June 3, 2013 - Mailday Monday

OK, so it's a belated Mailday Monday. There hasn't been much in the mail lately, just these two waiting in my mailbox earlier this week. My wife and I spent this past Memorial Day weekend at the in-laws' place in Montana, and I've been busy at work so there hasn't been much time to prep TTMs. I'm starting a new retired NHLer photo concept for TTM requests that I may expand to IP starting next season.  I've gotten tons of NHL trading cards signed, but have always wanted to get something signed showing a player's career NHL stats (that isn't some boring card-back or media guide page).  After I started toying with custom 4x6 photos more this year, I was finally able to come up with something:

Click to embiggen

It's not great or even good, but it will probably suffice. The player is pictured with the team with which he either played for the longest or enjoyed the most success. It's tough to find decent pictures of some players online, so quality will vary. Complete NHL regular season stats are provided; the font is boring ghetto Courier New to keep the spacing equal so I don't have to eff around with that much. Also, a visual Stanley Cup or Avco Trophy is pictured next to any season in which the player was part of a championship team! As with my other customs, I try to keep things very simple and allow for some light space for the player to sign (without forcing it and putting a lightened box on top of everything). I wish I had thought of this ten years ago!

Hockey

Ottawa Senators RIC c/o Trade
Beth G. - Ottawa, ON

One of the great parts of this community is the network of collectors who enjoy helping each other out with their autograph endeavors. Beth in Ottawa is one shining example of this concept; she is always eager to trade and help people out with her hometown Senators, Ottawa 67s, and Gatineau Olympiques.  Near the end of this season the Senators raided their farm club in Binghamton, bringing up a bunch of new faces all at once: Dave Dziurzynski, Eric Gryba, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. There were also a few rookies I hadn't gotten around to adding to my RIC collection: Jim O'Brien and Jakob Silfverberg.  And to top it off, rookie sensation Cory Conacher was traded to the Sens at the deadline!  Beth was able to help me get all these players, and many of them (Pageau in particular) had a great run in the playoffs so that makes this envelope of autographs even cooler.  Thanks again, Beth!

Cory Conacher	Dave Dziurzynski
Eric Gryba	Jim O'Brien
Jean-Gabriel Pageau	Jakob Silfverberg

My printer has been struggling mightily the past couple months, which explains the print defects on these RICs.


Ryan Sawka c/o Business (Regina, SK)
1/1 card, 75 days

Score another one for my Everett Silvertips team set project! Since retiring from hockey, Ryan Sawka has gotten involved with a yoga studio in Regina. I sent this to him and he responded with a signature in black ballpoint. He also took the time to write his return address on the SASE, which is always a nice plus. Thanks Ryan!

Ryan Sawka

May 22, 2013 - Package from Finland

Sweet, another end-of-season package coming back from a fellow grapher!

Hockey

Finnish players c/o Trade
Harri P. - Jyvaskyla, Finland

One of the best parts of this hobby is interaction with collectors around the world. I have traded for a few years with Harri, one of a trio of great SM-Liiga graphers in Finland.  Harri was able to snag a bunch of Finnish NHL draftees in person at JYP games in Jyvaskyla. Teuvo Teravainen is the highest pick out of the lot, drafted 18th overall by the Hawks last summer. However, most notable in this group of scans are two additions to my Rookie Index Card collection: Lennart Petrell and Lars Eller. With the acquisition of Lars Eller, I am now down to 19 players remaining to complete the 2009-10 set.  Kiitos Harri!

Rookie Index Cards: Lars Eller 2009-10 RIC

Lennart Petrell 2011-12 RIC

Cards: Markus Ketterer

Custom NHL Draft Cards: Teuvo Teravainen 2012, 18th Overall	Ville Pokka 2012, 34th Overall
Joonas Korpisalo 2012, 62nd Overall	Esa Lindell 2012, 74th Overall
Niklas Tikkinen 2012, 148th Overall	Petteri Lindbohm 2012, 176th Overall

May 20, 2013 - Mailday Monday

I wasn't expecting to get anything back this week, but one big envelope came in!

Hockey

OHL players c/o Trade
Mark O. - London, ON.

I've been trading with Mark for a few seasons: he helps me out with OHL players in person in London, while I help him with WHL players in Seattle/Everett. We both collect the Heroes & Prospects sets, and today's return consisted of a number of H&P autographs plus a bunch of custom cards from my NHL Draft sets.  Thanks again Mark for all the great work this season! I hope we can do this again next time!

Cards: J.P. Anderson	Cody Ceci
Kerby Rychel	Gemel Smith

Custom NHL Draft Cards: Radek Faksa 2012, 13th Overall	Dylan Blujus 2012, 40th Overall
Ben Johnson 2012, 90th Overall	Brady Vail 2012, 94th Overall
Gemel Smith 2012, 104th Overall	Jake Dotchin 2012, 161st Overall
Joseph Blandisi 2012, 162th Overall	Nick Ebert 2012, 211st Overall
Reid Boucher 2011, 99th Overall

May 13, 2013: Mailday Monday

Today's visit to the mailbox yielded three hockey TTM returns along with a trade. Also, my most heartfelt condolences go out to the city of Toronto, whose hockey fans just witnessed a collapse of the most epic magnitude. I was hoping Toronto could advance just to lift up the spirits of some of the Leafs fans in my office.  Meanwhile, my Sharks are in action tomorrow at Los Angeles for Game 1 of the second round. Beat LA!

