Received On: 9/8/2021
My first return this period came from Tierna Davidson.
Davidson was drafted first overall by the Chicago Red Stars in the 2019 NWSL College Draft out of Stanford University. A standout in college and someone who's been in international tournaments since she was in high school, the defender/midfielder racked up a ton of accolades in college immediately, being named to the All Freshman Team, earning Defensive Player of the Year honors in her sophomore season, before an injury sidelined her for most of her junior year. She declared for the draft before her senior year, she's also continued to represent the USWNT in international tournaments, most recently the Tokyo Olympics.
Received On: 9/11/2021
Next up is a return from Nahomi Kawasumi.
Kawasumi hails from Kanagawa, Japan and has been a fixture for Japan's Women's National Football Team since 2008. The midfielder was a crucial part of Nadeshiko Japan's (the national women's football team's nickname) run to their first ever World Cup championship in 2011 when she scored two goals against Team Sweden in the semifinals (one of them being the game winner), before going on to beat Team USA in the finals to win it all as a team. For a country that had just gone through a devastating earthquake and nuclear disaster in March that year it can't be understated just how much Japan needed that championship win to cheer the country's population up. But even putting that type of sensationalized jingoism aside I am still really honored that I was able to get an autograph of someone who was part of that squad. Bonus points that Kawasumi happened to be a NY/NJ Gotham FC player on the card too. Because Kawasumi participates in international tournaments so much it's hard to grasp where she is exactly (for example she's currently on-loan to the INAC Kobe Leonessa in Japan from Gotham FC) but Kawasumi is no stranger to coming stateside to continue to sharpen her skills further as before joining Gotham she was also with the Seattle Reign FC. To date Kawasumi has an extensive list of international accomplishments and medals to her name, here's to many more going forward.
Received On: 9/15/2021
Wilson hails from Oshawa, Canada and he was originally signed by the Toronto Blue Jays as a non-drafted free agent back in 1987. After a few years in their farmsystem he never got a chance to play for the Canadian team as he was taken second overall by the Florida Marlins in the 1992 MLB Expansion Draft. He spent parts of four seasons with the Marlins, Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland team but it was mostly spent in the minors and before long he was cut and went overseas to Japan. With the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters he had a lot more success as he had a power surge that saw him lead the Pacific League in dingers in 1997 and 1998 with 37 and 33 dingers respectively. However injuries would completely take away his 1999 season and thought he did well in 2000 the injury bug hit him again in 2001 and the time he did spend on the field didn't yield great results. In 2002 he signed with the Kintetsu Buffaloes but injuries and such led to bad results and he just couldn't get things going. He departed from Japan and gave it one last shot with a minor league contract for the New York Yankees in 2003 but nothing ever really materialized and he hung up the spikes before appearing in any minor league games for them. He's since gone on to be a baseball coach and also runs The Competitive Edge, an indoor sports training facility in Ontario, Canada. He's a baseball lifer man, respect.
Also as you can expect this is technically an international TTM return since it was sent to Canada.
Here's a return from Schuyler (pronounced like "Skylar") Debree.
Received On: 9/17/2021
Next up is a return from Havana Solaun.
Solaun is a Jamaican midfielder who hails from Gainesville, Florida. After a very impressive and successful high school career Solaun attended the University of Florida and had a very successful collegiate career for the Gators, earning co-captain honors by her junior year and scoring in key moments. Following that she was drafted by the Seattle Reign in the second round of the 2015 NWSL College Draft and although her rookie season was cut short due to injuries, the ordeal gave her perspective on knowing the limits of the physical body and she's go on to bounce back with the Washington Spirits. She would also go on to play in Norway for the 2019 season before returning to the NWSL for the 2021 season with the North Carolina Courage. Solaun has also represented the Jamaican Women's Soccer Team on numerous occasions.
Received On: 9/20/2021
Debree is a defender/forward from New Jersey who was one of the best soccer players in her state during her high school career. She attended Duke University and had a very solid career that culminated in a really good senior year that saw her be a shut down defender who didn't allow a goal in the postseason. Woof. Following that she was drafted by the Washington Spirit in the second round of the 2018 NWSL Draft but her time there was short due to a combination of factors. She played internationally for Sparta Prague for a bit (which she credits as a valuable experience that shaped her perspective on the sport and her role in it) but took some time away before returning as a member of the NC Courage. She made her NWSL debut in 2021 as a Courage.
Debree was also kind enough to send along a note with the card. It's been a pretty good year for notes ngl.
Received On: 9/22/2021
Next up is a return from Taylor Kornieck.
Korneick hails from Nevada and was captain of her high school soccer team before she became a real standout at the University of Colorado Boulder. The midfielder immediately had an impact as she was a crucial part of the team's tournament run en route to a second place finish in the Pac 12. Kornieck earned a boatload of personal accolades in the process, and that set the tone for the rest of her collegiate career. She'd play very impressively in her sophomore, junior and senior years and the CU Buffaloes made it to the NCAA Tournament every year. After a brief stint in Germany she was drafted by the Orlando Pride in the first round of the 2020 NWSL Draft.
Received On: 9/25/2021
My next return is a paid mail-in signing courtesy of former MLB all star and two time World Series Champion, Hunter Pence.
