SCE Ink Script Update

It's been ten months now since I've had any kind of TTM activity here, so coming home from a weekend trip to New York to one of my SASE's was a nice, unexpected surprise earlier today. Back in February I was sorting through some of my monster boxes and put together a stack of cards that would work for my Ink Script project. At that time I also saw Dave's TTM update over at Wax Stain Rookie and decided to write to Jeremy Roenick.

First, here's the important one for my Ink Script project. It features Jeremy during his time with the Coyotes and you can see he added his number at the time.

The second was this one from 2003-04 Victory featuring Roenick with the Flyers. Gotta love those third jerseys, one of my favorites from before the Reebok era. You can also see on this he added his jersey number featured in the picture. 

The last one is from 1993-94 Upper Deck and featured Roenick with the Blackhawks. 

Nothing like free autographs, right? The first one is the third I've added to my Ink Script project now. It looks pretty good next to the Patrik Stefan and Terry Yake I already have. I really need to work on sending more of these out...

TTM Success: Arturs Irbe

There's definitely been a lack of posts around here lately, mostly because I haven't made any additions to any of my collection projects, but also because of a few side projects I'm working on. Hopefully I'll be able to get them up and running soon and be able to share them.

Anyway, it seems like it's been forever since any of my TTM requests have come back, so it was a nice surprise to see one of my SASE's in the mailbox the other day.

This one adds three cards of another goalie to my growing TTM collection. I sent these three cards to Arturs Irbe c/o the Washington Capitals, where Irbe is a goalie coach, back in July of 2010, so this one took almost a year to get back to me.

Here's the first one, from 1993-94 Topps Premier, featuring Irbe with the Sharks, where he spent his first five NHL seasons.

Here's the second one, from 1997-98 Score, featuring Irbe with the Canucks, where he only appeared for one season playing 41 games.

Finally, here's the third one, from 2001-02 Topps, featuring Irbe with the Hurricanes, where he would finish his NHL career playing 10 games in 2003-04.

This was a good success, one goalie, three different teams, too bad I didn't have one featuring him with the Stars, oh well. I also really like the fact that Arturs switched up the number according to what he was wearing in the photo on each card.

Here's a cool Irbe tribute video I found on YouTube. Check it out.

SCE Ink Script Update

Finally. I've been waiting for months to post an update for this project. My latest TTM success brings me to two cards total for the Ink Script project now. I sent these two cards to Terry Yake at his home address in Missouri back in October.

Yake definitely has an interesting signature. I'm having a hard time actually seeing his name in there, but it looks cool nonetheless. He even threw his number on at the end. And I'm assuming that's the little number symbol to the left of it. I like when players add that.

As you can see, both signatures looks pretty much the same, but they have their individual differences. The only flaw with this second one would be how the loop furthest to the right is interrupted at the top.

The reason I sent two of the same card was just in case one of them got smeared, I would still have a decent one for the Ink Script set. This time, I got two quality signatures, so one goes in the Ink Script pile and the other goes into my TTM binder.

Another shout out to Moody's TTM blog for the address on this one.

TTM Success: Ron Hextall

After just about two months with no responses, I've added two more signatures to my TTM goalie collection. I sent these two cards to Ron Hextall c/o the Los Angeles Kings back in May of last year.

Hextall is one of the better goaltenders in league history. He began his career with the Flyers back in 1986-97, appearing in 66 games going 37-21-6. He stayed with Philadelphia until 1991-92, after which he moved onto Quebec for a season then Long Island for a season.

He returned to the Flyers for the 1994-95 season and would go on to finish his playing career there. As a Red Wings fan, I will always remember his from the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals. And who could forget the two goals he scored?

Now onto the cards I sent. The first is from 1991-92 Pro Set featuring a nice shot of Hextall making a kick save.

The second is from 1997-98 Score. This one is the first of any of my TTM's to have something other than just a signature with the "Best Wishes" text, at least that's what I think it says. 

As far as the masks on these two cards, I would have to say I prefer the one from the Pro Set card, just because of the vibrant orange and white color scheme.

I have to say Hextall has one of the nicer signatures I've received so far with my latest round of TTM attempts. It's fairly readable and I really like how he uses the huge sweeping "R" at the beginning. 

Here's a little video tribute to both of Hextall's goals: 

TTM Success: Mike Richter

What better way to start a new month than with another TTM success. This is the second one I've received in the last two weeks, the other being Gilles Meloche. 

Mike Richter is one of the greatest American-born goaltenders of all time. He has one Stanley Cup ring, a silver medal from the 2002 Olympics, and was inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008. I remember seeing him on TV a lot in the 90's and he was fun to watch. He also had a really cool mask for a lot of those years.

Richter began his NHL career in 1989 by appearing in 23 games with the Rangers, finishing with a 12-5-5 record as John Vanbiesbrouck's backup. After 13 seasons more with the Rangers, his career was cut short due to injury and he retired after the 2002-03 season. Richter finished with a record of 301-258-73.

