What is your favorite IP or TTM Success???

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KCLJ520

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Hello all,


I collected mostly TTM for 25+ years and just recently got out of it, selling everything I had for the most part. I did keep a few cards from a few favorite players and framed them. So I am asking, and I will share my favorite success later on after we get some discussion going, but what is YOUR favorite success?

I am opening this up: TTM or IP successes, just want to hear some fun stories!

SCANS WELCOME! It will be fun to see people's successes!


God Bless,

Kevin Mc
 
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my coolest ttm was from john mule miles of the negroe leagues. Sent him a allen and ginter card and a ball to be signed and he not only signed the card and ball but added chicago giants 1946 -1949, negroe league legend, third base and outfield, hit 11 homeruns in 11 straight games 1948. And he was nice enough to write a small letter telling me how neat it was to play with satchell and gibson and all the others. My best find was when i was walking through a antique shop on the coast in oregon with my wife and i walked by a case and i felt like a rubber necker as my head swiveled as i saw a signed baseball under some other stuff. I got it out from under the stuff and asked what was needed to buy the ball. I saw on quick inspection in a not very bright area that steve carlton was on it so I paid the 30 bucks. When i got it out in sunlight. I was able to start seeing all the sigs and who they were. Yaz "which i didnt recognize" but it also had bill lee frank malzone harmon killebrew eddie robinson rico petrocelli dom dimaggio. And one other Unknown name. But it was definitely worth the money.
 
I am going along with Sturgeon on the ***** Leagues.

My favorite TTM is "Cool Papa" Bell. I got him as a kid in the 80s on a card from the Donruss Hall of Fame Heroes set. It smeared a bit, but it still my favorite.
 
Sometimes the smudge tells a story in and of itself, the story of a child in the 80s getting a piece of baseball history! Thanks Dan!

Sturgeon-awesome find! Sometimes stuff sits and goes unnoticed until a savvy collector finds the value in a lost item! I too had success with John Miles, he sent a bunch of index cards with personal sayings on them for my students at a past school. I made a poster out of it, he was a neat man!

Thanks guys for getting this one going, let's hear from everyone!!

God Bless,

Kevin Mc
 
FAVORITE STORY 1-
Norm miller was an outfielder for the Houston Astros in the '60s & early '70s. He later got into coaching. I listened to a radio interview where he was talking about the state of kids and their concentration level and helicopter parents. I got it, I had worked as an outdoor science teacher for nearly ten years and wrote to him to commiserate.... oh yeah, sent him a few cards to sign too. He signed them and sent me a signed copy of his book, To All My Fans From 'Norm Who'? He is a good guy....
 
That is a great story, and what a funny title for a book! As a school social worker, I can definitely relate and wholeheartedly agree that students now are engaged much differently (and for a much shorter period of time) than students years ago!!

Very cool success, thanks Rooster for posting!!

God bless,

Kevin Mc
 
I had some really cool TTM's as a child. Cal Ripken Jr. And "The Big Hurt" being the most notable but as I got older, I stopped and became more interested in IP autographs. Being a Reds fan I have had the pleasure of meeting quite a few players over the years. Announcer Marty Brennaman is a super nice guy. Joe Morgan, not so much (could have been having a bad day or maybe he gets tired of seeing his signed items for sale on eBay, who knows.) Dusty Baker, when he was manager, was engaging and just a really cool guy. I met him in his first season with the Reds as manager and I was wearing a 1901 Cooperstown Collection Reds hat. He didn't even know it was a Reds hat. When I told him he just kind of chuckled and thought it was really neat. He even asked me if I could take it off so that he could see it and then commented how it would be cool if the team could do some games in those hats and the uniforms from that era.

The most fun I had meeting someone was when I met George Foster at Great American Ballpark several seasons ago. He was doing something for the Reds community fund where if you donated $25 to the community fund you received an exclusive George Foster bobble head that he would sign in person. I of course had to have it but noticed how nice he was even to people who were not making a donation to get the bobblehead. He was very jovial, talkative, and signing anything put in front of him. He even took the time to take a picture with my wife and I. A couple years later Ol' George was back doing the same thing. A pure pleasure to speak with again. I was with my Dad and two brothers, and we hadn't even paid for anything and he took a group photo with us when one of my brothers asked him. He has since become one of my favorite Reds.

