The thing about TTMs is that even if you only send out like four in a given year, there's always a non-zero chance one from the past will come trickling in at a random moment. As such here's this post in case that happened.
Received On: 2/17/2023
Here's a super cool and super shiny return/purchase from Kira Buckland, the voice actress for my favorite character 2B in the English release of NieR: Automata.
Buckland hails from Alaska and her body of works goes as far back as 1994 as a child voice actress but she's more active since 2003, appearing in hundreds upon hundreds of different roles across a lot of different mangas, cartoons, video games, etc... If there's a popular video game that's been dubbed into English, chances are very good she's worked on it.
Received On: 2/28/2023
Love was originally drafted by the New York Giants in the 4th round of the 2019 NFL Player Draft out of Notre Dame. The safety was a backup for most of his early career before earning some time as a starter this past season and having one of the best seasons he's had to date in the process.
Following the 2022-23 season he became a free agent and signed with the Seattle SeaHawks. In the early part of the season he looked like he was batting hamstring injuries but did his role in filling in Jamal Adams.
Received On: 4/17/2023
Next up is a return from former NHL wing, Jason Pominville.
Pominville was originally drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the second round of the 2001 NHL player draft. He made his NHL debut in the 2003-04 season and would go on to be a regular contributor at the highest level from the 2005-06 season onwards. After a stint in Minnesota he later returned to the Sabres for the 2018-19 season and then retired.
Received On: 7/17/2023
Another actress, this time a live action actress Emily Swallow who was doing a paid signing.
Swallow has been active since 2006 and was originally a theatre actor, performing in various Broadway shows. She would eventually begin to get cast in various shows and movies and after over a decade she landed what's probably her best known role to date, The Armorer from the Star Wars show The Mandalorian.
Received On 8/9/2023
Hark, a baseball TTM courtesy of Kris Bryant.
There hasn't been a whole lot to talk about regarding Bryant in recent times. Partly due to him playing for the Colorado Rockies but also just because he's been very hurt. Bryant did manage to play enough games in 2023 to get his first Coors Field home run which I'm sure was a big load off his back. He'd suffer another season with lots of injuries though, unfortunately leading to another down year. Hopefully he can get healthy and regain a lot of his past self next year.
Received On: 8/12/2023
Received On: 8/12/2023
Here are a couple of returns from former Rockie Randal Grichuk.
Grichuk was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the first round of the 2009 MLB Player Draft, famously one pick before Mike Trout. Unlike Trout, Grichuk's career has taken him in all sorts of weird directions and mostly filled with trades and injuries. While a top prospect he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in the trade that brought David Freese to Anaheim, he made his MLB debut with the Cardinals in 2014 and spent a few seasons going up and down MLB and triple-A before latching on as a full time outfielder as a Toronto Blue Jay in 2018 after being traded there. Before the 2022 season he was traded again to the Rockies in the Raimel Tapia trade. Eventually his journey went full circle as he was traded to the Angels before the 2023 MLB trade deadline, he hit a dinger in his first game as an Angel.
Sidenote: with all due respect to the other TTMs I've gotten, these are the first returns in a long time where I was really impressed with what came back. The ink is perfectly bold and the signatures were placed just right for both cards.
Received On: 10/17/2023
So I already blogged about the card itself, I think now would be a good time to go back to Rollie Fingers' Hall of Fame career.
Fingers was originally signed by the Kansas City Athletics in 1964, he made his MLB debut with the A's in 1968 and would go on to be a part of the three time World Series Championship teams from 1972 to 1974, winning World Series MVP honors in 1974. After that stint he'd go on to play for the San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers, of which his time with the Brewers brought him a lot of individual success as he won AL MVP and AL Cy Young honors with the Brew Crew in 1981. After a 17 year career establishing new records as a closer/reliever he retired after 1985 with 341 saves and would be instrumental in closers/bullpen arms having a more defined and crucial role in baseball games. Even though his records would be broken in years to come bullpen usage has continued to evolve and his contributions to it are still felt today.
Received On: 12/12/2023
So with the four requests I did send out in 2023 all successfully returned I assumed it would be the end of the post. Instead near the end of the year a sudden request came back from Nathan Eovaldi.
Eovaldi has had a very long and odd but overall successful MLB career. To date he's played for marquee teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox; and he's been a two time World Series champion with the Red Sox and the Texas Rangers. I can safely say I was not expecting to get this back after he just became a World Series Champ for the second time, this time in his home state. This return rocks.
So big thanks to Ms. Buckland and Swallow, and Mr. Love, Pominville, Bryant, Grichuk, Fingers and Eovaldi for the awesome autographs this year.
And as always thank you the readers for stopping by. Take care.
2023 TTM Count: 9
Sources:
Wow, Kris Bryant signs TTM still? That's cool. Nice year of successes, and thanks for all of your generosity along the way!
ReplyDeleteHe does but via the Rockies foundation and with a $40 donation.
DeleteVery cool to see Emily Swallow signs through the mail. If I ever see her at a convention, I'd love to get her to sign my Black Series figure. As for Fingers... he's one of those guys who played for my two favorite teams. What's funny though is he'll always be remembered by me as being a Brewer.
ReplyDeleteOh sorry I forgot to mention that the Swallow was a paid signing. Updated the post.
DeleteNice with Bryant. I like that the Rockies foundation does this. Is a cool way of raising money with within-reason fees too.
ReplyDeleteI really like a lot of the stuff the Rockies do for the community. Like the way they host science fairs for children and use Coors for other cool events. Just a shame the team doesn't have the same level of thought or care put into it.
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