Check Out My Cards - trying to tie up loose ends

I don’t know what I did messing around with COMC, but I've finally had cards [around 70] I've bought over the last year finally shipped - against my best interests, I even bought more stuff, going with the worst option to pick up cards I need in the 'here and now.'

I had wondered if I was ever going to have the cards I’ve bought shipped - the longer my island of misfit toys was sitting in my account, the more I worried about forgetting them, when they should have been in-hand already.

Because of the pandemic excuse COMC has flouted, I might have gotten my shipment on some unspecified date next year if I used the economy $4.99 s/h fee - I assume they are still making like they are backlogged, but to get my cards in a seemingly more reasonable three or four week time frame [in 2020], I went with economy rushed, which is $4.99 for the first item and $0.25 for additional items.

With how this particular year has dragged on for the worst, it's hard for me to see into 2021 as being reality until the year finally changes over - despite the idea I’m being finessed by circumstances COMC has created for themselves to marginalize their Web site [as opposed to their consignment service through eBay], I paid up get to see if I get my miscellaneous cards to me sooner than never.

TTM autographs received: Gerald Young

The former big league outfielder from the 1980s through 1990s signed my cards in about two weeks - who knows whether the image was actually game action or staged, but because of the athleticism the card oozes, the 1989 Upper Deck [#135] is simply a keeper as far as random junk wax era commons go.

TTM autographs received: Richie Scheinblum

The one-time Angel from the 1970s signed my cards in about 10 days - he was the first Jewish player in Japan and had a couple of nice seasons with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp to wrap up a 13-year professional playing career.

TTM autographs received: Jarrett Grube

I had a couple of loose cards of Grube, a longtime minor league pitcher whose only big league appearance was for the Angels in 2017 where he faced three batters, gave up a home run while recording 2 outs - I dug around for a possible address to send my cards and they were signed in about a week.

One of the cards he signed appears to be a penny sleeve casualty [using penny sleeves maybe a habit I have to ditch, but it gives me peace of mind, when sending my cards off] - rather than leaving the blemished card as is, it looks Grube tried to sign his autograph again.

TTM autograph received: Lou Whitaker

Whitaker finished off my 1994 Fleer Superstar Special dual subset card with Alan Trammell - because Whitaker charges a little bit more than the usual $5-$10, maybe the stream of reported TTM successes tends to be a little more sporadic.

I probably got Whitaker through the mail 20 years ago, but had not really thought about getting him again - even though his name is thrown out as someone who should join his longtime teammate in Cooperstown.

The lure of getting a dual player card completed by an iconic keystone combination was too strong - I finally finally took a chance and sent Whitaker a request with $20.

Despite wondering if something would come back - it only took about three weeks to get a response.

TTM autograph received: Steve Lubratich

The longtime minor league infielder and one time Angel from the 1980s signed two cards in about a couple of weeks - however, the 1984 Fleer I’ve had in-hand for the last 5 or 6 years got smeared in the penny sleeve.

Fortunately the 1988 ProCards Spokane Indians #1928 [mall set card with Lubratich posing with a cardboard cutout of Whitney Houston] - looks it was able to make it back with no blemishes and will be the one used for my Angels all-time autograph collection.

Featured autograph - Derek Bell

On forums or other social media, I see other autograph collectors' 'brag posts' as far as what they get - there maybe more purchases and/or private signing stuff mixed in with the usual TTM successes.

Perhaps I want to fall in line and condition myself to accept a new reality - where I end up purchasing more autographs ‘here and there’ as a viable option to get some new scratch the itch curiosities in my collection.

I turn my nose at most of the send-in signings for the rank and file or semi-stars I've gotten TTM or in-person at some point over the past 20 years - but 'Operation Shutdown' was someone whom I never had the opportunity to get, a decent player through the 1990s, with a bunch of cards that made me familiar with him.

A promoter on Facebook was selling extras from a past signing and I thought about getting a card - I was looking for a more unique card, maybe a rookie issue and one of the cards shown in the F/S post was a 1988 O-Pee-Chee.

