An International TTM Return

TTM's are a part of the hobby that I continue to take part in even as my interest in cards in general fades. Something about getting an autograph still appeals to me.

This feeling was reinforced just today when I got one of the best TTM returns ever in my mailbox. Regular readers know that I lump all TTM returns I get during a given month into one big post, but this one is so special, it deserves it's own post. Right, before we get to the return, some backstory.

As you all know I've been on a Chunichi Dragons kick. Pretty much 90% of my posts this year have been devoted to the Dragons and many more will come in the future. As much as I like the Dragons, two aspects of the card collecting hobby that I consider crucial have long eluded me. An IP autograph and a TTM autograph. The IP autograph goal will have to wait until I go back to Japan when games are going on. On paper the TTM goal should be easier, but in reality is even tougher. I've mentioned it in passing before but a lot of NPB clubs have banned TTM requests. The Dragons are one of them. What this effectively means is that if you want Dragons autographs via TTM, your only chances will be with OBs (which stands for Old Boys, which is a Japanese term used to refer to retired baseball players).

Enter クリッパー (Clipper)-san, a fellow TTM autograph collector who is based in Japan. Clipper-san usually sends requests stateside to foreigners who used to play in the NPB. Clipper-san's blog has an impressive log of such returns and two out of every three returns he receives has me going "wait, he played in the NPB?" Go check it out if you have the time.

Anyway, I had one player in mind to try out an international TTM request with, and I noticed Clipper-san had managed to get a success from him before. A few DM's and a carefully worded letter later, I sent out a request headed to my motherland of Japan. Less than two weeks later (it was a really quick turnaround), the SASE I sent came back. Inside was...

BOOM.

Yes that's right folks. I got a TTM return from the God of Forkballs, Mr. Shigeru Sugishita.

The minute I saw that sase in my mailbox I was grinning from ear to ear. It'd been a while since I was that excited for a TTM return. I mean, all returns are special to me, but this was especially cool since it's my first TTM return from Japan. My home!

The God of Forkballs was also kind enough to send along TWO extra autographed cards along with the EPOCH card I sent above. The first card was part of EPOCH's Japan Baseball Promotion Association set from 2014, the one that commemorated the association's 20th anniversary. The second card was part of last year's BBM set that commemorating 80 years of the Chunichi Dragons being in existence.

Mr. Sugishita was kind enough to send all three in this plastic bag to make sure they wouldn't go flying all over inside the SASE.

And if you're curious about the postage, I had some family members get stamps for me so I could send a proper SASE. Success!

I really love how these signatures turned out. For the first time ever I sent along a blue sharpie, my lucky sharpie that I'd been using for IP autographs since 2015. The very pen used by the likes of Luis Torrens, Gaylord Perry and Goose Gossage, ended it's journey with me by delivering me my first international TTM return. I hope Mr. Sugishita can make good use of the sharpire to make other fans happy too.

I already wrote a post profiling the great career of Mr. Sugishita a while back so I thought I'd add some things I left out. Like the video above of Mr. Sugishita pitching in his prime (dig the glasses).

Or this video of Mr. Sugishita throwing out the first pitch at last year's Home Opener for the Dragons. He really is the God of Forkballs, just look at that curve. Keep in mind that he was 90 years old when the video was taken.

I've heard from Clipper-san and various other outlets that Mr. Sugishita's body is starting to slow down a bit at age of 91. I hope whatever is ailing him doesn't stick around too long and Mr. Sugishita continues to be the OB presence he's been for pretty much the last 50+ years.

So yeah, this has easily been the best TTM return of the year (for me) so far. Probably during my time as a TTM collector in general too. It's gonna be hard to top this one.

杉下選手、本当にサインありがとうございました！

And as always thank you, the readers, for stopping by.

Take care :).

Goals For 2017 & Grades For 2016

I'm over three weeks late with this post, but here's my annual post where I reflect on the past year and see how I did with my collecting goals while also declaring my new goals for the new year.

Let's see how I fared with my goals in 2016 first.

Unrelated Scan 1

5. Go for a week without buying any cards

This happened a lot of times in 2016. I passed.

