TTM autographs received: Dennis Rasmussen

Sometimes a straggler success like this gets me through stretches when there isn't any action in the mail box - the former big league signed my cards that were mailed out in April 2021.

Maybe I found it silly that I attempted to mail to Rasmussen c/o a burger joint he worked at and/or his family had owned for the longest time - but despite a long wait, was pleasantly surprised a response actually came back.

TTM autographs received: Doug Gwosdz

The former big leaguer catcher ["Eyechart"] from the 1980s signed my cards in about two weeks - I found it odd the 1984 San Diego Padres Smokey was signed in the back, but the bold autograph pops out on the lighter background where maybe it ends up bleeding into the background of the image in front of the card.

Topps redemption mail - Ha-Seong Kim

I pulled an autograph redemption in one of the 2021 Topps Stadium Club blaster boxes I picked up online - reading horror stories about not receiving a card promised and/or where the time element really drags on, I was pleased to get my promised card in about two weeks after entering the scratch off code.

I don't know much about Kim except he was a big time star in Korea and was supposed to provide immediate impact - however, he might be more of a future considerations guy at this point, buried on the San Diego Padres roster.

While it may have been a natural fit see Kim playing for Fernando Tatis Jr., who has since returned but is now playing the outfield - it just made more sense for the Padres to have made Jake Cronenworth to be their primary shortstop, where the 2021 All-Star gets the opportunity to play one position for a good stretch of games.

Maybe there was a scenario where Kim could have been the shortstop while Cronenworth played second base - but Adam Frazier is at second base, so at this point, two All-Stars aren't going to be moved around to make playing time for a guy who is still a bit of an unknown quality in Kim.

With how things quickly change with high end contending teams trying to upgrade when possible, who knows knows if Kim is in the Padres’ long term plans - if Kim isn't given a chance to play every day somewhere in the next few years, he'll be back posting superstar numbers overseas somewhere.

TTM autographs received: Steve Garvey

The longtime star first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres signed my cards in about a couple of weeks for $10 - I've gotten him to sign 4 or 5 times in-person over the past 20 years, but I needed a 1984 Donruss and saw he signed TTM.

The 1984 Donruss was my priority regardless, but I also sent a 2021 Donruss to see what the card would look like autographed - I wish I had an old school Garvey from the 1970s handy to send as a second card, but the straggler might have been ideal to throw in because it was a recent 2021 pull.

Go figure one of the Garvey autographs I got in-person years ago was on the plastic slab of a graded 1984 Donruss - it was likely at the 2000 National where some wannabe non PSA and/or BGS grading company had samples at their booth for the taking and I ended up with the Garvey.

I didn't have anything better to do with the slab, so I must have taken it where Garvey was making an appearance - after 20 years, I think the card is loose somewhere collecting dust with the autograph probably not as bold due to the cirumstances of time passing.

TTM autographs received: Gene Richards

Former San Diego Padres outfielder Gene Richards signed my cards in about a month - maybe it was just natural for guys expected to hit the ball with some skill rather than brawn to choke up on the bat, but the way Richards' hands are positioned looks so exaggerated on the 1984 Donruss and also the 1983 Topps cards.

Digging around, a little bit of trivia is Richards wore jersey #19 for the Padres - a number in team history associated in perpetuity as legend Tony Gwynn's.

Featured autograph - Nick Margevicius

This is an autograph I got last September of an anonymous Lake Elsinore pitcher who was playing long toss with a teammate - before doing some running across the warning track from foul pole to foul pole.

I waited around until he was walking to the dugout to ask him to sign one of those preprinted The Autograph Card blanks - “I don’t sign those” he said.

I don’t know why I wanted his autograph in the first place - for the 30 minutes I'd waited around, this guy shut me down rather quick and had to rummage through my autograph book to see if I had anything that could be signed.

Maybe just where the netting ends, he stopped to sign for at least a couple of kids and I whipped out a ticket stub from the previous night's game - he relented to scribble on that and my mission to get this random Cal League pitcher was done.

A farewell to Garrett Richards

As he has moved on and signed a two-year deal with the San Diego Padres, I don't know if I had any particular attachment to Richards as a pitcher on my local big league team - he'd pitched about 138 combined innings his last three seasons with the Angels, so arm injuries really robbed him of some prime years.

