A Sigh of Relief from Spring Training!

Hey guys, Drew back here! After a bit of a delay, Spring Training got a little bit better for me. I received two TTM successes on Monday, both from two above average relief pitchers; the first of which used to play for my favorite team!

Boone Logan: 2/2 in 37 Days (Received March 16th)

I just recently chose Logan as my left handed specialist in my All Yankees team bullpen, and it was ironic that these came back the day after I published my choices for the pitching staff. Boone was a huge part of our bullpen success for 4 years before he fled for the Rockies last year. He was originally part of a trade that sent Javier Vazquez to the Yankees for his second stint and Melky Cabrera to the Braves. Little did we know, Logan would be the more important piece of the deal than Vazquez. 

Boone signed 2 2014 Topps cards for my collection, one from Series 1 and the other from the Update Series. The Update Series card is one of the red parallels, which I pulled from a blaster box last Christmas. Both cards came out great signed in blue sharpie!

Koji Uehara: 2/2 in 328 Days (Received March 16th) 

If you've been really paying attention (it's okay, I don't expect you to), you may remember I mentioned getting an RTS already this Spring from Koji. I sent to the wrong Red Sox address, which appeared to be an issue for several forum members I know of. This success was from a request I sent last year to the right address, one that I had already written off. The moral of the story is to never write off any of your TTM requests. He was becoming my TTM White Whale, because I believe I sent to him three times without a success. Anyone who knows about through the mail successes in baseball know that Uehara has been one of the most consistent signers in the game for years.

Finally, I have my 2009 Topps and 2011 Topps signed nicely in blue with his number inscribed! From what I've seen, he signs his full name on certified autographs, rather than just the first name he exhibits on his TTM signatures, but that's perfectly okay with me. Uehara has been one of the better closers in baseball for the Red Sox, which is impressive considering he started his MLB career at the age of 34. Last season he was named to the All Star Team, finishing the season 6-5 with a 2.52 ERA and 26 saves. I may end up targeting him in my fantasy baseball draft tonight; who knows.

I was recently able to create a page on my blog that links directly to a Flickr account I've set up. Flickr seems to be a great service for uploading pictures, offering 1 TB of free space that I've barely even used so far. If you would like to check out some galleries of signed baseball cards, football cards, baseball pictures, signed baseballs, you name it; give it a look! 

Thanks Boone and Koji! See Ya!

Strong Start to the Spring!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Although my Spring Training TTM report kicked off with 2 Red Sox failures, they didn't affect my luck as I received three great successes over the past week. Here's a look at how I've fared thus far.

Matt Shoemaker: 1/1 in 15 Days (Received February 26th)

We begin with 2014 AL Rookie of the Year runner-up Matt Shoemaker, who has seemed to fly under the radar this year even after a fantastic rookie campaign. He started 20 games for the Halos, compiling a 16-4 record with a 3.04 ERA. If it weren't for Jose Abreu's dominant rookie season, he could be viewed in an even higher regard and would regain the attention he probably deserves. Shoemaker should play an important role for an Angels team that is still trying to find an identity and could contend for the World Series next year. He signed a 2014 Topps Rookie Card for my collection, and it came out much nicer than I could have expected!

Billy Butler: 2/2 in 28 Days (Received March 2nd)

  

Butler has been on my want list autograph-wise for quite a while, so this was a pleasant surprise in my mailbox a few days ago. It's weird thinking about him playing for any team other than the Royals, where he's spent all 8 of his prior seasons. Billy Beane signed Butler to a 3 year, $30 million deal to join the Oakland A's for next season, and I think it was a good deal for the most part. Oakland did some strange things this offseason, and while Butler doesn't offer much defensively, he is still one of the better contact hitters in the game today. There is no doubt that his veteran impact was key for the Royals reaching the World Series last year, even though it was a down season for the big righty. He signed a 2011 Allen & Ginter and 2012 Gypsy Queen in black sharpie, and although he has a sloppy autgoraph I actually really like how they look.

