RBI (232) Dirk Nowitzki...

I've posted about getting future NBA Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki's autograph before, but I recently added another piece to my collection. Dirk is a well known ttm signer, so I took a bit of a gamble and sent in a larger piece. I picked up a jersey online for a good price and dropped it off in the mail.

I've seen Dirk signed jerseys come back and was hopeful that I'd luck out to get a jersey signed with a good marker and signature. It turns out I was glad take the chance because now I have a Dirk Nowitzki autographed jersey that he hit with a very clean signature.

I'm really happy with what came back. I think it's a great that Dirk was willing to sign a jersey, and the jersey's Dirk autographed have all seemed to come back with a nice signature instead of a scribble. It took about a month and a half to come back.

The Dirk Nowitzki ttm address I've used is:

Dirk Nowitzki
American Airlines Center
2500 Victory Avenue
Dallas, TX 75219
USA

RBI (231) Bryan Cranston...

Recently some of my friends let me tag along to an event in Los Angeles where they had a feeling we'd be able to run into a few familiar faces and have some luck graphing. We were lucky to be correct and to have a target nearby so we could arrange to print photos for a random person in attendance none other than actor Bryan Cranston.

Cranston is famous for his roles as Hal in Malcolm in the Middle and Walter White in Breaking Bad.
I've always heard that he's a great guy if you run into him, and I was very happy that the rumors were true. Cranston signed and took photos for us and was a great experience.

Adding this Bryan Cranston autographed photo to my wall was very satisfying. It came out looking great and I don't often get actor's autographs so adding one of someone from two great shows I've liked was a good feeling.

RBI (230) Albert Pujols...

I've posted my interactions with Albert Pujols before and they've never been all that pleasant. However is still a future no doubt hall of famer and one who is crushing all-time records so when there's the chance to get his autograph I take it. This time I went through the guaranteed route by attending an Albert Pujols autograph signing at the practice of Dr. Alex Corbin Liu.

I opted to get a baseball signed after I had a mishap with a photo order I made. I'm still pleased with the choice as Pujols autographed this 2015 all star game baseball very nicely. It's definitely a good looking piece that is nice to put into my collection.

RBI (229) Curt Schilling...

One of the biggest autographs I was able to add to my collection recently was Curt Schilling. While I did have a Schilling autograph in my collection previously, it was a gift so I had never successfully graphed Schilling myself. I also had a huge need to add him to my Fenway Park setback that I've been getting signed over the years.

What he accomplished during his time with the Red Sox was historically huge and the bloody sock is legendary even amongst a story filled game.

Schilling was making an appearance at Angel Stadium as a broadcaster so after an unsuccessful attempt to graph him earlier in the year I was determined to get him the second time around. Schilling  was kind enough to sign an autograph for each of us waiting for him and signed my setback with a large autograph that is very clear to see when I look at the piece. I'm very glad to have him added to the seat and it definitely muscles up my project significantly.

RBI (228) Paige Van Zant

Up and coming UFC star Paige VanZant has been catching the MMA world by fire lately. The UFC has found a star on the rise after her debut victory against Cailin Curran. Her dismantling of veteran Felice Herrig solidified her reputation as legitimate prospect and the UFC has been happy to have Paige appear at numerous of the company's most recent events such as the UFC Fan Expo is Las Vegas.

I sent a TTM request to her just after her victory over Curran realizing she was legitimate and going to become incredibly popular with the fans as soon as they realized the talent she had. Paige was incredibly kind and autographed two 8x10's for me.


While I do have a healthy Ronda Rousey autograph collection I don't have the body issue cover signed which is a cornerstone item to have signed by her, so I wanted to make sure my Paige VanZant autograph collection had "the" photo. Her initial UFC promo photo has actually been "the" photo so I was sure to send one of them.

Paige also signed this photo from her UFC debut.

I'm very glad to have these two in my collection as I've heard her events and appearances get swarmed now by huge crowds of eager fans to meet the rising star. She's proven legitimate as a growing young fighter since transitioning from model and ring card girl into UFC star. You can find Paige Vanzant (@paigevanzant) | Twitter

RBI (227) Alex Rodriguez

Alex Rodriguez, Arod, A-roid. Plenty of names have been put on Rodriguez since he was caught, disciplined and suspended for his infractions. At the end of the day he's still an autograph that is desirable, collectible and for my 2014 Topps heritage set, incredible necessary. Thankfully I was able to come in possession of one during the Arod "Forgiveness" tour as he's been playing this season and knocking out untold numbers of autographs at stadiums around the country.

