TTM Tuesday!

Hey guys, Drew back here! First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who commented on my previous post advising my recent college decision. Regardless, I am planning on coming home next semester, and I want to say that its more than just that I'm homesick. Being lonely has played into my decision quite a bit, however I also feel uncomfortable on my campus and since it's a big sports school, a majority of the students have a really scummy attitude. I've made one friend on campus, and he and I agree that we're misfits at this school, and after a few of my old friends came to visit a few weeks ago, I realized I couldn't defend why I came to this school in the first place, so I decided that coming home would be the right decision for me. It's one of the first real life decisions I've had to make, but I feel relieved having made a decision and am looking forward to returning home and commuting to a great local private school while getting to see some old friends, my girlfriend, and my family.

Anyway, personal life aside, I've gotten four TTM successes since my most recent autograph post, and here are the first three of them! Enjoy:

Adam Kennedy: 2/2 in 22 Days (Received September 9th)

Adam Kennedy was a staple of my childhood watching baseball. He was always around, and I never knew much about him, but prior to sending off a few of my cards of his, I looked up his lifetime stats and saw that he actually was a fairly solid player. In 2009, he led a career resurgence in which he batted .289 with the A's, swatting 11 home runs, driving in 61 runs, and stealing 20 bases. Mr. Kennedy is now retired, and signed a 2008 Allen & Ginter as well as a 2010 Topps card for my collection; both of which look fantastic signed boldly in blue.

Austin Meadows: 1/1 in 127 Days (Received September 15th)

Last year, I sent 2013 Pirates #1 draft pick Austin Meadows this same card, only to get a response from his mother, which you can see here. Luckily, I retried Meadows earlier this season and got him back this past month, signed beautifully in blue. I've heard great things about him thus far into his minor league career and I really hope to see him succeed for the Bucs down the road!

David Murphy: 2/2 in 35 Days (Received September 25th)

David Murphy has had his moments so far into his 9 year career. He has been known as an average player often times, but he did offer a lot to Rangers fans; maybe to a little bit lesser extent than Nick Swisher gave the Yankees in his time. Now, they both play together in Cleveland, and neither of them had very good years in 2014. However, Murphy has shown that he could turn it around, and I'll definitely be rooting for him after he signed my 2009 Topps and 2012 Gypsy Queen cards in black with bible verses! I remember reading Night Owl Cards' posts about how much he liked that Murphy card, so when I saw it I knew I should try to have him sign it. Sure enough, he came through!

Thank you so much to these three players for signing my stuff, and again to my Dad for opening everything for me while I've been gone! But, I'll be home soon! 

See Ya!

Son of the Mick!

Hey guys, Drew back here! A little over a week ago now I received one of my cooler through the mail successes in recent memory. I don't know if any of you remember, but around this time last year I got an autograph back from Babe Ruth's 97 year old granddaughter Julia Ruth Stevens. Continuing that theme, I sent to David Mantle, Mickey Mantle's son; shortly thereafter. After about a seven month wait, my Dad opened up this really special success for me, and I can't wait to come home and see all of these for myself.

David Mantle: 5/4 in 212 Days (Sent February 8th)

I gathered a bunch of Mantle related items to send his way, the first being a 5x7 movie cover from Billy Crystal's "61*". I really enjoyed this movie, although I haven't seen it in a while. I've been collecting the 1961 Topps set on and off over the years, and the '61 season as a whole is one of my favorite seasons to read about!

I'll always remember watching the final game at the old Yankee Stadium back in 2008, and this is actually David standing on the field representing his dad. The Yankees brought out all of their legends, and if they had passed away, either a family member or an impersonator took their place. David stood in for Mickey, and having this 5x7 from the event will help me never forget the special event it was.

David also signed a 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter for me, which came out beautiful signed in blue sharpie.

The big piece here was this 8x10 Life Magazine cover of Mickey towards the end of his career. Although the cover suggests a negative downspin to Mantle's playing days, I really liked the cover and thought it would look great sporting his son's autograph. It did! By the way, in case you haven't noticed, each and every item was inscribed "Son of the Mick".

