S8 E12: Collector's Corner feat. Wade Bute

Sam welcome to TTM Cast, your sports collectibles podcast. TTMcast is brought to you by Wanna Shuffle, the free monthly autograph trading service also supported by sportscollectors daily.com if it happens in the hobby, you'll find it on sportscollectors daily.com and sponsored by gemrate.com the latest grading statistics from the four major grading companies are just a click away. Visit gemrate.com, it's free. And now, here's our host, Drew Pelto. Hello, everybody. We're coming to you once again here with TTM Cast, your sports collectibles podcast. It's a place where we talk TTM cards, autographs, collecting, and a whole lot more. We're in season number eight, episode number 12 here on June 20th. We are a month away from the start of our road trip. We're coming to you with all sorts of stuff from that coming up in a month. We're gonna be talking a lot about that in our next couple of episodes there as well. Talk a lot of stuff about the national coming up soon, especially starting today with our Collector's corner segment. We'll get to that here in a moment on this nationally ranked sports collectibles podcast. I am Drew Pelto, coming to you here from Arlington, Texas, joined by Aaron Littleton. Aaron, good to have you on here. We got to go do a little graphing last night, actually. Yeah, I mean, we're kind of burning the candle a little bit at both ends, you know. Yeah, I mean, I didn't get home last night until almost 2:00 clock in the morning, and, and, yeah, so. But I'm always eternally ready to go, so. So let's have a great show today. Yeah, I, I, obviously I got home a little bit earlier, but then, uh, had to do some stuff, my Panini album, which I'm gonna be talking about here in a bit there, since we had a big, uh, trade event among Panini employees. I've probably mentioned before on here several times that I work with Panini in the photo department there. So we had a big get together with the entire company yesterday and got to do a little sticker trading. So my album is coming along quite nicely, which I'll get to that here in a minute as well, because first we've got a lot of sports news going on here over the last couple weeks here, of course. I mean, we're in the middle of MLB season and all star voting is underway. My guardians, very underwhelming so far. Aaron, have you put in any ballots at all for the, for the All Star Game or just gonna kind of let the chips fall where they may with it? I have not to answer your question, I have not put any ballots in yet. There are very few Rangers that are deserving, unfortunately. I'd like to see Ezekiel Duran get in. He's been, he's been pretty good, whether that'll happen or not. The other one who may have a shot is, is Josh Young. Both of those guys are having pretty good season so far. Maybe I'll cast a ballot here, here pretty soon, but we'll see what happens. Young's gonna get helped by the fact that Jose Ramirez is out for a few weeks there, so he won't, won't be seeing him in another All Star appearance unless he gets voted in and then select and then replaced. But I don't even think that's happening. I don't think he's even, he might be like third place among third baseman right now. It's like, yikes. That's still the most underappreciated star in baseball as far as I'm concerned. Jose Rivera is. And I, I would agree elsewhere in sports, of course, we've got the New York Knicks, the NBA champs for the first time in over 50 years. I think it was 54 years, something like that was the last time they did it. So good on them. I mean, I don't like a whole lot of New York teams, but I got nothing against the Knicks basically. So it's like, hey, good for them to finally get themselves a championship there. Jalen Brunson of course, with huge, huge playoff run there. So good to see that though. I know the Mavericks fans out there are like, yep, could have had him, should still have him and. Nope. But you gotta appreciate though, I mean his, his game and everything, so. Oh, for sure. You know, I mean he showed up, Wimby showed up a little bit less, you know, for, for the spurs and yeah, but I mean, congrats to him. Congrats to the Knicks. It's kind of like bizarro world most of my, most of my life. Even as a kid, the Knicks were, were kind of the laughing stock of the NBA. You know, they were, they, they fielded a lot of less than competitive teams in my, in my lifetime. But yeah, good, good on them. It's always good to see, you know, somebody else win. I mean, they had their chances in the early 90s there too. It's just, I mean, you run into, you know, the so called team of the 90s, the Cavs were supposed to be. You run into the Bulls who were the team in the 90s and it's like it doesn't matter how good you are, you're going to lose to one of those two in the playoffs. It seemed like they don't, that's what happened every year despite, you know, the Ewing, Oakley, Starks and Jackson lineups that they had there. But hey, good to see them finally dig out of the rut there. And meanwhile, over on the ice, the Carolina Hurricanes beating the Vegas Golden Knights for the Stanley cup, which I think 90 of the hockey world is happy about that. I don't know if I think I know two legitimate Vegas fans total in my entire life. So definitely happy to see Carolina get that over, over Vegas there. Yeah, I wish I would have got to watch more of that series. Things have been kind of crazy in my life the last, the last little bit. But yeah, yeah, congratulations to the Hurricanes. You know, another non traditional hockey market winning another cup. So I think that that's only good for the sport, you know. Yeah, I have my issues with some of those markets but I mean Carolina at least has now been around for 30 years. It's like, all right, fine, I'll reluctantly say okay to that. I just, I'm still mad about them screwing over Hartford as bad as they did, you know, 30 years ago. But hey, if it keeps it out of Vegas's hands, I'm, I'll take it then. That's, that's the big thing for me at least. Meanwhile, moving back outdoors from a two indoor sports, the World cup going on right now, moving into second series of games in the group stages there. Team USA the big surprise so far, I gotta say. I mean I expected them to go, you know, 20 through these first two games, but to win both by multi goal margins. I think they had said on, I was listening to the ticket the other day that before this year they had had a whole one game ever that they had won by multiple goals. So it's like, wow, that's, that's kind of cool to see there. They're finally got, you know, two in a row here and a chance to take on Turkey now next and I'm not sure did u s completely clinch outright the championship or the win? Okay, they've outright, my wife has confirmed that, yeah, they clinched the outright winning of the group there with that victory. So kind of renders the Turkey game mood a bit there. But still it could be kind of nice to go, you know, 30 in the group stage there as they have just the one more left after this. Winning is always good, you know, so if you can't, if you can win, obviously that's a preferable option. Yesterday I. I had a little bit of time to kill, so I, I went over to the Cowboys new training facility that is about two or three miles from where we normally graph at the ballpark in Frisco, and I unwittedly wandered into a watch party that they were having for the Team USA game. I didn't even know it was on, but. But yeah, and they're just. They're just hundreds of people outside. And I was like, what is going on there? The Cowboys aren't here. You know, it's the middle of the summer and there's just hundreds of people out there, USA jerseys, watching the game and celebrating eventually when they won. And so, yeah, it's. I know that. I know that soccer, you know, is kind of like a distant. A distant sport in the United States mostly, you know, behind baseball, basketball, football, all of that stuff. But there were tons of people out and I know there are a lot of people excited about the World cup, especially here, you know, so. So it's good to see soccer having a little bit of momentum in the United States. Definitely is. I mean, any. I'll take just. Yeah, like you've said, you know, I'll take just about any sport that I can get on the tv. And I mean, with soccer being so huge worldwide, it's finally coming around here. It's having its moment here in the US A bit here over the last few years. And I mean, the 94 World cup did a lot to push it forward. Now you've got the 2026 World cup that I think you might see another renaissance of it here for a bit, and I'm hoping that that kind of continues here. Did a little graphing, like we said earlier on. You know, it's Arkansas and Frisco. I know. Aaron, you've got that in your segment there. I'll let you go ahead and take that one. But I will mention that Cleburne and Kansas City saw them just two days ago on Thursday. Our friend Chris and I went down there. So quick recap on them. Kansas City Monarchs, usually one of the teams that gets in a lot of former major league guys, higher, minor league guys, all those that'll come in and even Cleburne now, last couple years has gotten several as well. So had a pretty good day out there. I got Nick Martini, who had just recently been picked up by Kansas City. Super nice guy. I'd gotten him in person with Cincinnati at spring training a couple times. He signed four cards for me. Hudson Head, who I believe we may have gotten on our 2022 road trip there, signed two cards that I had of him. Austin Hansen, who you may remember we saw with the Mexican League team last year that came in. He signed one car that I had left. Cody Thomas, former member of the A's organization, I think got up with the A's. Actually signed two cards for me as well. Malik Smith, former member of the Rays, the Mariners, probably a couple other teams in there, signed four cards I had of him. Delino De Shields, as great as he is ever been. Formerly of the Rangers and the I believe Indians before they changed the guardians. There may have been the guardians there as well, but signed everything I had. He will sign whatever you bring pretty much with you. And Cole Foster, former Giants prospect, signed the two cards that I had of him. So very nice day there. Among those teams, unfortunately didn't get the chance at either Jay Groom or Durbin Feltman. Didn't see either of them. They may have come out late. And I didn't see Pete and Cavillia either. He may have stayed back the clubhouse. It was the hottest day of the year so far down here. So I wouldn't blame any of them for trying to stick back in the shade there for a little bit extra if