Monday, December 4, 2017

Longest Wait for a Return Yet

R. A. Dickey just signed and returned a baseball card I sent to him through mail (TTM). I sent the card eight and half years ago. More precisely it was 3036 days ago. 

Why the long wait? Who knows, but I have heard stories of people getting cards back ten even fifteen years after sending them. My longest wait till now had been five years (Mark Salas). I have had multiple cards come back after four years. One cannot know the reason why it took so long. Maybe the card got lost and then found. Maybe the player just decided now he would sign a bunch of cards he had been saving up. No one besides the player can tell us for sure what happened. The lesson to be learn here is never give up on a card you sent because it just might come back when you least expect it.

I know I am appreciative of all my returns no matter how long they take. Thank you Mr. Dickey for taking the time to sign and return my card! 

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Minnesota Twins TTM Update for the Second Half of 2017

The second half of 2017 went well, and I now have signed cards from 608 different current and former Minnesota Twins. Hopefully more successes will arrive in November and December but things tend to get slower around the holidays.

Below are my successes via TTM (through the mail) the last four months or so:

Sam Fuld
Buddy Boshers
Mike Maksudian
Neal Cotts
Eduardo Escobar
Trevor Hildenberger – signed his name this time instead of HDog 
Pat Bourque
Dillon Gee
Chris Heston
Tom Edens
Tommy Watkins – sent a signed card of his own
Ryan Pressly
Nick Tepesch
Gary Rath 
Steve Carlton – $35 
Benj Sampson – In a pretty cool first I got a thank you note from his child (I keep all the notes I get). Benj also included an extra signed card of his own.
LaTroy Hawkins – sent back a different card than I had sent

Twins minor leaguers I've gotten the last four months or so:

Mitch Garver – signed before his promotion to the Twins
Aaron Slegers – signed before his promotion to the Twins
Zack Granite – signed before his promotion to the Twins
Ben Rortvedt
Jose Miranda
Brent Rooker
Wander Javier
Royce Lewis
Jake Reed
Andrew Bechtold
Brusadar Graterol
Zack Littell
Dietrich Enns
Tyler Watson – included an extra card of his own
Blayne Enlow
Fernando Romero – choose to return to my card unsigned

A list of in-person signing I went to:

Chris Gimenez at Three Stooges Bar & Grill 
Miguel Sano at T-Mobile 
Eddie Rosario at Cub Foods
Byron Buxton at Tria Orthopedics 

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Minnesota Twins TTM Update for Mid-2017

Halfway through 2017 and I now have signed cards from 592 different Twins players. I am working more on the minor leaguers in hopes that it will pay dividends in the years to come.

There have been only two free in-person signings so far this year. Both were on the same day at Cub Foods stores that were luckily only 10 minutes apart. I got two signed cards from Robbie Grossman and two more signed cards from Hector Santiago.

Below are my successes via TTM (through the mail):   

Kelvin Torve
Mike Durant
Al Newman
Geoff Zahn
Adalberto Mejia
Justin Haley
Chris Gimenez
Hector Santiago
Pat Neshek
Drew Rucinski
ByungHo Park
Bob Tewsbuy (2655 days or over 7 years 3 months which is my longest wait for a return)
Bob Tewsbury (1590 days - I had thought the first one had not gotten through)
Logan Schaeffer
Andy MacPhail
Ehire Adrianza

Minor leaguers I have gotten so far this year:

Daniel Palka
Travis Blankenhorn
Engelb Vielma
Tyler Wells – added a card of his own
Aaron Whitefield
Jermaine Palacios
Jaylin Davis

Trevor Hilgenberger – he was promoted to the Twins after he signed my cards H Dog which does makes his autograph unique

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Twinsfest 2017

I made the decision to take it a bit easier at this year’s Twinsfest which turned out to be a good thing for me. Below are the players and coaches who signed baseball cards for me:

Buddy Boshers
Jason Castro
Taylor Rogers
Jeff Pickler
Paul Molitor
Tom Kelly
Miguel Sano – 2 cards
Neil Allen
Gene Glynn 

Not as long as a list as in past years, but still productive. I needed Boshers and Castro for my collection giving me signed cards from 575 different Twins players. It was also good to get signed cards from Molitor and Sano. We will see what next year brings, but this year’s Twinfest turned out good. I even got a free Twins stocking hat for attending!