I was very happy to get this Alex Rodriguez autograph in my collection and now no longer have to worry about one of the most difficult cards I thought I'd have to obtain. I'm highly doubtful he ever makes it in the hall of fame despite his numbers, but he's always going to be a name brought up for his era of baseball.

As always if you have any signed 2014 Topps heritage, let me know what you have and we can work something out.

RBI (226) Robert D. Manfred...

I never took advantage of it before but I had seen some TTM requests at the Commissioners office, with the new commissioner in office I decided to give it a shot. I sent an autograph request to the MLB offices and a few weeks later came home to see a large package waiting for me.

I opened it and inside was a great looking full signature baseball signed by Robert D. Manfred. It's a nice signature and it didn't cost me anything besides a few stamps so I'm glad to have added it to my collection. I may try to get Selig's autograph now but I've got to look into how to get ahold of him now that he's no longer in office.

Manfred has some large shoes to fill since Selig cast such a big shadow, but he's handled the first few controversies pretty well and we'll see how things continue on through his first full season.

RBI (225) Mike Witt...

I've previously posted about getting former Angel and Yankee pitcher Mike Witt. The 2-time All Star posted 117 wins with 1,373 Strikeouts but most importantly he posted his own spot in MLB history. He finished out Mark Langston's No Hitter and I had the two of them sign a ball, but now I had Witt sign his own.

Witt threw out the first pitch at the Angel Stadium home opener to start the 2015 season off. I was able to hang around and get Witt afterwards and had him sign a ball.

Previously Witt had declined to inscribe his piece of baseball history but this time he had no problem doing so and inscribed "PG 9/30/84" for me. It was a nice way to start off the season and getting a Mike Witt autograph is tough so this is a really nice piece for me to put into my collection.

RBI (224) Randal Grichuk...

Last year I went to the Angels yard sale, an event where you can make pick ups of jerseys, autographed items, discounted surplus shirts and things along those lines. I made a nice pick up of a locker name plate from former Angel Randal Grichuk who had been traded that off season with Peter Bourjos for third baseman David Freese.

I decided to take a risk and sent the locker plate to Grichuk in the mail care of the Cardinals Spring Training. It was a risk and I sent it toward the end of Spring so I wasn't sure if it would even get to him before he was moved from the big league camp. A year later I was more than pleasantly surprised to find a large envelope waiting for me in my mailbox.

It's nice to get a bigger item like this signed and I'm very happy to have gotten this back since I actually enjoy picking up locker plates randomly from teams. More than worth the wait to have added back to my collection. I'd never gotten Gruchuk's autograph before when he was in the Angels organization so it's also nice to add a first.

RBI (223) Dirk Nowitzki...

I was happily able to add future NBA Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki to my collection. Dirk's a known great TTM signer so getting Nowitzki's autograph in the mail was a no brainer.

Dirk's been named so far to 12-All Star teams, won an NBA championship, was the 2011 NBA Finals MVP and was the 2007 NBA MVP. He's the all-time leading scorer in Dallas Mavericks history and whenever he does decide to finally retire from playing basketball he'll be inducted into the Hall of Fame soon after.

I had Dirk Nowitzki autograph his 1998 Topps Finest rookie card. He got it back to me in only a few weeks and it came out great. I was little worried since it's a chrome that it would bubble but it came out perfectly.

RBI (222) First TTM of 2015....

My first TTM reply came for 2015 and it was a pleasant return to start off my year with. Continuing with my 2014 Topps Heritage set building endeavor I picked up a few of the 2014 Topps high numbers cards. I don't plan on getting all 600 cards done, but I wanted to add a few of the high numbers to my collection.

Eric Young Jr. is an outfielder who is known to be a great player to interact with responded back to my TTM request. EYJ always responds to his fans and he even has a special stamp and personalized label he attaches to his returns now.