they can. So unfortunately didn't see them, but should hopefully have some chance. I mean we're see the Monarchs on the road there in Kansas City on our upcoming trip. So have a chance at least at Feltman and Groom out there. And obviously Inky has been around forever here in Texas, so yeah, should have a few more chances at him as well. That's all the news stuff I guess there. I forgot to mention I've got my own pickups there. We've got Aaron's pickups, all that kind of stuff. So let's go ahead and check those out first. But I picked up a 20, 26 top series two set off eBay. It was a not quite complete set. It was missing five cards and they're all commons. I can grab them off sport lots, I'm sure for a quarter each. So being able to knock like 20, 30 bucks off the price. But to get one that's five cards short, that's kind of a no brainer as far as I'm concerned. So that looks like it'll be delivered today. I'll have that in time for our trip and everything for anybody that's going to in that we'll see in aaa or in the majors. But another panini sticker box I'd mentioned, you know, we had a big employee trading event. And just hang out and watch party thing going on there. And through all of that, I am now over 70% done with my sticker album at this point. There's 992 stickers that I'm gonna need to finish it off. I'm at 707 of them right now. I've got some dupes to trade here as well. I'm hopefully might have a chance to swing by. Another public trading event here later on today. So we'll see if I can complete a little bit more of that today. Road trip prep. I've got all of my cards of players pulled so far. I need to get all the coaches pulled yet. And then go on sport lots to buy Anything else that I need, but that's coming along. I'm finally getting in the groove on that. Just got to make my books for that as well, Which I should be able to knock that out pretty quick, I'm hoping. So that's where I'm at Over the last couple of weeks. Aaron, go ahead and give us what you've got. What have you. What you've been up to? Well, unfortunately, as far as the hobby is concerned, it's been pretty quiet for me. I do have one major thing that I'm not yet going to announce. Because I'm not trying to jinx it. I just need to make sure it shows up. So I'll have a. I'll have a major thing next show, hopefully, because it's supposed to show up tomorrow. But, yeah, I'm still working on getting all my stuff ready for the national. And for me, that means figuring out what I already have. Because the national, They're a kajillion cards. You never know what you're going to find. You never know. You know, you may have that one card for the set that shows up, you know, that. That you find. And if you don't know that you need that card, it's really hard to. It's really hard to get it. And you may not get another chance. And so I have the fomo, as the kids say, for your missing out on. On car. A car that I need, Because I don't know that I need it. And so I'm spending all of this time, you know, Trying to get everything to a. To a place where everything is cataloged in my everyday life. I don't normally have time to do that. And so there's always a rush before we go on the national trip, so I can, so that I can make sure I've got all my stuff where it needs to go. And so I'm currently in the middle of that in my free time when I'm not working in two different cities. So. So, you know, it's been a little bit of a hectic summer. I'm hoping to, to get on some more TTMs here pretty soon. I need to get on that. It's been a little bit of a, A little bit of a drought for me recently. But. But yeah, we'll get to that later. But yeah, time has definitely been at a premium the last couple months. But. But yeah, so, yeah, you mentioned we did Frisco in the Arkansas Travelers, which is the Rangers and Seattle Mariners Double A, respectively. And you know, that, that happened last night. Man, Arkansas, Arkansas is pretty tough. You know, I mean, a lot of, A lot of the guys on, on those teams, not the hugest fans of signing Lazaro Montes wouldn't even look at us. Michael Arroyo told us that he would sign after the game and lied to us and wouldn't even afterwards. And, you know, Kate Anderson, who's probably one of their biggest prospects, kids only, you know, wouldn't even, you know, entertain signing for an adult. So, you know, Ryan Sloan also told us he would sign. Did not. So. So yeah, it's kind of a, kind of a rough day at the office yesterday as far as getting Mariners prospects, but we, we did get a few. Teddy McGraw was great. We, we did end up getting Sunstrom. He. He signed one for us. But yeah, there's a lot of guys on that team that don't necessarily like to sign. But Frisco we did pretty well with. We ended up getting Winston Santos, who's one of The Rangers top 30 guys, another guy who can be a little bit rough to get, but he did sign for us last night. And Dylan Dryling, who is probably, probably the Rangers second current highest prospect in Frisco because just called up Malcolm Moore and he was phenomenal. So, yeah, he's very highly rated in the Ranger system, so it was nice to get him. Yeah. And so, you know, we, we had a day yesterday. We did some stuff. You know, it was a little bit of a, of a hard row sometimes, but you know, any day graphing beats a day at work all day, every day. So, you know, absolutely not much complaining can be done. Yeah, definitely a couple warnings for anyone out there who's going for either of those teams for Arkansas. We mentioned Sunstorm signing one per with us. He grabbed one pen and ran with it and then literally like dropped it in the middle of my books when he got done. So beware of that possibility out of him. And Malcolm Moore, like you said, you know, nice guy but very small sig. It's basically gonna be a very tiny MM on whatever you've got. But hey, he does it that and it's consistent. So that's all I can really all anyone can really ask of him. So. Well, coming up here, this week's show we have Collector's Corner. We're joined by Wade Butte, who was on the show back in December, comes back talk a bit more about some of his recent ttms and some of the tough ones that he's gotten back in as well as stuff for the national. He's going to be out there and at the show. He's said he's going to be at the TTM cast listener party as well. So come on down, hang out with us, meet Wade, see if he's got some stuff that might help out your collection. Maybe you've got something that'll help out his collection, you know, good way to connect. Meanwhile, we have all of our regular segments here this week. We've got Baker's dozen to start things off, talking about all the upcoming signings and hobby news and some card releases as well. Hobby happenings. We're going to cover all of the upcoming shows that are taking place all around the country. We'll then go into Collector's Corner with Wade before we hit up making the grade, covering everything in the world of grading here in our hobby, including the big three. We also get the TTM cast stamp approval, giving our thumbs up to something from the previous week. Sometimes sports collectibles related, sometimes it's not. With Vern Rap Minute covering deaths in the world of sports, celebrity, music, movies and politics. Anybody that you might be writing to, we will let you know if they have passed away and the main reason why the show exists. We finish out with our TTM returns. If you'd like to get a hold of us, Aaron, what is the email address here for this show? That is ttmcastahoo.com so any questions, any comments, anything like that, feel free to get a hold of us out there. If you'd like to get to one of us directly, you can find me on my website@dfwgrapher.com email address is dfw graphermail.com and you can find me on most social media at dfw Grapher. Aaron, where can all of the people follow you at? You know what I just thought before I do the social thing is that those people who are going for the national, especially, especially the ones who, who have tickets to the VIP signers, it should be noted that they. I know that we talked about that they took off Gary Baben, the former, the former Cy Young Goodness boy. It's. It's morning. Bear with me. The Heisman. The Heisman winner. Yeah. For. For ucla, I believe they had taken him off the list. Well, now they have added NBA or basketball hall of Famer and wnba, uh, supernova Cheryl Swoops to. To the VIP signing list. And I'm pumped about that. I used to watch. I used to watch a ton of Houston Comets games when it was on NBA on NBC in the late 90s. And yeah, she was phenomenal. And so I was a huge Houston Comets fan. So, uh, so, uh, yeah, I'm pretty pumped about the opportunity to meet her. But just, uh, just note that, uh, that that part has been changed. So if you are, if you have tickets for the VIP signers, be ready to get Cheryl Swoops because it looks like she'll be there in, in Chicago. Uh, and yes, you can find me, uh, mostly on Instagram. Uh, it is Aaron Sports Card Explosion. And I'm finally not a liar because I've been saying that I've, uh, that I have been, uh. I'm going to be posting my Michael Young stuff and it just hasn't been rolled out yet. But this week I finally started. I finally started posting some of my new Michael Young stuff that is going to continue as I have time to do that. So check it out. I've got some really, some really cool stuff that's gonna be. That's gonna be posted here pretty soon. And if you're interested in checking out the shenanigans that are definitely going to be afoot when me and Drew hit the road here in about a month, you can check out the Eternal Graphing Tour. It has underscores in between each one of those words. And that is my quest to visit every affiliated ballpark in the United States and Canada. I am at, at 94 ballparks currently, so God willing, hopefully everything goes tremendous for us on this trip and I will be able to get over 100 ballparks and we're gonna do some fun stuff. Send in your, your players so Drew can, can tell you off the top of his head who, who they played for. That's going to be a fun Little, little game that we're going to play. But yeah, so it's going to be great. You can follow us there and please do so. All right, there you go. So with that, let's go ahead and jump on in to Baker's Dozen. Baker's dozen sponsored by sportscollectors daily.com Smart collectors turn to Sports Collectors Daily to stay up to date. From new releases to incredible fans collections hitting the auction block, news from inside the business of sports collectibles and much more, Sports Collectors Daily has it all. With no subscription cost, SC Daily also delivers a live look at the most watched sports