I'm a bit overdue for this, but let's take a look at how pro ballplayers who went to my high school did in 2017.
Travis Taijeron
Taijeron (pronounced Tyrone) was the big news here, as he became the first Granite Hills High School grad since Brian Giles to play Major League Baseball when the Mets called him up in late August. While his overall performance could have been better (.173 in 59 plate appearances), he had a couple nice highlights including his first home run, and a game-winning base-knock that to my delight earned him a Topps Now card, his first mainstream card since 2012. Taijeron's Topps Now card had a print run of 348, one of which was yoinked by me off eBay.
As a collector, I'm very curious to see if he gets included in 2018 checklists. Would love to see some "RC" rookie cards of his to add to my collection. After the season, he signed with the Dodgers as a free agent, hoping to earn a bench spot. So if he does get a card in any early 2018 products, he'll likely be 'shopped into a Dodgers uniform.
Congrats again, Travis, and best of luck to you in LA!
Trenton Brooks
Brooks, an outfielder since going pro, played for a couple of A ball teams in the Indians organization in 2017, batting a combined .202 with 1 tater. Also worth noting is that he pitched one scoreless inning and picked up a save in a lone pitching appearance. I wonder if they'll look at him more on the mound in 2018, or if that game was a one-time thing.
Andrew Brown
Brown pitched at A-Williamsport in the Phillies chain in 2017 and performed well. In 13 games (10 starts), he went 4-4 with a 3.11 ERA, striking out 47 and walking 19. The 20-year-old should quickly make his way up the chain if he keeps that up.
Jayson Rose
Drafted by the Brewers in the 8th round of the 2017 draft, Jayson pitched in 10 rookie league games (6 starts), with 37 strikeouts and 9 walks in 31.2 innings. But he did give up 34 hits and 21 earned runs. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does in 2018. Would love to see him get new cards on the market soon, since looks like all he's got now are from 2013 Leaf Perfect Game back in his high school days.
No-longer-active Guys From Granite
Now for the melancholy farewells to those guys who played in the minors recently, but weren't able to make it into that very small sliver of the population that cracks the big leagues. I tip my cap and wish them best of luck in whatever new direction life takes them.
Brian Carroll
Brian Carroll played one season of pro ball (2015), and although he hit .306, he battled injuries, specifically a problem knee, and was cut loose by the Rockies in early 2016. Doesn't look like he got picked up by any team in 2017, ending his pro career. Sorry to see he didn't make it, but I'm glad I was able to get his autograph when I did. That was a fun day at the ballpark.
Brian Humphries
Humphries made it up to AA with the Rockies in 2014 before being released in 2015 spring training. He then had a couple impressive seasons with independent teams, but despite that, couldn't latch on with another affiliated team. He didn't play in 2017, so I gotta assume he hung them up. I really appreciate how he was generous with my TTM requests. Great guy.
Johnny Omahen
John made it up to AAA in 2016, but was released by the Diamondbacks at the end of spring training in 2017. Doesn't look like he caught on with another club. Bummer.
In Memorial
On December 11th, Granite Hills student Will Burton was killed in a car accident. He was an incredible athlete who excelled on the school football and baseball teams. By all accounts, he was a terrific kid, full of positivity. Such a tragic loss.
December 2017 was quite a sad time for the Granite Hills Baseball community. Former coach Gordy Thompson died on December 31 at the age of 76. He managed the school team for many years, including helping shape brothers Brian and Marcus Giles into the major league all-stars they became. He led the Eagles to 8 Grossmont Conference titles, and CIF titles in '77, '94, '98. There's a nice article at the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Crazy weekend, right?!
Nah, actually it was a pretty chill. Just hung out, did a little cleaning.. went through a recent package from COMC.
Call me immature, but I thought this photo of a Fair Hooker and Dick Cummings on my bed was pretty funny. I had to run out and pick up a Fair Hooker right away after seeing him on the Cardboard Hogs blog, I think it was. And then I came across Dick Cummings on Wrigley Roster Jenga. My collection would seem incomplete without it, so I splurged. (LOL, sorry guys.. first a weed post and now weiner jokes.. my blog may have gotten a little lowbrow lately.. I'll have to class it up more soon.)
I've already completed the rainbow for Brian Humphries' 2012 Bowman Chrome card, only missing some printing plates, so why did I add another red wave refractor to the PC?...
