my latest three way...

 

as most of you may know, I dabble in the ttm autograph world. I've been fairly successful, despite the U.S.P.S's attempt to send all of their children through college via my postage needs.

 

one of the people who is known for his generous signing habits, is baseball legend, Dale Murphy.

 

Being a lifelong Braves fan, I have written to him several times for an autograph. I've sent photos, cards, a ball once... all to no avail. While Mr Murphy signs anything that isn't nailed down for EVERYONE else on the planet, he avoids, nay, shuns my requests.

 

Although that restraining order looks great framed on my wall..... it's his auto I want.

 

Enter in a plain white envelope I received in the mail awhile back. It had familiar writing on it, and the name of the sender was familiar. You know him, the master of the lack of capitalization, gcrl.

 

Now gcrl lives in Minnesota. How a Dodger fan ended up in Minnesota is a story best left for him to tell, but he's there nonetheless.

However, the return address / postmark was from Salt Lake City, Utah.

 

I know gcrl isn't a travelling vacuum salesman.... and it's doubtful he took some cards along with him on vacation just to mail them away like postcards.... so wtf?

 

Curious, I open said PWE.

 

Out pops this.....

 

Now.... Mr Murphy DOES live in Salt Lake City.... So what we have here, is a good blogger friend writing to Dale Murphy, and asking him to take pity on me and send me an auto.

And that's just what he did.

If only everything in life was this simple.

Thanks Jim.... and Dale.

One week left!

You still have a week left to enter this code for a free month with the best autograph site on the ole interwebs.

If you've ever wanted to try it, now's the time... you don't even have to provide any personal information other than an email address. What are you waiting for? go! Now!

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Who wants some free stuff?

How about some free autographs?
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Who wouldn't want that? Well, I'll also throw in some free advice. Sign up for the best online resource for TTM autograph requests....

and yes, for right now, it's free.

Star Tiger has over 370,000 active celebrity addresses. Feel like writing Red Kelly? Henri Richard? Ken Dryden?

How about James Garner? Brigitte Bardot? Heather Locklear?

Maybe Virgil Trucks or Al Hrabosky? Dale Murphy?

Or George R.R. Martin? Dean R. Koontz?

Whatever your interest, Star Tiger has it. I have autographs from all of the above mentioned to prove it.

Right now Star Tiger has a free sign up. Enter the coupon code FREE-5E52-5ACC and you get 4 weeks of access. A whole month of access to all of those addresses.

If you've ever wanted to try a TTM autograph attempt, or are currently doing it by need better addresses, you have to try this.

What do I get out of this? Well, there's a 99.9% chance I'll get nothing. The site is giving away free autographs, but the chance of me winning one is negligible.

So why do it? Well, when I first started out, I didn't know what to do or where to write. I finally found this website and it changed everything. So if I can help someone new to the hobby, I'll do it.

Here's how to get access.....

• Go to http://www.startiger.com
• Click on "Join Now"
• Enter the coupon code in the coupon code field
• Enter your valid e-mail address and click on "Next"
• Select your username and password on the following page and click on "Next".
• Enjoy your free access to StarTiger!

Please note: The coupon is only valid for new accounts
and accounts for persons that have not been a member for at least 12 months.

If anyone has any questions, ask away, I'll do my best to answer them. Good luck and have fun!

TTM success, Casey Daigle's wife!!!

Leave it to the Canuck to write to a ball player's wife, instead of to him. That's just the way I roll. Besides, as Casey tries to catch on with the Giants this year (good luck with that) his wife may be a better pitcher than he. At least, underhanded, anyways.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am speaking of Team USA's Ms Jennie Finch. Yeah, the one with 235236346636 no hitters. That one.

 Mrs Daigle was kind enough to sign two photos for me.

Sweet hey?

oh yeah, and if you want the chance of free cards, go here and follow the instructions, like I did.

TTM success! Here kitty, kitty, kitty.....

One of my latest TTM success stories.

 Super softball pitcher Cat Osterman.

Cat nicely signed two 8x10's for me.

For an even better return, check out my other blog; Just A Bit Offside

Draft Day Edition of TTM Success - Dan Bouchard!

On the day of the 2010 NHL Amateur Draft in which all fans feel hope for the future of their favourite team, only to have their hopes dashed when their team drafts someone who shouldn't be drafted in the first 3 rounds with the 18th overall pick just because they speak french and not because they have any real tangible hockey skills only to go and outright refuse to play in the QMJHL instead choosing to toil away for 18 games a year at the hockey hotbed of Harvard university while collecting paycheques and laughing all the way to the bank while his team mates bust their asses in a tremendous playoff performance and be rewarded by having their playoff hero uncerimoniously traded a few days later to St Louis for a bag of pucks.