card auctions on ebay for every sport. Sign up to get the headlines in your email for free or just visit the website whenever you like. With 16,000 stories in the archive going back 16 years, there is always plenty to read. @sportscollectorsdaily.com. Baker's Dozen is a summary of news stories around the hobby. Mostly talk about some upcoming releases and some upcoming signings that are taking place. I want to remind you, of course I do write a bi weekly article approximately on sportscollectors daily.com go and check them out every day though for all the great hobby news that they cover. I usually talk about any of TTMs that come in, any in person outings, anything like that, usually some other autograph topics as well. So make sure you check them out@sportscollectors daily.com also the ttmcast store. Get yourself a T shirt, a hat, a sweatshirt, something like that. We got all sorts of great stuff on there. TTMcast.com check the top banner off to the right side. You'll find the link to go over there. As a reminder, we're also looking for sponsors still here for the show. If anybody knows any hobby related companies would be interested in getting on board here with us, have them get a hold of us. Aaron, what's that email address for the show? Once again, ttmcastahoo.com contact Ruthie there. She handles all the business side of stuff and all of our production work. And yeah, we can get you squared away with a possible sponsorship here of this show. Get your name out there, all that fun stuff. Well, you may remember last episode we had a giveaway of some autographs. There's gonna be at least 10 random signed cards and that I would add one for every three entries that we get. Well, I'm gonna change that. I'm gonna make it one for every two entries we get because we got 11 of them in here. So we're gonna put in five instead of the three that would have gone in with that. So 15 autographed cards are gonna go out to a winner here. I've got random.org loaded right now with all 11 names. Aaron, give me a number between one and 10 and I will randomize it that many times. All right. In honor of the great Yvonne Rodriguez, how about seven? Go seven times. All right. And we hit the randomize button seven times here. We've got one, we've got two, we've got three, four, five, six and seven. And in the top spot, congratulations to our winner, Scott Summers. So Scott, we'll get a hold of you here this week to get your name and address and all that good stuff. And well, we've got your name. We'll need your address though, and you may have even sent in the initial email I'll get with Ruthie about that. At least we'll figure out what fifteen will be sending to you here and hopefully have something that can help out your collection there. So let me put this down in my notes here. There we go. All right. Want to remind you also, if you want to get yourself a signed TTM cast card, we actually signed one for a fan last night out of the Frisco game. Make sure you send us a self dress stamped envelope and we'll get one out to you. Send that to P.O. box to Drew Pelto at P.O. box 140421, Irving, Texas 75014. So yeah, get yourself a copy of that if you want one, if you haven't gotten one yet and even if you have gotten one. All right, well we'll send out multiples if you really need them. And one last thing, because we talked to Wade about this in Collector's Corner. We'll give you the preview right now and we'll be talking about here in the next episode as well. We can finally start taking some RSVPs on this for our TTMCAST meetup at the National. It's going to be taking place on Thursday evening of the National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago. We're going to meet up over at giordano's there at 9415 Higgins Road. That is just outside the convention center there that the national will be at. So come on down, hang out with us here with your TTM cast crew. I know Clemente is going to be there. I think Les will probably be there as well. We talked to Wade in Collector's Corner. He's going to stop by and everything. So any listeners are going to Be at the national, stop on in, have dinner with us. We, we won't be able to pick up the bill for you, unfortunately. But still, you know, come on down, have some pizza there at Giordano's. And they've got Italian beef sandwiches there too, all sorts of great stuff. So check them out with us. Come on down, we'll talk sports, we'll talk whatever's on our minds there. Once again, that is Giordano's during the Thursday of the National. Be meeting up probably about 6:30 or so in the evening for that. Let's take a look. Some upcoming releases. We got a few to talk about here. Not a whole ton taking place here, but got to think five on the list here that we'll talk about, starting with some hockey. Got the 20, 25, 26 upper deck SP authentic hockey set is coming out on June 24th. In there you're gonna see nine cards per pack with 10 packs per box, 90 cards total right there. Two autographs and 27 inserts across that box. Pre sale price. It's going to run you $350. And then we also have the 2025, 2026 Panini Origins Euroleague product that's going to be coming out on June 26th in that you will get six cards per pack. You'll get six packs per box. And there are three parallels and five inserts per box. So the presale price that is $50. It's a product I worked on a little bit there. So please definitely buy that one. 20, 25, 26 Upper Deck Parkhurst Hockey will be coming out here on June the or July 2nd. Eight cards per pack, 16 packs per box. That is math. Don't feel like doing it. One autograph and 46 inserts or parallels in those boxes. So a lot of, a lot of extra stuff besides just the base set in there. Presale price, that's going to run you $250. I think that's the first math problem I've ever seen you shy away from. It's 128. I just caught, I just caught myself going way too fast and I'm like, ah, math, screw it. I don't feel like it. So I was gonna say normally that's, that's your favorite thing is to show off, show off your quick mathing abilities. And also, yes, please buy all the products that Drew worked on. Okay. We need to keep him having a job. I'm sure Jen would agree. Yes. Yes. We also have the, we also have the 25, 2025, 20, 26 upper deck CHL. That is going to be dropping on July the second. And in that product you will get six cards for pack. You'll get 16 packs for box, one autograph and 47 inserts in and or parallels per box. And the presale price for that is $95. Lastly, some baseball coming out as on July 3rd, we have Donruss Elite Baseball coming out. Five cards per pack, 16 packs per box. That I can tell you is 80 cards. You also get two autographs. There's 20 inserts or parallels in each of those boxes. Not too bad right there. Presale price $250. Well, we have a lot of upcoming signings here coming up in the end of July, so give you a little bit of a heads up on that. A lot of stuff going on with the national as well. I know a lot of people are taking mail ins for that. If you can't make it out to the show, we are not taking mail ins, however, for that. We're gonna be busy working on our own stuff enough there, so. But we've got several names that we talk about a lot on here. Doug Barnes, who actually has been a guest on the show a couple times, Big Tops, heritage collector. You can find him on sportscollectors.net as Dugout Doug. And on July 17, he's going to have Greg Nettles doing a signing with him. 18 item on that. So once again, SCN Dugout Doug is the name for that one. And Legends 131 is going to have Dave Collins signing for them on July 17th. That signing starts at $14 and you can check them out also on SEN under NCC 500 signatures for you. We've mentioned them quite a few times. You can find them on Facebook or on SCN as signatures. The number four letter U. July 18th, they're gonna have Buck Martinez in for a signing. Of course, the former Blue Jays catcher Blue Jays manager played for the Royals, ESPN guru of all things baseball at times too. So if you need him on something, only $12 to get him. Once again, that is signatures. The number four, the letter U on Facebook and SCN, it isn't TTM cast unless Drew gives me a humongous read in. Oh please, just wait because you're gonna see the long one that I later on. So. Yeah, right, right. And so that's what I said. I was gonna say that then about a, about a humongous read and then I saw the one that you have. So, you know, just to be fair, Drew did give himself a a bigger read than this one but but Jim Falbo is gonna have bunches of people and so bear with me as I go through this. On July 18th he's going to have former Ranger great just kidding Phil Maton and also former Cardinals hurler Bud Smith signing and both of those signings start at 15 per item. The very next day on July 19th he's going to have Gary Templeton also starting at 15 $18 per item. The day after that he's going to have former Tampa Bay Ray and Boston Red Sock Johnny Gomes will be signing for him for $20 per item. And on July 25th he's going to have Todd Benzinger signing for the very low price of ten dollars per item. It's always good to see those ten dollar ones and he'll have a couple cardinals on the 26th. On July 26th Pedro Pajes who who was kind enough to sign for us in Frisco and also Matthew Libertor will be signing for $25 per item for him on the 26th. And lastly he's got Ty Lawson who will be signing on July 31st. That signing also $10 per item. And for more information about that you can check out wildersideofsports.com Carl's cards. You can find them@carlscards.com they'll have Ricky Botalico coming in on July 18th. All of those start at 15 night and once again carlscards.com I like the alliteration there. Carl's oh yes and then we have Ryan Batkay will have Mike Fetters he the intimidator himself. I used to love the face. You know we'll we'll have have Mike Feder signing for him on July 18th. That signing starts at $15 per item and for more information about that you can check out silverback sports.com Jamie Bly you can find him on sports collectors.net under the name Jamie Bly Bly on July 18th as well he's going to have Russ Ortiz former hurler of the most notably I would say as the giants there 15 an item for him. Once again Jamie Bly J A M I E B L Y E on SCN Guy Puglia is going to have Jason Thompson signing for him on July 18th. Which Jason Thompson you ask? Well that would be the first baseman I'm here to tell you. And that signing will start at $20 per item. For more information about that you can Check out sports cornersignings.com Billy Roe has A big list coming in. This one we were kind of teasing earlier there. These are all taking place on July 19th. You can