I was glad to add the 2013 Stolen base champ on a 2014 Topps heritage. He responded in about two weeks but I lost the exact date I sent to him in December.

RBI (220) Alec Martinez...

I made another pretty random purchase recently. My family has never been the biggest fans of hockey but the past Stanley Cup caught some serious interest at my house. The Los Angeles Kings were Stanley Cup Champions with the final game winning goal scored by defenseman Alec Martinez.

I knew I was going to be in the area of a signing he was having and in case I had time I put it in my car. I ended up having just enough time to make my way there and I got my copy of the Alec Martinez Sports Illustrated autographed.

Martinez gave me a head nod when I said hello and offered my hand to shake. My interaction with him literally lasted less than 10 seconds from nod to signature to him moving onto the next person he was signing for. Glad I was doing this just because instead of being the biggest fan or I'd have been pretty disappointed in his personality.

I shelled out the extra few bucks to have my Alec Martinez Sports Illustrated authenticated by PSA, I figured he has a simple enough autograph that if I had the option and convinence for a few extra dollars I'd prefer to have it done.

RBI (219) Jason Grilli...

It took a while, but I got a late spring training return that I had written off and assumed to be gone. I mailed Jason Grilli his Sports Illustrated when he was still a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates and after he got sent to the Angels I didn't think I'd get it back and it'd be lost in a box in the Pirates clubhouse. I was pleasantly surprised to open my mailbox and find my long lost return waiting for me.

Not only did he sign the magazine for me after Jason Grilli autographed his Sports Illustrated he inscribed "Grill Cheese" as well for me. When he was a member of the Halos it took a while for me to finally get Grilli's autograph but he was a nice guy and when he did sign he made sure to sign for literally as many fans as possible for half an hour at a time. Putting this Sports Illustrated of the former All Star closer in my collection is a nice pick up and I appreciate him following through on his mail requests 9 months latter.

RBI (218) Liz Carmouche TTM...

Recently I was browsing through the card section of a local big box store and saw a new product on the shelves UFC Champions. I decided to pick up a pair of blasters just to see the product and take a peek at the guaranteed hits. The hits themselves are fairly weak, there are supposedly relics in every box but the two that I got were manufactured belt replicas of former champions. The cards themselves looks cool but the hit guarantee was misleading.

Regardless, I do like how the cards are designed and the quality photos they use from the fights. As a UFC fan I'm always glad when I can put a fighter in my collection, but honestly the UFC roster is so big and fighters success varies so quickly printing 8x10's for everyone and sending them is a little pricier than I'd want so I wanted a staple of cards available if I could get a chance to graph MMA. I pulled a card I knew I could get signed pretty quickly since I sent ttm to her previously, Liz Carmouche.

Liz Carmouche autographed my 2014 Topps UFC Champions card and I'm actually really impressed with how it came out. Liz used a gold marker to sign in a dark spot and I think it actually came out really really well. She signed my photo nicely also so it's always great to confirm that someone cares about their fans and their autograph.

Carmouche signed and returned the card to me in 6 days.

RBI (217) Brett Hundley….

For those college football fans out there I made a foray in that world of sports at the end of the summer. It's always fun branching out from just getting baseball autographs and adding to my limited football collection of one of the top college quarterbacks in the game right now who has destroyed Pac-10 records is a nice addition for me.

UCLA star quarterback Brett Hundley made it onto the cover of two Sports Illustrated issues over the summer of 2014 and I was fortunate enough to make it out to the UCLA open practices to meet Hundley. He was very down to earth and despite the UCLA staff being very wary of anyone who wanted an autograph Brett himself was great.

I was able to get Hundley's first Sports Illustrated cover autographed and hopefully will see him lead the Bruins to a successful rest of the season and expect him to be drafted somewhere in the first round of the NFL draft at the end of this season.

Autograph Recap, Kole Calhoun at Stadium Nissan 9/16/14

So it's been a while since I've been slammed with work but I wanted to recap a few things that I've been able to graph since the summer came to a close. One event I made it to was the Kole Calhoun appearance at Stadium Nissan. It was a well run event and Kole knocked out a fairly large crowd, but he was strictly one autograph per person.