Christmas Card, that's why! Upgrade!
Not sure if/where Brian is playing this year yet. He doesn't seem to be on the roster for the independent Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks with whom he had a nice 2016 season.
Dexter Fowler helped the Cubs win it all last year, then cashed in for a big payday to sign with the Cardinals. I don't really collect him, but was impressed by him speaking out against the travel ban in the face of St. Louis fans bitching at him to shut up and stick to sports.
And it's a Christmas Card, too!
I love wave refractors. I already had a few various wave colors.. red, blue, black, orange.. but wanted to land an elusive green wave of somebody. Luke Jackson was the best name available for the price I was looking to pay.
Here's a weird 2016 Panini Father's Day relic card of Manuel Margot. It's a "player worn" gimmick, likely worn during that photoshoot and that's it, not game-used, but it was pretty cheap for a memorabilia card of a top rookie, #'d 16/25. And the whole atomic refractor look is kinda cool.
A Cecchini Brothers diecut.
It's the #'d 25/25 xfractor. I already had the 50/50 parallel (shimmer refractor), so it was neat to get the "last of the print run" of a couple different parallels of the same card.
A couple cheap autos. I don't really need anymore Gavin Escobar autographs, but at just a buck-fiddy, I couldn't pass it up. Plus he's pictured in a (whitewashed) SDSU Aztecs uniform. After a lackluster 2016 season with the Cowboys, Escobar signed as a free-agent with the Kansas City Chiefs for 2017.
David Denson was never quite a top prospect, but is known for being the first openly gay active player in affiliated baseball. After batting .212 last year in A-ball, he decided to hang them up and pursue a career as a personal trainer instead. Bummer he couldn't break through to the bigs, but all the best to him. Happy to pick up this refractor auto for my Pride PC minicollection. Cool signature, too.
We finish up with a couple refractors. Hunter Renfroe has been doing ok in San Diego so far. As I was ready to place my order, I still had 31¢ in my account over the needed $3.99 for shipping. Instead of saving it for next time, I searched for cheap cards to clean me out, and settled on this 2010 Bowman Chrome Mark Buehrle refractor. I remember seeing his name trending on Twitter a few weeks ago and thought, "Finally, a team wisely signed him. Still got plenty in the tank." But no, turns out he's still retired. He was in the news because the White Sox announced they're gonna retire his number.
That's it for today. I also picked up some set needs, but we'll save those for another post. Thanks for swinging by. I gotta go wash my sheets!
Regular readers know that two main off-the-beaten-path groups of players I collect are guys named Gavin and guys who went to Granite Hill High School. There's a kinship for me that makes these dudes fun to collect and follow. I recently did a 2016 recap for players named Gavin, now let's do a similar post for active Guys From Granite.
Let's start with a sweet TTM return that came back a little while ago.
Trenton Brooks was one of two former Granite Hills Eagles to be drafted in 2016. I sent him 3 copies of a custom I made from his high school days (the Leaf Signature style card on the left). He kindly kept 2 as my gift to him per my offer and signed/returned 1.. plus he threw in another surprise signed card from his college days (right)! Awesome! It's the first time I ever received a bonus card from an autograph request. And as you see, he even wrote a nice little thank you note on the back of the return envelope.
I put together a little bio for the back of his custom (ok, ok, it's mostly plagiarized from the web). The Nevada card adds some personal info. Interesting that a kid from So. Cal became a Twins fan.. I wonder what the story is there.
As evidenced by the fronts of his two cards, Trenton pitched a lot as an amateur. The Indians like him more as a batter/fielder, though, and he played center field in rookie league this past season. I sent the request to his Arizona League team, and a couple weeks later it returned, mailed from San Diego, I assume his home.
Thanks a ton, Mr. Brooks, and best of luck to you with your career!
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Andrew Brown was the other 2016 draftee from Granite Hills, taken in the 13th round, and in fact was drafted right out of high school rather than college. The righty who just turned 19 put up solid numbers with the Gulf Coast League Phillies this past season. With Philadelphia strapped for talent these days, he's probably got a decent shot escalating up the ladder quickly if he keeps pitching well. Good luck, Andrew!
Granite Custom TTM update: Tried, but I didn't have any luck getting this TTM request back. I'll likely give it another shot next year.