find him by the way on SCN as the screen name LV Grapher, as in Lehigh Valley I believe as he's in Pennsylvania. So for $20 each they're gonna have Fergie Jenkins and Jamie Moyer. That is the best price I've seen on Jenkins in a bit. I think even Moyer has been like 25 lately. So save a few bucks by going through Billy Rowe on Those guys for 15 an item they're gonna have Raphael Santana, Danny Jackson and Jay Baller signing. Neil Allen is gonna be signing for $12 at $10 each. You've got Jody Davis, Al Woods, Jack Fisher, Steve Gelts, Wayne Garrett, Bill north and Jim the Emu Kern. If you want to save a buck and get for $9 you get rich Rodriguez, former pitcher I believe with the Indians and the Padres. And I'm not sure if he was also the one with the A's or not. I know there's, there's, there have been a few Rich Rodriguez's that are pitchers in there so better might want to check and make sure if you need him. So make sure you're getting the right one. For $8 you're gonna have former Ranger and former Indian and former Brave, maybe a couple other teams in her ODB McDowell $8 an item on him but he will not be signing any Indians cards. So if you need him on tribe stuff you're out of luck. And finally for $5 each there they will have Ray Burris, Jack Kuchek, Dave Lemanchik, Randy McGilbury, Matt McBride and Ralph Citarella. So if you guys are in a bunch of 80s stuff, they're even 70s stuff they're with Ray Burris and La Manchick. So if you need any of them. Once again Billy Rowe is on SCN sportscollectors.net as LV Grapher. Then Michael Terrell is gonna have Daniel Hudson, former Diamondback and White Sock. That's all I got. I, I will not be playing the game where, where I name all the themes because I can do a couple of it. But uh, he'll be having Daniel hudson on uh, July 20th for starting at 15 per item they will, he will have the very next day on July 21st he will have Chris Davis with the K Ranger killer, former former Oakland Athletic and Ranger Very, very uh, underperformed Ranger career after you know, dominating them for most of, most of the rest of uh, the beginning part of his career 18 an item. So not, not a, not a bad price for, for a pretty prominent player here of the last 20 years or so. And on July 22 they will have also former Ranger killer Mitch Haniger, uh, signing for 15 per item. So if you just really hate the Rangers, this is a good, good, good uh, sign. Time to get on some signings and for more information about that you check out perry sportslegends.com I might have to get in on that because I know I need Haniger for a set and I think Davis is in 21 heritage there as well and Hudson might be too. I'm gonna have to dig into that a little bit. But yeah, I know I missed Hannahgar at spring training. So yeah, 15 not too bad. John Byerman made a couple trades with him. He's on SCN as Jay Byerman B E I E R M A N N Gonna have former Giants prospect Jairo Pomaras coming in there on the 22nd of July. Only $5 an item for him. So if you need him for any sets or anything like that, great time to be able to get him. And then we have Jeff Fedorco who's gonna have La Salle Thompson signing for him on July 24th. That signing starts at $12 per item and you can check out the Double J cards collectibles on Instagram for more information. This episode sponsored by Marathon Sports Runners know the feeling. That moment when the shoe disappears, your stride feels smooth, your breathing settles in, and the run just clicks. That's what Marathon Sports has been helping runners find for over 50 years. At marathon Sports, their expert team uses the right fit process to match you with shoes and gear built for the way your body actually moves. No guesswork, no generic recommendations, just real guidance from people who live and breathe running. Whether you're training for your next marathon, getting back into running, or chasing a better everyday run, Marathon Sports helps you find what works for you. Visit marathonsports.com or stop into a marathon sports store today and experience the difference the right fit can make. Todd Schaefer of Under the Radar Sports is going to have Bill Lee in for a signing on 25th July 1518. An item there. You know, Lee obviously a great signer by mail, but if you need them on, you know, a slightly more premium item or want to get something really specific on it, go through Todd for that. UnderTheRadarSports.net is the place to find out more about that Bill Lee signing. And then we have Doug Keating, who's going to have Mike Remlinger signing for him, I believe Atlanta Brave, Chicago Cub, he's going to have him signing on July 21st 5th for $10 per item. And for more information about that you can check out cardboardpromotions.com Autographs Inc. Right here in the Dallas Fort Worth area is going to have three guys in on July 25th as well. You can find them on Facebook at Autographs Inc. And those three signers, $8 each are going to have Kelvin Garmin, former offensive lineman for the Cowboys and the Browns. Maybe a couple other teams there, Kansas City I want to say. But at least the Cowboys and Browns I know those have Kelvin Edwards and they'll have former Rangers pitcher and current Rangers broadcaster on their Spanish feed. Former Cub as well, Jose Guzman once again $8 each. Autographs Inc. I n K on Facebook and Smith's cards is going to have a couple former major leaguers signing for them on July 27th. Former twin Brian Dozier will be signing for them starting at 25 per item and former Pittsburgh Pirate and probably some other teams, but I remember mostly as a pirate, Paul Muhalum will be signing for $20 an item. And for more information about that you can check out smithscards.com and lastly, we've got a Dana Dominion. You can find him on Facebook @deb Sports gonna have Lou Collier coming in I believe. I didn't write the date on this down. I believe it's gonna be July 28th though if I remember I know it's gonna be late July at the very least. But Lou Collier gonna be signing there for $10 an item. So once again to get the exact date on that, go on scn, look up Lou Collier or just go to Facebook on Deb Sports to find out all about those signings from Dana Dominion. You wanna find more info about a lot of these signings, go check out sportscollectors.net, we also you can find a lot of other signings that are on the more expensive side there as well. We try to keep it just to promoting the ones that are $25 or less at their starting price. But you got a little bit more money to spend. Go and see what you can get there@sportscollectors.net Next up, it's time for Hobby Happenings. You heard that right. It's time for Hobby Happenings. Hobby Happenings is proudly sponsored by Wanna Shuffle, the free monthly autograph trading service service. For more information check out Wanna Shuffle on Instagram, facebook or@wannashuffle.com Quick look at everything for Wanna Shuffle here to start out hobby happenings. We don't have Belinda on this month, but had a great talk with her on our last episode. So if you haven't given that a listen, make sure you go back to our previous one, episode number 11 and you can hear from her. She's got a card Life mug to give away this month as a bonus gift for one of the shufflers. I just sent mine in the other week. So I mentioned last time too that it's gonna be a 1960s card that'll be in there. So a little vintage getting tossed in there. So make sure you're following Wanna Shuffle on Instagram. That's Wanashuffle. You can also follow Belinda's Facebook page there. Wanna Shuffle? And of course the website for Wanna shuffle is@wanashuffle.com to send in your submissions for this month's shuffle trade here. You got about a week or so left to get those in. Send to Wanna Shuffle at P.O. box 68, Cordova, SC 29039. Let's take a look at some upcoming shows. We've got a bunch going on in late June. Well, maybe not a bunch. We got three going on because I think everyone's starting to gear up for, you know, the holidays there with July 4th being right around the corner there. World cup has people keeping busy. And of course, the national is only a month away. So only three shows to talk about here, starting with the Northeast Sports Expo that's gonna be taking place on June 26th through the 28th at the Four Kicks Sports Complex in Marlboro, Massachusetts. Admission to that show is gonna be $20. They're gonna have 37 autograph signers there, including Dana Barrows and Ken Linseman. So if you need either of them, that's a great time to get them. And if you want to find out more about those other 35 signers they're going to have there, go to northeast sportscardexpo.com and then we have the Wisconsin card and auto show. That would be autographs, I'm assuming, and not cars. That would be very interesting. And that will be going on on June 27th and 28th at the Fiser Forum in Milwaukee. We will be in Milwaukee Drew here pretty soon. But yes, the Fiser Forum in Milwaukee. Admission there is 15 and they will have 10 signers, including Sal Freelick of the Milwaukee brewers and Jordy Nelson, former Packers. Great. And so yeah, the. For more information about that, you can check out WisconsinCard Show.com and lastly, on June 27, we have the Tri State Sue Tacular show. Yes, that's right, Sue Tacular because it's in Sioux City, Iowa. Gotta love the name puns there. There'll be the Sioux City, Iowa Convention Center. Admission to that show only $5. They're going to have a couple of college players signing out there. Monica Sinano and Price Sanford both signing there. For more information, find them on Facebook at Tri State Sue Tacular S I O U X Tacular Card show. Don't forget a lot of these shows that are taking place offer mail in signings. So visit cravetheauto.com for more upcoming shows and signings taking place all over the country. Next up, it's time for Collector's Corner. And now it's time for Collector's Corner. Let's hear from our collector this week. Well, this week I talked to Wade Butte. As I said in our intro, a collector from up in Wisconsin. We'll be seeing him at the national and this is the second time on the show we had him on back in December. So I figured, hey, let's follow up with him right before the national, find out what for out there, find out how his mailboxes looked. And so with that, here's Wade. Wade, first off, great to have you back on here. I think you're the, the first two time appear of the Collector's Corner segment here since I've taken the show over. Yeah, well, I really appreciate it. I'm excited to come back on. Obviously we've traded some emails, excited about the upcoming national and for me, I haven't been in 33 years. So from the eyes of a 13 year old with no budget to trying to control my