This week on TTMCast
Drew and Troy share their TTM successes, talk hobby news, and expand on last week’s TTM This Week article covering appropriate TTM etiquette and the best practices for helping to ensure the health of the hobby.
You can listen to this week’s show here.
TTM Successes
Jozef Stumpel
I mailed to Stumpel and his friend Zigmund Palffy on the same day. Ziggy arrived back first, but the Nitra native wasn’t too far behind, signing these four cards for me in about two months.
It was nice having some extra Slovakian stamps around for random requests like this. Time to restock them!
Walt Terrell
The former Tigers, Padres, Yankees, Mets, and Pirates pitcher is one of the best TTMers in the sport. He signed these four for me in just under two weeks via his old Kentucky home.
TRIVIA TIME: The .120 career hitting Terrell was the last player to hit two home runs in a game off of Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins. One player did it twice: who was it? The answer will come later in this article…
Greg Pruitt
Before Chubb and Hunt; before Hoard and Metcalf; before Mack and Byner; the Browns had Pruitt and Pruitt. Greg led the Browns in rushing from 1974 to 1978, while the unrelated Mike Pruitt led the team from 1979 to 1983; they served as each other’s backup for a few years as well.
Greg is an excellent TTMer and signed this trio in two weeks.
Tom Kelly
Although I am contractually obligated to hate the Twins, I always liked the job Tom Kelly did as their manager, being a World Series winner in his first season of 1987, then taking them from worst to first as the 1991 Champs. Only four managers with 1000 wins and 2 Championships are not in the Hall of Fame– the active Bruce Bochy, the recently-retired Terry Francona, Ralph Houk, and Tom Kelly.
He signed these for me in two weeks.
Pat Gillick
A three-time World Series winner as GM of the Blue Jays and Phillies, Gillick also acquired Ichiro for the Mariners in between those two stops. His technical rookie cards finally came about in some 2023 Panini products– so I’m counting these for the HOF RC collection.
He signed these three for me in about two weeks.
Jeff Kaiser
Obviously, I always like former Cleveland Indians– though I missed Kaiser’s time with them because I started following baseball closely in 1991. Kaiser had a career ERA over 9, but he did at least pick up a pair of saves with his hometown Tigers in that ’91 season.
He signed these four cards for me in two weeks.
Tyrone Corbin
As bad as Ted Stepien’s ownership of the Cavs was, I sometimes wonder if they actually learned anything from it because less than a decade later were the disastrous trades of Ron Harper for Danny Ferry, and of course Corbin, Kevin Johnson, AND the pick that became Dan Majerle for Larry Nance. I love Larry Nance, but that was a heck of a price to pay. Corbin didn’t stay long in Phoenix but he played 16 solid years in the NBA.
He signed four cards for me in two weeks.
Bill Mazeroski
I’ve been wanting to get Maz’s rookie card signed for a while. So when I had a chance to grab this off-condition example for only $20 shipped, I had to jump at it. Bill charges $10 but it’s absolutely worth it for a Hall of Famer who hit one of the ten most famous home runs in baseball history. At age 87, he still has a very nice autograph.
It also only took two weeks to get back to mw.
Eric Dickerson
All throughout middle and high school I had the same blue and white Rec Specs sport glasses that Dickerson wore with the Colts. I was starting to panic on this one as I had mailed it out in mid-June. This was another Hall of Famer rookie card that I always wanted to send off, so I picked this one up on eBay for under $10, then paid his $10 fee.
Patience paid off: two months later it got back to me.
In-Person Report: Two Games
August is usually a slower month for me graphing-wise. If it’s not the hottest month of the year, it’s close behind July and I just don’t want to be out in it anymore. People are quick to angry, players are tired of signing, and my Half-Finnish and quarter-Irish skin gets bright red just from thinking about the sun.
But yet, I felt like I was getting lazy as my last in-person outing came at the end of July when Tulsa came to town. I hadn’t gone down to Cleburne in a few months, and I missed San Antonio their first trip into Frisco. And when I found I was inching closer to the 1200 mark on the season, I figured I might as well knock that out and hit up a pair of games.
