Paid TTM Success: Delmon Young

 This Paid TTM success finally showed up today and it's going right to the front of the queue to be posted.  If you are an Orioles fan or a Tigers fan and were watching the playoffs in 2014 you'll understand why this card carries such importance to me. Sure, Delmon Young has been a lightning rod of controversy over the years but nobody will ever be able to take his heroics in the eighth inning of Game Two of the ALDS away from him.  Bar none, this was the best baseball moment I have ever seen in person and it will be incredibly difficult to top. I can think of a few scenarios that I'd love to see but I'll leave that to the baseball gods!  

I am incredibly fortunate to be able to be able to share this moment with William of foul bunt.  He also sent to the same signing and you can read his recap here. We have been to Orioles Fanfests, minor league games, major league games, card shows and even made detours during family vacations to be able to be able to meet up and hang out.  Baseball has brought me a lasting friendship and I am grateful for that.

If you go to Youtube and type in Delmon Double, you'll pull up at least a half dozen videos of the hit.  Here's the MLB video of Delmon's Double:

Here's a longer, more analytical version dissecting the hit from a Youtube channel that I enjoy watiching: 

I gladly paid $25 to get the card signed.  His signature isn't the best and the card is a little dark and not quite what I usually like to send out but I could not pass on the opportunity.  Now somebody needs to get JJ Hardy to do a signing so I can get the slide part of this play inked.

TTM Kinda Success: John Papa

 Here's my first kinda success I had show up in the mailbox from John Papa.  I call it a kinda success because he signed the index card and not the card itself.  I alluded to it in my post from last night and I quit the practice of attaching the cards to index cards for protection cold turkey.  Between the time I sent this card out and it returning, I started to run low on photo corners so I searched 3 retail stores and finally made an Amazon order to get more.  The new pack now sits in my supplies drawer, unopened. Oh well, I'll use'em for something. 

Sure, I'm a little disappointed that this particular TTM didn't turn out the way I wanted.  I learned from my mistake and I'll try again in the near future.  Plus, I can't be too mad at one of the two Orioles who of which  I share a birthday.

I mailed this card out on November 8th, 2023 and got it back November 18th for a 10 day TAT. Thank You Mr. Papa!

TTM Success: Mel Held

 This was one of the first Orioles Crown card that I sent out after I decided to get as many of them signed as possible.  Obviously, I'll never be able to complete the set of them since players passed away before the sent was printed in 1991 and may have passed since.  I haven't pulled the exact numbers of what is still possible, but I'm going to try to send to as many of the living players that have a card in the set as I can.  For those who don't know, The 1991 Orioles Crown / Coca-Cola set was printed in 4 separate series, in mostly alphabetical order and ended up with 501 cards.  It pictured EVERY player that had played for the Orioles since they moved to Baltimore in 1954.  I'd estimate 95% of the players are shown in an Orioles uniform.  

For me, this set is a double edged godsend/curse.  There are some players in the set that never had a mainstream Orioles card issued and some never had anything issued with their picture at all.  It has afforded me the opportunity to research, learn about them, write a letter, obtain the autographs of guys that are somewhat obscure.  I realize that most teams have never had a set released like this so I feel fortunate that this set exists.

Mel Held is one of those obscure players.  He pitched four games during the 1956 season and that was the entirety of his whole MLB career.  The card below is the only card that exists of him (that I or COMC, etc. knows of). As you can see, I was attaching these Crown cards to an index card with photo corners to give them a bit of protection while going through the mail.  You'll see soon why I quit doing that.  

I sent this card out on November 8th and got it back on November 18th for a 10 day TAT. Thank You Mr. Held!

TTM Success: Tim Nordbrook

I've started to fall behind a bit on posting my TTM successes.  I'm about a month behind but I'll catch up eventually.  I got this success back from Tim Nordbrook.  He was born in Baltimore and was somewhat of a rookie sensation when he made his debut.  Unfortunately for him, sustained success did not come and he was out of the league with in 5 years.  It was tough for young players to gain a foothold in the majors with the Orioles at the time with the great lineups that they had back then.

I had actually met Mr. Nordbrook at one of the first few Orioles Fanfests that I went to in the early 2010's.  I got his autograph on the Orioles alumni postcards that they usually hand out. I had no I idea who he was at the time.  I'm glad I've been able to learn much more about the Orioles players through plain curiosity and doing a bit of research before firing off a letter to them.

I sent this 1976 Topps out on November 6th, 2023 and got it back on November 18th, 2023 for a 12 day TAT.  Thank You Mr. Nordbrook!

TTM Success: Don Ferrarese

I was thrilled to have this TTM from Don Ferrarese come back.  I really like the style of 1957 Topps and the photography and poses for the time were outstanding.  As of today, Mr. Ferrarese is the 22nd oldest MLB player alive at 94 years and 178 days young.  I've did a little bit of reading up on him before I sent and he just sounds like an all-around good guy.  He got his start in the major leagues as an Oriole and then moved onto Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia and St. Louis. Judging from his stats it seemed like was a pitcher who was a swingman.  

Once again my scanner decided to crop the bottom of the card off.  Its not as off center top to bottom as it looks here.