adult budget, you know, going to the national, it's definitely a difference between those two because I'll tell you my first one, I was about 13 as well as 1997 in Cleveland and going to a single day and walking in with only $25 to spend versus, you know, now being 42 and a little bit more than $25 to spend. I was like, oh, it definitely changes, it changes your perspective on, you know, what you're able to get, what to at look, look for all that kind of stuff and it's always, always makes a little easier the more, the more you've got there to be able to work with. But anything big that you're specifically looking out for when you're, when you're there. This year, you know, I think I, I want to hit up the baseball card exchange booth Get a feel for. You know, I want to open some old nostalgic wax while I'm there. Looking forward to our Thursday meetup at. Is it still at Maggiano's? I forget the name of it. I've mentioned throughout the show here, but I'll, I'll send you all the details there and everything. But yeah, I'm looking forward to kind of mixing it up with other collectors. I think if I could find some right priced I feel like I'm in the market for maybe like a George Brett rookie or a Robin Young rookie. Those are things I feel like my collection is was absent of. But yeah, I mean I, I don't, I don't have a real big shopping list. I've been trying to build my items to be sign list. Been kind of shopping around for things that I feel unique that aren't, aren't too difficult to come by at the same time. So waiting for a couple of the old tops folders from the late 80s to come in. Those are always nice to get signed. Sometimes you luck out with a nice big signature on them. But yeah, I've been trying to stay steady with sending out through the mail requests and you know, still staying true to kind of a long shot focus. I've sort of deviated from or still try for maybe the more difficult folks. I'm still working on kind of desirables from the 83 through I'd say 90 tops. For some reason I didn't jump on the 87 bandwagon but still trying to pick up things through there. But yeah, I think the mailbox has been a little bit, a little bit slower. I don't know. You know, it seems like the there's been a big influx of people sending out a lot of requests. Maybe I'm my own worst enemy. I'm getting folks to target some long shot folks but still had some wild, wild responses since I've been on the the podcast last I try to document all of them on my Instagram page that's been going since February of last year. And yeah, it seems to get some new followers every other day or so I think I, I didn't I should have looked before jumping on. I think I'm like scratching the surface on 2700 followers that nice. A lot of them seem pretty engaged then you know, I think when I get what I don't consider a real long shot but it's still something I'm trying to add to my collection, I usually post it to my story so it's there for about 24 hours for folks to ask questions about, you know, at present, I'm trying to refrain from being an address source. It just gets exhausting with, you know, message after message. And, you know, there's certain folks that have. Have been really engaged since I started that, you know, I still trade information with and, you know, not trying to be, you know, everyone likes to tag people as a gatekeeper or something, but the information so readily there, I, I reference where I got it, you know, try to be accurate with, you know, date sent, how many were included, if I got some back unsigned or something like that, try to be accurate with it. But, you know, I, I try to bury my head and go for the quality over quantity and really appreciate your shout out on the digest with your Tony Banks return. That was exciting. I've never gotten him back before. Yeah, I've been having, like I said, I've been channeling my inner Wade here lately with some of the ones I've been getting there. I just, you know, I like you. You know, you just fire them out to guys that's like, hey, yeah, why not? Let's try this guy, you know? And I thought, well, why not try some of these UFL guys? They've got a bunch of guys that, you know, were draft picks over the last, you know, five, 10 years or so that are trying to hang on for one last go around there. They've got guys that are former players that are coaches now. And I just went through what I had on hand. I'm like, you know what? Why not? Let's fire these out and see what happens. And it's been kind of a, you know, like, you've said that you've had a lower, lower success rate than some on there, but you're getting some decent names of guys that haven't signed in a while. And yeah, I mean, Tony Banks was one. I've got two that I'm gonna mention later on in this show that, okay, back recently, they haven't signed it all in the last, like, five, six years at all. So, yeah, I mean, you never know until you try it. And once in a while you come with some good ones. So what are some ones you've gotten here over the last. Since last time you're on six months ago, just some of the, some of the bigger names that you've managed to pull in. I, I tried to drill down my list. I mean, the ones I was most excited about, I think right around Thanksgiving, I got a really nice Don Mattingly response. And I, in addition to being A long shot. I risked it with his 84 tops and his 85 Don Russ and they came out gorgeous Right around that time time I had a Billy Ripken response. I I went with the 88 tops, 89 tops and the 89 FL in the blackout version. Kicking myself on that card selection but not sure he would assign the other one right in this In December I had a389 cards come back from Craig Craig Beio with a little note on the back of my envelope to be kind, which I suspected might have referred to where it was sent and and not blowing up his mailbox. But I had a really cool December response from Jason Giambi with three of his early USA cards, Dusty Baker with a really cool 2006 tops and his Cubs manager uniform. Yep, Todd Helton did his early tops rookie and tops traded USA card. Got a shocker with two personalized back from Roger Clemens on a 86 and 89 tops. Nice. And had a another Robin you return with his 85 tops and 86 fleeter and use the Harvey's list for most of these and had a couple come back from Philip Rivers in the off season. Those were a surprise. You know, a super great ad to the collection. Had a couple Willie Randolph returns that must have been out for six to nine months or more personalized, which is is great. I don't mind. I enjoy the personalization. Isaac Bruce did too. Personalized on an upper deck rookie and a mid-90s tops starting to, you know, get into March here. You know those first ones were from November. In March I got my only spring training return and in full transparency, that was probably one of the maybe 80 that I spread out over. You know, not to say that a couple might not sprinkle back throughout the season or so, but you know, being a Milwaukee guy on the heels of the World Baseball Classic, it was a Bryce terrain on a really cool top spinus that he did in red and you know, didn't ask for any specific color but I thought that one looked great. I had a Charles Woodson response with a.06 tops in the packers uniform that was really nice. Seemed like a marker that had maybe been run on the side of a car tire for about 60 minutes but you know, no complaint. I'll never complain about the quality if it's from a star like that. I mean I'm assuming the bad marker selection is because he's not sitting around signing much from home. Got two back on Steelers cards from Rob Woodson and I had been probably over four with Eric Davis over the last two or three years. And I switched it up and got a really big mailer envelope and sent the 89 tops fold like the school folder. And it came back just with a gorgeous signature on it. I've had some recent success with Tom Canople, the runner up and NBA rookie of the year. He's a Milwaukee local. And in April, I think it was early April. I don't have the dates in front of me. I had a Monday in early April where Sandy Koufax and Larry David came back on the same day. And I was like, should I just, should I just stop sending out right now? But you know, yeah, that's what it was like. That's, that's like one of those, that's it, I'm done. I, I, you can't really top a day like that. Yeah, it was crazy. And you know I, I remember earlier in the year you, or maybe it was in the new year, you had asked some collectors from your Facebook page what their goals were for the new year and I had said stronger card selection. And with Sandy Kofax, I shoulda coulda, woulda sent in my 1965 tops, but I sent like just the basic call to the hall out of the 2026 tops. I don't know if it's a parallel or whatever. I mean just a real basic current card, but it came out beautifully. It, you know, I didn't share it out on Facebook, but I noticed a couple other collectors collectors screenshotted it from my Instagram page and kind of did, did you guys see this thing? And one motivated collector even paid his own money to put it through the outer safe guys and they said that the Sandy Koufax was good. So nice. I mean I, I think that alone justifies like any of my stamp spend, you know, for half a decade probably. I don't know, I mean Kofax is charging like 5, 600 bucks a signing minimum nowadays. So yeah, getting that back free on a request. Yeah, that's, that makes up for a couple rolls worth of stamps right there. Yeah, completely wild. I've been you know, recently, I think the, the most fun ones that came back. In the last month I had a high Javi Lopez return which you know, for any early mid, late 90s baseball fans he's a pretty notable heavy home run hitting, talented catcher name part of some, some productive Braves teams. And I was, I was really laughably motivated to send to the mad Hungarian when I saw him join the tarps off movement in St. Louis. So I, I was Able to dig out and find his. I think it was a 74 tops and either 75 or 76 Kellogg's card and he signed both of those. And yeah, I would say for, for the, through the mail, you know I tried to really highlight none of the guys I mentioned were with fees. Certainly I, I do several of the fee guys and those are exciting as well. I've been working on, I'm trying to put together a nine card tie of at least some of my favorite Daryl Strawberry cards and I've been leaning on coaches collectibles and there was another gentleman from I think he calls himself the emo sports enterprise in New York. Yes, Matt Leben, great guy. Yeah. He did a post and I jumped on it right away. Had posted that I think it was from the 85 tops rack packs. He, he had a whole