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.

Rafael Palmeiro

When I found out Palmeiro was going to be playing baseball with his son Patrick for the Sugar Land Skeeters - I thought it was a pretty neat opportunity, even if it's only independent league baseball.

Maybe it's just a coincidence but as a baseball fan, I've been thinking about Palmeiro lately - it's been 10 years since he got popped for a failed steroid test, tried to come back after a 10-game suspension but finally just got told to go away by his team.

He wasn't a traditional superstar, but Palmeiro did those Viagra ads and was one of those guys who put metronomic numbers - as long as he put up the 'big' stats, there was always some interest in how he was doing, especially around the time he hit his 500th home run back in 2003.