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2016 Las Vegas 51s Travis Taijeron (The MiLB cards in this post are all from my recent GoSportsCards order)
Travis Taijeron put together his second consecutive strong season in AAA (OPS of .886 while leading the PCL in doubles with 42), but the Mets cruelly didn't give him a call-up, instead opting to overpay for Jay Bruce down the stretch to play right field even though there's no question Taijeron would have performed just as good if not better for a fraction of the price. He was also the Mets' best hitter in spring training, for what it's worth. Screw you, Mets front office! Here's a pretty good recent article articulating the situation better than I. Hopefully Travis will be plucked away from that organization and go to a team that finally gives him a chance to show what he can do in the major leagues.
Granite Custom TTM update: Sadly, I've pretty much given up on getting a Travis Taijeron TTM autograph, as 3 separate requests have gone unanswered (one near the end of the 2015 AAA season, one during 2016 spring training, and one during the 2016 season).. bummer. But I still root for the guy despite his reluctance to answer his fanmail. Maybe I'll give it a 4th attempt sometime next year.. I'm persistent, gotta give me that!
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2016 Mobile BayBears John Omahen, an obvious homage to 1986 Topps
John Omahen had a very nice 2015 in AA. He started back there this past season, and pitched well enough to get promoted to AAA. His luck didn't continue there, unfortunately, and he had a rough time of it (8.59 ERA). I'm not sure what the Diamondbacks have in mind for him at this point, but hopefully he can turn things around in 2017 and get called up.
Granite Custom TTM update: My ill-timed request was sent out to his AA team right around the time he got called up to AAA, and has heretofore gone unanswered. He did kindly sign for me last year, a minor league issue, but it'd be sweet to have a Granite Hills custom signed by him, too. I'll likely try again next season.
I did get a bunch of his autographs this year, though, thanks to him having (retail-only) certified autos included in 2016 Bowman. All I'm missing for the master rainbow is the 1/1 (just the one; no printing plates were put out for this card). Hoping that pops up someday.
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2011 Tri-City Dust Devils Brian Humphries (his first card)
The fifth and final Granite grad active in pro ball in 2016 to mention here is Brian Humphries. To recap his career, he was drafted by the Rockies in 2011, and despite solid numbers in the minors, they cut him loose in spring training 2015. Not one to give up, he signed with an independent league team for 2015 and had an awesome year. Surprisingly, he didn't get picked up by an organized-ball team for 2016, but went out and had another very strong season in independent ball, plating a career-high 66 RBI in 97 games. He'll turn 27 next March, so the clock may be ticking on his major league dreams, but I'm rooting for him.
Granite Custom TTM update: Yep, I showed this on the blog already, but he signed for me this year back in July. That makes 2-for-2 in requests with him. Great guy! Best of luck, Brian!
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CONTEST:
I get that minor league dudes who went to my high school might not be a topic with wide-reaching appeal, but it's something that I'm excited about... so much so that I want to bribe you guys into reading this post, so here's a contest.
Prize package:
A few autos and customs. With the 2016 Fall Classic coming to a head, I picked guys for the prize package who were World Series Champions.
HOW TO ENTER: Leave a comment on this post predicting who you think will be the next Guy From Granite to make the major leagues. Could be any of these 5 guys or none of the above. This is actually 2 contests in 1, because a few days from now I'll randomize all the entries who commented for the above prize package. Then down the line if/when one of these guys makes the majors, my plan is to again randomize a bonus prize (more autos and customs) between all those who guessed correctly.
So who you got?
UPDATE: Contest entry period is now closed. Thanks to everybody who entered!
A couple neat additions to the ol' Guys From Granite minicollection I wanted to show off. (And I know these posts aren't all that exciting to most of you, so I'm enticing you with revealing another prize bonus for my latest contest at the end.)
A year ago, Brian Humphries sent back what was my first-ever successful TTM, signing a Bowman refractor for me. I figured I'd try again this year, and this time, I utilized my card-making skills to whip up a card featuring his time as a Granite Hills Eagle. I think it came out pretty good (Sorry for borrowing the 1983 design, Topps; I swear I'm not selling any of these!) I sent 3 copies to Brian. In my letter I thanked him for signing for me last year, explained we went to the same high school hence the homemade H.S. card, and offered the extra two copies for him to keep. He was kind enough to sign two copies for me and keep the third for himself.
Thanks again to Mr. Humphries! Wishing him continued success with the RedHawks this season.
