Ryans Through the Mail and Sports Blog

Today in the mail

2008-08-28T14:10:00.000-07:00

I got John David Crow, the 1957 Heisman winner and CFHOF member, in 7 days c/o home, and Babe Parilli, who was a QB in the 60's and 70's and also a CFHOF member, in 6 days c/o home.

sorry for no updates

2008-08-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

sorry for the long time since an update. I will hopefully be a little more frequent now. My scanner is down right now so all I can do is list my successes for now, but hopefully I will be able to add some scans soon. Over the past few months Ive gotten around 100 in person at the Greensboro Grasshopper games including some big names like Madison Bumgarner, Jason Heyward, Jesus Montero, Michael Burgess, Matt Dominguez, and Mike Stanton. TTM Ive decided to scrap the baseball hall of fame project as it would be more me having to purchase the autographs, as there are only a handful who sign through the mail, so i started a new project, that relies on only TTM and if completed will be awesome. Im going to try and get every living member of the college football hall of fame to sign for me ttm, and Ive already gotten around 10, so this will be a fun project that will take time. Hope to have some scans up soon and updates. later.

Sorry for the lack of updates

2008-05-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry I havent posted anything recently. Ive been real busy but have had time to make it to a few games and have gotten about 30 in person since my last post. I will have scans up hopefully in the next few days. I also purchased on Ebay the black Michael Stanton printing plate to get autographed at a game, which will go nicely with the cyan printing plate i have signed. I kinda wanna try and get all 4 now, since Im already half way there. I also got a 1998 Donruss Signature Sandy Koufax refractor auto on ebay to add to my hall of fame collection. anyway, good luck and thanks for looking. later!

Some nice in person

2008-04-27T18:25:00.000-07:00

I was able to get some nice successes during the Hagerstown series this past weekend. From Hagerstown I got Coach Darnell Coles, Clint Everts, Jake Smolinski, Trevor Lawhorn, Steven Souza, Francisco Plasencia, Colton Willems, and the Big One-Michael Burgess, on a card and OMLB. From Greensboro I got Ryan Curry, Tom Hickman, and Hector Correa.

Lots of in person to report

2008-04-22T18:07:00.001-07:00

Just got back from the Grasshopper game and did pretty good. I was able to get my 1 of 1 Michael Stanton printing plate signed, as well as from Greensboro Torre Langley, Bryan Peterson, Osvaldo Martinez, Steve Cishek, Ben Lasater, Garrett Parcell, Hunter Mense, Tyler Belcher, Ryan Anetsberger, and coaches Edwin Rodriguez and John Duffy, and from Kannapolis I got Christian Marrero. Tomorrow is a school day game, so its at 10:45 am so I will not be going, but Im excited about thursday as thats when Hagerstown will be in town and alot of top Nationals prospects including Michael Burgess will be in town.

Nothing new

2008-04-21T12:22:00.000-07:00

Nothing new to report. I have gotten all my cards that I purchased online to get signed at Grasshopper games, so with them getting back from a road trip tomorrow, I should have a bunch of new stuff to post. I also won an auction for a PSA certified Ted Williams autograph, and its AWESOME. It has me wanting to start a Hall Of Famer collection now, so who knows. Hope everyone elses mailboxes are busting at the seams, Good Luck and thanks for checkin in. later.

1 Success to report

2008-04-17T15:20:00.000-07:00

I got a nice success today from Bob Feller, who signed my ball in 9 days c/o home. He also included HOF 62. Also Ive gotten most of my Beckett.com orders so Ill be prepared for when the Grasshoppers come back from their roadtrip. The coolest 1 that I got was off of ebay, and was a 2008 Tristar Projections Cyan Printing Plate of Michael Stanton, which I plan to get signed. Good luck and later.

1 in person

2008-04-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

Got 1 autograph at the Greensboro vs. Asheville Tourists game today, that being Danny Garcia. It was funny since this was my first weekend game so it was full capacity and all the graphers came out. Honestly there was a group that kind of irritated me though, it was 3 middle aged guys with a TON of cards. Each time a player would walk by they would glance at their roster and shout to him, then hand him a STACK, usually around 20, cards for the player to sign. Amazingly they all did,not one player saying no, but it bugged me as it took away from everyone else's time to get autographs. Graphing is one thing but that was ridiculous.

Some in person stuff

2008-04-11T18:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. I recently started working for Ralphlauren.com and we are right now in startup so work has really been taking up most of my time, but have still been able to make it to the games each night. I got 1 Hickory Crawdad player from this past series in Greensboro, that being Pirates prospect Duke Welker. Of the Greensboro players I got Don Czyz(pronounced Chez), Brad Stone, Manager Edwin Rodriguez, Emilio Ontiveres, and Christian Martinez. I would have alot more as the players at single are very gracious and sign ALOT...I just dont have any cards for them to sign, but I should have a bunch comin in the mail that I purchased of beckett.com to get autographed so I will be adding hopefully a whole lot more soon.

Nice in person success

2008-04-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

I attended a cookout for season ticket holders for the Class A affiliate of the Marlins Greensboro Grasshoppers, in which we had a meet and greet with the players, and I got Matt Dominguez's autograph. It was cool meeting him and all the players and I definitely look forward to getting alot of in person's this season.

Its Been A while

2008-03-06T19:11:00.000-08:00

It has been 10 months since I posted anything so I got some catching up to do. To start off, Ill go ahead and list my only spring training success to date, although I sent out very few compared to the last few years. A good one from Royals #1 draft pick Mike Moustakas. Moustakas signed in 5 days care of the Royals Spring Training address.

Nothin New!?!?

