Drew's Hot Corner: drewscustomcards

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Thursday, May 26, 2011

TTM #67- Tigers Legend!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Today was a nice mailday for me, receiving 2 new TTM successes! For time's sake, I'll post them one at a time. Starting off with the first one I opened, here is the newest addition to my Hall of Fame series!

None other than Detroit Tigers legend Al Kaline signed a card for me in about 9 days! It took me a while to actually get this custom out in the mail for some reason, as it was sitting on my desk for months. But a little over a week ago I realized that it was about time I try and get his autograph! I included $10 in the envelope and sent it off, hoping and I praying that it would come back. Sure enough, it did, and it looks great! For Kaline, it may have been a little sloppy, but every letter is still readable and I think it looks awesome.

To say that Kaline was worth the $10 is a definite understatement. The former 18 time All Star outfielder, known as "Mr. Tiger" to the fans in Detroit, was one of the best all around hitters in baseball history. He collected 3,007 total hits in his 22 year career, along with 399 home runs, and a lifetime batting average of .297! In the field, he was incredible, winning 10 Gold Gloves in his career patrolling Right Field in Tiger Stadium. In fact, Cooperstown decided he was so great that he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980 after his first appearance on the ballot.

I surely am glad I was able to add this awesome piece to the Hall of Fame set today, but it hopefully won't be the last. So far in my set I have autographs of the following: Bobby Doerr, Bob Feller, Monte Irvin, Duke Snider, Lee MacPhail, Joe Morgan, Jim Bunning, Brooks Robinson, Ralph Kiner, and now the aforementioned Al Kaline. If anyone has any suggestions of guys to go after next please comment and let me know! Thanks guys!

See Ya!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

TTM # FAKE!!

Hey guys, Drew back here. I got a TTM back late last week, but as soon as I knew who the player was, I was immediately disappointed. I sent to him not knowing the legitimacy of the autographs, but shortly after I sent it off I realized there was no possible way it was real.

Sure appears to be anything but an actual Mike Schmidt autograph. Here's an example of a legitimate Schmidt autograph:

http://www.sportsblink.com/product_images/mike-schmidt-autographed-baseball-champs-inscription-3325560.jpg

I sent the card to the Hall of Fame, where other collectors were receiving their cards from. Obviously this seems to be signed by a ghost signer, someone outside of the actual player. I would have honestly preferred to have received nothing back rather than something that wasn't even real. It was a waste of ink for me but taught a good lesson to myself and other TTM collectors. I hate to break it to you all, but some of the autographs you may receive through the mail can be phonies. These athletes/celebrities really tend to ruin all of the fun of the TTM hobby, which really sucks.

I'm planning on keeping the card most likely, just to show as an example, but just looking at it brings disappointment to my eyes. What do you think of the monstrosities that are fake autographs?

See Ya!

Friday, April 22, 2011

TTM #64- The Glove!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Yesterday was a great day for me, because I had gotten my first opportunity to play in a school game! The starting 1st baseman decided against running to first in anger after hitting an easy grounder, and coach wasn't a fan of that attitude, immediately calling me in to play at 1st base. As expected, I freaked out and had to grab everything in a matter of 5 seconds, due to all the excitement surrounding me. Finally. Well I made all of the right plays in the field, but then the big opportunity came up. My 1st at bat in high school baseball! I took the first pitch that bounced outside for a ball, but then got my pitch. It was a cold day, so I popped it up, but it managed to dunk into shallow right field for a single! I took second and third on wild pitches and scored when my friend Mike hit a grounder in the infield to score me. We ended up winning 7-0 and I'm so happy I got to play!

Anyway, I got a TTM a few days ago, check it out:

None other than "The Glove", former Seattle Supersonics, Bucks, Lakers, Celtics, and Heat point guard Gary Payton! Gary has been one of the more reliable signers in basketball of late, so I decided why not try to get an auto of his? The card came back signed in 9 days, signed nicely over the Miami Heat logo. I was a fan of the Heat before their mega stars joined together, back when the team consisted of Payton, Shaq, and Dwayne Wade. They won the championship in 2006 and haven't won since. Payton was the 1996 Defensive Player of the Year and a 9 time NBA All Star! He will most likely be elected into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame when his time comes to appear on the ballot, and I'm looking forward to his induction ceremony!