Where was I? Ah yes... my TTM success. Dan Bouchard!!! Dan was drafted 27th overall (see? it all ties together) by Boston in the 1970 Amateur Draft. He never played for Boston, instead being left unprotected and drafted 3rd overall by the Atlanta Flames in the 1972 Atlanta/NY Islanders expansion draft.

Dan signed and personalized the 8x10 photo I sent him...
along with 3 cards.

Next time I have to find some cards of Dan in his Quebec Nordiques uni.... Dan played for Atlanta, Calgary, Quebec, and Winnipeg. But I don't think there are cards of him in a Calgary or Winnipeg uniform....

If you'll notice, Dan also included smiley faces and an inscription PS139. Either he's a former UBoat Captain, or it's a bible verse. One or the other.....

5pm is draft time... The sobbing you'll hear will be me laying in the corner cursing the 5'9" French Canadien winger that Montreal just drafted.....

All Hail The Cobra! Gary Simmons!

My latest TTM success is from former NHL goaltender, Gary "The Cobra" Simmons.
Gary was nice enough to personalize the photo I sent, along with signing two cards.
A 75/76 Topps...

and a 78/79 OPC.

Gary registered a shutout in his very first NHL game against Atlanta 10/11/74.

Gary was also nice enough to send a hand written letter to me thanking me for my interest in his career and answering a couple of questions I had asked him in my fan letter.

I asked Gary about what it was like being a goalie for an expansion team in the early '70's NHL.

He responded that, while it was very challenging at times, it was still playing the greatest game in the greatest league in the world.

About his nickname of 'The Cobra", Gary told me that a teammate of his while playing for the Phoenix Coyotes of the WHL in 1972 told a reporter that his new goalie was "lightning quick, like a cobra."

The reporter put that in his newspaper column, and the name stuck.

Thank you Mr Simmons!!!!

Who doesn't love milkshakes???

Awhile back I shared with you one of my favourite players growing up. Goalie Denis Herron. For those of you not with us in January, I urge you to go back in time and read that short little post. I'm sure he will become one of your favourites too.... LINK

Well, that card makes another appearance on the ole blog today, but for a different reason. There seems to be some sort of smeared scribbling on it now....
and it's brought some friends....

ahhh, good old '70's airbrushing..... like a warm blanket....

along with a couple of photos. Dig the old Scouts uni's....

ahh... clean ice, clean, white boards... those were the days.

Mr Herron got all this back to me in just 18 days. Amazing considering the speed of our postal system.

I also sent Denis three more cards that were extra so that he could keep them if he didn't already have them. He did. Maybe to keep, maybe to send out to others..... whatever.

Thanks Denis!

TTM Success! Murray Bannerman!

Some, if not most of you probably read that headline and said; "Who?" Murray Bannerman! Former goaltender for the Vancouver Canucks (very briefly), but better known as goalie for the Chicago Black Hawks in the mid '80's. Also, the proud owner of the mask. You know the one.
Oh yeah. Murray's backup goalie at the time was some dude named Tony Esposito. Maybe you've heard of him. Murray made two All Star games in his career... pretty good considering the pressure of replacing a living legend in Esposito.


Mr Bannerman signed my 8x10 and one card that I sent him.

Thanks Mr Bannerman!

Gilles Meloche TTM success!

catchy title, eh? I have to admit it, I stole it from my good friend GCRL. We'll call it, a tribute. Yeah, that sounds good.

I've been wanting to tackle some ttm auto requests for awhile now, but could never get going. So to ease into it, I thought about hitting up retired players first. They tend to not move around as much. That narrowed it down, but I needed further focus. So why not start by expanding my '70's goalie collection?

So I headed out to Costco, got a dozen 8x10 photos made up, and mailed them off. The first one arrived home awhile ago.
Mr Gilles Meloche! Gilles was one of my faves from growing up. He played for one franchise for most of his career, although it was a bumpy ride. He started with the California Golden Seals, (which had just changed their name from the Oakland Seals) stayed with the team when they transferred to Cleveland as the Barons, and finally ended up in Minnesota with the rest of the Barons as they folded into the Minnesota North Stars.

Here's my 8x10
I read on some ttm auto forums that you have to watermark your photos so ebay douchebags don't steal your scan and reprint it to sell online. Really? People do that? And it works?

Gilles also signed three cards for me, chronicling his career.

check out that airbrush job! They forgot to airbrush his defenceman in the background, still in his Cleveland Baron colours.

Here Gilles is in his own Barons uniform.

and finally we have the glorious California Golden Seals uni, with OPC text and team variations. (how's that Jim?) The Topps version (of which I do not have) still has the Seals team name and logo.

Gilles is currently the goaltending coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He still found time to sign for me. Thanks for the autographs Gilles Meloche!