As I was thinking about writing this and how many times I’ve mentioned trying to have a better process with my TTM requests lately and then sort of realized that I don’t know if I’ve really talked about it much in detail. So here goes…
First of all, my old process was not involved: pull cards from my doubles into specially sorted (by alpha) for potential TTMs, then pull cards from that to prioritize in to what I want to send first, and finally write and send. The prioritizing was maybe the most involved part.
The biggest problem with that method is that when I pulled from my potential TTM boxes I always pulled way more than I needed. What that would result in is a big stack (well, stacks) of cards that would take me a while to get through before I started over. That might not sound like a problem, but what I found was that it meant that weeks/months into those stacks that I was writing would be guys that were no longer actively signing. Or I found myself out of cycle with when people sign.
The new process is similar but there are some added steps. First, I pull from the potential TTMs and I still put those in new stacks to prioritize. I will write those but I use them more as a fall back. What I’ve added in now is that I keep a list of things I am seeing other people get back on Twitter and Instagram. Hopefully have have them pulled in my stacks and if so I will move them from wherever I had them prioritize to right up front. But if I didn’t already pull them I go find them wherever they are and write that letter within that week so I can get it out the next week. Some weeks that’s a bigger chore than others but the idea is that I am more regularly getting out cards for people who are actively signing.
Honestly adding that step to keep up with new stuff has done wonders and so far I’ve still been able to keep a backlog of written letters waiting to go out. Hopefully some of the things that I see in recent returns are things I’ve already written.
Whatever process works for you is what I’d go with. Everyone uses their time differently so it needs to work for you. This just happens to be what is working for me now.
Hope all is well in your world!
The Monthly Numbers
It’s funny how I’ve looked at these numbers over the last couple months and everything seems to be going up. I’m definitely putting in the work to try and keep up with by following recent returns and churning out more letters, so it’s nice to see it all paying off. But looking at these numbers every month really helps.
All the numbers are going up. Last month I had eleven in one day and that seemed like an all-time high. Well this month threw up a fourteen so take that September! It also feels like in recent months I would count days that I had more than five returns. This month I’ll up that and say I had five days with seven or more returns. Feels so good to say all that.
I can be a bit of a negative Nelly sometimes though and part of me wonders when this is going to end. I know it did in the Spring surprisingly. Hopefully the work will keep showing results.
This month is back to the old ’89-’91 spike. That’s OK though as it’s really where I should suspect it to be. That’s definitely a trend that will never last. Or maybe I should say that it will never be a trend.
Not only are there a lot more colors on the chart but there’s two other things I see. First, there’s a lot more of those colors… football especially. The other thing I’m noticing, also with football, is that it’s spread out really well. Take a look at how far down the chart the orange goes. I know it’s small, but it’s those little things I like to see from month to month.
The difference between #1 and #2 on the chart below was not as pronounced this time. But there’s definitely a drop to third that is a bit more significant. This time the Bay area really represented as did the Dallas area. You’ll see below that there were a couple teams carrying those numbers. Once you get from third to say… twelfth, there’s a difference of five and the line thins out a bit.
With Dallas being up there you could try to say it would be some other teams, but it’s really one, the Rangers, that carried the month. Oakland/San Francisco had the A’s, Giants and a few Warriors come in to support the one location. A lot of similar teams are up there on the top ten but they definitely changed totals from the month before to juggle themselves up or down.
Here are the Top 10 individual teams for the month (by cards returned):
- Texas Rangers – 30
- Oakland Athletics – 22
- Kansas City Royals – 17
- San Francisco Giants – 14
- Houston Astros – 12
- Milwaukee Brewers – 12
- Chicago White Sox – 11
- San Diego Padres – 11
- Pittsburgh Pirates, California Angels, Seattle Mariners – All tied with 10
Getting Trendy
Those blue lines just keep getting bigger and bigger. I never thought I could cross that 100 line. That’s pretty much a repeat of last month because then I didn’t think I was going to be able to cross 90. The trend look tremendous. If I even level off for this month I’ve got to be pretty happy with that. Again the sort of different thing is that the failure totals aren’t there. I’m definitely trying less that don’t seem as reliable so that supports that number. I think just managing a lot more from a recent return perspective is helping that out as well.
Diversification here I come. This is where you can see how well football did last month, just like on the heat map. Basketball really brought it too. There were only a couple hockey returns last month but I kind of have a feeling they will be up a little higher in November. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the others at least maintained somewhat compared to baseball.
The stack of cards that I collected for the month was absolutely huge this time around. With almost 400 cards it’s going to get that way. Of course, now I’ve got to put them all away. But I should be able to handle that with a smile on my face.
The Overall Numbers
After last month’s 92 returns and 352 cards, I wanted the numbers to keep going up. But in all reality, I didn’t think I would ever get 100 returns. But I didn’t get 100 returns… I GOT 108! I also got pretty darn close to 400 cards back with 385. The key at this point is not just keeping up with others recent returns (which requires a lot of upkeep with writing letters during the week) but also boosting what I am sending out. I’m sending out more than ever. I know at some point I’ll slow down and give a good look to how the success percentage has been going for me this year. At least if things slow down in real life.
When I look at it Year-over-Year, I was about 80% better in returns and 82% better in cards than I was last year. If I don’t even consider the pace I am on, I already have 16% more returns and 20% better in cards back. Then if I looks at it from a pace perspective, I am already 40% better in returns and 44% better in cards. As good as all that is, how depressing will it be next year to look at those numbers if I slow down. Overall I have 750 returns and 2664 cards.
He’s Making a List
Last month I had to cut down on what I usually look at for stragglers. Normally I look at 200+ and last month I brought it down to 150+ just so I had something to look at. I’m back up to 200+ and I have some theories about the change. First, I think in general COVID slowed down some folks from signing. I actually don’t think we saw a huge impact during all this but I do think some folks used it as a way to take a break.
The second thing I think that impacted it is just the time of year. Since I put out a lot of baseball requests over everything else, I think guys just tend to sign at the end of the year. I don’t think my longest stragglers really reflect that exactly, but I do get the feeling that coaches and players can tend to wait until the season is done to sign.
The other thing I’ll note below is the failure from Rick Honeycutt. He sent a note that he is charging $15 per card these days. What I just find funny about it is that it came back that way after 200 days. Maybe he was just waiting to deal with it and get himself together with the note he was sending.
Here the list of anything 200 days or more:
- Luis Rivera – 1316
- Todd Jones – 620
- Billy Butler – 497
- Kevin Tapani – 342
- Mike Oz – 317
- Kurt Rambis – 220
- Rick Honeycutt – 200 (Failure)
This month a had a whole lot to choose from. I think there were some really great returns with some really nice cards in there. Here’s the mix for this month: Jack Youngblood, Dan Fouts, Darrin Jackson, Amos Otis, Steve Buechele, Bert Jones, Warren Morris, Brian McRae, Jeff Lageman, Tracy Murray, Fair Hooker, Harry Carson, Bob Horner, Andrei Kirilenko, Billy Butler, Bill Gullickson, Rod Bernstine, Gary Fencik, CarlZander, Doug Lidster, Roy Jefferson and Don Robsinson. Yeah, I said it was going to be a lot.
I hope you had a good hobby month too!