Mariners vs. Rangers 7/8/09 Preview

Well, for my birthday, my dad and I got tickets to a Mariner game. They are nice seats, right down the 3rd base line and 3rd Row! Supposedly these are right next to the ball girl, so lets hope I can get a ball. But right now I am focusing on who signs the most on the Rangers. So far I have heard that Josh Hamilton will sign, so I am trying to convince my dad to go downtown around 2 to catch him at the hotel. That would be a huge autograph! Morrow is almost a lock after the game, and I have a great pic for him to sign. My goal for the Rangers is Hamilon, Kinsler, Andrus, Millwood, Blalock, and Jones. For the M's, I hope to get Felix, Morrow, Guttierez, Wetteland, Aardsma, Branyan, and Batista. So pretty high expectations. But I'll report back Thursday night or Friday morning.

Waiting On...

Michael Saunders-c/o Rainiers Sent 7/3/09 (Got back on 7/16)
Casey Weathers-c/o Home Sent 6/19/09 and 7/3/09
Duke Snider-c/o home Sent 7/3/09 (Got back on 7/15)
Eric Hosmer-c/o Burlington Bees Sent 7/3/09
Max Scherzer-c/o AZ DBacks Sent 6/19/09(Got back on 7/6) and 7/3/09
Pete Rose-c/o FOD Sent 7/3/09
Alex Liddi-c/o High Desert Mavericks Sent 7/3/09 (Got back on 7/24)
Jeremy Papelbon-c/o Home Sent 7/3/09 (Got back on 7/23)
Josh Vitters-c/o Peoria Chiefs Sent 7/3/09
Sandy Koufax-c/o Dodgers Sent 7/3/09
Andy Sonnanstine-c/o Rays Sent 6/25/09 (Got back 7/23)
Adrian Gonzalez-c/o Padres Sent 6/19/09
Chone Figgins-c/o Angels Sent 6/19/09(Got back on 7/9)
Chris Tillman-c/o Norfolk Tides Sent 6/19/09
Jered Weaver-c/o Angels Sent 6/22/09
Rick Ankiel-c/o Cardinals Sent 6/22/09
Matt Cain-c/o Giants Sent 6/19/09
Tim Lincecum-c/o Giants Sent 6/24/09
Blacke DeWitt, Chin-Lung Hu, Jason Repko, J.D. Closser- c/o Albuquerque Isotopes
Bob Feller(w/$5)-c/o Home Sent 7/7/09 (Got back on 7/20)
Clayton Kershaw-c/o Dodgers Sent 7/7/09

TTM Successes

Grady Sizemore-Sometime in '06 or '07 c/o Indians
Pat Neshek-Sometime in '06 or '07 c/o Twins ST
Michael Saunders-Sent 6/19/09 Recieved 6/27/09 c/o Tacoma Rainiers
Jon Garland-Sent 6/19/09 Recieved 6/30/09 c/o AZ DBacks

TTM Autographs

First off, you need to know what TTM stands for; Through the Mail. This is when you send out, usually a card, sometimes a ball or photo, to a player for them to sign and return to you. In the envelope you send them there are usually 3-5 items. These include: A card, ball, or photo, a letter, a SASE(Self Addressed Stamped Envelope), a pen, and money. The last two are optional, as not many current players charge money, but some famous retired ones do. I recently started doing this consistently, sending to players with records of signing TTM. I will make a list of my IP(in person) and TTM successes later.

Summary Of What I have

I have over 8,000 baseball cards, about 200 of them are autographed, and I have around 75 signed baseballs. Right now, my best autographed baseballs are my Ichiro ss ball and my Jake Peavy ss ball. I also have a cool ball, that Hideki Okajima signed in both English and Japanese. I also have 2 Ichiro autographed cards, 2 Grady Sizmore signed cards, a Trevor Hoffman autographed card, and a bunch of Felix Hernandez and Brandon Morrow autographed cards. Off eBay, I have bought a Don Baylor, Paul Molitor, and Goose Gossage auto cards. My non-baseball autos include a Jon Brockman/Ryan Appleby signed SI, and a Shaun Alexander signed Super Bowl XL media guide.