I ran into my buddies Al, Matt and David and we had a good time hanging out in line even though it was far too early in the morning to be waiting in a line. I went through the line and got this Kole Calhoun autographed baseball, I had one before but gave it away to a friend and wanted to replace it for my own collection. I asked Kole to inscribe "Red Baron" but he declined saying he wasn't inscribing that day.

After I got my ball signed Matt was kind enough to drop my photo and get this 8x10 photograph autographed by Calhoun. Defense is a big part of his game to go along with the underrated bat so I'm glad to have this photo of him flying for a catch in the collection.

It was a good signing and didn't take too long to get out of there so I was happy with my progress on the day to end up with two Kole Calhoun autographs.

RBI (216) Don Sutton...

I made the trip down to San Diego to graph the Atlanta Braves. I made a silly mistake and neglected to bring with me a card for the broadcast crew as there was Hall of Famer Don Sutton working for them. I was able to get ahold of a card down there from another grapher for a buck in case I had the chance to get Sutton.

Sutton pitched for the Dodgers from 1966-1980 and made his way to the Astros, Brewers, Athletics, Angels and finally back to the Dodgers for a final retirement season in 1988. His numbers are standout at 324 Wins supported by a 3.26 ERA and 3,574 Strikeouts. Throughout his career he was however only a 4-time All Star, though he was the MVP of the 1977 All Star game. His number 20 was retired by the Dodgers  in 1998 the same year he was inducted into the Hall of Fame as the only inductee into Cooperstown that year.

I got this Don Sutton autographed 1988 Score card by literally accidentally walking into Mr. Sutton in the street after the game. It was a nice surprise pick up and its always a good day when you can add a Hall of Famer to your collection.

Autograph Recap, Garrett Richards Eco Challenge Day 7/26/14

Gerrett Richards made an appearance at Angel Stadium for Orange County Eco Challenge Day. Participants brought in household waste, clothing and electronic waste to be recycled and were given a wristband for an autograph and the first 200 donators received either tickets to that nights Angel game or the Discovery center.

Richards is a difficult autograph to get at the stadium, he doesn't often sign so I had to take advantage of the opportunity to get his autograph. I arrived at the stadium and while I thought I had come early I was sorely mistaken and there was an impressive line of cars waiting ahead of us.

Eventually we were let inside to form another line next to the famous hats at the home plate gate to wait for Garrett to show up for the signing. 

Garrett arrived a few minutes early and promptly started signing autographs for those waiting in line. He was polite and was giving out nice signatures on everyone's items. The handler was more lax at the start so some were able to get two items signed but by the time I arrived to the front it was more strictly held to one per.

I was glad to get my Garrett Richards 2014 Topps Heritage card autographed to add to my set.

He's got a great signature and getting it done at a sit down setting made it look great. It was a quick signing that supported a good eco-driven cause.

RBI (215) George Springer...

Everyone's looking at the upswing the Astro's are on and a big part of it is from the big bat of George Springer. He's taking the game by storm with his power and helping the typically struggling Astro's stay loose and swing free. With top prospects looking like they're going to start paying off the Astro's are finally at the cusp of not being perennial sellers and may start being buyers in a few seasons.

I've already gotten him on a baseball so I made sure to join in the fray after it came out and got this George Springer autographed Sports Illustrated done. It's a nice cover shot in the vintage Astro's uniform and I was really happy to get it signed with a reasonable Springer autograph. With a ball and SI signed now I don't have anything else for Springer unless I decide to knock out a photograph so it'll be nice to refocus on getting my 2014 Heritage set done when the Astros are in town.

RBI (214) Paul Goldschmidt...

I went down to San Diego to see the Padres play against the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was a reasonably successful trip with me getting a handful of autographs for my 2014 Topps Heritage set and the highlight of the trip was America's first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

He was an unassuming pick taking by the Diamondbacks in the 8th round of the 2009 MLB draft. The under the radar star had a massive breakout 2013 campaign and is productively repeating the success. He's already been an All Star, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner and lead the National League in RBI's in 2013 while being tied for the Home Run lead.

Paul Goldschmidt autographed my 2014 Topps Heritage card for the complete set I'm slowly trying to assemble. It's a big one to cross of the list as I think he'll stay productive and popular for years.