Sweet Lou TTM, a Momentous First

William over at Foul Bunt scored a beautiful Lou Whitaker signed ball through the mail, and William graciously shared it with us (check out the awesomeness). Well, I commented, we got to talking, and he sent me Lou's TTM address. I had no idea how to go about the process, and William gave me a good run-down on the process. I've never done a TTM auto before, and Lou was a perfect first. Less than a week after I sent it out, I found my SASE in my mailbox.

I don't know how all of you go about picking cards for TTM, but '88 Fleer seemed like a good choice. All the brightness of this set lends itself well to ink. It gave Lou plenty of room to include his highlights: '78 ROY and '84 World Series Champion. Hey, Lou, you earned it, and I'm glad to see you showing it off on my baseball card. And, you have to love Lou's half-smirk on this card.

Maybe I'm a little greedy, but I thought I'd go for a double. I sent another card in the same envelope, which Lou also signed:

Another awesome TTM. I should also mention what a nice signature Lou has. I love the "L," how it loops and swoops to the "W." All very legible. Very cool stuff.

I doubt the likes of Lou actually read our blogs, but just in case: Thanks a bunch, Lou. You were one of the greatest heroes of my youth, and you're very generous with your time and ink. It's always so gratifying to find out your heroes are also stand-up guys.

But I shouldn't forget about Coot, right? I don't know if I can completely say Lou is my first TTM. Long ago, the son of Coot contacted me and very generously offered to get his dad to sign a card for me. You can read about that more here. Those Veals and Whitakers are some amazing families.

The Vealtones will now play this post out with my XRC TTM auto: