TTM Return: Justin Masterson

My latest TTM return is from my favorite pitcher who isn't/was never a Yankee.

Received On: 2/14/2014

Justin Masterson was originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 2nd round of the 2006 MLB player draft and made his MLB debut on April 24th, 2008 and was yo-yo'd up and down the majors and minors for the rest of the year. The following year he was traded along with Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price to the Clevelands for Victor Martinez and has since gone on to be the Clevelands' ace and was their opening day starter in 2012 and 2013.

I really love this return because this is now the 4th Sega Card Gen card I've had a player sign. Plus Masterson even took the time to inscribe a bible verse.

But the same time I feel like an asshole right now because I figured that this return (which I sent in mid-August last year) was never going to return and sent another request to Mr. Masterson just last week for try number 2. I feel pretty guilty for letting impatience get the better of me. Hopefully I won't make the same mistake next year with somebody else.

TTM Goal Countdown: 48

2002 Japanese Topps/Topps Kanebo

Back when I was living in Japan I was lucky enough to come across this.

Now I know that most of you just went "big deal, that's just an ordinary 2002 Topps card of Jorge Posada" but it's far from ordinary.
You see, if you look on the back...

It's actually a Japanese version of Jorge Posada's 2002 Topps card.
Back in 2002, the MLB was getting very popular in Japan after Ichiro-mania took both Japan and the US by storm. And at the height of MLB's popularity in Japan, Topps and a company called Kanebo Foods released a product called MLB Gum.

As the name suggests these cards came with a stick of gum and a raffle-ish sticker which would let you know if you had won a special binder and/or a semi-creepy bobblehead (I've never seen a pack so I'm not 100% sure how these were actually distributed).
There were 2 sets of Topps Kanebo (aka Japanese Topps) that were released. One in 2002 and one in 2003. And, as far as I know, there were 2 different kinds of parallels released as well. A greyish/silverish parallel and a black border parallel. I'm not sure about the 2003 set but the 2002 set had a total of 55 cards and I was actually lucky enough to find a full set of 2002 Topps Kanebo in Japan for aprox. 10 bucks.

Some highlights

I originally intended on keeping this set intact and eventually selling it in it's entirety once I came back to the US but I could never agree on a price with potential buyers (that's a problem when you're dealing with foreign cards with undefined value) so I decided to keep it. There may come a time when I decide to break this set up (I'm keeping the Yankees & A-Rod though) as I know quite a few player/team collectors who could use these. But for now I don't mind keeping it around.

Some more highlights

Even more highlights

As always, thanks again for stopping by and take care.

Let it haunt your nightmares for a week!