While I'm at it, I should mention a guy recently offered me a bunch of money for my Brian Humphries superfractor. The guy is trying to collect all the superfractors he can from that year of Bowman, and had his sights set on mine. I paid a pretty penny for it a year or two ago, and this guy offered me double.. perhaps even more if I squeezed him on it. But man, that superfractor is a jewel of this minicollection for me, so I had to decline.
Anyways, I would love to add more Granite customs to my Guys From Granite PCs, and in fact also have one currently out to John Omahen, though he got promoted to AAA right around the time I sent it to him via his AA team, so that might create an issue/delay getting it back.
Oh, and I should also mention that pro ball recently welcomed a couple new dudes who went to my high school: 2016 draftees Andrew Brown (Phillies) and Trenton Brooks (Indians). Hopefully they pop up with cards in prospect/draft-type products soon so I can add them to my collection. I wanted to get around to making customs for them and try sending to their rookie league teams to get autographed, though I haven't had the time.
Now lets switch gears from the newest Guys From Granite to the oldest, Mike Reinbach. I've posted about him several times, but for the uninitiated, he got a cup of coffee with the Orioles in 1974 but was unable to stick on a crowded roster despite impressive numbers on the farm. He later played in Japan with great success. Though an obscure name, he's definitely among my favorite players to collect.
I was pretty excited when this pair of slides from the Topps Vault popped up on eBay (separately, but at the same time). I already have a similar one of these...
shown here with the brightness cranked up
But now I've got a nice trio of photos from that lovely spring day in Florida.
Here are what the pictures look like when properly processed (courtesy of the eBay listings). Bummer Topps never got around to putting him on a card.. at least on a 4-player rookie card in 1974 or 1975 would have been great, but no dice. But back to these items at hand... In general, I kinda hate these color negatives from Topps Vault. I've picked up a few in the past (in addition to these Reinbachs, also have a Willie Stargell [on Braves!] and a Bill Madlock), but it's always a bit anticlimactic when they arrive. They look good in the auction page, but then when you get them, they don't "display" well since they're so dark. And if you want to scan it yourself, well, Topps distributes them in a magnetic case with a special Topps sticker sealing it. So if you wanted to take it out of the case, you'd have to break the seal, therefore hurting the collector value of the thing. So basically you're stuck just grabbing the jpg from the auction page, but that's got a big Topps logo watermark on it. Sure would be nice if Topps could include a non-watermarked printout with these when you won them! Maybe they could even just email a non-watermarked jpg to the winner of these auctions. But anyways, yeah, it makes these slides frustrating to a collector such as myself.
Oh, but I shouldn't be too hard on the fellas handling the Topps Vault, because along with the two negatives I won, they also surprised me with what appears to be the original file envelope the the images were kept in all these years:
I think this is super cool! One of the best surprise bonuses from an auction I've ever gotten. It seems to be a cut-in-half envelope ("bulk mail postage paid" thing on the reverse), and it identifies the player, team, year (73), and a grid for the types of photos the photographer took. Now this gives me some questions here. Head, No Hat, Action, Action (again?). Well, the "no hat" one is obvious in the above photos, though I wouldn't count any of the three as "action".. definitely not in-game action, anyway. Yet there were 3 action shots? I'm guessing that says "3?" but it almost looks like "37". I'm just trying to figure out what else I'm missing, if anything, from this shoot. It's my guess that there was a close up (similar to the "no hat" one but with hat) which would be "head", and perhaps one more shot of Mike holding the bat (and that would assume the 2 photos of him holding the bat that I have count as "action"). So looks to me like maybe there are a couple more negatives from this spring training photoshoot in existence. Perhaps they were sold before I started keeping a watchful eye on eBay for them. Or maybe they're still in the vault, to be sold at a later time. Or maybe there were only these 3. The photographer did pencil in "3?" after all. Who knows. But still a cool item. And I'll still keep an eye out for more Mike Reinbach cards (and card-like things) to add to my collection.
In fact, here's one now..
Another card from Japan. He's got a ton of Calbee cards like this, and I'm always happy to go after them when one I need pops up. It's funny that I was so desperate for even just one for so long, and now several have popped up within the past year or so. I feel like a bad supercollector with so many cards of the guy "out there" that I need, but it's obviously tricky when the cards are from another country, not easily available to English speaking folk like myself.
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Last call for my big 800th Post contest! I'll likely close the entry window sometime around late Friday or early Saturday so we can shake out a winner or two this weekend hopefully. So go enter if you haven't yet!