Michael Cuddyer: 1/1 in 28 Days (Received March 2nd)

I've always wanted Butler's signature because of his impact as a player, but I've always wanted Michael Cuddyer's for his signature alone. Seriously, look at that beautiful penmanship? The late Harmon Killebrew taught Cuddyer to sign neatly for the fans at a signing session early on in his career, and it paid off without question. I was thinking about trying to rank the best signatures in baseball, but I ended up deciding it wouldn't even be worth it because nobody beats his autograph. On the playing field, he has been a very good player for a long time between his time with the Twins and Rockies. He won a batting title in 2013 in Colorado, and now brings his hitting expertise to Queens to hopefully help lead the Mets into the postseason discussion. I'll always remember seeing Cuddyer crush balls into the seats at Citi Field for the Home Run Derby I attended in 2013, finishing 3rd overall in the competition. Maybe that success in the Big Apple will translate in 2015!

Thanks to all 3 of these great players for signing; all the best this season! See Ya!

Happy Spring Training! Yankees Prospect Mailday!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Today is one of the greatest days of the year: the first day of Spring Training baseball! In honor of this special day for so many young prospects that finally get the chance to show the pros what they've got; I have a few sweet prospect autographs of one of my favorite Yankee prospects to show off! I've been picking up a lot of 2012 Yankees 1st round pick Ty Hensley's cards on eBay lately; all for relatively cheap prices. I watched some footage of him pitching, and I was very impressed with his tools. However, I'd still say he's got about a 50/50 shot of being a solid major league starting pitcher. I decided to take the risk though, and I may add him to my list of PC's!

The first autograph of Hensley's I picked up was his regular Bowman Chrome auto, which was kind of an accidental pickup. When I saw this auction, the scan made the card look like a refractor, and I didn't read into the details enough to notice that it was just the regular autograph. Nonetheless, I think it's cool that Hensley makes an attempt to sign his full name on every card, even though the letters are a little sloppy. 

I ended up buying his Bowman Sterling refractor autograph a few days later, because the price of shipping cost more than the price of the card! For such a low price; I couldn't pass it up, and it sure is a beautiful card in person. 

I already have a few more sweet Hensley cards to show off, but I figured I'd start with a few autos to kick this new PC off with a bang! If anyone has any card of his for trade, please let me know! Thanks everyone, and Happy Spring Training to you all!

See Ya!

TTM #81- Triple Crown Winner!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Well, it's about to be that time again, in which I spend many hours on the baseball diamond working to become a better player. Our school tryouts are on Monday, and I have to say I'm very worried about the overall ability and future outcome of our team. Our coach is a new guy in town and he doesn't know our talent well enough to be able to fairly cut players. To be honest, I don't think you can judge a player's ability by how they field ground balls on a hard wood floor. But it is what it is. Anyways, about a week ago I received one of the most unexpected TTM successes I've ever gotten back before. My 81st Through the Mail success just so happened to be of a player who did awfully darn well in the big leagues last year. Have a look see:

Behold, an autograph of the 2011 National League Cy Young award winner, Clayton Kershaw! Kershaw is turning into one fine young pitcher, and at the age of only 23, it's almost scary to see his numbers three or four years from now. Considering he was able to top Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Tim Lincecum, and the rest of the National League in wins, strikeouts, and ERA is just unreal. In the last 30 years, the only other pitcher that has done what Kershaw did at his age was Dwight Gooden back in 1985. He is without a doubt a special kid.

This success took roughly 380 days to get back. And no, there was not one typo in that last sentence. I sent it way back on February 7th of last year, to the Dodgers Spring Training complex. Apparently many collectors recently got back from him, so I wasn't alone, which is great to see in our hobby. I'm really happy with how the card came out, even though he doesn't seem to have the greatest of autographs. Can't complain one bit though.

Did any of you guys also hit jackpot with a Kershaw success?

See Ya!

