TTM Success 2019-01 - Matt Mieske

My first TTM request of 2019 is, probably not coincidentally, also my first return. To begin my MLB Born in Michigan collection, I sent out this Matt Mieske 1997 Topps #168 on February 2nd to his home address. On Valentine’s Day I received the card back with a brief note written on my original letter. How cool is that!

Born in Midland, Matt was a stand-out player at Bay City Western high school (three-time all-state) before playing ball for the Western Michigan Broncos, where he earned All-American honors three times and set 11 school records (a handful of which stand to this day!).

He was selected by Oakland in the 20th round of the 1989 draft, but chose not to sign and was chosen a year later by the Padres in the 17th round. Matt toiled at the Single-A level in the Padres system until being traded (along with Ricky Bones and Jose Valentin) to Milwaukee in 1992 for Geoff Kellogg and Gary Sheffield. A year later, Matt broke into the Bigs and spent the next four years with the Brewers.

From there came stints with the Cubs, Seattle, Houston and Arizona before Matt hung up his cleats following the 2000 season. In his 8-year, 663-game career, Mieske played exclusively as an outfielder and hit .262/.318/.434 with 56 home runs and 226 RBI.

In an interview a few years ago, Matt recalled his most memorable moment – which occurred during his one season in Chicago. At the end of the 1998 season, the Cubs found themselves tied with the Giants for the final playoff spot. In the sixth inning of the tie-breaking game, with the bases loaded, Matt came in to pinch-hit for Henry Rodriguez. He came through with a two-run single, putting the Cubs ahead 4-0, and that hit would ultimately be the deciding factor in sending the Cubs to the playoffs because the Giants fought back to score three runs in the top of the ninth.

Although never a Tiger, Matt is nevertheless one of Michigan’s baseball heroes. Thanks for signing, Matt!

Sent: 2 February 2019
Received: 14 February 2019
Time: 12 days

2019 TTM Stats
Sent: 3
Received: 1
Success Rate: 33%

Cincinnati Card Show - January 13th

Well, the flu has been keeping me down these past several days so I've got quite a bit of blogging to catch up on - starting with the card show I attended last Sunday. Held at the Blue Ash Crowne Plaza on the east side of Cincy, the show was a little more than an hour's drive for me so I really had my fingers crossed that there would be enough hockey-related material to make the trip worthwhile. Not only that, but I haven't been to an organized show for more than a year. My last attempt was a show in Lexington where I was quite literally laughed out of the place because of my interest in hockey. To say that Kentucky is not hockey friendly is a gross understatement. Anyway, off to Cincy....

Sadly, the show was home to only four dealers - and only one of those had any hockey cards to speak of. Even more unfortunate, for me, was that those hockey cards consisted of unopened packs of 1990-91 Upper Deck. Not wanting to leave empty handed, I coughed up $1 for six packs and slunk back to my car and got started on my 60+-minute drive home.

At home, my pulls were less than thrilling (not that there's much about this set to be excited about in the first place). I pulled one of the terrible hologram cards, which I think is the Brett Hull solo card. They're unnumbered with no info on the backs and so poorly designed that I can't make out anything about the uniform. I won't even bother scanning it. Instead, here's the Kip Miller Young Gun from one of the packs:

Michigan native Kip comes from what, in my opinion, is a true hockey dynasty. His cousin Ryan is the Sabres' netminder while his other cousin Drew currently skates for the Red Wings. Kip's brothers Kevin and Kelly also spent a number of years in the NHL with various teams. So not a great pull from an investment perspective, but a nice addition for my "Michigan Natives" collection.

The six packs also yielded up three cards for my Red Wings collection, which is not a great ration but I'll take 'em.