But, that wasn't all. David wanted to convey a message to me on my letter, and it was really something special. He wrote below my letter and then flipped over to the other side of the paper and continued, so take a look:

"Please keep up the good work! Make your parents proud! Thank you for your letter. Please learn from our families mistakes, don't drink, etc. Ok, Thank you, David Mantle, PS: We learned the hard way (over)

As Dad said in one of his last press conference at the Hospital he was in before he passed "I'm not a role model, if you want a role model don't be like me." God Bless and please support our troops! David"

Mickey was a hero among heroes in baseball, however there was plenty of tragedy involved in what could've been a record setting career. Many believed he had the potential to top the Babe and have the best offensive numbers in the history of the game. I believe Mickey had the greatest potential of all time, while Willie Mays is in my opinion the best all around player of all time. This letter was extremely down to Earth and kind of David, and it really meant a lot to me that he took so much time out to sign my items and give me some advice. It'll be nice to have these autographs to go along with my DiMaggio/Mantle signed photo, as well as my multi signed Mantle 16x20 project I've been working on. All in all, one of the coolest successes I've ever gotten!

Thanks so much Mr. Mantle! Have a great night everyone, and See Ya!

TTM #7

Hey guys, Drew back here. I got 2 more packages in today, well, one was a TTM, but anyway, I wanted to share it all with ya, it's from Spring Training and is of a pretty decent starting pitcher. Check it out:

Ian Snell! Ian was kind enough to sign the 3 cards I sent him last Tuesday, an 8 day return! Not bad! Ian (according to the back of the 2010 Upper Deck) has a record of 38-48 with a career 4.71 ERA. Not too bad, but not excellent either. Hopefully Mr. Snell has a nice comeback season after he was 7-10 with a 4.84 ERA. I'm on team Ian now, along with the 6 other guys that sent back for me so far. I'm on team Jeff King, Mike Mussina, Garret Anderson, Curtis Granderson, Yogi Berra, and Pat Neshek!!!

On a seperate note, check out the 08 A&G card. Notice it's kinda bent. THANKS POSTAL SERVICE LOVE YA TOO!!! In my opinion the 09 Allen & Ginter came out best. I've got I think 7 or 8 TTM's lurking about now, plus 2 I may never get back, Nick Swisher & Brad Smith.

See Ya!

TTM #6- A Survivor

Hey guys, Drew back here, and I'm pretty psyched, well, last Monday when I got this package. Let me tell you all a little story, so get comfortable and start reading, haha.

I sent 5 cards and an index card out to this player last year (Yes, I was greedy). The player is not a big name in baseball but is pretty good, and is very well known to you TTMers out there. I sent the cards to the team address, but, I forgot that this player was injured while I sent it, rehabbing in single A. So.... I basically thought I was screwed, especially since I sent it along with 2 others in September I think.

Sure enough, this guy must've brought his mail with him to Fort Lauderdale, cuz my cards came back, all signed!

PAT NESHEK!!! He signed every single thing I sent him, surprised he didn't sign the stinkin envelope, this guy is awesome! The 09 A&G came out pretty nice, the 08 Upper Deck looks sweet and so does the 09 Topps. The 08 Topps is ok, the picture wasn't that great in the first place. However, my favorite was this one...

I've seen him do this before, and I think that's why I sent it. Not only did Mr. Neshek sign the card, but he also inscribed it with his birthdate and hometown, because the card has to do with him being from Wisconsin. Sweet!

Lastly, he signed an index card for me. It got a little dinged up on the way here, so I'm gonna make a nice cut signature for it, but it may be difficult because he signed so big! The last thing I'll do is cut it to make it fit, so I'll do anything to make this cut work!

Thanks Pat so much for taking out the time to sign for me!!! You can check him out on his blog, link here. He collects cards and has a super PC of this Neshek guy, so if you have anything for his PC then send it to the Twins. See Ya!

PS: Sent 5 TTM's out today, 4 spring trainings. It may be a little late, but I'm tryin!