Back in the TTM arena

ripkenintheminors

Kudos to all of you with amazing TTM collections. It's very motivating to say the least.

Life has a way of catching up with you and I have not had the time necessary to get some things out until yesterday. Only 1 sports TTM request yesterday and one today along with some political requests:


9-18:

1. George H.W. Bush. I reprinted the 1990 Topps George H.W. Bush Yale card (front & back) and put it on stock paper. I've always liked the look of the card and thought it would look great signed.

Result: Card returned with form letter saying the office policy is to not have things signed.

2. Barbara Bush. Keeping with the Bush theme I wrote Barbara Bush commenting about her love for scoring the games in Houston. I mentioned having a scorecard from Len Kasper (Chicago Cubs) and was curious if she might share one of hers.

3. Bill Clinton. In 1996 I was in high school and had a friend that worked for Vice President Gore. It just so happens that they came through town and I got access to the holding area and spent the afternoon interacting with the Clintons and Gores. They even provided lunch. Political affiliation or not it was an amazing experience. For whatever reason I only had my event ticket signed by the Vice President. I sent the ticket to Bill thanking him for the experience with a request for him to sign the ticket.

4. Vin Scully. Same request as Barbara Bush.

9-19:

1. Questions sent to Harold Cooper, the "Father of Columbus Baseball". He was the President of the International League the night the "Longest Game" began. In addition to the questions I enclosed some custom printed trading cards of his statue and a box score from the 33 inning game.

Result: 4 cards signed with request for questions to be sent to the Pawtucket President.

9-22:

1. 2 1982 Topps rookie cards to Bobby Bonner with request for custom inscription.

9-26:

1. Custom printed cards sent to Michael Aronstein, Founder of TCMA


This probably will not be as lenghty as some of the other TTM threads but I thought I'd share.

slantycouch

Very cool Chris - good luck!

I've never had luck with HW or Clinton. But with your previous connection, I bet Clinton signs your ticket. Seems like he has a good/responsive crew working for him because the two times I've written, at least I've received a letter back saying he wouldn't sign!

Great idea with Barbara and Vin Scully.

Dboneesq

Best of luck ... both the Bush and Clinton I sent out came back with autopen.

ripkenintheminors

<< <i>Very cool Chris - good luck!

I've never had luck with HW or Clinton. But with your previous connection, I bet Clinton signs your ticket. Seems like he has a good/responsive crew working for him because the two times I've written, at least I've received a letter back saying he wouldn't sign!

Great idea with Barbara and Vin Scully. >>



Yeah I should've had it signed by everyone that day. Even Chelsea was there. It's cool saying that the Clinton/Gore campaign gave me lunch, even if it was only some Big Macs. I have an extra ticket but opted to send the one with Gore's sig.

As far as the scorecard goes I would be thrilled if it worked out.

ripkenintheminors

Finally got around to sending a pair of additional '82 Topps rookie cards to Bobby Bonner. Bobby uses the cards at times when he is preaching. He told me the information he tells and I thought it would look great written out on a card. Although I sent two I said he could keep one of them. There could be a delay, though. I e-mailed him after sending them and never heard back. I hope he is ok.

ripkenintheminors

<< <i>Best of luck ... . >>



Thanks!

ripkenintheminors

I sent a stack of custom printed cards to Mike Aronstein, creator of the 1981 Rochester Red Wings TCMA set. One card was a bronze looking '81 TCMA Ripken with Mike's information on the back. The other card had blanks for Mike and Steve Kozel to sign. I thought it would be great to have a card signed by both creators of Cal's 1981 Rochester cards.

ripkenintheminors

Received a pair of envelopes and recognized them being from Harold Cooper and George H.W. Bush. Saw the form letter and knew the custom 1990 Topps card wasn't going to be signed. Disappointing in that the Yale George Bush card really would've looked signed. Oh well.

The envelope from Harold had a letter from Randy A. Mobley, current President of the International League. The letter stated that Harold was pleased to sign the cards I created but suggested that I contact the President of Pawtucket for details of the game. For the record the questions for Harold were questions only for him from his perspective as IL President in 1981. Either way the 4 cards looked great signed. I can't recall how many I sent to him but received 2 copies of each card. One copy is of his statue and the other includes the box score from "The Longest Game" in the background.

ripkenintheminors

Sent a stack of cards to Michael Aronstein on 9/26. The first one celebrates TCMA for Cal's 1981 Rochester card. It would be too weird to do a color copy of the card considering my site so I did a "bronzed" variation:



Never heard back from Steve Kozel but I went ahead and sent the following to Mike as he said he would not mind signing a card with Steve:

ripkenintheminors

Here's one of the scans:

ripkenintheminors

Got back from vacation with a signed stack of cards from Michael Aronstein waiting. They look fantastic signed IMHO. No scans now but I'll try to get them posted eventually.

zep33

excellent!! I keep tossing around the idea to get back into ttm after about 30 years. One of these days....

ripkenintheminors

Ironmanfan

awesome success Chris!! I love that card you made (very cool)

ripkenintheminors

<< <i>awesome success Chris!! I love that card you made (very cool) >>



Thanks so much! I have to make a trip to get some more cardboard for the next batch of cards. I printed the two sides on a thin stock paper then glued them on a thin cardboard sheet (same process with the Cooper cards). They came out pretty good in my humble opinion. My next project is going to be doing the Charlotte Ripken cards in a similar fashion.

Still hoping Kozel is fine.

ripkenintheminors

Cards received from Bobby this afternoon. Bobby was nice enough to include a signed copy of his pamphlet about his playing days and ministry.

ripkenintheminors

Received an envelope from George H.W. Bush but he did not sign the custom printed card I sent. He did, however, send me a signed 8 x 10 with an inscription. Too bad the mail carrier crammed it in my mailbox.