Long Time Coming
I haven’t posted in over four months. The weird thing is that I actually would have had more time in the summer, I suppose. Part of it was due to having my laptop stolen. The rest, I’m not entirely certain as to why. Some schoolwork, some work work, etc.
I’m busier than ever right now. I guess posting is a little stress relief, or maybeI just need to reconnect with the outside world a little bit. I’m in my final semester of my MBA program – I got cleared to graduate in December, and I just have to pass these last three classes.
I haven’t picked up many cards lately, though I’ve bought a little of each retail set from 2016. I scored a few nice pulls that I’ll try and show off later. What I have done, though, is maintain a pretty steady TTM level, and that’s lead to a bunch of returns, including this one that was out for nearly 14 months.
I fell in love with the Wilson Franks layout thanks to a Mark Hoyle post I spotted on Twitter, and it has subsequently become my default go-to for Astros customs now. It’s nice to have an official style for the series. I replaced the hot dogs with the team logo – the 60’s shooting star version is my favorite, and I use it with older uniforms and the current ones, though I’ve stuck with correct logos for the Eighties through the horrific brick red and pinstripe days of the Oughts. I matched the fonts as close as I could, and got rid of the facsimile signatures, as I’m interested in using these to collect the real deal. I’m interested in trying to develop a version of the back that I can use for my customs on a regular basis as well, so maybe I’ll get to that in, I don’t know, January?
Finally, I’ll show off another recent autograph addition. I got this one when the Cubs came to town in September.
That’s probably not who you were expecting to see, huh? Fox had brought their crew in for the Saturday day game, and I decided to head over and try to catch some Cubs at the team hotel in downtown. I was hoping for Dexter Fowler (for my Astros collection) and maybe Maddon and some of the young Cubbies, so I loaded up some cards and threw in a few of the Fox & Cubs broadcasters just in case. To my dismay, I was at the wrong hotel – for the Cubs, that is. They stayed outside of downtown, but the broadcasters and sportswriters were all staying just blocks from the ballpark. Smoltz was very nice to the three of us who were waiting, and I was very grateful to come away with a pair of signed RCs.
I’m a doofus, though, and didn’t realize that some of the Astros call-ups were put up at the hotel as well. I hadn’t brought any Astros cards with me, and missed out on Alex Bregman. Whoops.
I've never tried the whole TTM thing before, but posts like these make me want to try sometimes.
Congrats on the upcoming graduation! And nice job on the TTMs of Kerry Wood (even with the long wait).
It's a blast, in my opinion. Check out sportscollectors.net – they'll show you the most recent two weeks of returns for free, but the $15/year subscription for full access is totally worth it.
Thanks! There's more big news coming down the pipeline as well. I realized when I got the Wood cards back that I have all three of the 20K in 9 inning guys now: Clemens, Wood, and Scherzer, who I got back this summer.
Good stuff. Yeah, that Wilson Franks design is awesome! I might have to whip up a template myself one of these days.
I'd be happy to send you the template I've got, if you like.