My most memorable IP autograph was Johnny Bench when I was about 11. I guess he was a spokesman of some kind for 5/3 bank which was opening a new branch here in Lexington,KY. I had been staying the night with a friend at his grandmother's house and she had found out about it last minute. She drove us up there and we were able to meet Mr. Bench that day. All we had to get signed was a teal piece of paper from a mini notebook. I had two, trying to get one for my little brother, but he would only sign one. I thought it was crummy at the time but as an adult I see why. He was signing for free and if he did two for me he would have had to do multiples for the other people there. Other than that he was very nice and I still have that teal piece of paper signed by Johnny Bench. It's not every day you get an opportunity to meet the greatest catcher of all time.

In my experience though, the old timers are much better in person than the current players. Maybe it's because I am older or the same age as many of the current players which makes it kind of awkward?
 
My favorite IP story and I wasn't even there. My wife had gone to the ballpark when I wasn't home and she got a Mike Trout auto baseball with 1st rd pick inscription. But it gets better! When Trout was signing she asked him if she could have his bat? Said she couldn't because he needed for the game. After the game he gave her the bat and autographed it as well. This was when he was in Low A and she really had no clue who he was. I just told her to get me his auto on a ball and she brought home a ball and bat!
 
FAVORITE STORY 2-
I sent a few cards to Bill Lee, Red Sox pitcher and quirky person extraordinaire. I sent him his RC and a few other '70s and made a nice drawing in the letter for him. He sent back my cards and they weren't even mine, gone were the RC and others I had since a kid. I wrote a letter to him explaining what happened and he sent me back two other cards, still none of them mine. One was a retired card signed Bill "You Better Not Sell This One" Lee and a 1979 card signed and added "**** You -Angry Card". I love that card, it is my favorite of all time....
 
Great stories friends, very fun to read!

Rooster, Bill Lee is a STRANGE BIRD, but I think your story sums up what I would expect from him in terms of TTM....scattered and always entertaining, as were the years he spent playing! "Quirky person extraordinaire" sums it up well!

aspoe: LOVE the story! Your wife is awesome for getting that stuff for you! My wife has waited in MANY lines with me, and always was a good sport about it, glad yours is too!

kycardkid: I really agree with you about the old timers, they are fun to interact with, and have so many cool stories. Often they have fun personalities too, and it reminds me of Joe Cunningham, who played with the Cardinals in the late 50s. He started the "Fredbird Doin' It Right" program, which visits schools in the STL area and teaches kids about staying off drugs. Joe was showing his Championship ring after the 2006 World Series, he received one as a member of the organization. It was huge, and he said that Tim, who is Fredbird, got an even bigger one as part of the field/playing staff. I guess there are two tiers of rings, and Tim got a bigger one. I showed Joe my Wedding ring, and said "here's my Championship Ring, Joe" to which he smiled and said "Keep swingin', Slugger!"
 
Another favorite IP story was when my wife and I met Dan Hampton, Hall of Famer from the 85 Bears. We lived outside of Chicago at the time, and during football season, those guys from that team are popular signers. Danimal has a contract with Jewel Osco to do store openings, re-openings, and events, and he was at a store not far from our apartment. We waited in line for some time, and were far back. My wife looked up to the front, saw Dan, and said "he's not as tall as I would have thought," to which I said "he's sitting down!"

Another story from that era: I went to meet Kevin Butler, kicker from the 85 Bears at a Home Depot close to where I worked at the time. I was probably 30-40 minutes from the front of the line, which I was happy about, and got to see him. I handed him an old card, said it was mine from my childhood, and said that he was my favorite player, since my name is Kevin as well. Butler smiled and handed me his Super Bowl ring, and said "Well Kevin, why don't you go ahead and try that on!" We got a photo with me wearing his Super Bowl XX ring, which was an awesome memory!