Richards was Mike Trout's best friend on the Angels and it might have been nice if he could have stayed healthier - now he looks to rehab and make a comeback from Tommy John Surgery sooner than never, even if it takes a couple of years to be back on the mound.

Featured autograph - Odrisamer Despaigne

Despaigne wasn't ever going to be a star, but the Cuban righthander had a promising rookie season in 2014 with the San Diego Padres - after leaving the Padres, Despaigne has hung onto professional baseball as a journeyman and had an ugly 8-game stint with the Angels this past year.

In 18 2/3 innings pitched, Despaigne allowed 17 earned runs, walked 11 hitters and was battered around for 30 hits - he elected to be a free agent and will probably be pitching in Mexico, Japan or Korea sooner than never.

Whatever he does with the rest of his pro career, he'll always be an Angel to me and was nice enough to sign back in the day - at the very least, the autograph of his I already had on some sort of Padres game day scorecard, can be listed as part of my all-time Angels autograph collection.

TTM autographs received: John Kruk

The former MLB player signed my trading cards in about a month c/o the Philadelphia Phillies - the particular card isn't the ideal card to get signed with Kruk wearing a dark jersey top, but it was a random card I plucked out of a card show monster box 'just because.'

Getting the card eventually inked up justified the $0.25 purchase - regardless of how it ultimately looked.

Since he worked for ESPN for 12 years, I've had Kruk's cards in my 'media guys' box for seemingly the longest time - then moved the cards over to my Philadelphia Phillies box when he was hired as part of the broadcast team.

Because I was never able to get the chance to get Kruk in-person, he became a 'scratch the itch' guy for me - especially when I saw some TTM successes posted this past season.

When Kruk was on ESPN, particularly on the Sunday Night Baseball crew, I may have seen him in-person a grand total of one time and he didn't feel like signing - the same time, I think I did end up getting former teammate Curt Schilling, so regardless of everything else, the former MLB ace was a slightly better get than the slick hitting, portly fan favorite.

Featured autograph - Robert Stock

I was pulling inserts out of a binder and found this certified autograph of San Padres relief pitcher Robert Stock - I remember Baseball America naming Stock the best player in the nation [2005 Youth Player of the Year] and I thought this guy could be special like Joe Mauer or something.

Stock went to college before entering professional baseball - it looks like he'd made the transition from a catcher into a pitcher in 2012, but after being released by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2014, he was pretty much a 'never has been.'

Stock bounced around a bit, but a stint in the independent leagues in 2016 helped revive his career - he pitched in affiliated minor league ball with the Cincinnati Reds in 2017 and was signed by the San Diego Padres for this season.

Jered Weaver - a tribute to a franchise ace

Weaver was a starting pitcher who to put his heart and soul for the Angels, winning 150 games for the franchise - he was a hot shot rookie posted an 11-2 W-L mark with the Angels in 2006 and established himself as an No. 1 guy several seasons later.

In his prime, Weaver chose to stay with the franchise on a 'hometown' discount - he won 20 games and threw a no-hitter in 2012.

There might have been a natural inclination to compare Jered with older brother Jeff, who was already a veteran MLB pitcher - when Jered was starring at Long Beach State.

However, Jered seemed so much better than his older brother - even if Jered's last couple of years in an Angels uniform were tough, especially as his velocity had drastically declined.

The last time I saw Weaver in-person was when he was with the San Diego Padres in spring training - he was participating in a bunting drill with the other Padres starting pitchers.

No one is going to remember Weaver's final MLB season with the Padres, where he was 0-5 and allowed 16 home runs in 42 innings - it would have been nice for him to enjoy some kind of bounce back season, though that never did materialize and after 12 big league seasons, the 34-year-old made the decision to retire.

TTM autographs received: Greg Booker

The former reliever for the San Diego Padres signed my junk wax cards in about two weeks or so - though Booker played in parts of 8 seasons in the big leagues, how he got there and stuck around may have been in question at different points in his pro baseball career.

The 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge - Day 25

"A favorite oddball card from the 1970s."

1978 Family Fun Centers San Diego Padres Ozzie Smith #29 - this card came out before Smith's 1979 Topps rookie, so while it's a regional issue, it has some significance attached to it.

I've gone with larger sized cards as far picking out oddball favorites from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s - maybe I feel like there was more of an opportunity showcase an image or use unique design elements, as opposed to a smaller trading card.