Thanks so much Gary! See Ya!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

TTM's 52-55! Damage Everywhere

Hey guys, Drew back here. I've gotten a few TTM's back recently, but haven't been too excited in showing them. Due to some reason in which I have no idea, most of my recent customs are coming back damaged. I've needed to resend to many players due to this, and it's starting to get ridiculous. My dad brought up an idea that the glue I've been using to glue the cards to the card stock might be causing the front to smear, as well as possible roller marks. Well, hopefully I can make an adjustment and they will start coming back mint again like the good old days.

Getting to the successes. All 4 were of good players, so let's check them out!

The first success from the past week was from former Yankee Bobby Shantz. Shantz was a great pitcher, and one of the first pitchers to start their career as a starter and end it as a reliever. He did the transition really well and was one of the top relievers in the game during his time in baseball. Not only was he good reliever, but he also won the 1952 AL MVP as a starter, with a record of 24-7 with a 2.48 ERA. He won 8 gold gloves too, due to his prolific fielding at the pitcher position, and also won the 1958 World Series with the Yankees. His career record was 119-99 with a career ERA of 3.38. In my opinion, he should have been considered for the Hall of Fame more, not saying he would get in but at least be a borderline player.

Shantz signed my custom nicely on the autograph section. He only took 5 days too! But as I mentioned earlier, many customs were wrecked in the mail, and this was one of them. It would have looked great too, but unfortunately, I'm going back to the drawing board on these things.

Out of the 4 successes, this was the best. Not only did I pretty much write it off recently, but it wasn't damaged! Pro Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw signed a custom for me! I've been seeing a lot of his successes lately, so he must've been catching up on his mail. Bradshaw was the 1st player picked in the 1970 NFL draft, and the Steelers really made a fantastic pick. He was the face of their franchise for his 14 years in the NFL, and his Steelers team won 4 Super Bowls during his tenure with the team! His statistics weren't ridiculous, but he was a fierce competitor and a winner. He also made it to 3 Pro Bowls throughout the 1980's, and currently serves on Fox NFL Sunday.

Bradshaw took 117 days to sign the card for me. Not too long, but I had a feeling that he was starting to stop signing. Patience is the key to happiness in the TTM collecting hobby though, and I'm really happy I got this one. Stories have been told of a possibility of a ghost signer, but the signature does compare to certified autographs, so I'm going to assume it's real for now.

The next success was of former St. Louis Cardinals/Browns shortstop Marty Marion! Marion signed a custom and an index card for me in only 8 days. Marion played 13 seasons in St. Louis along with legends Stan Musial and Red Schoendienst, and was one of the more underrated players on that team at the time. He was the 1944 NL MVP as you see on the inscription on the index card, after posting a .267 batting average, 6 home runs, and 63 RBI. How he won the MVP that year I really don't know, since Stan Musial hit .348 that same season with 12 home runs and 94 RBI. However, he was a very good shortstop throughout his career, being elected to 8 All Star Games, and helping the Cardinals win 3 World Series titles.

Again, the custom has been damaged around the trophy Marion is holding on the custom, but otherwise it came out good. I love his signature!

My last success up to now is from Bobby Doerr. Doerr is probably one of the, if not the greatest through the mail signer of all time. I even got his autograph a while back, when I used to make custom cards on filler cards. But since then, I've transitioned to a thick art paper of some sorts, so I thought it would be strange to have a set with 1 card thicker than the rest. OCD Alert. Anyway, Doerr signed a new custom that was damaged a little bit as well, but what else is new, and he also signed an insert from 2008 Donruss Threads in 8 days. I actually picked up the card for the reason of sending it to Mr. Doerr to get it signed, so I'm glad I finally got off my lazy butt and sent it to him. It came out outstanding!

