Cameron Maybin TTM Success

Date sent: 3/4/09
Date received: 10/30/09

This is another recent TTM return that I had pretty much written off. I sent it way back during spring training. On top of that, Maybin carries a 12% success rate for members of sportscollectors.net.

I'm not sure what made my request stand out but I got it back and I couldn't be happier.

I've followed Maybin ever since he was part of the trade that sent Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis to the Tigers. I'd heard that Maybin was the key to the deal for the Marlins. I wondered what made this kid so special so I kept an eye on him. He's yet to live up to his 5-tool can't miss potential but he's still only 22 years old.

Maybin made the team last year out of spring training but the Marlins sent him down to AAA in early May as he was batting .2o2. They brought him back up on September 1st and he remained on the team through the final game. In that time he raised his batting average to .250 and hit three home runs.

Hopefully Maybin will make the Marlins out of spring training again and stick around for the whole season.

TTM Autograph Collecting

I used to send cards to athletes through the mail to have them signed when I was a kid. I did some googling a couple months ago to see what kinds of information was out there and realized that people still do this. There's a whole TTM (through the mail) community. I joined a great site called sportscollectors.net that provides all the successes and failures of the community as well as address information. You can keep track of everyone's requests, not just your own. It's a great site.

I decided to start mailing out requests focusing mainly on older Hall of Famers and young prospects. I just started this blog today so I'll be posting successes from the last two months. I'll add the date to each success just in case that information is helpful to anyone. I'll eventually catch up and add requests if and when they come in.

I decided I'd start off by posting one that just came in last week. I'm very lucky to have received this request from George Kell because he passed away on Tuesday, March 24th. I received this in the mail on Thursday, March 19th. This may have been one of the last items he signed. I had read on sportscollectors.net that he was one of the best TTM signers out there so I decided to get something nice for him to sign. I purchased a 1952 Topps card on ebay and sent it off on Friday, March 6th.

RIP Mr. Kell.