Cleburne had Kane County coming to town. Had I paid closer attention, I would have realized that their pitching coach David Holmberg has a few cards, as does manager George Tsamis. So i missed out on those guys, but I was more focused on getting Cleburne anyway. My friend Arron had a couple cards of newly-acquired Korey Holland, so I got those signed for him. I told Holland I grew up in Lake County where he had played a few years prior. He asked if I missed the cold there and I said “Only on days like this” as we had just come off a streak of triple digits in 11 of the previous 12 days.
Manager Pete Incaviglia came over and signed as well with a few kids nearby marveling at my cards of him from 35 years ago. One asked me how many games I had been to– over 200 by now in my life, as their jaws dropped. I even mentioned that one of those 200 was in Montreal, which of course no longer exists as a team AND was the original one to draft Inky back in 1985.
Postgame, I was keying in on two players: Beau Burrows and Ian Clarkin. Arron and I were in a tough spot to pick out players so Clarkin slipped by with a few other pitchers in hoodies, but I did at least see Burrows come in from the bullpen, and he added his sig to my 2021 Topps Heritage Tigers Rookies card. Ironically, Kyle Funkhouser, who was in Frisco all of last season is the one I’m lacking on it.
Sunday was a quick voyage over to Frisco. There wasn’t much action at the batting cage pregame, but I did at least get Keyber Rodriguez on a custom, and finally got another card signed by Maximo Acosta for a friend in New York. I took a 50/50 deal on him but it’s going to turn more into a trade of two Acosta sigs for Brett Baty’s 2021 Topps Heritage Minors release. Totally worth the struggle though!
Inside I went down to the San Antonio side. Between pregame and postgame, only one player that I asked refused to sign– Carter Loewen told us postgame that he had to get to the bus.
Down by the field, Robert Perez Jr. signed all three cards I had for him, and manager Luke Montz signed all four I had for him. Signing custom cards were Ray-Patrick Didder, Cole Cummings, Ripken Reyes, Connor Hollis, and Marcos Castanon. Up at the bullpen, I got Michael De La Cruz, Bobby Milacki, Raul Brito, and Jason Blanchard.
I’m glad I got those guys pregame because postgame was tough: the Missions lost and due to a postgame fireworks display they were told to get off the field quickly. I was hoping for Victor Lizarraga, Ryan Bergert, and Jackson Wolf, but in the rush I only managed Lizarraga out of those three, but he signed everything I had. I was also able to quickly snag coach Yunir Garcia on a card and starting catcher Juan Zabala on a custom card, plus I helped out a friend in getting Joshua Mears on a card as well.
Outside on the Frisco side, things were a bit slow. I got Aaron Zavala on one more card and Luis Mieses on a custom. Aside from that, I mostly was getting guys on sweet spot cards: my friend Chris gave me a stack to 50/50 and said “Just get anyone on them; even Brooks (the team’s live dog mascot), I don’t care!”
I kept my standards slightly higher: unfortunately Tucker Mitchell said he won’t sign blank items like those. But I did at least get Andy Rodriguez, Nick Krauth, Jackson Kelley, Skylar Hales, Ben Anderson, and Mitch Bratt on some. Bratt was a solid score: the lefty is the Rangers’ #18 prospect and we got to talk a little Canada as he signed. He’s a native of Newmarket, AHL affiliate of the Maple Leafs from 1986 to 1991.
Overall it was a good weekend. Sure I got sunburned and a nice sweat-soaking, but I’ve surpassed the 1200 autograph mark for the year so far.
TRIVIA ANSWER: Don Money hit two homers off of Jenkins on April 8, 1969, and then again on September 1, 1978. Despite those efforts Money’s team lost both games, netting Fergie a win and a no-decision.
If you have any graphing questions, you can reach Drew via email at [email protected]
Related Stories:
TTM This Week: National Talk, Two Sports of Success, and In-Person Outings
TTM This Week: Even More HOFers in the Mail and Graphing Road Trip Advice
TTM This Week: Music and Baseball, Haul of Hall of Fame Autographs
TTM This Week: The Show Returns; Reliable Football Signers
TTM This Week: Hall of Famer Rookies and Set Hits, and Caveat Emptor on a World Series MVP
TTM This Week: A Pioneer, Seattle’s Future, and More HOFers To Come
TTM This Week: Three Sports in the Mailbox and Dodgers’ Prospects
TTM This Week: Some HOFer RCs, and Talking Small Sets