Doerr was a 9 Time All Star for the Red Sox throughout the late 1930's to the the early 1950's. He had a career batting average of .288, with 223 home runs, and 1,247 RBI. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986 by the Veteran's Committee, as seen on both cards, where he inscribed his induction year. He is almost 93 years old now, god bless him.

Thanks so much to all 4 of the guys that signed for me! Outside of the damage and having to resend to Mr. Shantz, I'm pretty happy with these successes!

See Ya!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

TTM's #43 and 44! Two More Awesome Successes!

Hey guys, Drew back here. My TTM adventure has officially taken off and I'm afraid this is the most addicting hobby this world has ever known. Seriously, aside from the work it takes to get all of these ready, I've never had so much fun going to the mailbox every day to check for new autographs. I got 2 more nice successes back recently, and I guess I'll have to let you check them out:

First off, we have 1 autograph from Yankees great Bill "Moose" Skowron! Nicknamed "Moose" after getting a haircut similar to that of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini as a young kid, the name stuck throughout the slugger's career. Moose played for 14 years total, but spent 9 of those seasons in pinstripes. In those 9 years he compiled 1,103 hits, 165 home runs, 672 RBI, and an average of .294. In 1961, Skowron had the greatest season of his career so far, with 28 home runs, and 89 RBI. That same year, he was just a little overshadowed by 2 other Yankees, you know, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, and the 3 of them combined with 143 total home runs that season! Achievements wise, Moose was an 8 time All Star, and has enough rings to fill up an entire hand of his! While he wasn't the best known and most popular Yankee at that time, he was a very underrated player!

This return took about 10 days. Man, these older men tend to return letters really fast! The 80 year old Skowron is about as consistent as they get, however I did need to toss a $5 bill in there to make Bill happy. Now on to success number 2...

None other than former Pirates reliever Elroy (Roy for short) Face! Face pitched 17 years in the bigs, and was considered a pioneer of the new "relief pitcher" job. According to several sites, he was the first pitcher in history to save 20 games more than once, and until his retirement, only Cy Young and Hoyt Wilhelm had appeared in more games than him. In 1959, he won 17 consecutive games, leading to his astounding .947 winning percentage in that season. He retired with a record of 104-95, an ERA of 3.48, and 193 saves. Not bad for one of the first of the new generation of pitching! He made 6 All Star teams and was again part of the 1960 World Series team that beat the Yankees after a series winning home run by Bill Mazeroski.

Face signed these 2 cards in about 5 days, which is again, incredible! The first is a custom, and it came out sharp, but my favorite was the 2004 Topps All Time Fan Favorites, which came out sweet in blue sharpie!

Well, another 2 great successes in the books, what do you think of them?

See Ya!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

TTM's #41 and 42! Two Old Timers!

Hey guys, Drew back here. My TTM addiction continues as within the past 2 days I've received 2 successes. Check them out:

The first success was 2 cards signed by former Pirates pitcher Vern Law. The first card is one of my Pirates customs, and it was signed very nicely in black sharpie, and the second was a 1967 Topps card that was smudged a little onto the back of the custom. It's no problem because I'm too lazy to create the backs right now, and when I do I'll just print it and glue it to the back, so no harm done. This took 10 days to come back, which is again an extremely fast return. Like Dick Groat, his signature is extremely neat and readable, which is always a plus.

Vern "Deacon" Law pitched for 16 seasons, all for the Pirates. He was a 2 time All Star and won the 1960 NL Cy Young Award Winner. That season, he went 20-9 with a 3.08 ERA, and was the ace of the 1960 Champion Pirates team. He won a total of 167 games in his career, with 1,092 strikeouts and a 3.77 ERA. He also served in the military for 2 years, and is a member of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". He was nicknamed the "Deacon" or "Preacher" due to this.

Overall that was another great success, and now onto the second and final success to show off today..