Since this card featured a rookie, whomever put these cards together had to dig a little deeper - for Smith's 'greatest thrill in baseball' up through his first season in San Diego.

The 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge - Day 18

"A card of a player who became manager of your favorite team."

1993 Upper Deck Mike Scioscia #688 - this card is sort of unique because presumably the image used was from a spring training game, yet Scioscia didn't make the San Diego Padres' Opening Day roster in 1993.

As a player, the longtime manager of the Angels probably shouldn't have been pictured in anything but a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform - though I guess 'transactions happen' when an old big league veteran has to try and latch on somewhere else.

Featured autographs - Manny Margot and Hunter Renfroe

I wanted to see how a dual player 2017 Topps Heritage Rookie Stars subset card would look autographed - it's not really a thing where I always seek multiplayer cards out to be inked up because I worry about completion, but I got Margot first [sacrificing my chance to get a set card signed, since he signs one per person], then managed to finish the card up by getting Renfroe.

Demon got me with another eBay promo

I grabbed this 1973 Topps Mike Schmidt / Ron Cey #615 rookie card because eBay had a January $15 off promo code with purchases of $75 or more - I'm a sucker for those promo codes because it gives me an excuse to look for cards to add, even if the apparent discount isn't all that much for what I need to spend.

As a more substantial long-term project, I've tried to focus into finding PC cards that I hope will make my overall collections a bit more well-rounded - even if the cards feature more of the old-timers, rather than the latest and greatest players from the past five years.

The idea of owning the particular card was probably kind of foreign and strange to me - I assumed a raw, ungraded card was worth at least $200 at one point and it just wasn't realistic to grab one.

Obviously a Schmidt rookie card would be much more significant if he was the only one pictured on a 'stand alone' card - as is, maybe I just don't appreciate the quaintness of the centerpiece player [John David Hilton], who played in a full season of MLB games [161] spread over parts of 4 years and hit .213 with an OPS of .564.

I want to say I mainly remember Cey roughly 25 years ago because he was pictured on ads posted in the sports page of my local paper - touting / endorsing some kind of get rich quick investment scheme with baseball cards.

Schmidt is probably considered the best third baseman of all time though Cey was a fine player to be sharing this card with John David Hilton and Schmidt - I'm not sure if he was ever considered a national star back in his day, but Cey was a Dodgers slugging third baseman who finished his 17-year career with 316 home runs.

COMC - miscellaneous certified auto cards

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.

2016 Bowman Inception Prospect Autographs Manuel Margot PA-MM - Margot is one of the best prospects in baseball [currently #26 among MLB's Top 100] and while he may not develop into a true superstar, Margot seems to be an athletic guy with the potential to be a pretty good all-around player [think Andrew McCutchen lite].

2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars Miguel Montero #158 - he is more of a 'scratch an itch' guy for me, a rank-and-file player whose autograph I haven't gotten otherwise.

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.

Newest Angels pick up - Cameron Maybin

The Angels traded minor leaguer Victor Alcantara for the veteran outfielder who has played in the big leagues for parts of 10 seasons - I still have a couple of certified autograph cards squirreled away from when Maybin was regarded as a top prospect with the Detroit Tigers.

However, Maybin never lived up to the hype and has only put together a modest big league career - the best case scenario for Maybin is to play in 130-140 games, while showing enough good things [with the bat, as a base runner and defender] to get some long-term contract offers somewhere else.

Featured autograph - Ryan Schimpf

Originally property of the Toronto Blue Jays, the 28-year old rookie has been one of the few highlights in a long season for the San Diego Padres - despite a .229 batting average, the lefty hitting Schimpf has tallied up 39 extra base hits in just 236 at-bats, including 19 home runs, 15 doubles and 5 triples.

At the very least, his impressive rookie season gives him at least a couple of more years to stick it out in the big leagues - when perhaps he was destined to be a career minor leaguer or someone who ends up playing overseas.

I got this 2010 Midwest League card signed earlier in the year during a trip to Las Vegas to graph the visiting Padres' AAA team - when I was pulling cards for the team, I knew I had the one Schimpf, though he was just another guy I had to track down for a scribble.

Featured autograph - Ryan Klesko

I first learned of Klesko as a top prospect with the Atlanta Braves in the early 1990s - the lumbering slugger with a big swing didn't have the all-world numbers like one-time Braves teammate Chipper Jones would have, but had a pretty good MLB career for himself.