Recent TTM's

I recently recieved two returns on some custom cards I made not too long ago. Simple designs, but they look great when signed.

Harry Gallatin signed this card in under a week's time. He played for the New York Knicks from 1948-1957 befor playing a season and a half with the Detroit Pistons. At 6'6", he was an undersized center, but still made 7 All Star Teams, pulled down a Knicks record 33 rebounds in a game and made the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991. Not a bad career for an undersized center. very pleased to be able to add "The Horse" to my Knicks autographed collection and he also gave me permission to send a mini basketball for him to sign.

Bubby Brister is probably more know for his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers where he played from 1986 to 1992. But he did spend a year with the Jets in 1995. It was not a good year for the Jets. They finished the year at 3-13 in Ritchie Kotite's first season as Jets head coach. Who knew the worst was yet to come. Brister backed up Boomer Esiason that year. He played in 9 games, was 93-170 for 726 yards, 4 Touchdowns and 8 Interceptions. Not great stats. After the '95 season, he moved on to Denver and won 2 Super Bowl rings as the back up to John Elway. Bubby signed this card in about a months time for my Jets autograph collection.

Re-starting TTM's

When there is no baseball, I usually have a lot of free time on my hands. I sometimes watch MLB Network programming or pop in a Yankeeography dvd or bid on ebay. I do watch the Knicks, Jets and Devils as well. Or I'll pop in a movie, hit the gym or play xbox. When I have some down time after all that, plus work, I send out autograph requests.

Now, mind you, I don't send TTM's as much as I should. but when I do, I'll write up a quick letter, throw in a card or a ball and send it out with the hopes I get said item back quickly and safely. There have been times when I send a baseball or puck out and not gotten it back (Are you listening Mariano Rivera, Paul O'Neill and Jacques Lemaire?) I usually don't send anything of value out unless I know I'll get it back in return. What I usually send out are cards.

I will only collect the player in the uniform of my teams. Why? Because there are so many players who have played for my teams (Yankees alone have had 1,516 players don the pinstripes in their illustrious history). Aside from Hall of Famers, that's plenty to chase. Besides, I really dont care about getting a signature of a shortstop who played for the Angels in 1981 and batted .190 in 18 games, unless he played for the Yankees at one point.

So, what if there isn't a card I can find of the player in either a Yankee, Jet, Knick or Devil uni? Simple, I will make one up to send off to the athlete. I will start by googling or looking on Yahoo for a pic of the player. I'll save the pic and upload it to my Photoshop elements program. I have some ready made templates of the teams. The hard part for me is cutting out the player from the pic. My skills in photoshop are elementary, so I sometimes have to re-do the card untill I get it as right as it will get. Here some pics of some I have already made up:

Now, here are some signed examples:

The designs are pretty crude (especially my earlier Knicks customs) and easy to make. I'm not the greatest at Photoshop, heck, I can't even draw a curved line on it. But I am pretty happy how these came out and even more thrilled when they come back signed as they look pretty sweet, if I do say so myself.

I have a few Knicks customs already sent out. I'll update when I recieve them back. I'm also working on custom cut signature cards.

Tonight, there will be no autograph request letter writting, nor will I be watching Monday Night Raw. Nope, tonight I will have my butt parked in front of my TV, an ice cold Blue Moon in one hand and a Buffalo Wing in the other, rooting for my Jets on Monday Night Football. First place in the AFC East is on the line and this game could also have serious playoff seeds on the line as well. This is probably the most important regular season game in recent Jets history and I have been a die hard fan since 1979. Let's Go Jets!

6/3/2010 Mail and The Countdown To 200 Continues..

Yesterday, the God's of cardboard saw fit to visit my mailbox. I got two ebay wins and a TTM.

Blair Thomas signed this custom card for me, sent to his home address. Thomas is a former first round pick (second overall), who played running back for the Jets, Patriots, Cowboys and Panthers. He led all AFC rookies in total yards and yards per carry in his rookie year, but really didn't pan out as hoped. He co-owns a chain of bars in Pennsylvania called KoKoMos.

My first ebay win was this 2 card auction for a Panni Threads Walt "Clyde' Frazier autographed card and this triple autographed card of Ernie Vandewege (Yes, Kiki's dad played for the Knicks), Eddy Curry and Spencer Heywood from SP Authentic. I was able to win both cards for under 15.00 dlvd. Sorry abouth the picture. For some reason, it came out small. You would think I would have invested in a scanner by now.

My other ebay win was this In The Zone insert from 2007 Fleer Baseball of Mark Teixiera. It is my 192nd diffrent card of his and I am inching closer to my goal of 200 before the end of July. I would like to have 400 by the end of the calender year, but we all can't get what we want.

2/23/2010

I haven't been able to post here because my laptop is about to be given it's last rites. I'm posting this from my work computer. I can't really save pics on it, so until I'm able to buy a new laptop, I will just post what I have gotten and post pics later. I have gotten in recently:

Chad Moehler-Signed a Topps 08 and a Yankee Stadium custom. This was sent to Orioles ST and returned in under a week

Johnny Bower-This puzzled me as he usually signs and returns in under a weeks time, but it took 2 months. I was worried as I hoped his health was ok. He's a great signer and a terrific ambassador to hockey. He signed a Maple Leafs puck in silver paint pen and added HOF inscription. He also signed my custon card and added a signed post card of him holding the Stanley Cup. It was also postmarked from FL rather than Canada.

Kevin Weekes-Signed 2 customs, a Devils puck and a 08-09 UD Series 2 card in about 2 months. This was sent to him c/o Hockey Night In Canada.

Brian Dayett-Former Yankee Outfielder signed a 1982 Donruss and a Yankee Stadium custom in about a week.

jon Lieber-Signed 2 Topps cards and a Yankee Stadium custom in about 2 weeks time sent in care of his home. This was a third times a charm one as I had sent to him 2x before in care of the Phillies and never got them back.

That's all for now. Hopefully I can get my laptop replaced rather quickly so I can post pics here again.

2/3/2010 Recent Mailday

ok, I tried to post last night, but for some reason it wasn't sticking. Let's try this again

Mailday from MondayGlen "Chico" Resch. Former goalie for the Islanders, Rockies, Devils and Flyers. Signed 2 customs in pen. I did send a third, which he didn't sign. I'll try to get him at the Rock later in the year.

Former Jets QB Rick Mirer signed these two customs

This was an ebay win for the Mark Teixeira

Tuesday's mail

Former Yankees and Astros relief pitcher Xavier Hernandez signed a card and custom in just under 10 days.

Devils Forward and one of the NHL's best young stars Zach Parise signed 2 customs in black and this puck in silver sharpie in 7 days.

Todays mail

No TTM's. Just this ebay win for my Teixeira PC arrived. I'm also bidding on a 50 card lot as well.

Time for bed. I pray this saves this time.

Goodnite.