He also included this postcard sized advertisement for his biography Big Leagues, Bigger Heart.  All proceeds from the book goes towards the college scholarship fund that he set up years ago.  I have asked for the book as a Christmas gift so in a couple of weeks hopefully I'll have some good reading material. Otherwise, I'll probably go ahead and buy the book myself if Santa doesn't come through.

He also included his signature on an index card without me asking.

I sent my card out on October 27th, 2023 and it returned on November 11th, 2023 for a 22 day TAT. Thank You Very Much Mr. Ferrarese
 

Birthday Cards

Last week I celebrated a birthday. My mother-in-law has always been a good gift giver and has supported my cardboard addiction habit collecting over the years as long as I can give her a specific item I want. I usually ask for a pack of 9 pocket pages but this year since she has a Costco membership,  I decided to ask for the 2023 Topps flagship collection. These particular packages are Costco exclusive.

Here's a good shot of the front of the package after I had opened the top lid.  I do like the presentation.  It has the curb appeal.  But man, I think I may have to buy some carbon credits to make up for the amount of cardboard and plastic this package contains.

The main attraction for me is the three packs of The Flagship Collection cards.  More on those later. I was also hopefully going to find an All Aces insert out of the series 1, 2, or Update packs or a Black Gold out of Update.  I got totally shut out on any of those inserts.  I'll spare you all the gory details of the regular packs.  Nothing really earth-shattering or terribly notable except for a select few.  I don't think I could cobble together another batch of oddball Christmas songs right now so consider yourselves off the hook this time.

I did pull this pretty rare card out of one of the Update packs.  I was pretty delighted to pull this card since I really enjoyed watching Seager make Rays, Orioles, Astros, and Diamondbacks pitching look silly this past postseason. I had no I idea that there were even parallels of the much maligned Stars of MLB inserts until this past spring when I pulled this:

This card has not left my desk since I pulled it.  I had some extreeeemely good luck with Series One this year.  I joined Nachos Grande's case break and got the Home Team Advantage Adley and I only opened three hanger boxes and got pulled this gem.  Also the one lose pack a few weeks back that yielded the blue bordered Gunnar. 

Pulling a card from a pack of Cal always makes the hair on my neck stand up whether it is a card I already owned or one I had never seen before.  I might have a crazy idea for this card so we'll see what happens in the future.

So the Trout card is the oversized card and the Alonso is the "companion card".  I'm pretty happy with the Trout since he's a player I kinda collect.  Nothing really special about the Alonso other than the numbering on the back.

So onto the three packs of The Flagship Collection.  I got a couple of cheaters, a two time beater, and a bunch of Mets.  I would say these are the best out of the fifteen cards from the packs.  I was hoping for a Gunnar, Adley, or Grayson.  I'm still happy with Mountcastle though.  These cards are on thick stock.  Think Triple Threads or Tribute base card thickness. The design is decent enough.  One thing I noticed is that the Acuna, Kershaw and the beater were all about a 1/32nd of an inch shorter and slimmer than the other 12 cards.  It doesn't really affect the cards much but I though it was worth noting.

Would I buy a box of these for myself?  Probably not because by now I'd pretty much seen everything I needed to see of the flagship design this year.  (Still looking for All Aces, Black Golds and most Orioles though). Getting this product as a gift was a fun rip  but the value is not quite there for me.  Flagship is produced like crazy right now so the base cards aren't hardly worth much anymore. We're not quite at the level of 1990 Topps but there's a ton of recent years of flagship just gathering dust in the back of most peoples closets.
 

TTM Success: Bill Dillman

The TTMs have been rolling in lately.  I've put in a good effort to get as many of the older gentlemen that played for the Orioles.  This one came in from Bill Dillman.  He only pitched 2 seasons in the majors (1967 and 1970)  and got into 50 games.  

Another awesome looking 1968.  Its not nearly as off-center as the scan looks.  My scanner was late reporting to work that day.

Curiously, Bill was included in 1969 Topps even though he didn't throw a major league pitch in 1968 or 1969. 
 

I sent these cards out on November 3rd, 2023 and they returned on November 16th 2023 for a 13 day TAT. Thank You Mr. Dillman!

TTM Success: Bobby Floyd

This TTM Success came back from former Oriole Bobby Floyd. Since Mr, Floyd only has one Orioles card where he is pictured by himself and I am (mostly) only interested in autographed Orioles cards as TTMs, my options were limited.  I also wasn't sending a 1969 Topps that he shares with Larry Burchart and some guy named Rollie Fingers ( I wonder how he turned out).  That's a high number card and he isn't pictured alone. That's all fine and dandy, because I tend to enjoy 1970 Topps and they look pretty darn good signed.

Bobby Floyd moved onto the Royals in a trade which brought relief pitcher Moe Drabowsky back to the Orioles.  It would have been tough for Bobby to shoulder his way into the infield mix with Brooks at Third, Mark Belanger at Short, Davey Johnson at Second, and Boog Powell at First.  The outfield was just as crowded with Merv Rettenmund, Paul Blair and Frank Robinson.  An embarrassment of riches that Earl Weaver had to work with during that Golden Era.

I mailed this card out on November 4, 2023 and it returned on November 16, for a 12 day TAT.  Thank You Mr. Floyd!