grip of maybe 60 or 70 strawberries that he was letting go and it was that it. You know how the, the All Star those like yellow, blue and red glossies that came in rack packs for the bulk. Yeah, yeah. The one per pack ones. Yep. Yeah. So it was a strawberry from 85 that said 84 on it. It kind of looks like the Image on his 84 FLIR. But I've sent through coaches collectibles and had done I think the 83 tops traded 84 Don Russ that'll pulled out of a Christmas gift to myself pack from the baseball card exchange and I sent in the 84 tops. And like I mentioned before, I've been loosely working on like 88 and 89 tops. So in my decorative scheme I bought a bunch of those like ultra pro nine card screw downs. I don't think they make them in the screw down anymore. They do like one snap nine card. But I had bought maybe a dozen of those nine card tie downs and you know, they're kind of spread about my basement and some bookshelves in the living room. But I have maybe four of them filled with Boggs cards that were signed and I, I don't have them displayed. So I was like, let me, let me work on a couple of guys that you know will kind of give some more variety to the collection. But Strawberry currently is one that you know, if he's doing a kind of consistent signing through them, I'm a. My fandom's high enough to be willing to load up on those I guess I'd say. But yeah, yeah. That I'm kind of working my way backwards on Billy Williams from I think I started with the 65 tops and been having success, success with him sending $40 a crack to the same address he's been at for ages. But you know, definitely always focus on a thoughtful handwritten letter. That's been my approach. And you know, I, I definitely always, you know, if I write to a guy with a fee that isn't consistent like Billy Williams, I, I change it up. I don't talk about the same thing every time, but he's been consistent with, I think I got the 65 done maybe in February and then I got the 64 done and the 63 and I currently have the 62 out to him and I figured I'd get the rookie done at the national. It, you know, to just kind of finish it up. And you know, I, I, he certainly has some great looking cards after 65, but you could obviously go nuts, you know, trying to, trying to do a run on that. And I think I'm kind of late, late to the party. I remember way back when I was a kid, kid, I, I was bizarrely into the action packed cards and I, I think I got him on that 91 hall of Famer group. But yeah, just I, I'm a big Cubs fan. It's hard to not say that I'm converting to being a Brewers fan. Living in Milwaukee with all the excitement, there's plenty of it. And when, when guys like you and Bryce Turing are signing through the mail, it adds some excitement. My nine year old goddaughter is a die hard brewers fan and the compromise that my college roommate, you know, one of my best friends, her dad and her mom have is that she, she's a Bears fan like we are. So we get the Bears and, and I'll meet them halfway with the Brewers. But yeah, I just posted today, I, I signed up for a nice meet and greet that the Wisconsin Parkinson's association put together with Jacob Misarowski. I was just about to ask you about that. How'd that go? It was great. I mean he was nice. Saw a lot of smiling faces. I think they sold about 300 tickets and everybody that went through got signed Ball. It was kind of a unique surprise. It was like a representative from the brewers there to put their certificate sticker on it and they had a professional photographer there and let everybody download their photos strategically. I wore my new three quarter sleeve, my TTM Gems yes, you know, Raglan baseball tee. I didn't get any comments out of it. I thought maybe in a, a line of 300 people there to get autographs that someone might ask what that was about. But you know, no harm. I do have a good group of those together. I just ordered a wider variety of sizes. So, you know, like I said before, I want to treat everybody that comes to the meet and greet. I think I should have sizes small through double XL for the, for the National. So I want to give everybody who shows up and, you know, gets to know the community, you know, one of those at a minimum, but also kind of get to, to know what they collect and what they're looking for, because I think as everybody's collections evolve, you know, you have a handful of things that, you know, maybe aren't as meaningful to you, but would do something for somebody else's collection. So, yes, you know, I definitely want to pay it forward. I don't have any duplicate Kofaxes or anything like that, but, you know, I, I, I'd be happy to help somebody, you know, try to work on a set or, you know, get some things going. I, I traded some communication with a gentleman on Facebook that he was trying to get a signed card of every person who had ever played in a game with the brewers, and he sent me his list, and I think I was able to find 17 or 18 of the guys he needed. And you. I was just very. Okay, I'm working on these sets. You know, if you got somebody like, let's go one for one. And I think he traded me a couple Joe Girardi's and a couple other guys that I hadn't had success with through the mail that were certainly part of my, you know, boyhood nostalgia or what have you. And that part of it's, you know, growing to be a lot of fun as well. Yeah, also definitely great there that you're offering up the shirts there. So if you didn't have a good enough reason to come and hang out with all the TTM cast crew, now, an additional reason right there. You know, talk to Wade, get yourself a shirt there, and who knows who you might find out there that, you know, might have something that you need. And I know this is something Jeff started, Jeff Baker started with the show four years ago when we all went to the, the national, and we got a few out there then. So hopefully we'll be able to duplicate that this time around, maybe get even more out there. But definitely a very generous offer there to offer those up to our listeners that are going to be out there. Yeah, sure thing. Yeah. I'm trying to think if there's anything else to cover in there, because we got through all your, your latest TTMs there, and everything I was going to mention, oh, yeah, it's Giordano's, was the name of the place that we're going to. Okay, I did that. Look that up. Yeah. But you mentioned the spring training returns, that you're 1 for 80ish so far. But yeah, like you're saying some of those might come in, you know, there's always the All Star break. Some guys may catch up on some mail then. And the last few years, it seems like I see a lot that come back right at the end of the season. Some guys will just grab all the mail and say, you know what, we're just gonna wait till October, November, December or whatever. So you might hopefully get a few close to a year ones in there or something like that in there, but it's always good and go ahead. I definitely didn't scrimp on the effort. You know, I think a lot of times my effort is strongest, like with the guys I grew up with watching or, you know, players that are just epically great. But, you know, I think one thing in terms of letter writing, I, I've really tried to make everything individual, make everything honest. Like, if there's a reason you're writing to someone, like, try to let them know what that is or, you know, and I don't know, I mean, I, I think that the caution I give to people who send long shots, like, might want to consider that, you know, if your approach is. Sign these, please. Thanks. You know, that might not get past their gatekeeper. A lot of these guys might very well have, you know, staff or someone on their behalf kind of reading through and scrubbing for things that present a lot more genuine. And, you know, I think the, the effort on a lot of the long shots is not, is not gonna be the same that you might have for the automatic fee based guys. I, I have a lot of communication with people on Instagram that, you know, they can't believe someone would sign for free. And a lot of the, A lot of the guys that are hugely accomplished, like, money's not exactly their motivator. Like, they, if they're gonna, if they're gonna slow down to take a glance at a few pieces of fan mail, they're, they're definitely looking for the full. I shouldn't say definitely. I don't know, everybody's different that you send to and has their own motivations. But, you know, I think the, the more personalized your approach is, the better results you'll have. Yeah, I know. Fred Lynn's wife is his big gatekeeper. There. But you'll usually get, you know, just the signed index card there. But if you write a truly personal one, you'll probably get your item assigned. And I've had a couple successes with him that way, so. Nice. I'd love to add to my collection. Yeah, yeah, he's definitely worth trying. And now that you mentioned, you know, having the paid sign ins there for our paid mail ins for Strawberry for that. Billy Williams has been on there, on your radar there. I definitely got to add those two guys onto my list here to try out here pretty soon because I've got set needs on them. You mentioned earlier in the show here, earlier in our talk here, Robin Youth, you're looking for his rookie card there. Have you any success on him? Because I saw fairly recently he did a few signings. I think it was only $65 which I mean you compare that to his fellow 1975 tops rookie there in George Brett. That's you know like a quarter, quarter of what Brett is charging. So it's like, huh, I might have to get in on that. Especially when he's doing the rookie card I think for like 75 or something like that. Yeah. Every success I've had with you has been no fee through the mail. I haven't, I haven't done the signings. I did a Bo Jackson signing through Waukesha Sports cards or wsc. I don't think they go go by the name Waukesha anymore, but they do a good job. I just, I think that y' all might have, whether it's his gatekeeper might prefer Postmark Milwaukee, which I'm fortunate to have. I, you know, I, I think I got a couple tickets that I bought for him for the national and I, I bought the 70. I think it's 76 tops his second year. I really don't like getting cards signed that are, that have a faux signature on them. So I'm kind of skipping the rookie for him and I chose to do the same year for Dave Winfield. Like I figured I'd do a little pocket of those. I bought The Robin yount 88 tops folder that I'm anxiously awaiting to come in the mail so I can bring that to the National. But yeah, I, I would, I'd have to think. I think I've gotten four signed cards back from you and like a no fee. But that was from two different occurrences. So definitely had some failures in there. I've definitely gotten the hall of Fame plaque back with can't get to all of these. But you know, I'M sure there's just certain times where, you know, people are feeling a little nostalgic or have a little free time on their hands. Maybe their spouse is traveling and they're home with the dog and watching the college baseball World Series or whatever it is and they figure they'll get through a few of them. But it's, it's definitely, I mean, to me, a no fee long shot is just a game changer. It changes my whole mood that week. