Miscellaneous Mariners

In an effort to avoid ATCRCS overload for you readers, I'm going to change things up a bit here and show off a few things I didn't think I'd add to my collection.

I've been working with a great member from over on SCN, justgreg, getting some of my various Cubs customs signed. He was full of positive feedback and always passes along any comments from the players themselves, which I enjoy. It keeps me motivated, especially when I get into a creative slump.

Since he lives outside of Seattle and pretty regularly gets autographs from the Seattle Mariners and their Triple-A affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers, I decided to send him a couple cards for those teams. I sent him a few extras to give to the players, just in case too.

These first two, Bobby LaFromboise and Brandon Bantz started the year in Tacoma and made their Major League debuts later in the season. I thought these would be good to start with since at any given time they could be in Tacoma or Seattle so he would have a pretty good chance to get them signed. And I don't think either of them have any cards aside from Minor League team sets. No Bowman or Pro Debut or Heritage Minors that I know of anyway. You may recognize the template as my 2012 Cubs team set, with a few tweaks to make it more Mariners friendly.

I also made a Michael Morse because at the time it was one of the first Mariners images that showed up in a Google search that met the size and layout requirements I need in a photo for this custom template. It didn't hurt that he was one of my son's favorites during his time with the Nationals.



And finally, I have one of the newest Seattle Mariners with Taijuan Walker. He recently started 3 games for the Mariners before being shut down for the season. In his MLB debut, he pitched 5 innings of 2-hit baseball. Not too shabby. At the time I made these, he hadn't made his debut yet so I didn't have a horizontal photo to use for the design above. With a Spring Training Photo Day picture I found, I put together one of my PASS customs. It didn't quite get signed in the right spot but that's ok. Maybe he didn't want to sign over the Mariners logo.



As I mentioned, when I made these, the intention wasn't for me to get any signed for myself. I was just trying to extend a courtesy to a fellow collector who has helped me out a lot. Once I got a couple of positive reviews from the players themselves, I became more interested in getting one to keep for myself as a souvenir. I mean, hey, if they're a fan of my work, I can be a fan of theirs too, right? If there are any Seahawks fans out there, be on the lookout for a couple of football cards to show up in a post in the future.

I made a few football customs last year but only printed out a couple and I don't think I ever sent out any TTM like I had planned. I have very few non-Cubs items left in my collection but I think a new binder is about to be started...

Mailday Monday - Dimwit & Kelleher

First of all I want to thank Sam over at The Daily Dimwit. We completed a trade this week in a Gypsy Queen exchange so when he received my package he plugged this here blog to send a bunch of new readers my way. So welcome to everybody who discovered my little slice of the interwebs over the weekend! Updated daily at Noon, EST.

So the mail this week brought Dimwit's package. There were a few Cubs for me and a couple of Nats card for my sons. So many different parallels in GQ but knocked out a few for each team set. Always excited to add some new Ryne Sandberg cards. The first card is numbered to 599 and the second is a mini Straight Cut parallel. Now that I have one for the Sandberg collection, still need one of each for the team set.

Couple more Cubs inserts. Ernie Banks regular mini. Starlin Castro Sliding Stars mini.

I don't see a defensive player but Castro doesn't look very confident in his slide.

I normally wouldn't include Nats cards on the blog but since they came as part of this great trade, I'll show them. First, a trio of Ryan Zimmerman minis. A regular mini, a Straight Cut mini and a photo variation:

Three more minis, a Gypsy Queen back Ian Desmond, black Ian Desmond and a black Michael Morse:

Thanks again Sam!

Also in the mail this week was my return package I had sent out to ethannoah over at SCN. He had offered some help with getting Yankee autographs when they visited his hometown Royals. Probably because of their popularity, but Yankees are notoriously tough signers. Don't panic, I didn't want any actual current Yankee players, but rather some former Cubs players and current Yankees coaches. I sent ATCRCS cards for Joe Giradi (manager), Mike Harkey (bullpen coach) and Mick Kelleher (1st base coach) as well as a couple of Topps issues for Harkey and Kelleher.

True to reputation, Ethan didn't have much luck with the Yankees but he did manage to get two Topps cards signed by Kelleher. He wouldn't sign the ATCRCS card, presumably because it is unlicensed. I had run into this excuse myself with a minor leaguer but I won't give up!

He signed a 1980 and 1981 Topps cards and added his #20, which he wore during his time with the Cubs, to the signature.

Thanks Ethan!

Today's ATCRCS card of the day: George Altman