2007-05-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

Well, havent gotten anything in the mail since Hirsh, so kinda bummed. I did decide on my April success of the month so you can mosy on over to the success of the month page and check that out. I hope you guys are having better luck than I am. Later.

One New Success

2007-04-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

I have one new success to report today, that one coming from Jason Hirsh who signed in a little over 2 weeks c/o the Rockies address. I have also finally put some digital camera pics up of some more cards since my scanners broke. Hopefully will have all those done within the week. Later.

One new success to report

2007-04-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

Ive had one success come in since last weekend, that one coming from Jon Lester who signed my 2007 topps heritage in 9 days care of the Greenville Drive. If you remember, Lester was doing stellar with the Red Sox last fall when he was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma. He has since been on the path to recovery, and is pitching with the Drive right now. He has a bright future ahead of him and if you havent, you should write to him and show your support. Hope all is well with everyone and the mailboxes are staying full. Adios.

A few successes

2007-04-15T06:44:00.000-07:00

I managed to get 3 successes this weekend, those coming from Grady Little signing and personalizing a 2007 Topps Heritage Team card in about 2 weeks c/o the Dodgers, Bubby Brister signing in about 5 months c/o his home address, as well as personalizing and signing my envelope which is a new one on me, and the final from Nebraska heisman winner Eric Crouch signing my card and custom index card in 3 months c/o his home address. Ill get some scans or photos or something up as soon as I can. Good luck to all. Later.

A few updates

2007-04-12T06:20:00.000-07:00

Ive gotten a few successes since my last post, those coming from retired Minnesota Vikings player Anthony Carter signing 2 in 3 months c/o his home address, Matt Cain in 9 days c/o the Giants, and Matt Holliday from the Rockies address. Unfortunately my scanner has completely died on me. Im not sure how im gonna put pictures on here now other than maybe taking pics with a digital camera and putting them on here. Anyway, I hope everyones doing great and the autographs are rolling in! Later.

Finally a success!

2007-03-31T09:09:00.000-07:00

I got one in the mail today, with Billy Butler signing in a little over a month c/o Royals Spring site. He signed a homemade card that I did and personalized it, but it smeared a little in the envelope, but still a good autograph.

Nothing new to report

2007-03-26T14:22:00.000-07:00

Well, unfortunately this spring has really sucked when it comes to autograph returns. I havent gotten anything since Justin Upton except for a fake postcard and form letter from Michael Young, which I just consider a failure. It just seems like noone wants to sign anymore. I have about 20 letters going out tomorrow so hopefully Ill get some returns out of those. Sorry about the scans, I should be getting most of them hopefully tomorrow on here. I hope everyones doing good and you ARE getting some returns. Later.

Back from Vero Beach

2007-03-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

I just got back from the Dodgers spring training in Vero Beach, and I had a blast. I was able to get about 15 autographs and see Dice-K pitch. It was a great time and I was lucky enough to get cards signed by Matt Kemp, Luis Gonzalez, Larry Bigbie, Tommy Lasorda, Juan Pierre, James Loney, Derek Lowe, Andre Ethier, and Jonathon Broxton. I also got my program signed by Charlie Hough, Andy Laroche, Tony Abreu, Scott Elbert, and an unknown minor leaguer. I also got a baseball signed by Lasorda and Delwyn Young. While I was gone I got one autograph through the mail but it was a good one with Justin Upton signing c/o the Dbacks ST site.

LEAVING TOMORROW!!

2007-03-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

Man, I am so excited. I am leaving tomorrow to drive down to Florida for the Dodgers Spring Training in Vero Beach. Im going to the game on Friday against the BoSox and Saturday against the Astros then driving back up here to good'ole NC. I bought 2 retail boxes of '07 Topps Heritage from Target and pulled about 20 more cards for me to take to spring training for autographs including some players that I didnt have anything of. Got one auto in the mail today from Chuck James who signed 1 of 2 cards from the Braves camp. Hopefully Ill be lucky enough to get some good autos in Florida. Good Luck to you all and Ill update you when I get back.

Dice-K pitching Friday against the Dodgers

2007-03-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

I found out today that Daisuke(Dice-K) Matsuzaka, the pitcher that the Red Sox shelled out over $100,000,000 for will be starting the game against the Dodgers in Vero Beach on Friday. That will be one of 2 games I am attending so I am really excited to see if this guy is worth all the hype. So far hes been kind of mediocre this spring, but who knows. On the Mail side, I havent gotten anything since Dustin Nippert so Im kinda disappointed with this spring so far, but if they arent gonna sign, they arent gonna sign. I hope everyone is doing good and Ill update you all on how my trip to Florida went next Monday.

No Mail Today

2007-03-09T18:20:00.000-08:00

No mail to report today. It seems like this has been the norm so far for many collectors, a very slow flow of mail. I am headed to Florida next thursday for the Dodgers Spring Training in Vero Beach. I will be going to two games against the Red Sox on friday and the Astros on saturday so hopefully Ill be able to get some nice autographs there. Ill slowly but surely be getting scans up of my autographs in the autographs section, so hopefully they will all be added within a week or two. I hope everyone is doing good and that the spring requests start coming in. Good Luck to all

My First Post

2007-03-07T10:17:00.000-08:00

For my first post I am going to list my spring training successes so far. The first one that came in was Jose Tabata c/o Yankees, followed by Cole Hamels c/o Phillies, Orlando Hudson c/o Diamondbacks from spring training '05, Chris Iannetta c/o Rockies, and Chris Volstad(1,2) c/o Marlins.

One Success Today

2007-03-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

I received one autograph today from Dustin Nippert c/o Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Training. I mailed Mr. Nippert last spring with no luck so I am happy to add his autograph to my collection.