Mailday – October 7
With the 2010 MLB regular season done, I don’t anticipate too many more successes to come rolling in. That said, I still have a bunch of requests out in the wind, so I hope I’ll get a lot of them back. Anyway, I received two more cards last week, making for a pretty decent week.
Here’s the first one:
Chicago White Sox rookie Sergio Santos signed this 2010 Ginter card for me in about a month, care of the team. If you’re a Sox fan, you’ve got to love what this pitcher did in his rookie season. After beginning his career as a shortstop, Santos switched to pitcher and made the Chicago 2010 Opening Day roster. He ended up 2-2 as a reliever, with an ERA of 2.96 and 56 strikeouts in 51.2 innings of work. This is the fourth 2010 Ginter return for me, and the first of a baseball player.
Here’s card number two:
Toronto Blue Jays coach Brian Butterfield signed and returned this card in three weeks care of the team. This is a Jays team set from around 2001 or 2002, given out at home games during that time. I found it while going through some old stuff, so I figured I’d give Butterfield a shot. It’s another success for my Jays collection.
That’s all for now; my fingers are crossed for more good baseball stuff this week!
Mailday – October 5
It’s been a quiet last couple weeks as the Major League Baseball regular season wrapped up, but a few arrivals came in yesterday.
All three are Toronto Blue Jays guys — two current Jays and one from yesteryear.
Here’s the first one:
Jays outfielder Dewayne Wise signed this 2010 Allen & Ginter insert for me in about six weeks, care of the team. Unfortunately, this card doesn’t feature him in his Jays uniform, but it’s a pretty nice card nonetheless. It depicts his sensational late-game catch last year to keep Mark Buehrle’s perfect game intact, and I like Wise’s nice, bold signature on the lower half of the card.
Here’s card number two:
Next up is my first autographed card of one of Toronto’s top young pitchers, Brett Cecil. He signed this card for me five months, care of the team. Toronto’s clubhouse staff is notorious for hanging onto TTM requests and sending them all out at the end of the season, so I hope to get a few more Jays over the next month or so. I got Cecil last season on a ticket stub TTM, and it’s cool to add him to his 2010 Topps rookie card.
Here’s card number three:
Last, but not least, is a card I send in to a private signing in Baltimore. This one cost me $10, but I’m happy to add former Jays pitcher Mike Flanagan to my collection. The scan looks odd; something about the card’s texture made it that way. But Flanagan’s blue signature looks great. Flanagan lost the first ever Jays game I went to, back in 1988 against Oakland. I was tempted to ask him to inscribe, “I blew a lead in your first game,” but went against it. This guy didn’t do much in a Jays uniform, but he was ridiculous for the O’s, winning the Cy Young Award in 1979. In four seasons (1977-80) he won a total of 73 games with 60 complete games!
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:
Omar 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:
Jesse 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:
Congrats to Bautista
A huge congratulations goes to Blue Jays star Jose Bautista this morning, the day after he jacked his 50th home run of the season, becoming just the 26th player in MLB history to do so. In doing so, he sets a new Toronto team record, having surpassed George Bell’s 1987 mark of 47 dingers a week or so ago.
Fifty home runs is an amazing accomplishment, especially considering Bautista did it by changing his swing (with the help of Jays hitting coach Duane Murphy) instead of bulking up on steroids. I love seeing old records stand, and Bell’s MVP season in 1987 is one of my first baseball memories. But it’s great to see a higher mark set for future Jays to try to reach.
I’m glad Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos didn’t trade Bautista away at the deadline, and hope they can lock him up to a long-term contract. This is a guy whose versatility (he can play outfield, third and first) in addition to his hitting make him a valuable asset for this team.
Way to go, Jose!
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:
Ivory 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:
Adam 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:
Indians 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:
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:
Sensational 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:
This 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:
It’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:
This 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!
Snagging vol. 2
Last weekend, I took my third baseball road trip of the summer. You can read about my first one (to Rochester, Auburn and Syracuse) HERE and my second one (Buffalo, Cleveland, Mahoning Valley and Toronto) HERE and HERE.
This trip, I watched Toronto’s AA affiliate the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in Eastern League semifinal action against Trenton, and then watched the Tri-City ValleyCats in game one of the New York-Penn League championship against Brooklyn.
I’m by no means Zack Hample, but I love to get baseballs at games I attend and try to get at least one at every stadium. Minor League Baseball games are tough because batting practice isn’t open to fans, and the ushers remove all the balls hit into the stands prior to the gates being open. I patiently sat through the Fisher Cats game without getting a ball, but once the game was over, I headed to the dugouts in the hopes of hitting gold. The Trenton dugout was empty, but I noticed a ball at the bottom of the elevator lift adjacent to the dugout. There was no way I could reach it, so I had to hop over the rail, into the elevator and come up with the ball. It was cobweb central but I grabbed it and climbed back out with an official Eastern League ball! This is the first Eastern League ball in my collection, and it’s a beauty:
The next day, I lined up early at Tri-City’s Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in the hopes of heading beyond the outfield fence and getting a BP home run ball. Unfortunately, two fans who’d apparently snuck in early were grabbing all the balls, but I was determined not to be shut out. Fans aren’t allowed behind the fence (except if they’re in the corners) but I quickly spotted a ball in left/centre field, and raced over to grab it. I was pumped to see it was an Official MLB ball and was in pretty good shape. Its sweet spot had PRACTICE stamped on it, and I was glad to come away with it.
Here’s one side:
And the other:
All in all, a pretty exciting trip! Check out my next post to see pictures of the autographs I obtained.
Those games will likely be my last baseball games of 2010, unfortunately. I attended a total of 11 games from short-season A ball all the way to the big leagues. I ended up with 23 total balls this summer. (I gave two away to other fans and my wife also caught two, which I’m not counting in my total.)
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.)
Kansas 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:
This 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 ….
malcolmmacmillan
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