TTMCast Preview
Les Wolff gives his thoughts on the Football Hall of Fame and changes for signers at major shows. Plus Arron and Drew talk a little March Madness and cover all the latest in collectibles news despite– spoiler alert!– a couple of fairly barren mailboxes.
You can listen to this week’s show here.
TTM Successes
This is what happens when you spend weeks or months with tunnel vision in preparation for a graphing trip: you don’t write, and therefore you don’t receive. So with my mailbox being empty, here’s a look around a few players who signed this week for others, courtesy of a few Facebook groups.
Leading off in basketball, TTMCast co-host Arron Littleton got back former Cavs and Suns legend Larry Nance. The inaugural winner of the Slam Dunk Contest in 1984 has been a reliable signer for years through his Ohio home.
Big leaguer players don’t sign as often as they once did via mail in the spring, but a few have been responding from Florida and Arizona. I’ve seen successes from Padres prospect Andy Thomas, A’s youngster Jared Dickey, and Pirates prospect Mike Jarvis in the last few days.
Baseball-playing musicians (or musical ballplayers) have become something of a trope in the current century. While the late Eric Show was ostracized by his father over his love of music, more recently you see Bernie Williams playing jazz guitar, Yoan Moncada singing and rapping, and Scott Radinsky singing for punk bands Ten Foot Pole and Pulley.
1993 AL Cy Young winner Jack McDowell is among them with past bands stickfigure (not to be confused with reggae/dub band Stick Figure) and V.I.E.W. (not to be confused with talk show The View; this one also features former White Sox pitcher Wayne Edwards on drums and Cardinals farmhand Lee Plemel on bass), and he recently announced that anyone mailing to him for an autograph (with his $5 fee) will also get a signed copy of one of his albums.
Any pre-LA Oakland Raiders fans out there? Been seeing successes from a few classics of the silver and black in the past few days: Otis Sistrunk has been a reliable signer for a few years now, and rare signer Kenny King– former record holder for longest reception in Super Bowl history— had a 0% TTM success rate on SportsCollectors.net. Sometimes it’s worth gambling on a longshot!
Over in the hockey world, Bob Bassen seems to be getting caught up on his mail in Texas. The tough centerman turned coach turned Dallas Stars Director of Alumni has always been a great signer in-person, but it’s nice to see him cleaning out the inbox here in the spring. This one took a year and a half!
If you have any graphing questions, you can reach Drew via email at DFWGrapher@gmail.com
