Tagged: autographs

Mailday – September 27

It’s been a few days since my last entry, but I’ve got two more balls to report. These didn’t come today, rather I’ve had them for a little while. But, I haven’t had a chance to photograph them and blog about them until now.

As I wrote here, I recently added Hall of Famer Duke Snider to my collection, bringing my HOF balls up to a total of five. Now, I’m happy to report I’ve added a ball of a sure future Hall of Famer to my collection. Here it is:


vizquel.jpgOmar Vizquel signed this ball care of the White Sox in a month and a half. The Majors’ oldest position player (43 and still going strong) is a sure future HOFer. In addition to being a three-time All-Star, he’s won 11 Gold Gloves! Talk about underappreciated! With skills like this guy has, you’d think he’d be a perennial All-Star. Regardless, it’s a sure thing that Cooperstown will be happy to add to to its halls before long. Vizquel has one of the more unique signatures in my collection, and I think it looks awesome on the sweet spot of a ball.

And speaking of awesome, I’ve also added one of my favourite all-time Blue Jays on another ball:


barfield.jpgJesse Barfield, who arguably had the best outfield arm in team history, signed this ball for me at a paid signing. Barfield hit 241 career home runs in just 12 seasons, and was an All-Star, a two-time Gold Glover and a Silver Slugger. His best year came in 1986, when he had 170 hits, 40 home runs and 108 RBI. Those 40 home runs led the American League, and I asked him to add that to my ball:

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Mailday – September 22

This morning’s trip to the mailbox caused a little panic, because somehow, one of my two TTM returns was soaking wet with rain water. The envelope was about half drenched, and I figured the card within would be ruined. Quickly, I opened the envelope, and discovered that the card was slightly bowed, but otherwise unharmed. The card itself was great, as was the other one I opened.

Here they are:


crockettpresswood.jpgIvory Crockett may not be a household name, but he owns a neat spot in sports history. He’s the first guy to be timed at nine seconds flat in the 100-yard dash, having done so in 1974. Today, Usain Bolt is the world’s fastest man, but more than 30 years ago, that honour belonged to Crockett. He signed this 2010 Ginter card for me in 46 days.

Hank Presswood, a former Negro Leaguer, signed this 2010 Ginter card for me in just 12 days, and also returned my letter with his signature and thanks at the bottom. (I sent him a bit of money with my request.) Presswood served in the U.S. Army in WWII and then played for the Cleveland Buckeyes and Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues. This is just my second Negro Leagues autograph; the first was longtime umpire Bob Motley.

Mailday – September 20

A couple more additions to the baseball card collection today, including one for my ever-growing Ginter set.

Here’s the Ginter card:


laroche.jpgAdam Laroche signed this Ginter card in five months, care of the Pirates. While this isn’t that long a wait in the grand scheme of things, it’s always exciting to get one back that you hadn’t thought of in a while. This brings by Ginter collection up to 29 signed cards. I hope to hit 30 sometime this week.

Here’s the next success:

masterson.jpgIndians pitcher Justin Masterson signed this 2010 Topps card in about two months, care of the team. I realized after I sent this that he’s got a card in the 2008 Ginter set, so I’ll have to send that next season. Masterson is one of the most reliable signers in the league.

Mailday – September 17

It’s been a while since I added to my Jays card collection, but today brought a pair of old school additions.

Former pitcher Willie Blair signed these cards (a ’90 Topps and a ’91 Donruss) in about five weeks, care of the independent ball team he’s coaching with. Blair was drafted by Toronto back in 1986 and played for the Jays just one season (1990). It was his first of nine teams in a 12 year career. He finished his career with 60 wins and 759 strikeouts.

Here are the cards:

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Mailday and in-person successes

Today’s entry is all about balls — two of which came through the mail, and two of which were obtained in person during my recent roadtrip.

Let’s start with those that made for a great mailday last week. Here’s the first one:

drabekball.jpgSensational Blue Jays prospect Kyle Drabek, who coincidently had his first MLB start last night, signed this ball for me in about a month, care of his AA team, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. I could’ve grabbed him for another autograph during my trip last weekend, but didn’t bother fighting the crowds as I am happy to already have him on a ball. Drabek was lights out for the Cats this season, winning 14 games and being named the Eastern League’s pitcher of the year. Hard to say where he’ll be in the spring (could be AAA Las Vegas) but expect him to be in Toronto by next August, I’d say.

Here’s the next ball I got in the mail:

duke.jpgThis one’s pretty cool. It’s signed by Hall of Famer Duke Snider, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, among other teams. His credentials? An eight-time All-Star, two-time World Series champ, 407 career HRs and six-time top 10 finisher in MVP voting. Pretty impressive, and this addition brings my Hall of Fame ball collection up to five.

And I as mentioned, I got two balls signed while in New Hampshire. As a Jays fan, it’s always cool to see a farm team of the big club, and watch tomorrow’s stars up close. This year, I saw two Toronto affiliates: Short season class A Auburn, and AA New Hampshire.