Hockey

Ian Cole and Barry Melrose c/o Trade
Jason P. - St. Louis, MO

How interesting that I got a Leafs autograph in the mail today! I made a trade with Jason from St. Louis, sending him a few of my Portland Winterhawks extras for a couple of key items for my collection. I didn't have an NHL card signed by Barry Melrose, and now I do.  The only other one I have is an old ProCards issue from when he coached the Adirondack Red Wings, also received in a trade.  Ian Cole had been surprisingly tricky for me to get; he is nice in person but I didn't have much luck with him through the mail. I traded Jason for a blank Ian Cole signed index card, and the placement of the autograph on the card was just about perfect for me to print the Rookie Index design over.  I am now down to 28 remaining for the 2010-11 RIC set.  Thanks for the trade, Jason!

 Ian Cole

Barry Melrose

Greg Pateryn c/o Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL)
1/1 RIC, 58 days

The University of Michigan Wolverine alumnus signed a Rookie Index Card for me in just under two months.

 	Greg Pateryn


Harri Pesonen c/o Albany Devils (AHL)
1/1 RIC, about 2 months


I'm not actually sure exactly when I sent this one out, but it was at least two months ago. The former JYP Jyväskylä forward signed this rookie index card nicely.

Harri Pesonen

Brennan Yadlowski c/o University of Alberta (CIS)
2/2 RIC, custom index, 29 days

The former Everett Silvertip just wrapped up his first season of Canadian college hockey with the University of Alberta, and signed a card for my Everett Silvertips team set project!  Oftentimes the ones I end up having to chase down TTM are the overagers from each season. Everett puts out their card set so late in the year that it's tough to make decent progress on it in person until the following season.

Brennan Yadlowski

Mail from last week (May 6, 2013)

I have a P.O. Box near my office that I use to receive autographs through the mail. I check this box once per week (usually every other week during the hockey offseason). I'll be checking it tomorrow, but just to get things started, here's what I got last Monday (May 6).

Hockey

Ryan Garbutt c/o Dallas Stars (practice facility)
2/2 RIC, custom index, 398 days

It's always uplifting to see a long-lost request make its way back to my mailbox! I had sent to Ryan c/o the Dallas Stars' practice facility in Frisco, Texas near the end of the 2011-12 season. Ryan signed both my Rookie Index Card and the AHL custom index I was making that season for teams I was seeing in person (I had gotten the Texas Stars to sign at the Seattle airport that season on their Abbotsford roadtrip, but missed Garbutt).

Ryan Garbutt

Ryan Garbutt

Peter Mueller c/o Florida Panthers (NHL)
2/2 RIC, custom index, 51 days

Peter was always such a gracious signer in the WHL. I got him to sign several times here, and when the Phoenix Coyotes and Tampa Bay Lightning played an exhibition game in Everett in 2009, many local fans were looking forward to seeing him. Alas, he was a healthy scratch that game. He spent a whole period signing autographs for fans in the concourse, which goes to show how cool he is. I have started trying to get 2012-13 OPC Retro cards signed, since they have lots of whitespace and look amazing signed. This is the first one of those back; I sent a blue Sharpie along with my request. Peter also inked two Everett Silvertips team set cards from 2005-06 and 2006-07. At the time I wasn't collecting these sets signed, but am trying to backfill those years now. Pretty solid success overall!

Peter Mueller	Peter Mueller
Peter Mueller

Soccer

Danny Koevermans c/o Toronto FC (MLS)
1/1 custom 4x6 photo, 22 days

A Dutch striker who played in the Eredivisie with several clubs (Sparta Rotterdam, AZ Alkmaar, and PSV Eindhoven), Koevermans joined TFC in 2011. He signed my custom 4x6 photo in black ballpoint. When I was up in Canada last month to graph the Toronto Marlies and Abbotsford Heat in the Fraser Valley, I made sure to prep a large amount of autograph requests to send out from within Canada. I highly recommend this tactic if you plan on going across the border; it'll result in some savings on international postage.

Danny Koevermans

Blake Smith c/o Montreal Impact (MLS)
1/1 custom 4x6 photo, 22 days

This was another request sent from Abbotsford, BC last month. I am trying to get the entire first round of the MLS to sign custom 4x6s, and this was a somewhat inauspicious start to that effort. I had accidentally selected a photo of Brad Stuver that came up in a Google Image search for Blake Smith, and I didn't vet the photo closely enough. Blake was nice enough to sign, but included a short three-word note pointing out the goof. I'll probably re-send a corrected version to him with "Oops, my bad!" on the same note.

Blake Smith

Oops....