A tremendous TTM success from Tino Martinez

Each spring, I send a TTM request to Tino Martinez at the Yankees spring training facility. Each season, he has served as a guest instructor, so I figure it's worth a shot to send to my all-time favorite player.

It worked in 2012, when I got this back:

I'm certain I've sent every year since then, although I've had zero success.

Then on Saturday, I received one SASE back from Tampa. I was overjoyed when this was the first card I saw:

BOOM!

The same day I struck out at Target looking for Heritage, this comes back.

I can't image a signature on a more perfect card than the inaugural Topps Heritage set. I've wanted this card signed for a long, long time. I know I've lost a few of these in the mail on previous requests, but this really makes it worth it. The signature came out great.

I was a bit greedy and included a second card - a 1999 Topps Gallery. Tino was gracious enough to sign it, and the card looks perfect as well. I love the big, bold signature. It really pops against the white border.

I'm still batting a pretty low average as it relates to my spring training TTMs thus far, but honestly, it feels like it's all gravy after this.

Thanks, Tino!