One of my favorite times of the year is just around the corner: spring training. We played softball for the first time in months today, and I was definately rusty. However, spring training also means something new for me this year: autographs! I got into TTM (through the mail) autographs last year after reading some posts by fellow card collectors and hearing about their successes. It's pretty simple: just send a card/baseball, letter, and SASE to the stadium and if you're lucky, they'll sign it for you. Spring training is the best time to get autographs of players because they have time to read their mail. Occasionally, the big stars will sign too. Last year, the big news was that Jim Thome signed, and for awhile, David Wright and Ryan Howard signed too. This past week, Zito recently signed stuff sent to him last year according to websites, so maybe if I send him some cards to sign, I'll get them next year. I like how the 2006 Topps Heritage look signed, so I'm going to continue getting this set autographed. Although not every player is in this set and thus the players I can get autographs of are limited, I want to keep with the continuity. Anyway, here's some scans of successes I haven't posted yet:


These are autographs of J.J. Hardy, Wes Helms, Clint Barmes, and Brad Hawpe.


Here's Chris Capuano, Jorge Cantu, and Tom Gorzelanny. The Capuano and Cantu just came back this week even though I sent the Capuano sometime in August and the Cantu last spring training a year ago. Capuano was also cool enough to write "Thanks for the letter Allan - Chris Capuano 39" on the back of my envelope.


Finally, this is a commishioner Bud Selig autograph. Selig, you sexy man, you. It looks like a friggen yearbook picture. I'm surprised he didn't add the inscription "Good luck in college. KIT."