Sending cards (insanity edition 1)

Like I said when sending my last batch, its been a crazy week. I have to present progress on my project at work today and my funding and team is dependent on the meeting going well. No pressure, just my teams jobs. Any way. That coupled with lack of sleep, with the Scherzer return must have turned me into a crazy TTM nut. Just look at the group I am sending tomorrow. Dan Haren, Justin Upton, Michael Young, and some obscure player Alex Rodriguez. Delusions of grandeur or just delusions?

Dan Haren

Wow, what can I say about a guy that carried the weight, the dead weight of our team this year. Dan Haren is insanely good (total unbiased analysis there by the way). Can we just clone him and pitch him every night? Why stop there, can he set himself up to close?

Justin Upton

Young kid that plays with confidence that comes from natural ability. Gun for an arm in the out field and hits home runs that are moon shots. He is still young, look out.

Micheal Young

Another Texas Ranger. He was on the field for my son's first game. That will always bring significance to a TTM return.

Alex Rodriguez

Never heard of this guy. It should be a super fast return, this guy couldn't be getting much mail.

Amazing Ginter TTM return.

I received a TTM success in the mail box today. How I was going to post about it gave me much pause. You see, I have been trying to solidify how I will post to both of my blogs. I want each of them to have consistency. Card-scape is to post only my 2008 Ginter project and have more of a conversation type content, where as All TTM will be posted at TTM Addict, and be very to the point.

Today's TTM crosses into both. So for this time only I will post All the returns by this player on this blog not just the 08 Ginters, and you will see why.



I sent Max Scherzer two cards; a 2008 Allen and Ginter and a signature card. When I opened the envelope I found not one, not two, but three. Three? As I got to looking, my signature card was not there either. So two of the cards he returned were from him. Why?



I then looked at the Autographs, the young man had signed a card for each of the individuals I listed in the letter. One for my oldest son, Jayden. One for my one year old, Benjamin. Then he added a third card for me. I was flabbergasted. Not only had Mr. Scherzer found time to open my request, read my letter, but he was thoughtful enough to include autos for each of my small family (my wife doesn't mind being left out) and add cards to fit. I can't tell you how grateful and amazed I am, what an individual!

Thanks Max!

Sending cards (week 7)

Its been a busy week at work. I am leading a project that is sorely under staffed and I have to present our progress on Monday. Long hours this weekend for me, so I am only sending out 2 attempts this week.

Joey Votto

Second runner up for Rookie of the Year last year, I have to respect that. Plus, he hit a Home Run and knocked in 4 RBI's today (well its midnight so technically yesturday). This will be a nice return if it comes back.

Tim Lincecum

As a Diamondback fan, this young man has always been "the other guy" in the Cy Young chase. Now that I am writing about him, I think now is a good a time as in to come at him realistically. This guy can pitch. I do have a lot of respect for what he can do and the scary thing is; he is still young.

Ginter TTM Success #4

My mail box was quiet lately, and as much as I am not under the delusion of being entitled to a response, I was getting disappointed. There have been numerous success to enjoy throughout the blogs in this small stretch though, so I have been able to enjoy their success while waiting for happy days to come again. wickedortega had three successes, Roy Sievers, Bonnie Blair, and Bucky Dent. UncleMoe found success via Nate Schierholtz, and Paul from Carl Crawford Cards posted about his success with Bob Motley



One of the Successes in the Mail today was Ian Snell. He sent back two cards one of them was the 2008 Ginter for this blog. Nice signature and a timely return.

Thanks Ian!

Sending Cards (supplemental)

Sending mid week again. Like last time this is being spurred by two things; My current obsession with TTM, and reading of another blogger's success.

Brandon Webb

It's like having my own card shop posted a little bit ago about Webby sending back both Ginter cards he sent him. Brandon Webb and Dan Haren ARE the D-backs lately. With out either and they are basement dwellers (Exhibit A: 2009). A TTM from either would be amazing.

Sending cards (week 6)

Not much success this week, I must have used up all my luck last week. Undaunted, we go to the mail box again this week sending out 5 cards. Joey Chestnut, Paul Lo Duca, Derrek Lee, Stevie Williams and Adrian Beltre.

Joey Chestnut

Mostly what I know of this guy is that he can eat a lot more than I can. The Nathan's Hot Dog eating champ will be a nice addition to my collecting if I get this back. I am not sure why but this card is almost the "face" of this set to me. Not sure if its because it is on the hobby box or not, but its one of the first cards I think of when I think '08 ginter.

Paul Lo Duca

Nightowl probably knows a heck of a lot more about Lo Duca than I do. Another great catcher to be born in the Dodger organization.

Derrek Lee

I love the look of this card. I think its the blue, for some reason the blue on this card really makes it pop. Plus you can't beat the pose.

