Saturday, July 4, 2020

Happy 4th of July and a long forgotten TTM

Happy 4th of July everyone! Hope everyone is doing well and is going to get to enjoy a pleasant holiday weekend.

It's been a long time since I have sent out a TTM request and when you aren't sending out requests the likelihood of you getting a response greatly diminishes, so I was shocked to see one of my TTM envelopes in the mailbox a month or so ago.


Jim Leyland signed 1/2 cards for me in just under two years. I sent him these cards on June 25, 2018 as part of my 9th blog-o-versary. Writing that, I know realize that I completely missed my 11th blog-o-versay. Darn it! I will have to rectify that soon.


I was looking for a 4th of July themed card for today and the red, white and blue background on the card that Jim Leyland signed seemed appropriate for the occasion.


There are a couple of things that stick out to me about this card. One is the dinged, bottom left corner, which is a calculated risk of sending out cards to be signed through the mail. The second thing is the vertical signature. I know there are a few players that sign vertically verses horiziontally; Steve Garvey and Larry Walker come to mind immediately, but my question is why? Anyone have any thoughts on why players would choose to sign cards vertically instead of horizontally?

3 comments:

  1. Sometimes I wonder if guys just feel more comfortable with the extra inch of space they get by signing the long way.

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  2. Bummer on missing your 11th blog-o-versary, but the TTM is pretty sweet. I have no idea why some sign vertical like that, but I thought it might be the preference of a lefty? Then I looked up Larry Walker, who I know bats left, but found out he threw righty. So, there's go my theory. Garvey is also a righty.
    That's six consecutive posts with Groot making an appearance. Loving it! Maybe you can celebrate your missed blog-o-versary on Groot's 11th straight? LOL

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  3. I noticed that about Larry Walker a few years ago and thought that maybe he signed vertically for TTM and free IP's... but normally for paid signatures. But then I noticed that he signs sideways even back in the 90's for his Topps and Donruss autographs.

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