Twins - but I’m trying to find a narrative as far as my recollections of him as an active player.
Seeing a loose junk wax era card of his, I might have thought 'The Ignitor' was a minor star at best, winding down his playing career with the Milwaukee Brewers through the end of the 1980s - he had a 39-game hitting streak in 1987, but there wasn’t as much attachment to him as any kind of ‘real star’ when I first started collecting.
With no particularly feelings attached to any particular player - I look at his numbers, how good he was, how many home runs hit, how high the batting average was and how many runners were driven in.
I thought there might have been a pronounced decline of some sort in his 30s, but Molitor was quite productive - looking at his stats from 1988-1992, he was putting up ‘Paul Molitor numbers’ and played in over 150 games in all but one of those seasons for the Brewers.
As is, he was pretty familiar as a junk wax era guy - maybe it doesn’t mean anything at all but he was also pretty accommodating about signing, the times I’ve gotten him as a retired player, so he gets a thumbs up in my book.
One thing that seems obvious with just about all the IP/TTM successes I've seen posted online is Lewis is personalizing everything - except perhaps for autographs he has signed at organized signings / paid events.
It's refreshing to see Jack Morris and Alan Trammell, a pair of longtime teammates whose accomplishments seem more recent and tangible [they starred in the 1980s and played through the mid 1990s, not the 1880s] - get elected the Hall of Fame through 10-name Modern Baseball Era ballot.
I didn't think either Morris or Trammell were getting into the Hall of Fame any time soon but their candidacy was given second life after falling off the ballot - in particular, I guess something had to give in Morris' case.
While Morris' numbers was scrutinized by the sabermetric movement as inferior to retired star pitchers who aren't getting any serious consideration - there was enough push back [particularly among the people that put him in now] that Morris eventually was able to sneak into the HOF.
Trammell was destined to become the next Bert Blyleven or Tim Raines among sabermetric inclined baseball experts - Trammell was a guy who was part of a shortstop evolution, putting up strong offensive numbers that combined with everything else, were too hard to dismiss.
Despite considerable success back in Korea, Park has languished in the United States, posting underwhelming numbers - if the Minnesota Twins cut ties with Park, who knows if he ever gets another opportunity to play for a big league team.
I found some cards for Cordova and sent them c/o his mailing address in Las Vegas - the request only took 5 days to get back to me with my cards signed in blue Sharpie.
1999 Upper Deck SP Signature Edition Autographs Corey Koskie #CK - I pulled a Koskie autograph from 1999 Upper Deck HoloGrFX back when the product came out and I'm tempted to say it may have been one of my first autograph pulls, when there was still some allure with certified autographs.
I probably got Koskie's autograph at least a few times as a player but this autograph card replaces that previous pack-pulled card - same era, similar 'kind of messy' scribble [though this card was a more common pull out of a one autograph per pack product rather than a card inserted in every couple of boxes or so of a low-end product].
Even if Koskie didn't post year-to-year all-star numbers as a player - he was a lot steadier and productive in his 9-years in the big leagues than I gave him credit for and had overlooked the fact his career was cut short prematurely with a post-concussion syndrome.
Montero lost playing time to David Ross and rookie Willson Contreras during the regular season - but got some redemption in the postseason as a contributor in the Chicago Cubs' run towards their first World Series championship since 1908.
Montero hit a grand slam in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series - and also chipped in with had an RBI single to extend the Cubs lead in the deciding Game 7 of the World Series.
I want to say there may have been some novelty in the idea this maybe an early card - but Sano has had at least several years worth of prospect and minor league cards.
Maybe a gripe about Hunter was he was not always PC when it came to things like Latin players and also gays - though I doubt he is the only professional player to have those beliefs, I think writers and bloggers will always try to exploit apparent faults with 'athletes' who end up talking too much for their own good.
For my award winners project, I'd really like to use cards issued during a player's career [as close to his award winning year (s) if possible] - instead of a reprint or a retro card [cards issued after a player's career].
I don't really end up caring for retro cards because I feel like they just 'aren't the real thing' as far as original old-school/vintage cards - Topps has just pumped them out over the last 10 years and I feel they tend to be redundant, especially when Topps recycles images to use on cards.
As is, retro cards are much easier to find and use for random card projects that need old-time legends / icons - at the very least, retro cards give a refreshing, if anachronistic look to showcase players from from the past.
Some retro cards stand out more because they can be shiny, can feature an autograph and/or a 'game used' relic - I like how some cards specifically highlight players' award winning seasons and/or recap the players' career highlights.
Maybe serious collectors / speculators are not really interested in Sano's handful of certified autograph released in various prospect sets over the last several years - besides his true first year Bowman Chrome autograph back in 2010, the other certified autographs [before his RC logo cards come out] maybe all kind of 'junk' unless it's some hard to pull, low numbered parallel.
Sano was subject of a documentary who [along with his family] received a lot of scrutiny when he was looking to sign with a MLB team for a big bonus - now he is mashing home runs in the Major Leagues and maybe a franchise star for the Minnesota Twins for years to come.