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's definitely what I'm going for. It's definitely refreshing. I mean, it kind of re energizes you there too if you, you know, you have to string of nothing and then suddenly that one comes in, it's like, oh, all right, this is why I do this. And gets you ready to write 20 more out? Yeah, absolutely. Last week I wanted to mention a buddy of mine that I started following his YouTube channel, did a little, I sent him a shirt and a couple gifts. He's a big Cubs Bears Bulls fan. And I had sent Jeff from a fine card collector on YouTube a couple things and he did a nice 13 minute video wearing the shirt, giving me a shout out. But it's always exciting. You know, some folks that I've married like mailed out shirts too. Like, seeing them wear them in the wild is fun. Definitely. Definitely is. Well, once again, this is Wade Butte from, from my TTM gems. If you haven't given him a follow yet, make sure you do so. And well, Wade, we'll see you out of the national there. Like I said, Thursday night at Giordano's, I know you're going to be out there with us and hopefully we'll get a lot of other collectors out there too. Absolutely. Looking forward to it. Thanks for having me on, Drew. Absolutely. Big thanks to Wade Butte joining us here in Collector's Corner as now we move on into making the grade. From the grading lab to your ears, this is making the grade. Making the grade is a summary of a lot of stuff going on in the grading area of our hobby as we get some numbers from the big five grading companies out there. So Aaron, take it away. What do we got here? All right. For the week of June 8th through the 14th, PSA graded 611.7 cards. That's up 10 for, for them. So nice little clip. CGC graded 156.3 thousand cards, which is down 1% for them. Beckett graded 38.7, 000 cards, which is down 5%. SGC graded 10,000 cards. Nice round number there and they, they that is up 14 for them. And tag graded 9,000 cards which is up 85% for a pretty good increase there. And all in all in total there were 8, 825.7 thousand cards graded for the week of June 8th through the 14th. And a big thanks to Gem Rate for providing us all of that info. And they give us the big three. This week's big three is brought to you by gemrate.com whose cards are hot and whose cards are cold this week? Let's find out from our friends@gemrate.com the big three give us a chance to look at individual players and their grading trends over the last couple of weeks. Those that are moving up the list and those that are moving down the list as well. First off looking at the risers here. David Ortiz, big Poppy coming in in the number one spot this week. His grading was up 78%. Coming in second place Ben Roethlisberger 77% increase on the former Steelers quarterback and bringing the number three spot Magic Johnson up 63% on his grading in this past two week span as well. Well we don't have a an ultra modern player here in this most recent two week window so let's keep it semi old school here and look at some 89 Griffey rookie card 554 copies that were graded by PSA over the last two weeks. Out of those a whole one one copy of those. Of those 554 was graded at a 10. Activity on that was up 3 30% though over the previous two week period. So always good to see the 89 Griffey still very popular among collectors. Aaron on the other hand who do we have moving down the list right now? It's very interesting right to see see a bunch of legends from you know mostly my childhood on the up list. Well falling we have all current players and that would be starting off we have Paul Paulo Bankero, former well I guess current Orlando Magics player. He is down 18. Keonte George is down 20% and let's do some baseball to round it out because Padres star Jackson Merrill uh down 22. The Rangers beat the Padres last time by the way. Uh, it was a crazy game. Padres scored five, five runs in the first inning and I was going to turn it off and then the Rangers scored six runs in the bottom of the first inning. So lots of offense for some reason going on in that game. And Jackson Merrill rounds out our list. None of that has anything to do with anything. It just reminded me. And Jackson Merrill is down 22% to round out our list this week. It was funny, we were sitting there, you know, following the game a bit there last night and saw the five runs get put up. And I said, well, hey, maybe Meryl will claw his way out of this bottom spot with a nice game. How do you do in that five run inning? And Aaron looks and he goes, ah, he grounded out. So, oh, pleasant. So that that did not help him much. So there you go. That is this week, sir. This, this fortnight's Big three, courtesy of Gem Rate. You can follow them on Twitter, on Instagram, all those places to get all their numbers at Gem Rate. And if you want to dig really deep in some numbers with them, go on their website jemrate.com meanwhile, now it's time for the stamp of approval. I bet you're wondering who earned this week's TTM Cast stamp of approval. The TTM Cast stamp of approval is a chance for us to just look around and give a thumbs up to something. Anything could be sometimes collectibles related, sometimes sports related. A lot of times it's not this time, though. Mine is indeed sports related. And it's everything that has been going on with the World Cup. There have been some really fun stories have been coming out of all this with a lot of foreign fans coming into the US Especially here in the Dallas area where there's any games going on. But you know, ATN T Stadium here, or Dallas Stadium as they have to call it right now, has been playing host to a few games and we've had British fans who came in for the England vs Croatia game and they literally went and drank a pub dry. Like they ran completely out. They said, I think they sold four $40,000 worth of beer. I think it was like 500 gallons total that they had on hand. And they were tapped out literally at the at the end of the day there after that game. So British. And the crazy thing is no arrests from this, no problems or anything like that. Just a bunch of, a bunch of happy drinkers, it seemed like out there among all the English fans. So always good to see that. Meanwhile, up in Boston, Scottish fans went to the Sam Adams Brewery and drank the brewery taphouse dry as well to go along with that. They then went down to Providence and had this big session singing to the kids at the Children's Hospital in Providence and it made a $10,000 donation to it as well. They said it's one of the biggest Donations, I believe that they have ever gotten there for the Hasbro Children's Hospital. Japanese fans are known for going around and cleaning the stadiums after they go and watch games there. They have continued on with that as well here and even fans of the teams they've played against have joined in with them and cleaning up the stadiums as well. Lawrence, Kansas, absolutely loves Algeria. Algeria has been coming in and doing all their training sessions in Lawrence, Kansas of all places. And Kansas, not exactly known as a bastion of. I guess I'm not, okay, I don't want to bash Kansas too much here, but the state itself is not exactly known as a bash of progressivism here. But Algeria, a, you know, majority Muslim country, coming in, their team doing the training there and the fans in, in Lawrence, Kansas, absolutely hugely supportive of them. Love the Algerian players. They've had a great relationship there with them here this week. So great to see that going on there. The world has discovered ranch dressing as well. They are absolutely loving it to the point where the, the FAA has had to tell people, hey, look, if you're bringing ranch dressing home, put it in your checked bag. You can't bring it through, through the inspections there and everything there as, as it's a liquid. You can't have liquid on the plane or whatever there in your carry on stuff. So, yeah, taking your ranch dressing home. The, the world has discovered that and loving it. And yeah, packing your. Packing your regular checked bags. South Korea and Mexico fans have become best friends apparently now they've. There've been videos of them doing Gangnam Style dancing together and sharing tequila. And it's like, all right, that's, that's a great combo right there, I'm sure. And so just shows the world does not hate America. They just hate our government is all it seems right now. So great to see that. And yeah, it's been a lot of fun seeing all of that throughout this World Cup. And the crazy thing is we still have a month left of hopefully more stories like that yet to come. So, Aaron, what do you have as your stamp approval here for this week? Yeah, it's funny that, you know, you mentioned all that. Yeah, and I've, I've seen, I've seen a lot of, you know, stories about the World cup and it seems like a, you know, a lot of really wholesome things going on, you know, and, and that's always good to see, you know, I mean, mostly the news is terrible stuff and so, you know, it's good to see, you know, a lot of people coming together just in Enjoying. Enjoying sport together. And I think that's really when. When it's at its best. Right? That's definitely, you know, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, you know, what my religion is, what my politics are. Sports brings us together at its. At its very core. You know, it's like you're high fiving a guy that you would, you know, basically disagree with everything that, you know, he stands for. And it's like, hey, but in this moment, you know, we rally around our shared team and our shared interests, our love of national pride, whatever. Yeah, and so I think that, that, that's tremendous. And last night, as I was on my way home, I was stopped at BUC EE's in Denton. And there are like, I don't know, 30, 30. Obviously not American, you know, like, I mean, from. From elsewhere. I'm not sure they're all wearing jerseys, but I don't know the jerseys well enough to know, you know, but they're all sitting in the parking lot at Buc Ees having, like, the greasiest burger. I was like, you know what? If