Stevie Williams

Owner and Founder of DGK Skateboards. I really wasn't into skateboarding growing up, but I do have respect for anyone that can do it. The closest I came was to try snowboarding once. I wasn't the most graceful individual on the mountain that day let me tell you.

Adrian Beltre

Two time gold glove winner for the Mariners. The Ex-Dodger also won a Silver in 2004.

Cleaning up and duplicating.

I have been thinking about doing this for a about a week now, and after weighing the pros and cons, I have created a second blog. The second blog will be only TTM Successes, but all of them. Instead of taking 2008 Allen & Ginter Card-scape, which was meant to only chronicle my 2008 Allen and Ginter project, and keep posting "off topic" ttm successes I will use the new blog to post those. Hopefully this will keep the direction of this blog on topic more.

Included with my A&G TTM attempts I have been sending other sports and non A&G baseball attempts as well. All of those successes will be posted at TTM Addict. On the new blog, I will not bother posting about what I am sending, or any fluff. It will simply be what is coming in.

If it interests you, check it out. (o:

Sending Cards (supplemental)

OK, well we can officially add TTM to my list of addictions. Great, now caffeine won't be alone on that list. Anyway. I was surfing through the card blogs in my blog roll, and I came across a blog I hadn't seen before, My 2008 Topps Set Blog. As I started to view blog post after blog post on this site I loved the blog more and more. Don't get me wrong, I am huge fan of my blog roll buddies, but this site was what I want to do for mine but better, cleaner, and well lets face it; more successful. I can't be the brilliant writer that Night Owl is, or have the range of great cards to post that Beardy has, and I can't even compete with the dare devil driving shots that wickedortega can pull off. I already knew that going in, but I thought, hey I found my nitch...well not so much. Its been done, and done better. But I will NOT be deterred by my mediocrity, I will just embrace it!

Any how, I told you that so I could tell you this. My 2008 Topps set Blog's recent success was Andruw Jones. Emboldened by this news, and the fact that I can't stop thinking about TTM, I decided to break from my tradition (a whole 5 weeks) of sending only once a week. I am sending Mr. Jones an attempt tomorrow.

Andruw Jones

I am sending to Mr Jones, not just for the known success, but because he has grown on me of late. I actually didn't like him at first. I didn't like his "smug" smile every time he came to the plate, I thought it looked like "I know I am dangerous, and I will taunt you". Then he became a Dodger and I thought, great now I have to see it all the time. But, then came the struggles. It seemed like he forgot how to hit. He struggled to find a team, and ended up fighting for a roster spot with the Rangers. So far, he seems to be doing OK. Not tearing the cover off the ball like he did in Atlanta, but decent. Completely turned my opinion of him around. I have to admire the hard work and determination it takes to make a comeback.

Off topic: An Angel Fan is "Born"

I sat down tonight with my son, who is currently not feeling to spiffy, and tuned into MLB.TV to watch the Diamondbacks.

I turned to my boy and said, "Do you want to watch the Diamondbacks with Daddy?"

"No."

Its to be expected. Thomas the tank engine is playing a foot away on DVD, it's hard to compete with Thomas. But then came the unexpected.

"I want to watch the Angels"

At first I was disappointed, I am trying to breed a D-back fan here. But the disappointment was only for instant, it was quickly followed by a..."wait..really?" I tuned off of the current game and pulled up an archived game of the Diamondbacks playing the Angels, which he sat and watch with me. Hey, the Angel game was over, I gotta get my D-backs in somewhere don't I?

After the intial instant of disappointment, my mind has been making a big deal of it. I like the Angels too, not die hard like my snakes, but I like to relax with an Angel game. I find the Angels relaxing. When I watch the D-backs (the following only takes affect when we are competing), I live and die by the pitch. It can wrack the nerves. When the D-backs lose heartbreaking losses, they are just that, heartbreaking. With the Angels I can watch a baseball game. I can enjoy the atmosphere, the stadium, the game. No longer does my heart sink to my toes when the ball leaves the yard against my team in the top of the 9th (or this season anytime in the 8th).

I now have a new direction. Instead of trying to get my son to be a D-back fan like his Dad, I am now going jump on his Angel bandwagon. More games, more merchandise and more cards. Oh sure I will still be sneaking in my Diamondbacks contraband for my own enjoyment. But the next generation in this house will be wearing Angel Red instead of Sedona.

Sending cards (week 5)

The reason for delaying a week to send cards out has been the family budget. When rent and groceries demand the check, TTM takes a back seat. Odd I know.

After seeing TTM Success four times this past 2 weeks, 3 being Ginter, (Davon Drew, Adam Jones, David Wright, and Dan Jansen) I wanted to increase how many I am sending out. This week I have outgoing; Max Scherzer, Ian Snell, Jay Bruce, and Cole Hamels.