Here's another conditional bonus prize. If the winner of the contest runs an active card blog, included in the grand prize will be a complete 9-card set of 2015 Cardsphere Heroes. It was the first custom set I put together and I still have a 2 or 3 sets sitting around. This particular set potentially available is the "black ink glowstar 1/1" variant. For more info on this set, check out this post.
The small print for being eligible for this bonus prize is just that you've got to have a blog with at least one post by you in 2016 that shows at least one picture of a trading card. Even if you don't meet this requirement right now, I'll allow you to squeak in under the wire if you get it done before I name a winner. So if you've got a dormant blog, post something! If you've been thinking of starting a card blog, do it! Our little community of card-nuts is a better place when more people are active members, so I love when I can do my part to motivate people to post.
Now for a chance at a bonus entry into the contest, post a comment on this post suggesting a good name for a new card blog (by sharing it, you are giving your blessing for somebody to maybe actually use it). I'll award a bonus entry to the person who comes up with what seems to be the best suggestion or most clever or whatever.. I don't know, maybe I'll randomize if judging is too hard.. but someone will get the extra entry. Have fun with it.
No, I'm not talking about stone dishware! I'm talking about printing plates of Guys From Granite, which is what I call my minicollection of pro ballplayers who, like myself, attended Granite Hills High School. I've picked up a couple recent additions, so I figured I'd show them all off in a post.
Here's my latest acquisition, Brian Humphries 2012 Bowman Chrome black printing plate. Last year I acquired a near-complete rainbow of this card from a Rockies collector, missing only the 4 plates. Well, now I've knocked one of the plates off the list. You could say I've got something of a standard rainbow now, seeing as I've got one of each type of parallel available, though I'd love to go for a master rainbow someday, hunting down the 3 remaining plates. It probably won't happen, but never say never. I think black plates are probably the coolest color, so this was a nice one to land, plus I was the high bidder with the winning bid comfortably in single digits.
As for Brian Humphries the player, after being cut by Colorado last spring training, he played very well for an independent team, setting career highs for batting average (.310), homers (15), and RBI (58) in 98 games. His 197 total bases were third-best in the American Association. I was hopeful his performance would help him latch on with another major league franchise, but no such luck. This offseason, he was acquired by another team in the American Association who seem pretty happy to have him. So that's cool, even if I'm sure he'd love to get back on track to crack the bigs someday. But yeah, I'll be rooting for him to have a great 2016 season with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks.
Next up, another guy named Brian..
Here's Brian Giles, the Granite grad who had the most major league success. This is my first plate of his, bringing it home a month ago for about the price of a blaster (a little more than I would have liked to have paid, but oh well). I believe it's from 2006 Upper Deck Future Stars. Cyan is the 2nd best color to get after black. Plus it's a Padres card, always a bonus in my eyes. I've got a pretty legit B-Giles collection going, with several autos and relics among the 100+ different cards, but I believe this is my first 1/1 for that PC.
Keeping with the Giles Brothers, howbout Marcus Giles? Yep, I've got a pair of Marcus plates for the same card, 2007 Bowman Heritage. I got them last year.. I believe winning an auction for one, then picking up the other on COMC to complement it. Funny thing Bowman did with their plates that year was put a color border sticker on them. Ok, whatever. (Not sure why my scanner made a bunch of lines in the yellow plate, yet the blue one scanned fine.. Crap like that is why I usually photo cards rather than scan them.) Again, it's a Padres card, which I like, and it's just a great looking card, with Marcus donning the uniform of his hometown team, big smile on his face. Sadly, his stint with San Diego didn't go as well as this spring training shot would seem to optimistically predict, and his career would come to an abrupt end after the season.
For fun, here's a composite of both plates combined via the magic of Photoshop. It really is a pity there aren't green printing plates, don't you agree? lol
And so, there you have it, all the Granite plates I've currently got.
On the subject of Guys From Granite, I want to give a quick shoutout to Travis Taijeron who had a heck of a spring training and led the Mets' big league camp in several offensive categories. (I don't own a printing plate of his yet, though there is one on eBay overpriced at $100 with no Best Offer option.. lame.) Looks like he's starting the season in AAA but the odds are good that at some point this year, he'll get called up and become the 8th guy from my school to play in the majors. So I'll be rooting for him to continue his hot hitting. And I'm hoping he gets some more cards too, as his only mainstream cards right now are 2012 Pro Debut & 2012 Heritage Minors. Would love to see him sneak into a Bowman product this year and tempt me to rainbow it.
