TTM Success: Jeff Weaver

Lately, I seem to gravitate towards sending TTMs to players from the late '90s and early 2000s. I think it's because I grew up watching those players, so I prefer to send to them since I have actual memories of seeing them play.

Jeff Weaver fits that bill. While his time in NY was not what Yankee fans hoped it would be, I still remember how big of a deal it was when the Yanks acquired him in 2002. Many within the game viewed Weaver as a future ace, and he was just 25 and signed to a pretty reasonable deal. It was a deal the Yanks had to make when it was presented to them.

He spent a year and a half with the Yanks, then was traded to LA for Kevin Brown. He bounced around for a few more years, won a ring with St Louis in 2006, and ended his career as a reliever with the Dodgers.

Weaver signed a few cards for me c/o his home in just under a month. I love the way the Fleer card out, as the surface was perfect for a signature.

Speaking of TTMs, I have a decent-sized batch going out to spring training this week. I'm not sending much more than 25 this year, as the past couple years, my success numbers have been getting worse and worse. Keep in mind I rarely send to superstars, so it's a bit disturbing to see lesser-known players signing less and less. Oh well, that's how the game works.

My Tino collection follows his career HR arc

Many collectors complain about the amount of card manufacturers and sets in the 1990s. But as a player collector of Tino Martinez, it's a lot of fun to go back and look at how the number of Tino Martinez cards released essentially followed his career performance arc, especially with HRs.

Tino started to get included in more sets in 1995, when he hit 31 HRs. When he was traded to the Yankees that winter, he was included in a few more. That's what being a power hitter in NY will do. In 1997, he hit a career-high 44 HRs, and found himself in a ton more sets, particularly insert sets. He was included in "power hitter" insert sets like Topps Finest "Power Zone" and Donruss "Longball Leaders." He was on the cover of Beckett. He had a cool name. His team was winning.

From 1998-2000, Tino still hit some HRs, but not quite at the level he did in 1997. His releases dropped. In 2001, he rebounded with a 34-HR season, and he did see a bit of a bump again the following year in the card sets he appeared in. However, he then moved on from the Yankees to the Cardinals, and eventually to the Rays before moonlighting with the Yanks one last time in 2005. From 2002-2005, Tino trailed off as his career wound down, both in production and card releases.

See what I mean? Perhaps this is true for any player, but it feels like it's especially true for a guy like Tino, who had a fairly normal rise to his prime and then trailed off. He didn't really hit his stride until his late 20s, when a lot of stars nowadays burst onto the scene a lot sooner.

Still, that 1998 card season was a blast for me, as I got to see Tino included in insert sets normally reserved for guys like Ken Griffey Jr and Frank Thomas.

TTM Success: Clayton Kershaw

By now you may have seen a few of these posts. It seems that Clayton Kershaw did his yearly fan mail binge. I sent to him last spring training, and was happy to get a response back. I do keep TTMs mostly to Yanks, but Kershaw certainly fits the bill for stepping outside of players in pinstripes. I had the fortune of spending a bit of time with Kershaw back in 2013, and he made a very good impression on me.

I will say I'm 99% sure this isn't the card I sent. I believe I sent a 2012 Archives. Not sure what happened. Perhaps my card got mixed up with someone else. It happens every once in a while with TTMs. It's all part of the gamble.

Regardless, it's a cool success from a megastar!

My first 2015 Topps

I finally grabbed some 2015 Topps on Saturday morning. We needed a few groceries and a birthday present for a 3-year-old, so naturally I urged the family unit to hit up Target because I needed some Series One.

I grabbed a hanger box and loose pack. I wanted a blaster, but decided I'd be better served by a hanger. I just wish the giant brick was as fun to break as individual packs.

I opened the loose pack first, and here's my first card:

Yep, former Yankee Vidal Nuno. I had no idea Nuno went 0-7 with Arizona, although he pitched better than his record indicated. I don't miss him though.