God Bless,

Kevin Mc
 
Pete Gray one armed outfielder from the St Louis Browns was a local, close to my hometown and I had the pleasure of talking to him in the early 80's he also had a biography called one armed wonder he signed a baseball for me I will try to post a pic but he was a pleasure to sit down with just to listen to how the game use to be he was a true class act
 
Pete Gray one armed outfielder from the St Louis Browns was a local, close to my hometown and I had the pleasure of talking to him in the early 80's he also had a biography called one armed wonder he signed a baseball for me I will try to post a pic but he was a pleasure to sit down with just to listen to how the game use to be he was a true class act

That is awesome, if you have a photo it would be fun to see! Thanks for sharing a very cool story, I remember his name, and what a strong person he was!

God Bless,

Kevin Mc
 
I don't know that I could name a single favorite, but I have some fun memories.

The first autograph I ever got was Joe Charbonneau on a free Xeroxed photo at a card show in 1991. I had just turned 7 years old. The second one was Mark Lewis (in ballpoint pen on a roster insert from a game program) a couple months later. The third one was a random rookie Blue Jays pitcher on the back of my ticket envelope in September that year. That rookie went on to win a Cy Young Award five years later-- Pat Hentgen. I still have all three of those sigs.

I didn't do a whole lot with autographs for the next few years. If a guy was signing free at a card show, my dad and I would get him-- Carlos Baerga, Ozzie Newsome, Bobby Phills, Hanford Dixon, Eddie Johnson, Derek Lilliquist, Kevin Mack, Dick Ambrose, Bob Gain, Otto Orf, Mel Harder, Alex Delvecchio. My grandmother would keep an eye out for shows in Michigan as well; she got me former Tigers like Mark Fidrych and Denny McLain.

I didn't get back into the hobby heavily until college. I mailed out a few in the years between them-- I remember Sandy Alomar Jr. was the first one I ever got back; this would have been 1992 or 1993. I started in again with hockey in the late 90's-- Trevor Linden, Alexander Mogilny, Dave Andreychuk, Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Jaromir Jagr, Pavel Bure, Brett Hull, Marty McSorley, Nikolai Khabibulin, Gordie Howe, Maurice and Henri Richard, Guy Lafleur, Patrick Roy... I tracked everything in a notebook. I wish I still had it; it would be fun to add all of those to the spreadsheet I have now.

In college (this is 2003 we're at now), I got into it because I was finally in a hockey city. Growing up near Cleveland, we didn't have much puck aside from the Lumberjacks and Barons. But now I was finally in the middle of everything. Over Christmas, I searched my cards for guys who were still playing and on my first day back, I trekked out to the FleetCenter (as it was then known) and waited. And had no luck aside from Hal Gill as he walked in from his North End apartment. I remember going on Paul Buxton's site (some of you may know him as an early hockey 'graphing guru) and getting in contact with him via AIM (like I said, 2003), getting advice from him and adding myself to his Traders' Bazaar, where I found a few other good traders. I eventually got to know a few other collectors around Boston-- notably Lanny (crosbyfan on a number of boards; he now lives near Edmonton, I believe) who was just getting into it at the same time I was. Pretty quickly we figured out which hotels to try and when the Canadiens came to town a few weeks later, I was off and rolling.

I actually posted a bunch of my recaps from my old college site on my blog a couple years ago. I'll need to post more of those soon. Check them out as I think my optimistic 19-year old voice from in the moment captures it better than today's faulty memory at a point 10+ years into the future from a cynical 31-year old: http://dfwautographs.blogspot.com/2013/08/hounding-report-rangers-tunnel-august.html

Obviously now, I'm still pretty serious about it. I've sent out over 750 requests since 2007, and since moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area I get out to multiple MLB games, minor league ballgames, card shows, and NHL practices every year. I don't do the hotels much, if ever, but I still get stuff done as often as I can.
 
pete gray

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pete gray ball
 
Very cool friends, Steve, thanks for posting the photo, and for the clarification on how to do that correctly, that is a really cool item and awesome story behind it!

HockeyBrawler, you and I followed a very similar trajectory in terms of collecting! I too got more into it in college, and have been on and off ever since, mostly off now, since I lost my job two years ago, and ended up selling most everything to help our family. I have some stuff left that I didnt want to get rid of, and have collected a little bit more since then, but have enjoyed following your and everyone else's great successes on here, thanks for posting!

God Bless,

Kevin Mc
 
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