To recap, last month I sent out my first-ever* pair of through-the-mail autograph requests. Both were to guys who graduated from the same high school as me and are currently trying to work their way up to the majors. Brian Humphries gloriously returned the card signed, but the other TTM attempt, to Johnny Omahen, is still at large.
Good news is Omahen was recently named a California League All-Star and was soon thereafter promoted to AA just a few days after I put the request in the mail. Looks like Johnny has had a couple quality starts to kick off his AA career in Mobile so far. Best of luck to him! But now I'm left with the uncertainty of what'll happen to my request (I mean, there's always uncertainty, I know, but even more now). Hopefully my request will find its way to him, or at least get returned to me unsigned so I can try again (I've only got one other Omahen card and don't want to risk sending it. And he doesn't have any cards on eBay right now besides expensive team sets he's included in.)
Oh well, that's part of the excitement of TTMs, I guess.
I also just dropped another request in the mail over the holiday weekend, this one to Gavin Glanz. He's one of the lesser-known Greatest Gavins, and the only active pro baseball Gavin of whom I don't have an autograph (not counting Frendy Gavin, who, after missing all of 2014, is pitching again in the Dominican Summer League). So finger's crossed that one comes back successfully soon.
These are two Gavin Glanz cards I recently bought online. I actually got a couple copies of the one on the right (an obvious homage to 1993 Topps) and used the extra for the TTM.
Glanz pitched for the Grand Junction Rockies on Monday night, matching the longest start for the team this season with 6.2 innings, giving up 1 earned run. I'd like to imagine that my TTM request arrived earlier that day and it inspired him to have a good outing! lol
Not really on-topic for this post, but here's another Brian Humphries card I bought from the same seller to combine shipping:
You always remember your first (TTM success)
Pretty cool.
*So while last month was my first attempt at a TTM with baseball cards, I kinda once sent out a TTM autograph request when I was a kid back in the late 80s. Might as well tell that little story here.
There used to be a drawing show on PBS called The Secret City (and I think later changed its name to Draw Squad). I really liked the show and watched it nearly everyday after school. It was a fun program starring "Commander Mark" (Mark Kistler) basically teaching kids to how to draw better, with emphasis on shading and 3D perspective. Commander Mark would show you how to draw silly things like happy pigs and cartoon aliens popping out of UFOs. I'd often try drawing along at home, and while I never stuck with it enough to be all that great, I suppose I can credit that show for encouraging my creativity and to at least have a desire to be a decent artist.
I even got my mom to order some of his Draw Squad VHS tapes for me. Heck, I even got a t-shirt!
On the show, Commander Mark would sometimes ask viewers to write in and tell him about their drawing progress. So one time, I actually did write him a letter telling him I really liked the show and it was helping me with my drawing and all that. I was hoping he'd write me back and maybe send a signed photo. I honestly can't remember for sure if I explicitly asked him for an autograph, but I think I did..?
I eventually got back a standard "thanks for watching" form letter and on the reverse was an unimpressive b&w photocopy of a signed headshot. Even as a kid I was very aware it was just a facsimile autograph, likely printed off by the hundreds, and not that cool to receive. But hey, it was something. I don't think I bothered to include a SASE, though I can't recall for sure.
Took me a while to dig up the letter, but I'm a sentimental packrat who hangs onto stuff like this.
I had it in a cheap frame for a while, hence the trimming.
As I got older, my local PBS station stopped carrying the show and I got out of it. A year or two passed and one day in 5th grade, Mark Kistler came and gave a presentation at my elementary school. But what sucks is I was unaware and played hooky that day (When I was a kid I was pretty bad about staying home from school at the slightest scratch in the back of my throat as an excuse to play NES in my jammies all day). My friends said it was a dumb assembly that bored them and that I was lucky to have missed it, but I was incredibly jealous and kicking myself hard for skipping school that day. It would have been very cool to see Commander Mark in person, and I probably could have gotten a real autograph from him, too! Damn.
Looks like Mark Kistler is still out there doing his thing and has an active online presence, with markkistler.com and plenty of YouTube videos and stuff. Hey. maybe I should give him another try at a real TTM these nearly 30 years later!