Pence was originally drafted by the Houston Astros in the second round of the 2004 MLB Player Draft out of the University of Texas at Arlington. Pence made his MLB debut three years later and would go on to be a fixture for the Astros and be one of their most prominent players thanks to his unusual batting stance. In another era Pence probably would've stayed with the 'Stros for his entire career but he was on an Astros team that was undergoing one of the first (or rather most drastic) tanking experiments seen in the sport and he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for guys who ended up being busts (context: the Ruben Amaro-era Phillies were the only team willing to trade prospects for veterans to keep their WS contention window going, only problem is that their prospects were worthless). But the Phillies were just beginning their own collapse/rebuild and he was on the move again to the San Francisco Giants. He was with the Giants for seven years and earned two World Series rings in the process (2012 and 2014). He had a brief stint with the Texas Rangers in 2019 (he was even an All Star that year) before returning to the Giants in 2020 and calling it a career after that season. Since then he's dabbled with analyst appearances on baseball broadcasts (mostly for the Giants) and he's popped up at various baseball events here and there.
Because this was a paid mail-in signing I decided to also send with four other cards I've wanted signed over the years (I usually have a "no more than 2 copies" rule for TTMs but paid mail-ins are fair game in my book).
Received On: 9/25/2021
Received On: 9/25/2021
Received On: 9/25/2021
Received On: 9/25/2021
Pretty much all of these cards came with me across the ocean back when I moved from Japan back to America. Except for the '13 SCG they've been mine longer than most of the cards I have in my possession today and the thought of getting them ink'd has been in my brain for so long that I'm not sure I've fully processed that it finally happened. Also yes I realize that the '12 SCG is slightly smudged, stinks but I'll live with it because the surface on these things is always a 50/50 gamble no matter how much prep work you do or how good your pen is. The fact that the '10 and '13 look good is the more surprising part. I'm just happy Pence signed all of these.
Received On: 9/28/2021
Here's a return from Lynn Williams.
Williams hails from California and comes from a sports family where three of her uncles played college football and two of them even went on to the NFL. Williams herself went to Pepperdine University following an impressive high school career that saw her get featured on ESPN (among other places). The forward's collegiate career was just (if not more) impressive as she set numerous school/program records and finished in the top 2 in many others. Following that she was originally drafted by the Western New York Flash in the first round of the 2015 NWSL Draft but the club moved to North Carolina and became the Courage, with whom Williams still plays today. Williams has also played internationally in Australia and represented Team USA in many international competitions.
Received On: 10/1/2021
Next up is a return from Kumi Yokoyama.
Yokoyama hails from Tokyo, Japan and has been at the highest levels of soccer for nearly a decade. By the early 2010's Yokoyama had already been representing Team Japan in various international tournaments. Such as when the forward lead the U-17 team to a second place finish in 2010 or the U-20 team to a third place finish in 2012. Professionally Yokoyama's career started in 2012 with the Okayama Yunogo Belle and then AC Nagano Parceiro, en route to earning a reputation as one of the league's top scorers. After a stint in Germany, Yokoyama returned to Japan before coming stateside to play for the Spirit since 2020.
Received On: 10/1/2021
My final return for this period came courtesy of Saori Takarada.
Takarada hails from Toyama, Japan and has also seen her fair share of international success at the U-17 and U-20 tournaments. Playing a big part in the U-20 team's title run in the 2018 World Cup to boot. Takarada has also been on the Nadeshiko Japan team as well since 2019. In Japan Takarada has played exclusively for the Cerezo Osaka Sakai Ladies since turning pro but she did come stateside prior to the 2021 NWSL season and is currently about finish up her first year stateside.
And those were my returns this past period. Big thanks to Davidson, Kawasumi, Wilson, Solaun, Debree, Kornieck, Pence, Williams, Yokoyama and Takarada for all of the awesome autographs.
As always thank you (the readers) for stopping by.
2021 TTM Count: 52
Sources:
*https://www.ussoccer.com/players/d/tierna-davidson
*https://gostanford.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/tierna-davidson/14072
*https://justwomenssports.com/tierna-davidson-wants-a-future-where-coming-out-stories-arent-a-big-deal/
*https://www.gothamfc.com/9-nahomi-kawasumi
*https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wilsoni01.shtml
*https://www.nccourage.com/hsolaun
*https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/havana-solaun/2984
*https://fbref.com/en/players/0b5d0282/all_comps/Havana-Solaun-Stats---All-Competitions
*https://couragecountry.com/havana-solaun-2021-starting-xi-questions/
*https://goduke.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/schuyler-debree/9021
*https://goduke.com/news/2021/3/26/womens-soccer-debree-signs-with-nc-courage.aspx
*https://fbref.com/en/players/f0aeff93/all_comps/Schuyler-DeBree-Stats---All-Competitions
*https://cubuffs.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/taylor-kornieck/12853
*https://fbref.com/en/players/9d2c6180/all_comps/Taylor-Kornieck-Stats---All-Competitions
*https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pencehu01.shtml
*https://fbref.com/en/players/0ac84745/Lynn-Williams
*https://pepperdinewaves.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/lynn-williams/1348
*https://washingtonspirit.com/team-member/kumi-yokoyama/
*https://www.npr.org/2021/06/23/1009458160/japanese-soccer-player-yokoyama-comes-out-as-transgender
*https://washingtonspirit.com/team-member/saori-takarada/