Anyway, here’s the first ball:

hechavarria.jpgIt’s one of the strangest signatures in my collection, and belongs to future Toronto shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria. He’s the 21-year-old Cuban shortstop that Alex Anthopoulos signed this spring. It was exciting to get his signature. He signed for a bunch of people at the edge of the dugout, and I was slow getting my ball and pen out. By the time I got there, he’d turned around and left, but I called out to him and he came back. As he approached, he bumped a pair of groundscrew rakes that fell over with a giant bang, and he just shrugged and signed my ball.

Next up is my second ball of the game:

encarnacion.jpgThis one is signed by Jays third baseman Edwin Encarnacion (not Encarnashone, Buck Martinez) who was in New Hampshire recovering from a sprained wrist. I was kicking myself for not having a Ginter card for him to sign, but it’s always great to add another Blue Jays to my ball collection.

The morning after the game, as I left my hotel, I ran into Encarnacion outside the hotel’s lobby. he was waiting for a shuttle to take him to the airport and back to Toronto, and has his Jays duffel bag with him. I said good morning, and he said hello, but I didn’t hit him up for another autograph because it was early and I don’t like being a pushy autograph hound.

All in all, a pretty great week for balls for my collection, with more to come!

Mailday – September 10

As mentioned yesterday, last week was a good one for mail. I managed a few more additions for my Ginter set as well as a bunch of balls.

Here’s the first of the two baseball Ginters: (I also got one non-baseball Ginter … I’ll scan it and its counterparts at a later date.)

hochevar.jpgKansas City pitcher Luke Hochevar signed this card for me care of the Royals in just 26 days. I like his his blue signature looks on this card, and it’s awesome to get a card of a former first overall draft pick.

Here’s the other card:

snell.jpgThis is one of 50 U.S. State cards in the 2008 Ginter set, and my third so far. It’s Ian Snell who grew up in Delaware. My other two state cards are Pat Neshek (Wisconsin) and Brad Ausmus (Connecticut).

More to come soon ….

Lots to update

It’s been a little while since I blogged, but I’ve got a lot to discuss before long. I’ll likely get to blogging very early this week, so check back soon.

I did well mail-wise last week, with a few balls and a bunch of cards added to my collection.

And this weekend, I attended another pair of minor league games and came away with both autographs and baseballs. As I say, lots to discuss!

Mailday – August 31

I received another addition to the collection today, and this one’s unlike anything else I have. This is definitely one of the most unique things in my collection.

Here it is:

durant.jpgYou’ll likely recognize Roger Maris on the left of the 8×10 photo. Beside him is then-19-year-old Sal Durante, a New York baseball fan who was the lucky one to catch Maris’ record-breaking 61th home run back in 1961. Though his mark has since been broken, it’s been broken by a bunch of roid monsters, so in many peoples’ books, 61 home runs is still a special record. As you can see, Durante added, “I caught Maris’ 61st H.R., 10-1-61.”

Durante’s story is a pretty neat one. He took his then-girlfriend (now his wife) to the game back in ’61 to impress her, hoping that he would catch Maris’ home run ball. His hopes came true, and after he grabbed it, he was ushed into the Yankees clubhouse by team staff, where he tried to give the ball to Maris. Maris told him to keep it, and Durante sold it to a collector for $5,000 and used the money to help pay for his wedding. All in all, a pretty neat story, and while Durante never played a day of pro ball, it’s exciting to have his autograph in my collection. What a neat piece of history!

More mail

As you can read about directly below this post, I opened a Mark Buehrle signed ball over the weekend. And, as I mentioned, that wasn’t the only thing I got back.

Here are two more additions to my Allen & Ginter signed set:

cuddyer.jpgTwins first baseman Michael Cuddyer signed this card for me in two months, care of the team. He’s a prolific signer (I also got him two years ago) and I love his sig. He takes the time to write every letter instead of just a scribble. I think you’ll agree the signature looks great on this card.

Here’s the next addition:

jenks.jpgWhite Sox hurler Bobby Jenks signed this Ginter card for me in a month, care of the Sox. Glad to have another addition to my Ginter collection.

With these two cards, I now have 26 signed Ginter cards out of the base set of 350. Sure, I’ve got a long way to go, but it’s fun to see how many I can get over time. I’ve still got a couple dozen in the wind, and hope to get most of those back this fall.

Mailday – August 30

I opened a pile of mail from the last week this weekend, and did pretty well. A chunk of it was non-baseball, so I won’t likely be posting it here. But I did add a few things for my baseball collection, including this ball:

buehrle.jpgWhite Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle signed this ball care of the team in a little under a month. It’s exciting to get this back, especially since the lefty pitched a perfect game last season and had a no-hitter back in 2007. He signed it on the side panel, which isn’t as nice looking as if it were on the sweet spot, but when it comes to the TTM hobby, beggers can’t be choosers.