Max Scherzer

Being a huge Diamonbacks fan this is a no-brainer. I have been pretty good at holding myself back in this project. I don't want to inundate the Diamondbacks with initial requests, so I have been keeping myself from choosing their players every week. After seeing the success of It's like having my own card shop, I had to give it a try. Scherzer has been exciting to watch as he grows. I actually heard about him first on a Los Angeles sports talk show. One of the host was raving about this young kid in the D-back's farm system, they had an on air contest to see if listeners can spell his name.

Ian Snell

I will not try to pretend I have stories about every MLB ball player in this set. Like some others I know the name but nothing else. Like Adam Jones, I am sending this card because he is in the set but as in Jones' case, I am hoping that because of this project my interest in the players will grow and I will find out more about them. I am very happy that Jones sent his card back and because of it I have started try to find more about him. Being that my bad luck sidelined him for the remainder of the season, its been a little slow.

Jay Bruce

Rookie star. According to Wikipedia, he is known by some fans as "Bruce Almighty". How can you have a nickname like that and not be a swell dude.

Cole Hamels

Mr. Hamels really didn't come on to my radar screen until last post season. Not sure if I am a little slow, but when he became a house hold name is pretty much when I came on board. The post season was good for Hamels. Back to Back post season MVP's and a World Series ring, can't do much better for yourself.

3rd Ginter TTM Success

We are rolling now. 2nd in as many days. I really need to get the next round of cards sent out. I may not get the next batch out till early next week though, as this weekend we celebrate my youngest son's first birthday. Today I came home and again another return in the mailbox. Happy days. This time it is from Speed Skater Dan Jansen.



Dan Jansen was a hero of mine growing up. Him and Bonny Blair. I loved watching the Winter Olympic games more so than the Summer. Speed Skating, Downhill Skiing, and Figure Skating mostly. the year I most remember was the year that Mr. Jansen and Ms. Blair lead the US team in Lillehammer in 1994. Following that Olympics I sent my first TTM requests to both of them, and each sent back a signed post card. It was one of the coolest things I got as a kid. Following true to form, Mr. Jansen send back his card in speedy fashion. I look forward to sharing stories with my son over this card.

Thanks Dan!

Another TTM Ginter Success

They are coming in now! I must say checking the mailbox is getting exciting. Financially we hit a rough stretch which pushed the latest outgoing requests back a week. Even still, incoming mail has kept the activity alive. I was pleasantly surprised to open the envelope and see that it was David Wright that got back to me.



I was also amazed that with all he went through in the time I sent the card till now, that he took the time to sign. Even without the incident, I thought that it would take a lot longer than the 34 days ended up taking.

Mr. Wright and Utley were the first players that I tried to send two cards to. I was fortunate that he signed the Ginter, as he only sent back one card. I had sent a 2008 piece of history as well, but I really love how these Ginter's look signed.

Thanks David!

Thank you LyricsNinja!

I just received cards in the mail from LyricsNinja of "Zombified Remains" blog. In exchange for some Ryan Howard cards he more than genrously sent this lot of Allen and Ginter's for my set building attempted.

Cards.



50 - Albert Pujols
71 - Fausto Carmona
97 - Jeff Francis
98 - Kazuo Fukumori


105 - Jonathan Papelbon


114 - Trevor Hoffman
141 - Jermaine Dye
171 - J.D. Drew


177 - Evan Longoria
178 - Jose Vidro
182 - Nate McLouth


190 - Grady Sizemore
214 - Dustin McGowan


268 - Dean Karnazes
275 - Nick Markakis


307 - Pat Neshek


313 - Harriet Beecher Stowe
315 - Tom Glavine
318 - Andre Ethier
348 - Justin Masterson
No Numbered Base Card - Kosuke Fukudome (I didn't even know about this card)

First Allen Ginter TTM Auto

Yes sir, we officially have our first signed 2008 Ginter. Baltimore has been kind to my son and I this week. First it was Davon Drew from the Ravens. Now Adam Jones.



I do owe Mr. Jones an apology. My first round of cards I sent to attempt to get signed included Arizona's Chris Young. After sending the cards out he got demoted to the minors. The next round included David Wright, who then gets hit in the head with a fastball. The third attempt was Mr. Jones' round. I just found out that Adam Jones is out for the season due to an ankle injury. So Mr. Jones, I am sorry for sending this bad luck your way.

As for the auto, it is very nice, blue sharpie and all. The only thing that is a little disappointing is that the signature smeared when it was put back into the penny sleeve. For those veteran TTM; Is there any way to help avoid this when sending out the cards?

Thanks Adam!