TTM #78- Yankee Legend!

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, this is a very delayed post, but the day after we got back from the show, well, I got a pretty nice through the mail success, the first one in a long time!

My jaw dropped when I opened the SASE on the kitchen table containing the autograph of one of my personal favorite Yankees players of all time, Don Mattingly! Don appeared to have caught up on his Spring Training letter stash following the season, as I've seen many collectors end up with an autograph from "The Hitman" lately. Who knows if the autographs are actually his or not, but while they do have slight differences from his certified autographs, maybe he changed it up a little bit?

All in all I have to say the custom looks great, and I'm so glad I took a shot in the dark with one of my Spring Training attempts! I haven't sent any TTM's since June but I certainly plan on doing some new requests in the near future!

So Thanks Mr. Mattingly for adding a new autograph to my personal collection of yours!

See Ya!

Pinch Me if I'm Dreaming! Pitchers and Catchers?

Hey guys, Drew back here. It's been a long winter. Real long. My school district has suffered 7 snow days, and currently seeing a patch of grass up here in New York is almost as rare as finding a Colorado Rockies fan! So, here I am, after a long day of sitting home in pajamas doing absolutely nothing, holding my hot chocolate, as I flip on to the MLB Network. A commercial comes on. All you see is the hot sun, wonderful weather, and BASEBALL! That warms me up so much on the inside, so much that not even hot chocolate can compare to.

I have never in my life been more excited for Spring Training. The crack of the bat sounds so much nicer to me than the blow of a gun and runners taking off. That pop in the glove of a fielder sounds soothing compared to the frantic screaming and panic that goes on while you are running full speed to win the race! Baseball seems right for me, and I've never wanted it as bad as I do right now. I think one reason is because first of all, I'm pretty sick of track, as you can tell, and second, I can hardly see above the huge mounds of snow right now and it's really beginning to be a menace!

But the one thing that is pumping me up for Spring Training most, is my through the mail autograph requests! I have been chomping at the bit lately, writing letter after letter, making custom after custom, in hopes that I receive at least 40-50% of them back. I have plans on about 30 letters going out, call me crazy, but about 15 have already made their way to Florida and Arizona! Some of the players on my list are going to be much harder to obtain then others, but I'm confident that after all the hard work I've put in that I'm going to be rewarded with some nice new signatures for my collection.

Among my list are Rays ace David Price; Yankees centerfielder Curtis Granderson; Rays outfielder Johnny Damon; Rangers closer Neftali Feliz; Padres closer Heath Bell; Cardinals Manager Tony LaRussa; new Dodgers manager Don Mattingly; and many, many more!

The reason that I prefer Spring Training over any other time of the season to send out autographs is that from most players point of view, it's their least busiest time of the year. Sure, they're working their butts off in preparation for the big year, but they have a lot of free time on their hands to read some letters, especially the younger guys. A lot of players that you see signing in Spring Training do not sign at other points of the year (see Clayton Kershaw, CC Sabathia). This is the one time of year where you could send to almost anyone (minus the Jeter's and Pujols') and you would have a much better opportunity at a success.

So, I highly recommend Spring Training if you're going to test your luck and write a few letters! Last year I didn't overdo it too much, but did receive all the letters I wrote, from Pat Neshek, Ian Snell, Andrew Bailey, CC Sabathia (yes, I got them 2 weeks ago) and even Buster Posey (don't get your hopes up this year)! A good time to send your letters are within the next two weeks in my opinion, because if you send too late you may not be lucky enough. If you want to save your stamps, and you're not sure if the player typically signs, put his name in the comments and I'll let you know what I've seen from him in the past.

Anyway, pitchers and catchers in 4 days! I'm almost as excited as a teenage girl going to a Justin Bieber concert (oh jeez, never thought I'd mention his disgraceful name on this blog).

Lets Go Yankees! See Ya!

P.S. I posted a log on my sidebar of the players officially sent out to, what date, and I'll post if there is any success in the future!