After flipping through the cards a few times, here's what I think:

1. I like the design as much as I hoped I would. Well done, Topps.
2. I hope a signature sticks nicely to them. They feel a little slick. Might need to rub them down a touch.
3. I'm surprised by how treated the photos are. They look like a Gypsy Queen photo.
4. I like the Topps Gold parallels. They remind me of 2001 Topps Gold. The border looks great.
5. The inserts are underhwhelming and all blend together. Kind of like Gold Standard/Golden Moments/Golden Futures a few years back, they all just seem so similar and the sets are so large. I miss the 12-card "RBI Kings" insert sets from Fleer Ultra. Admittedly, I'm not in it for the inserts, but I do wish they offered a little more sizzle.

That's all I've got. I'm excited to get the Yankees team set a few Pineda parallels.

Aaron Judging the Blogger app

First off, I'm testing out the iPhone Blogger app right now. I don't plan on posting from my phone very much, but feel like it could come in handy some time. 

It seems a lot of functions from the website are missing, and it won't auto fill my labels, so that's a bit annoying. Oh well. 

Anyways, let's see how this image comes out. It's a newer Aaron Judge card I picked up. 

If you have any tips on using the app, let me know! 

Props all around

I have a lot of props to give out right now about a lot of different things this morning.

1. Props to all you stay-at-home moms and dads out there. My wife is currently out of town, and my 9-month-old of course came down with a 103 fever, so I had to stay home with her yesterday. Babies this small are a lot of work, as many of you know. Between trying to do some actual work from home, taking care of my daughter, picking up my son, taking the dog out, cooking dinner, doing their baths, cleaning dishes, and making lunches for today...I'm spent. And that was after one day. Luckily the baby was well enough to go to her normal child care today, but it was a hell of a day.

There are many men and women that do this all day, on a daily basis. I give you major props, because it's hard.

2. Props to Topps. I think 2015 Topps, without having it in hand yet, looks awesome. The design is refreshing. I love what I've seen. I'm just talking base. I haven't paid much attention to the inserts. I did read the sparkle gimmicks and photo variations are back, but I'm not going to get too upset about that. They aren't my cup of tea, and I'm not worried about collecting them. If I pull one, I'll trade or sell it.

I can't wait to grab some in the next couple days. I'm not going to go overboard, but I am excited to grab a blaster or a few hanger boxes.

3. Props to sellers who offer combined shipping on eBay. I found this sweet Jacob Lindgren die cut (#'d 08/10) for $1 + $1.93 shipping. Each additional card was free shipping, and the seller had hundreds of $1 cards. I bought six or seven, mostly for other other people. Combined shipping works, people.

4. Props to Ty Hensley. The dude is already back out the mound after the scary news about him being attacked came out last month. Hopefully he is able to start spring training with the rest of his teammates, and have a great year at Charleston. Here's a new Hensley I picked up, my 54th different.

 

5. Props to you for reading this far.

Unnecessary acts of kindness

The amount of unnecessary gestures from other collectors is never-ending. I experienced it twice in just the last couple of days alone.

The first was an unexpected PCE (Plain Cream Envelope) from P-Town Tom. A short while back, I asked him if John Ryan Murphy card in one of his posts was available. It wasn't a fancy card, just a run of the mill card I liked. Turns out, Tom had already sent it to another blogger. So for some reason, Tom sent me a nicer Murphy card, and apologized. Completely unnecessary.

The other act came from Rich, Managing Editor at Sports Collectors Daily. If you aren't signed up for their daily email, I highly recommend it. Each morning, they send out 3-4 hobby related stories, and it's a very good source to keep up on hobby-related news. I encourage you to take a spin around the site HERE.

Anyhow, Rich asked for my address so he could send some cards to Joey, my son. He sent me a nice batch of Hall of Famers which are going directly into Joey's binder...which needs more pages because you guys have been so generous to him. I haven't updated the "Joey's HOFer" section of my blog in a while, and I need to, as his collection (aka the collection I am creating for him) is really growing. It was a completely unnecessary act of kindness from Rich.

The thing is, this is just in the past couple of days. I could go on and on. It's basically a weekly occurance. It's done without fanfare or agenda. It's just collectors taking care of other collectors.

And that is awesome. Never change.