2001 Topps, Jim Thome

#15 Jim Thome

Here is a card that I got signed through the mail last year. I sent the card to Jim at the beginning of Spring Training and got it back on April 9th.

I don't think I need to tell you who Jim Thome is, but I will remind you that he is a five-time All Star that has 564 Major League home runs. This season will mark the 20th season that he has been on a Major League roster, as long as he makes the Twins team.

After about a twelve year absence from TTMing, I started to get back into it in the fall of 2008. It's amazing how much easier it is to TTM with the help of the internet. You can find retired player's addresses and see which active players actually sign TTM. Obviously, I was a little bit surprised to see that Jim Thome still signs TTM. It is hard to find active 500 home run club members that do that. Heck, it is hard to find any player with 500 homers that sign TTM for free. The only other one that might, that I can think off of the top of my head, is Frank Thomas (and I may be wrong on that claim).

When I was deciding on which card to send to Jim, it was a tough task. Jim has a ton of cards with him on it. Ultimately, I decided on this card for two reasons. The first is that I mainly remember Jim as an Indian. They had some great teams in the '90s and he was one of the main reasons that they were so good. The second reason I sent this one to him is because I have very few 2001 Topps cards. This is the only '01 Topps card that I got signed. The rest of them were sent to me by other bloggers.