you're gonna come to Texas, do the whole thing, man. Like, be at Bucky's at midnight, chowing down on the burger in the parking lot. Yeah, you might. You might as well enjoy it, you know, but the ranch, so many. There have been so many videos of posting, people posting from Buc EE's just like, this is a gas station. What? What? Hold on a minute. Whoa, hold on. No, no, this. This isn't a gas station. What is. This is in. This is. What. What the hell is this kind of stuff? Like. And yeah, it's been. That's been fun too, because, I mean, and that's. I mean, that's a distinctly Texas thing too, because, I mean, they don't really have it. And I mean, it's starting to expand out a little bit there. But yeah, it's definitely. I mean, only the fans that have been at the, you know, games in Houston and Dallas have really gotten to experience that. And I'm sure the ones, you know, up in Seattle and Boston and Kansas City are like, okay, how can we get down here? We've gotta. We've got to try this out now. So, yeah, this has been fun. Anyways, continue on. What do you got there? For years. So, yeah, yesterday I had some time to kill, and that's why I was working. I was working in Plano yesterday, and so I was there for a gymnastics workout that ended at noon. And then I was, you know, Waiting on you to get to, you know, to get over there so we could graph the game. And so I had, like, roughly. Roughly six hours to just, you know, do as I please. And so I. I started. And so I started my. That time by grabbing. Grabbing lunch at one of my favorite spots. It's called Wolf Burger. And I don't know if it's. I mean, they've got several of them in the DFW area. I think it's like a local chain. You know, I don't think they're corporate, but it is fantastic. They. They have. One of their signatures is they have a red bun, and so it's a little bit distinct. You know, they call it the Wolf Burger special. That's what I get. Uh, it comes with. It comes with two, uh, two patties and melty cheese and pickles and onions. It's. And their special sauce. It's great. And so you can get that. They've also got a vegetarian option, I believe, but. But yeah, I even added a patty. So I had a triple Wolf Burger special yesterday. And you got to get yourself some wolf ranch to go with the fries. Fries are seasoned perfectly. So. So, yeah, if you're in the DFW area while you were. While you were swinging by Bucky's after you do that and get yourself some beaver nuggets or whatever they call them, then swing by Wolf Burger. Do the whole. The whole Texas experience, you know? Absolutely. I mean, yeah, especially if you're coming from overseas. You might only get here once. So, yeah, go all out. Of course. There you go. So there you go. That is this week's stamp approval. Sorry, I had some audio issues on my end here. I'm trying to figure it all out there. So I'm like, y' all flustered now? But I think I got it figured out. I could finally hear you again. But it was. It was definitely my end. It's not a. Fortunately, not a production glitch, I don't think, but there you go. That is this week's stamp approval. And now let's move on in to the Vern Rap Minute. Sam. Foreign. Rap Minute covers deaths in the world of sports, celebrity, music, movies, politics. Anybody. That was a good TTM er or a notable name. We try to cover in here so that you don't accidentally mail off to them, because we've all done that before at some point. First off, leading things off, we've got the hockey world lost Kyle Calder this week, former member of my Cleveland Lumberjacks. He was a left wing from 1999 to 2010 in the NHL. He's with the Blackhawks, the Flyers, the Red Wings, the Kings and the Ducks. 114 career goals as a member of those teams, including a pair of 20 goal seasons sandwiched with the lockout of 2005 in between. Kyle was a good TTM through about 2009 or so. He was 47 years old. We also lost Alan Kloster at the age of 82. He was a pitcher from 1966 to 1973 with Washington, the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves. He had a four year gap in between MLB appearances between the 1966 season with Washington and 71 with the Yankees. And he was a good ttimer through last month. We lost another pitcher this past week, Al Worthington. Long career for him. He pitched from 1953 to 1969. Played for both the New York and San Francisco Giants. Went then to the Red Sox, the White Sox, the Reds and the Twins. He was part of the Twins 1965 pennant winning team that lost to the Dodgers in the World Series. And he was among the last five living former New York Giants. Al was actually a good TTM er through last week. Even he was 97 years old. It's always a shame when those guys pass away who've been, who've been so great to the hobby. But I mean, there are some guys that just rock it till the wheels fall off, you know, it's like, right. You know, like the last thing they do is sign an autograph or two, you know. And I mean, much respect, much respect for that. And so we also lost Wes Gardner at the age of 65. He was a pitcher from 1984 to 1991 with the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Royals and San Diego Pacific Padres. He owned a 18 and 30 career record with a 490 ERA, mostly as a reliever in his career. And he was a good TTMR through April. We also lost John Sanders last week. John was a broadcaster. He spent 1981-90 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and then 1991-2006 with the Cleveland Indians. Voice of many summer nights for me, he was on the Sports channel cable feed there for the Tribe during those years. Was him and Rick Manning handling all of those games? I think it was. Manning was on that. Yeah, it was definitely him and Rick Manning, but always one of my favorite broadcasters to listen to. Handled. Yeah, I mean, just, I mean, can't even tell you how many games I can remember that he called and everything, but always a big influence on my own broadcasting as well. Don't know if he was a TTM or at all, but John Sanders was 83 years old. And lastly, rounding out our list we have Pat Holmes who passed away at the age of 85. He was a defensive end from 1966 to 1973 with the Houston Oilers and also the Kansas City Chiefs. He was a two time Pro Bowler, was a All Pro also in 1967 and had 30 career sacks and he was a good TTMR through March of this year. If you've lost anyone this week, our thoughts are certainly with you as we move on in to our TTM returns. Was our mailbox full this week? Let's take a look at this week's TTM returns. Well, it's been a fairly light couple of weeks here for both Aaron and myself. We can count on one hand our combined autograph successes via the mail here. So definitely good to have those in person successes to go along with those. They'll bolster things a bit, but I'll do mine real quick here and we'll get into Aaron's after that. But I had a couple more UFL successes like I said, a couple times I mailed out about 30 or so to former former players that are now coaching there as well as several active players as well. This time was two of the guys that are now coaching that came back. Martin Bayless, former defensive back for the Chargers and the Chiefs, signed the four cards I sent to him in about a two month span. He's a very rare TTM or I found I don't think. I think SCN had his most recent success have been like 2019 before I got this one back. And I also got back Donnie Abraham, former corner for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New York Jets. He took a month to sign four cards for me there as well. Yeah, very happy to add those ones in. Fairly quick turnaround on those. And finally in the opposite of quick turnarounds, I got back from Canada. Bob Rouse, former defenseman for for let's see here, it's the Capitals, the Maple Leafs, the Red Wings, the North Stars. I did have to look at the card there to make sure of those. I knew two of them off the top of my head and I was pretty sure about a couple others. But yeah, those four at the very least that one took a whole year and a half to come back to me. Sent up to Canada and arrived back finally but very happy to add that one in. So decent. Few tough signers right there among Those three. So that's what I got. Aaron, how'd your, a couple weeks here go? And so I only got one, but if you're gonna get one, make it full of set hits. So, so I got back former cardinal and brave, uh, Ron Gantt, uh, signed for me through the uh, news network that he's working for in Atlanta now. Uh, and he was kind enough to sign two of two for me. And uh, one of those is a set hit in the 2002 upper deck 40 man set. And the other one was a 1997 thunder set which I happened to buy like that, that entire set at a garage sale like I don't know, 15 years ago there was a guy who had the whole set. And so I've been kind of working on that one a little bit too. And so now I've got all of my card signed by Ron Gantt for all of my sets. And yeah, so thanks to him the loan success that I had this week. But, but yeah, I'm going to, I'm gonna get a bunch out before we leave and uh, and we'll uh, start doing this the right way. I've got to start uh, sitting out a few there as well. I've been uh, slacking on that a bit. I mean I've got, bought a ton of stamps a while back and I just, I have cards ready and I'm like, yeah, I'll get to it. When I get to it, I'll get to it, I'll get to it, I'll get to it. And yeah, I think it's time I better get on that here again pretty soon. So yeah, we'll hopefully have some more to send out here, both of us. And yeah, once again thanks to Aaron for sitting in the co host seat for Ruthie doing all of our production work to bring this from our mouths to your ears. And to Wade Butte for joining us here in the Collector's Corner segment. Our next show is going to be July 4th. Les Wolf is going to be on there. We're going to be talking a national preview as of course that's coming up at the end of July. So we'll talk about that with him, what he's going to have in store, what some of the other people he knows might have out there and all that kind of fun stuff. Aaron, anything else here before we go ahead and wrap this one up? You know, like you said, it's a, it's a month till the national, so very exciting time. Looking forward to seeing everybody out there. Looking forward to getting the last couple. Couple graphing outings out of the way before we leave. But, yeah, it's. It's gonna be a fun time, so. So, yeah, we'll look forward to seeing y' all down the road. Well, there you go. So we'll see you at the National. Of course. So make sure you RSVP for our meetup on Thursday of it as we wish you many happy returns. We'll see you next time on TTM Cast. Everyone be good. Sa.