I realize no one really cares, but I'm vaguely familiar with the odd draft pick card only included in the Canadian version of Topps - if I had to break the bank [$10 plus $1 PWE shipping] to purchase a random signed Bell card, the OPC would the one I wanted.

Go figure, I might have actually liked to send into a Bell signing - he’s on a 2001 Fleer Tradition, a set I'm still trying to get cards signed from, in-person or TTM.

TTM autograph received: Bill Melton

The former big league slugger from the early 1970s signed my cards in about a couple of weeks - a card I wanted to pick up and get signed for my own was the 1972 Topps Boyhood Photos of the Stars subset; I like the novelty of the one-time Angel player pictured in an Angels' uniform, though as a kid from his Little League days in Southern California.

Melton would mostly star for the Chicago White Sox, though past his prime, eventually spent a season with the Angels - I had the 1976 Topps Traded to send him with an airbrushed Angels cap, so it may not be an actual Angels card, but he is depicted and identified as such, so that will be the card to go into my all-time Angels autograph collection.

The 1972 Topps In Action card looks like a nice horizontal image of Melton - though it really captures him swinging awkwardly at a ball instead of a more 'natural' follow through.

TTM autograph received: Camilo Pascual

The former big league righthander signed my 1964 Topps Giants card in about two weeks - I didn't know what result I'd get from the 86-year old, but sent a request with $10 to see if I could get a little 'time travel' action with a former player from a vintage 20th century era I would not be typically familiar with.

Awesome mail day - I can't win them all

I picked up a 1969 Topps Tom Murphy card for a TTM request and pictured is what I received - admittedly, I don't know what the seller could have done shipping a $2 card, but for the times a plain white envelope has been used safely, there is always a chance that something like this will happen.

Maybe I can try to flatten the card and send out as intended - but besides trashing everything outright, I don't want to look at this junk any more than I have to.

As is, the card and the envelope may end up as a conversation piece - a cautionary tale in my collection for years to come.

TTM autograph received: Jack Marin

Along with other random cards, I picked up a 1976-77 Topps basketball card for Marin to sign at a celebrity golf tournament three years ago - however, the guest list for the notable former pro athletes participating had gotten a little bit vague, so maybe it wasn't worth spending a day trying to catch guys on the course.

Scrolling through Twitter last month, I saw a collector post a TTM success with Marin - so on a whim maybe it was an good time to dig out my random card among stuff I’ve boxed up, find a possible working address to mail to and put together a request.

The former NBA player signed my card and returned my letter, taking the time to write a response with significant details about his life - I don't usually write to non-baseball guys, but the personal response made this success worth it.

TTM autographs received: Dave LaRoche

The longtime big league reliever from the 1970s and father of Adam and Andy signed my three cards in about a week or so - doing some digging around on the Night Owl Cards blog prompted me to pick up LaRoche's 1976 SSPC card among several other peculiar commons highlighted from the set.

I remember getting the elder LaRoche when he was a pitching coach with the Las Vegas 51s about 10 years ago - but getting the crooked hat LaRoche card in-hand was a trigger to send out a TTM request to him with a couple of other cards.

TTM autographs received: Jon Griffin

The former Arizona Diamondbacks minor leaguer signed my cards in about a month - after leaving affiliated ball, Griffin had spent the past 5 years playing in the independent leagues up through 2019.

I saw a success posted by a collector on Instagram and remembered I had some loose cards from back in the day, including at least one 2012 Topps Heritage Minor League set card - I looked up a possible address and took a chance to put together a request and send my cards off.

TTM autograph received: Eddie Robinson

Robinson took about a week to sign my card in black ink - in the 'here and now,' I couldn't imagine actually writing an autograph request to someone born in 1920, but did some digging around to find a 1952 Topps reprint card to send off with the $10 Robinson usually requires.

Another collector posting on a forum I belong to worried about his request being MIA, but that wasn't the case for me and I'm glad my card was actually signed - for better or for worse, I didn't get any extra messages or notes added like I've seen with other posted returns.

