This post never ever represents my personal “best” or “favorite” TTMs from the previous year (more on that soon), but this is what “Tha Gram” had as #mybestnine for this year. It’s actually something I love to see every year. It’s a different perspective of the collective so it makes me go back and think about things that I wouldn’t normally. I also always love trying to figure out what might have made it make the “top nine”. This is a look back at #mybestnine on my @bravestarrcards Instagram account.
So what are the factors that make something bubble up to the top? First, if it’s a big name it will get recognized, that makes sense. Second, I think that things skew toward newer players. And last but not least, I hashtag the crap out of these things. I put tags for the cities, nicknames and all sorts of things – anything that will get it recognized.
So here they are, the #mybestnine from Instagram…
Charlie Hough
3/29/2019 – Knuckle-ball extraordinaire.
I’ll be honest… I have no idea how this got to be the most liked post that I have. Charlie’s been out of the league long enough that I thought it would be a somewhat normal post. But after all was said and done, this got almost twice the likes as the second place post. I’m going to chalk it up to the fact that this has Texas-related tags and everything is bigger in Texas.
Pat Neshek
2/23/2019 – Fitting that my first success for 2019 Spring Training comes from Pat Neshek.
I’m so glad that Pat shows up on this list, and especially as high as he’s shown up this year. He’s so good to his fellow collectors. This was my first return of what at the time where the current crop of Spring Training attempts I sent out this year. Maybe that was an omen for a good start. At this point my only problem is that I don’t have enough cards of Pat’s and I’d just be sending doubles or triples out to him.
Jason Varitek
10/29/2019 – Tek Support.
This one is a post that I would kind of expect to make it into the top nine. First, it’s a popular Red Sox player from the teams with some of their greatest recent successes. Second, it’s a guy who we don’t normally see TTMs for. It was definitely a surprise to get it back.
Joe Torre
8/29/2019 – A member of the 2000/2000 club.
I probably write just about the exact same thing for this one as I did for Varitek. Although Joe is definitely a guy who signs at least every once in a while. But what I think is a little funny is that this didn’t get Yankees hashtags on it. This is the first of a few Braves you’ll see on the list.
Ron Gant
12/14/2019 – I just Gant anymore.
See what I was saying… another Brave. This one is actually really recent. In some ways that makes it harder to make the list because it doesn’t have as much time to collect likes. But really most things will have most of their likes within a day or two and that’s it. This has collected a few here and there for a while after that.
Mallex Smith
2/19/2019 – Spring Training Success, but from last Spring.
This was a bit of an odd one. I got it during Spring Training, but it was sent during Spring Training of 2018. I don’t know that Mallex is a super popular player. And I would have tagged it with Tampa Bay related tags. Maybe that’s what did it. It’s not like I get a lot of Tampa Bay-related posts to know for sure.
Ross Stripling
3/13/2019 – Ross “Dress for Less” Stripling signed a Spring Training TTM Success.
I was glad to get this one back because the Heritage cards always look so great signed. And the blue marker with the Dodger blue in the card is just awesome. It’s easy to see how a Dodger would make it into the top nine with how well that team has done the last several years and then the L.A. tags on it.
Mike Minor
5/19/2019 – Adding ink to a card… a “Minor” adjustment that makes it major to some of us.
Here’s the last Brave you’ll see, but Atlanta (and more specifically the Braves) are not taking up 33% of this list. This one, like Mallex Smith was not the most recent thing I sent out to him. This was a much older attempt. But this really came out great too. That marker is so strong.
Andrew Stevenson
3/26/2019 – I’ll be at Nats Park on Opening Day. Where will you be?
This is one of those (maybe like Ryan Church last year) that confuses me a bit more as to how it makes the top nine. I don’t know that the average fan would have really seen Andrew. Having the Nats local, I’ve gotten to see him a bit. But he doesn’t play much. I think this shows you how there is a little bit of bias for current players.
Thanks for a Great Year!
To the followers on Instagram and to the regulars checking in on the blog, Thanks! Thanks for following, for liking, for commenting. It’s always nice to see that people are interested and hopefully I brought a couple of smiles or “oh yeahs” and things like that. Here’s to a good 2020.
If you liked what you saw here, give me a follow @bravestarrcards on Instagram and Twitter.