Former Indians 3rd baseman Al Rosen signed a custom and index card for me in 8 days! Rosen, known as the "Hebrew Hammer" or "Flip", played 10 seasons in his MLB career, all for Cleveland. He made 4 All Star teams throughout his career, boasting big home run and RBI numbers. In 1953, he batted .336, with 43 home runs and 145 RBI, and with a grand total of 367 total bases! That was by far his greatest season but he had many other good years in his short career. He also was enlisted into the Navy after Pearl Harbor, and stayed for 2 years. His career batting average was .285, and he hit 192 home runs, and had 1,063 hits. Had he stayed in baseball longer he could've been an even greater player with larger statistics.

"That young feller, that feller's a ball player. He'll give you the works every time. Gets all the hits, gives you the hard tag in the field. That feller's a real competitor, you bet your sweet curse life." - Casey Stengel

Rosen signed the custom really nicely, and the scan doesn't do justice to how it looks in person. However, he sloppily signed the index card, which kinda sucked, but considering he's 86 years young, it's understandable.

I'm so psyched to add these 2 players to my autograph collection! Thanks Mr. Law and Mr. Rosen! See Ya!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

1960 World Series Customs!

Hey guys, Drew back here. I recently got into watching the MLB Network broadcast of the 1960 World Series Game 7 that they dug up from Bing Crosby's; a former singer and actor and part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates; estate. They had a special live airing of the show in which Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson, Pirates outfielder Bill Virdon, and Pirates shortstop Dick Groat were on stage with Bob Costas being interviewed as the game progressed. Also in the crowd stood former Pirates champions from that team, and the widow of Roberto Clemente. It was a really good show, and so I decided to make some customs of the Pirates and Yankees from those teams. Check them out!

I'm not done yet, as I still need to do Hall of Fame cards for Mazeroski, as well as a few other players from the teams, but let me know what you think of them!

See Ya!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

TTM #32

Hey guys, Drew back here. Sorry it's been a few days, school is starting to heat up work wise and I can't see myself being able to post as much in the near future. Anyways, I got a TTM back yesterday, check em out:

Former Dodgers Third Baseman Ron Cey signed 4 cards for me! Cey was a very good player back in the 1970s and 1980s, and I'm very happy to see a nice success back! He hit 316 home runs and made 6 All Star Teams, as well as being named the 1981 World Series MVP after the Dodgers beat my Yankees. Cey got all 4 cards signed for me, unfortunately the custom came home very banged up, but it may be good enough to survive for now. The other 3 look great!

What do you think? He only took 7 days! See Ya!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

TTM #31

Hey guys, Drew back here. Yesterday I got a nice TTM success back, check it out!

Jets rookie cornerback Kyle Wilson signed a custom for me! Kyle was the Jets first round pick last year, the 29th overall pick. He played for Boise State and was considered one of the top cornerbacks available during last years draft! He's been a disappointment thus far this year but hasn't gotten too much of an opportunity, and he's very young, so Jets fans still confidence that he will be a good corner!

Kyle signed the card in 25 days, "To: Drew, Kyle Wilson #20"! It looks really nice as do all of the Jets customs when printed, the light color background makes for a great signature on the card. Out of the 4 cards I've gotten back from my new design with the soft color logo behind the autograph space, 3 of them have been personalized! Hopefully I get many more of these, because I like them more than I do some Topps and Upper Deck autograph designs!

Thanks Kyle and Go Jets! See Ya!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

TTM's #29 and 30! HOF QUARTERBACK ALERT!

Hey guys, Drew back here. After hanging out with a friend for a while, I opened my mail to find 3 things. 2 TTM returns, and a Return to Sender from Warren Moon, which put the correct address on the envelope, so I'll resend soon. Both of the successes I had today are customs signed by a Hall of Famer and a future Hall of Famer! We'll start with the "less exciting one", which is an understatement in any sense of the word.

Former Steelers Head Coach Bill Cowher signed a custom for me! Bill took 12 days to return my card and inscribed it "Drew, All the Best!, Bill Cowher, SB XL". So awesome! Bill played 6 seasons in the NFL for the Browns and Eagles, and then became the Steelers head coach in 1992 after coaching for the Browns and Chiefs. His Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2005, and he resigned as coach after that season, walking off as a winner! This is yet again another amazing autograph to add to my collection!

But this tops it, this tops it by a lot:

STEVE YOUNG SIGNED A CARD FOR ME! Wow! This was completely unexpected, taking only 12 days to come to me! Steve, of course if you didn't know, was elected to 7 Pro Bowls, and won 3 Super Bowls as a 49er. He threw 232 Touchdowns in his career and threw for 33,124 yards, leading up to his Hall of Fame induction in 2005. And that guy signed a card for me. Hard to believe huh, well, believe it because it is true! This was signed very nicely, I was worried about the dark red background making the autograph look dull, but it looks great!

Thanks SO much Mr. Cowher and Mr. Young! What a great day of autograph collecting!

See Ya!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

New Football Customs

Hey guys, Drew back here, with some new football customs I made. What do you think?

I'm planning on making more for future TTM's, just wondering how you all thought they came out. It's gonna to be current and former players, and if I like it enough it may become a future baseball set too.

See Ya!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Stars of Tomorrow- New Custom Set

Hey guys, Drew back here. What do you think? Click on the picture to get a bigger view. Let me know, and See Ya!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

drewscustomcards Gallery: Hall of Fame Heroes

What do you think of the set?

Friday, February 26, 2010

Even more of a custom card update

Hey guys, Drew back here, I went to a party today (somehow, we have about 2 feet of snow over here), and it was pretty fun. I made one more custom before I left, for a TTM I'm gonna send really soon, maybe next week sometime, to this guy:

After emailing William from foul bunt, I made a decision. I will only put the fronts on the cards when they are mailed, and if I get back the back of the card will be added. The back makes it sound like it will be for sale or something, and I don't want to make it seem like the player is signing for a company. Hopefully this makes for better success! So, I'm gonna make 1 or 2 more tomorrow, than I'll print a few more! See Ya!

Bob Feller Custom Finished!

Hey guys, as Spring Training is here, I am piled in snow. On my driveway we must have at least 8-11 inches of snow, and we've had no school for 3 straight days! Since we don't get winter recess here in NY, this is a nice treat! Anyway, I've spent a lot of the time in the snow or working on customs. I'm preparing many trades and TTM's to ship out, getting pretty close to the first 330 2010 Topps cards, I think I still need about 30 though. I got a lot of doubles in the box from my blaster. Anyway, on the post below this (or on the sidebar), the cards not in red are still available for trade, and I made my wantlists a lot neater, so check that out for a really easy way to see what I need. My 2010 Topps wantlist looks like a checkers game, you'll see when you're looking for cards I need! Anyway, I wanted to show you all how the custom Hall of Fame Heroes cards are coming out, I'm gonna start sending them as soon as I'm done! I started printing them yesterday, so first check out the cards, the fronts are printed but the backs aren't yet:

Bob Feller

Andre Dawson

Stan Musial

Side View of Stan Musial

I used plain white dummy cards to make it thick, I have a bunch of them, and they look great! I used double sided tape (mom helped me with this card making experience, thanks again mom!), and stuck the card to the dummy. Two of the cards are not perfect, but the Musial came out perfect!

Backs

The Plain white back, soon to be covered in pictures like this:

Musial Back

Feller Back

My signature will be in between the "Congratulations" paragraph and my name, like Richard P. McWilliam, or whatever the heck his name is. By the way, I'm sending in the Dye "no relic" card for a replacement, Upper Deck finally got back to me.

Any advice is needed! I'm gonna make a few more now, starting with the Dawson back though! See Ya!

P.S. If you request one, I'll do my best to try to make one for you, if not you can feel free to use the pictures I used, just save them or something! Later.

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