TTM autograph received: Jim Lonborg

The former big league starting pitcher and 1967 American League Cy Young Award winner signed my card in blue ink in about three weeks - while I have a couple of previously signed cards of Lonborg in my award winners collection, this retro card from 2004 remained unsigned for the longest time in my A-Z archives, so I wanted to send it out when the person pictured is still signing.

TTM autograph received: Bobby Shantz

The former big league lefthander signed my trading card in blue ink and wrote a thank you note on the my letter he sent back to me - go figure, I got my request back in about a week, on the day he turned 95.

Not that I try to play the death pool game or anything, but there might not be too much time left to get something signed by one of the all-time autograph signing greats - so like Roy Face, I whipped up a letter and put together a request [with $5] to see if I'd get back a positive result, sending a 1955 Bowman beater picturing Shantz with his brother.

I can’t account for the inevitable but I think I just keep on and see which guys to send to - maybe I think about the accomplishments of the person, not as someone to be objectified because they it might be their time NOW.

TTM autograph received: Balor Moore

The one-time Angel and first ever draft pick of the Montreal Expos signed my card in about four weeks - as it goes I have to face the idea I'm in a perpetual catch-up mode as far as trying to collect an autograph from as many different Angels players in team history.

I’m worried about not being able to reach all the one-time Angels I can, because there is always someone who’ve I’ve never gotten before, much less heard about - if it's a vintage / old-school guy I have no card (s) for, I worry about picking up unsigned cards up online on a whim, having to wait for the cards to arrive and then try to send them off.

Due to circumstances, there maybe harder to get and/or simply ‘impossible’ players’ autographs I need - but an option would be to purchase as many of the rank-and-file guys’ autographs either on cards or possibly on cuts like index cards just so I can add to what I already have outright.

On the other hand, I want to send TTM requests to the one-time guys that are still living and can sign - relying on purchases may not be as natural for me and in the quest to build up numbers, I may actually get ‘faked out’ more often than not.

TTM autographs received: Jim Walewander

The former big leaguer signed my cards in about three weeks and included a signed two-sided custom card he added an inscription on - I have nothing cool to add about Walewander that hasn't been mentioned somewhere else, though I was aware of his story as a pro ballplayer who was a little offbeat and marched to the beat of his own drummer.

A fun fact was Walewander actually had a 12-game stint with the Angels in 1993, which wasn't on my mind as I put together a request for him - now, I can count one of his cards I got back as part of my Angels all-time autograph collection.

TTM autographs received: Storm Davis

I didn’t know if I would get back a good response from Davis after sending him a letter meant for someone else - I had written out several TTM letters, folded them up to fit a business sized envelope and left them loose overnight.

The next day, I was putting together my request for Davis and even took a picture of what I was sending - however in the rush to jam everything into an outgoing envelope to place in my mail box, things got mixed up and only after the fact did I realize I still had my handwritten letter to Davis.

I was sweating out this request, wondering if I'd be scolded for sending a letter to the wrong guy - what if I just didn't get my stuff back?

However, after four weeks, my cards came back signed and there was no note or anything - I was almost disappointed that I didn't get a reaction, though my best assumptions are the guys who have signed regularly for decades don’t particularly read their mail and / or have seen it all.

Maybe someone presumably helping Davis go through his mail, saw and pointed out my goof - but I did send Davis his cards and not another former player, so the intent was there to show my request was for him otherwise.

TTM autographs received: Bill Krueger

The former big league lefty and longtime Seattle sports analyst signed my cards in about three weeks - his assorted cards may have been in my Seattle Mariners IP box for the longest time, in case I ever ran into him at some point during spring training or at some point in the regular MLB season.

With MLB in-person autographs not really a serious thing for me the past 5 or 6 years, along with COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 - I wanted to see if I can track down former MLB players from the junk wax years [1986-92], who've ended up being scratch the itch curiosities for me.