So a little late on the start of this thread, but hey, my wife is due to give birth any day, so I've been a little busy


I got prepared by going to the mariners website and finding cards for everyone on the roster and then the non-roster invitees.

(I had to scramble to find an Erik Bedard and get rid of the George Sherrill, but that's another story)

I sent 3 rounds of requests - first pitchers and catchers (reported first) second some minor league rookies that had Bowman DPP cards this year and third, position players -

I also wrote a little letter to each of them (and a letter in spanish for the players from the Spanish speaking countries) and I tried to make each one have a little personal touch, but the letter generally said the same thing - glad you're back, would you please, thanks so much and good luck this year...

Round 1

Sent February 5th (Pitchers and Catchers, some non-roster invitees)

58 Cha Seung Baek
43 Miguel Batista
31 Ryan Feierabend
54 Sean Green
34 Felix Hernandez
38 Jon Huber
62 Cesar Jimenez
57 Mark Lowe
35 Brandon Morrow
59 Eric O'Flaherty
26 Horacio Ramirez
18 Ryan Rowland-Smith
52 Carlos Silva
56 Jarrod Washburn
46 Sean White
(non-roster pitchers)
79 Philippe Aumont
72 Adam Moore
48 Roy Corcoran
33 Chris Reitsma
66 Robert Rohrbaugh
49 Jake Woods
Catchers
15 Jamie Burke
9 Jeff Clement

Round 2 - sent 2/9

Erik Bedard
Wladimir Balentien
(not mariners)
Mike Moustakas
Matt LaPorta
Jason Heyward
Andrew Lambo

Round 3 - Sent 2/18

J.J. Putz (waited longer to send a personal letter and special picture, he's my son's favorite)
Kenji Johjima
Ichiro

29 Adrian Beltre
5 Yuniesky Betancourt
16 Willie Bloomquist
13 Miguel Cairo
17 Yung Chi Chen
4 Jose Lopez
12 Mike Morse
44 Richie Sexson

28 Raul Ibanez
25 Charlton Jimerson
8 Jeremy Reed
51 Ichiro Suzuki
6 Brad Wilkerson

3 Jose Vidro

I got my mail on Tuesday, after the 3 day weekend and was greeted with 5 of my SASE -

the Autographs I received back were (scans will be up eventually)

Jake Woods
Philippe Aumont
Robert Rohrbaugh
Mark Lowe
Ryan Feierabend

All pitchers, 3 non-roster invitees, but what better way to get a rookie autograph than send when they're NOT on the team but at spring training - and who knows? We might have the Mariner's next middle reliever! -

and I'm not advertising for anyone, but this is how i got all of my cards to mail out -

I searched on Ebay stores and found a seller who had singles of almost everyone on the team - for 50 cents or less each - and the shipping was 3 dollars for up to 40 cards -

so I got all my cards for everyone from spring training for under 20 dollars, and they're all new cards and I didn't have to thumb through my personal collection to find whether or not I had a card for some of the more obscure players -

oh, added bonus, one of the envelopes had a BIG thumbprint/pinetar smear... very cool!

scans to follow soon!

wow congrats!


I should send some stuff, do you think its to late to send?

Well, it's not too late to send, but every day you wait the chances get less and less that you will get an autograph. If you're writing to someone young or new, you will have a better chance since they get less mail at Spring training.

Spring training is in full swing right now and games start in 7 or 8 days. The idea is that you get the letter/card there before they're SO BUSY that they won't have time to sign. They generally answer mail to kill time at the start of spring training.

If you're patient, though, you might get your card back NEXT year, I have hear a lot of stories of people sending too late one apring traing and their card comes back to them NEXT spring training when the player has tine right when they get there.

ALSO - make sure your SASEs all have the Forever stamp on it, so when the postage rates increase they will still mail it. I sent out a pile of cards in the late 80's early 90's and the rate went from 25-29 cents and I had some letters returned to me postage due - save yourself time and energy!

Good luck! Next year I plan on being at spring training in person, but through the mail works for now!

CRAZY, just got home from the hospital and my wife gave birth to our daughter Amber Rose Bright

Figured i would update you with the TTM's i recieved after then -

on friday 2/22 i got 5 more cards back all autographed

Jamie Burke
ERic O'Flaherty
Jarrod Washburn (sent me a 2004 cracker Jack instead of my card, but this one looks cooler)
Roy Corcoran
Sean White (personalized it "to phil" my son)

and when we got home form the hospital yesterday we checked the mail and had a big package from

J.J. Putz - turnaround was 6 days! My son met JJ last year and h=got his autograph at his first baseball game (phil was 9 months old) so I sent 2 copies of a picture of phil and JJ (taken when phil met him last season) and asked that he keep one and autograph one - he sent back the signed picture (8x10) personalized "To Phil, Best Wishes JJ Putz #20)

he also signed the 3 cards from 2007 A+Ginter i included - there will be more scans soon, but im at home with my wife and children this week!

p.s. noticed that none of the players i send a spanish language letter have sent back yet but 11 returns in less than a month is pretty good so far!

more today!

Cesar Jiminez (first response to my letter in spanish)
Brandon Morrow (signed 2 2007 BDP base cards in blue)

slow week, but Friday was worth the wait!


Yung Chi Chen (signed 2)
Jon Huber
Ryan Rowland-Smith (personalized "To Phil, Best Wishes")

so my first return from round 3 - we'll keep looking!

Wow - another one of those SLOW WEEKS... my first failure but some great stuff -

yesterday I got 3 envelopes back and first one was postmarked Miami form the GCL Dodgers...

I recieved 3 cards back unsigned from
Andrew Lambo - 0/3

hey, at least I got them back, but a bummer that he didn't sign

next i got a letter from the Idaho Falls Chukars postmarked from Arizona -

Mike Moustakas - 3/3 AND he used a different pen to sign the glossy cards and teh normal cards - so they wouldn't smudge - awesome!

Finally another Mariner - Sean Green

today there was 1 envelope - Chris Reitsma...

I must be close to having the entire pitching staff - hopefully I get some more position players before they all come back to seattle!

slowing to a crawl, and i haven't received pack from many position players - another one this week - hopefully more will show up after spring break is over -


Willie Bloomquist yesterday

one more - another position player and one of my spanish letters as well!


Jose Lopez!

Do you speak Spanish or do you use a translator

SUccess yesterday!

Cha Sung Baek

and to answer your question, I speak Spanish pretty well, but used the babelfish translator online and then checked to see if it made sense (it was a pretty long letter) - I also had a friend whose wife is Japanese help me write a letter to Kenji and Ichiro, but we have NO idea if that will work... i'll keep you posted!

Congratulations to you and your wife. And nice successes!