TTM Success Courtesy of Wesley Wright

I love receiving TTM's during the offseason cause I've usually forgotten about them by now. It adds even more excitement when I see a SASE not remembering who I sent to. 

Today's success comes from the young Astros pitcher Wesley Wright. I mailed this one off in April c/o The Oklahoma City Redhawks, the new Triple-A club of the Astros.Wright is a decent pitcher when he can keep everything under control. I hope to see him in Houston more this season.

This one smudged a bit even after I "primed" it for signing. It's all good though cause it still looks pretty good. 

This one looks much better except the scan is super crooked. 

Thank you to Wesley Wright for responding and signing. Also, thank you to my sister for scanning these cards and emailing them to me.

2005 Astros WS TTM Success

At the beginning of the season I sent out TTM requests to numerous baseball players. The majority of those were current and former Houston Astros. I have an ongoing project to collect as many IP/TTM auto's from the 2005 Astros World Series roster. 

This weekend I took another step towards completing that goal when I received the following cards. I was surprised to see a SASE in my mailbox as it's been months since my last send out. I'm pleased with the results though.

I'm lazy so I scanned them at the same time. Two autographs from Mike Lamb who played IF during the Astros WS run. I sent to Mike courtesy of the Camden Riversharks which was his Atlantic League club this year. 

Thanks for taking a look and I apologize for being MIA lately. I haven't been buying/trading as much lately so not much to post about. I will be increasing my post load now that the Texans are starting up soon, DC comics is releasing their "new" titles and I've been trading/buying some more. So be excited ha.

The Best TTM Surprise Ever!!

Ok, I know the following isn't baseball related but I feel like I needed to tell everyone I possibly could. I'm a big fan of this show on the Travel Channel called, The Wild Within. It's a show about hunting mainly but not your typical Outdoor Channel hunting show. Anyhow, the host of the show is a guy named Steve Rinella. He seems to be a really nice guy and his show shed a new light on hunting for me. I decided to email him a few months ago about obtaining a TTM picture or something. I got a reply a week or two ago saying thanks for watching and some other friendly words. At that moment I basically wrote off any chances of getting an autograph. I don't mean that in a negative way towards Mr. Rinella as I know he's got a busy schedule with filming, writing, etc...

Fast forward to today... I'm checking my mail and I have a bubble mailer but I'm not expecting any baseball cards so I was confused. Then I saw the name Rinella on the return address and just assumed it was a coincidence. I open the package to find this...

 That's a copy of his book!!! Steve Rinella sent me a copy of his book!!! How crazy is that? He took the time to either a) package the item and send it himself or b) get his secretary to package the item and send it. Either way that's so awesome of him to do something as nice as that.

Now for me that would be more than enough but Mr. Rinella is such a great guy he went a step further and did this...

When I saw that I was just at a loss for words. This guy truly went above and beyond what any celebrity could be asked of. He really is a stand up guy and maybe one day I'll actually get the pleasure of meeting him. 

Mr. Rinella you made my week by sending this out and I'm truly grateful. I can't wait till the next season of The Wild Within. If you're ever down in the Houston area I'll be sure to buy you a couple of beers.

Forgotten TTM Success

I haven't been doing TTM much lately so that's why I was surprised when I received these two cards in the mail last week. 

I sent to Heath Bell in the middle of spring training and just assumed I was too late when I never got a response. He was actually the third person I sent to this year (my first season of attempting TTM). I was pretty excited when I opened up the SASE and saw his card. In all the interviews I've seen with Bell he seems to be a pretty fun guy. 

This was the most recent request I sent out but again I completely forgot about it until the envelope was in my mailbox. I think it'd be cool to get as many auto's of NL Central players as I can. It doesn't matter if it's TTM, IP or a card from eBay. I think it's cool that he personalized it as it will go well with some of my other personalized autos. 

These may not rank as high as my Morgan Ensberg or Brian Cushing TTM's but I'm still extremely grateful for them. I know professional athletes are busy so it's always nice to see them get back to the fans sometimes.

Brandon Backe TTM Success

I sent a TTM request to Brandon Backe 2 months ago as I'm trying to get as many TTM/IP autographs of the Astros 2005 World Series team. Backe was a big part of the success the Astros had in that late season push. He pitched great in a number of important games for the Astros and there is no way they'd have gotten as far as they did without his arm that season.

Backe is a hometown guy and lives fairly close to me so it's weird the TTM took so long. I'm sure he's busy working at the baseball academy and doing work for his foundation. Here's a picture of the autographed card, I really think he has a great looking signature. 

Lars Anderson TTM Success

A few weeks ago I sent out a TTM request to Lars Anderson of the Boston Red Sox organization. I've been trying to hit up a few of the younger guys who have cards in 2011 Topps and Heritage. Anderson is currently on the Pawtucket Red Sox and that's where I sent the request. I sent 2 cards (one for him to keep) and he got it back to me fairly quickly with a fairly decent signature.

Overall a pretty nice addition to my other TTM successes this year. Not as good as my Hunter Pence or Brian Cushing TTM but I like getting younger guys who have potential to be good big leaguers.