Grade: A

4: Go for a month without buying any cards

This was so easy I did it several times.

Grade: A

3. Go for SIX months without buying any baseball cards

I had this in my grasp, but ultimately I failed and only went five months without buying any baseball cards. Better luck next time?

Grade: F

2. One TTM Return

I finished 2016 with 276 TTM returns. This would've been enough for me to accomplish my TTM goal back in 2015 for the record.

Grade: A

1. One IP Autograph

I finished 2016 with 76 TTM returns. Therefore I passed.

Grade: A

Four out of five isn't bad I guess. I'm kind of bummed I didn't accomplish the six months goal. But you know what, sometimes the best kind of relief there is, is going nuts buying a bunch of baseball cards. And I bought the shit out of Dragons singles I wanted in December (and January).

Alright, with the 2016 reflection done, here's to looking ahead to 2017 goals.

5. Go Three Weeks Without Buying Cards Per Month

I'm not doing the six-months thing again. But I am going to try and go three weeks (that don't necessarily have to be consecutive) without buying stuff for every month (I'm excluding January). Leaving one week (of a varying number of days) for me to buy stuff (if I want to at all). Will it work? Who knows. I just want to control spending by any means necessary.

4. Monthly Limit for Card Purchases

It's no secret I can get very bidder happy when I see cool stuff on eBay that I feel I "NNEEEEEEDDD.' As such I've set up a $50 limit for purchases per month, whenever I go over that $50 limit, I have to deduct it from the next month. I've discarded my card-related purchases in Japan from my limit for January (otherwise I'd have to wait until around August of 2021 to buy stuff again), but I have gone over my limit already. You'll all see what I got at a later time, but for now, I have less money to work with in February. And if a unique Torrens card pops up during this time that I need, I'll just have less to work with in Februrary (and maybe even March). Luckily those months suck for cards.

3. Acquire Autographs of The Ghost crew

So one project I've been working on low-key is acquiring the autographs of the voice actors for the Star Wars characters Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.), Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray), Hera Syndulla (Vanessa Marshall), Sabine Wren (Tiya Sircar) and Zeb Orrelios (Steve Blum). I'd also include Chopper but according to the people behind Star Wars Rebels, Chopper has no voice actor.

As of this post I have Ezra, Hera and Sabine autographs in my collection. Hopefully I can get the remaining two this year as well. The key name is Freddie Prinze Jr., star of all of those chick flicks in the 90's your girlfriend made you watch. That said, I've already put some things into action here.

2. Downsize My Yankees Collection

Let me be clear, even though I'm not actively collecting Yankees anymore I have no intention of purging my entire Yankees collection. However, I still know that I have way too much of this pinstriped junk lying around and taking up space. My plan is to continue to dump Yankees cards on the usual suspects and also attempt something new, selling some of the more "finer" pieces.

1. Create a Definitive and Cohesive List of Players I'm collecting

Almost every single one of my trade partners have been demanding that I make an official list of players I collect and various projects I'm working on to make constructing packages for me easier. Well because such a task takes up time and work I never bothered doing anything beyond pressing the "New Post" button before eventually scrapping the post and turning it into another TTM roundup post.

But I'm going to at least try this time, for reals.

Unrelated Scan 2

Nothing too in-depth, don't expect some insane Excel spreadsheet someone spent hours laboring over, but maybe just a little post about what could really help with my new collecting focus. Ultimately I can already tell at the moment that what I'd "want" in a trade are either Dragons cards, Luis Torrens cards, or cards I can use in Japan. What I mean by that last one is that, basically I want cards I can give to my Japanese contacts who in turn can give me cool stuff I can give to the rest of you guys. If you want me to make it even more clearer, I need vintage Cleveland cards from the 20th century (yes, I'm including the 80's and 90's) for my friend Anco-san, and Houston Astros for another friend. And also random cards here and there for Ryan(-san?). Oh, and big leaguers who went to play in Japan too I guess. Oh boy...

I was going to also have goals about TTMs and IPs but I don't care enough about them at the moment to set any. What happens happens there.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).