The first card I sent is from 1993-94 Upper Deck, featuring a nice action shot with his awesome statue of liberty mask. The second card is from 1990-91 Pro Set, featuring the good ol' Osgood style mask he wore early in his career. 

Sent: 6/17/10

Received: 11/30/10

This TTM success came with an added bonus. In my letter to Richter I mentioned I was working on collecting autographs for goalies and the different masks they wear. When I opened up the return envelope, I was surprised to see my letter in there, then I realized why as Mike added a few words of encouragement along with signing the cards. 

There was one other thing about this success that was different from the rest. Richter put one of those pre-printed return address labels in the upper left corner of the envelope. That's not something I've seen on any of my other TTM returns.

TTM Success: Gilles Meloche

It's been about four months since my last TTM success so these two from former Penguins goaltender Gilles Meloche were a welcome surprise in the mailbox yesterday.

Meloche began his NHL career with two games in Chicago before being traded to the California Golden Seals. He spent five seasons there before ending up with the Cleveland Barons. He then moved on to Minnesota and finished his career with the Penguins.

The first card I sent is from 1988-89 Topps depicting Meloche with the Penguins and the second card is from 2004-05 ITG Franchises depicting him with the Barons.

Sent: 6/17/10

Received: 11/17/10

Meloche was nice enough to sign both cards with a fine-tip black marker. It seems like he tried to make sure the signature were as visible as possible, and not right over top the darker portions of the pictures. The Topps card is now the oldest in my TTM collection, narrowly beating out my 1990-91 Score Olaf Kolzig. 

New Project: SCE Ink Script

Now that I've completed the 99-00 MVP SCE base set nearly two times over, I've come up with something to do with all of the duplicates I've got laying around. I've decided to call this project Ink Script. The name is derived from the Silver/Gold/Super Script project.

The idea actually came from one of my previous TTM successes, Patrik Stefan, which just happened to be one of the base cards from this set. The goal of this project would be to acquire a hard-signed copy of every base card, primarily through the mail.

To the best of my knowledge, I believe the only autograph I cannot pursue would be former Montreal Canadien Sergei Zholtok, who tragically died of heart failure while playing for HK Riga 2000 of the Belarusian Extraleague during the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

That said, I would need to come up with 216 autographs, as there are two checklists at the end of the set I won't need signed. It sounds like a lot to take on, but it's another long term project so it should be interesting nonetheless. The only downside to it would be the cost of postage and envelopes for over 200 TTM requests.

I've actually already got one request on it's way to Jeff Friesen, who was a member of the Sharks during the 1999-00 season. I have a few other duplicates on standby too, those should be on their way shortly.

TTM Success: Don Beaupre

It's been a while now since I've received any of my TTM attempts back in the mail after a few quick successes. This time I received two autographed cards from retired goaltender Don Beaupre.

Beaupre began his career with the North Stars in 1980 and went on to play for the Capitals, Senators and Maple Leafs until he retired in 1997. Did you know he was the first goaltender to post a shutout in Ottawa Senators history?

The first card I sent is from 1993 Score depicting Beaupre with the Washington Capitals and the second card is from 1995-95 Topps depicting him with the Ottawa Senators.

Sent: 6/17/10
Received: 7/10/10
Updated Goalie TTM Total: 10

Another nice looking autograph from a former goaltender. Its always nice to see an autograph where you can actually make out what the name is, or at least the first letters. Either way, you can't complain about a free autograph.

TTM Success: Damian Rhodes

I've been having decent TTM success lately and yesterday's mail brought two more autographs. This time they were from retired goaltender Damian Rhodes. Thanks again to Moody for the address. The two cards I sent were from 1997-98 Score when he was with the Senators and 1993-94 Parkhurst when he was with the Maple Leafs.

Sent: 5/17/10
Received: 6/1/10

There were two things I noticed with this success: First, he signed one card with blue sharpie and one with black, coincidence that the blue sharpie went with the Leafs and black with the Senators? Second, the return envelope was postmarked in Cleveland, OH, when the address I used was in Arizona. 

TTM Success: John Vanbiesbrouck

Yesterday was payday and then some as I received two autographed cards from John Vanbiesbrouck. This is the second success I've have with my new round of TTM attempts. The two cards I sent were from 1999-00 Upper Deck when Beezer was with the Flyers and 1997-98 Donruss Canadian Ice when he was with the Panthers.

Sent: 5/24/10
Received: 5/28/10

TTM Success: Brett Hull

This is another of my past TTM successes with the Detroit Red Wings. This time its 700+ goal scorer Brett Hull. He signed these two cards from 2002-03 Victory and 2002-03 Upper Deck, both of which show him in a Red Wings jersey.

It's not the best looking autograph in the world, but at the same time it's not the worst. The only problem with the first one is it seems like the sharpie was running low or something. As with all of my other past TTM attempts, I don't remember when I sent or received either one of these cards. I do know they were sent out separately, both to the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.

TTM Update

It's been a while since I've had any updates on my recent TTM attempts so here we go. I've got four new autograph requests out in the mail as of today:

2 cards for Damian Rhodes

2 cards for Ken Wregget

2 cards for Bob Essensa

2 cards for Ron Hextall

Props to Moody over at Moody's TTM Blog for the Rhodes, Wregget and Essensa addresses. Anyone interested in anything TTM, I highly recommend his blog. 

TTM Success: Luc Robitaille

This is another of my past Red Wing TTM successes. It's a Luc Robitaille from the 2002-03 Topps base set. As with the others, I don't remember how long it took to receive this one.

It's not the best looking autograph, I think it was smudged in the SASE because it was sent back without the plastic sleeve that I had sent the card in. Other than that it's really cool to have an autograph from another Red Wings and a 600 goal scorer.

TTM Success: Brendan Shanahan

Wow, its amazing how relaxing four days of vacation in northern Michigan can be. Anyway on to today's post, which focuses on another of my past TTM successes: Brendan Shanahan. I sent two cards and received two autographs in the mail several years ago. One was on a 2001-02 Topps and the other on a 2001-02 UD Playmakers Limited. 

Shanahan has an interesting signature to say the least, although I do like how much of the card it takes up and the addition of his number after it. 

These two cards were sent separately at different times to Shanahan c/o The Detroit Red Wings at the Joe Louis Arena address. Also, I have no idea how long either of these cards took to get back to me. I would guess at least a few months.

TTM Success: Pavel Datsyuk

I'm trying to keep up with the one post per day pace here, but its kind of difficult when you're stuck with the blue screen of death on your laptop. I will post what I can from work with the stuff I already have saved at this point.

Here are two more of my past TTM successes, both from Pavel Datsyuk. One is a 2002-03 Pacific base card and the other is a 2002-03 Topps Total base card.

Datsyuk does not have the best autograph in the world, but I can't complain as I at least got something back from him. It is nice however to see the addition of his number after the signature. Autographs just look better with that added for whatever reason.

Both of these cards were mailed to Pavel Datsyuk c/o The Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. They were not sent together though, and I have no idea how long it took to get them back. 

TTM Success: Curtis Joseph

This is another one of my past TTM successes. After the Wings won the cup in 2002 and Hasek retired, they brought in Cujo and I wanted his autograph as well so I sent this 2001-02 Victory card to him at the Joe Louis Arena address c/o the Red Wings.

At the time, there were no cards featuring Joseph in a Wings sweater, except for ones with pictures from the press conference, so I settled on this one showing him with Toronto. 

As you can see its not the best looking autograph in the world, but I can't complain as I at least got something back for my efforts. I'm pretty sure it got smudged when it was put back into the sleeve. Regardless, its still a nice piece in my collection.

TTM Success: Olaf Kolzig

This was my first new TTM attempt and I must say it worked rather well. I dug through my boxes of duplicates and found these two worthy candidates for Olaf Kolzig. The two cards I sent were from 1997-98 Score and 1990-91 Score, both featuring Kolzig with the Capitals.

Sent: 04/01/2010
Received: 04/09/2010

These two signatures are great looking, no smudges or anything. More importantly, they are the first two autographed cards as part of my TTM project. I want to try and get an autographed card to go with all of the different masks a goaltender has worn.

I know a lot of goalies have had many masks so this is a big undertaking, but that will make it fun. I don't want to send more than three cards at a time so this could take a while.

Address courtesy of Moody over at Moody's TTM Blog.

TTM Success: Dominik Hasek

Back in the day, Dominik Hasek was my favorite player, despite the fact that he did not even play for my hometown team, the Red Wings. When he came to Detroit, I just had to try and get an autograph from him and well, I did.

The signature itself looks pretty nice, except for the fading of the ink. It's the only Hasek autograph in my collection. It looks exactly like the Hasek Super Script signature. This card was sent to Dominik Hasek c/o the Detroit Red Wings. I don't remember exactly how long it took for it to come back in the mail. 

TTM Success: Patrik Stefan

This is another one of my past TTM successes from several years ago that has just been sitting around. I sent this card to Patrik Stefan because he was the big rookie at the time and I got really into collecting his cards.

I had a neighborhood friend who sent another card to Stefan which also resulted in a success, both had a fairly quick turnaround time as well.

While it's not the best looking signature in the world, it works. I can make out the "P" at the beginning, but the rest is kind of a mess. I also liked the addition of the huge number after the signature. At least that part was pretty easy to read.

TTM: A New Chapter

I decided to rummage through my boxes of duplicates and found plenty of worthy candidates. Of the cards I found, I have sent out two to Olaf Kolzig and three to Sean Burke.

I have decided to focus on goalies for now. I am doing this mainly because I want to focus my collection on something a little more specific than just hoarding new cards all the time.

I want to get an autograph for each different mask each goaltender has worn. I will post the results of these first two before I get too far into this. After all, stamps are not cheap.