I don't think so, Tim

I had an interesting success today from Diego Mandagaran.

As with my request a few years ago, Diego included several additional items, namely two signed photos. But as I looked at them, one was personalized to Tim.

Along with it, there was a hand-written letter, also to Tim.

And I then realized the card in there (1990-91 Pacific MISL) was not the one I sent (1992-93 Pacific NPSL).

So, I believe that Tim may have the card I sent and need for my project.

Tim, if you're out there and somehow happen to see this, please contact me so we can swap our items!

And if anyone reading this knows who Tim might be, let me know or let him know. I already messaged indoor soccer video guru Tim Nichols via Facebook to see if it might happen to be him. Other ideas are appreciated!

Back at it again in July!

Good news, better news, and bad-becoming-okay news.

Good news is that I heard from a few more players-- David Byrne, Shane Schwab, and Tony Csiszar and mailed to them along with my sending to Mark Kerlin and Damir Haramina. Still nothing from Brian Enge, B.J. Esposito, Waad Hirmez, Doug Kriska, Dennis Mepham, Paul Peschisolido, Russ Prince, Erik Rasmussen, and Carl Valentine yet.  I also got a list from Ray in Baltimore of a few pages that have some emails for me to try on guys I haven't found on Facebook. I'll be trying those out soon.

Better news: I got Mark Kerlin back the other day, signing both of my cards. So I'm now down to just six left on the 1987-88 set. Still 55 to go on the 1990-91 set though.

Bad news: Byrne just got returned to me today with a yellow RTS-Refused sticker.  I saw on the back though that there was another yellow sticker-- Mail Service Suspended. And sure enough, South Africa has a pretty tough COVID-19 lockdown in place including major limitations on postal service with nothing international coming in or out. 

Okay news: I'm just glad I got my Byrne cards back at least so I can try again later.

Cleaning up the AWOLs

It's been a year now since the MISL40 event. Almost nine months since I mailed out multiple requests on the same day. Six months since I got any back. Four months since an IP outing. So I figure it's time to clean up a few that are back to being on the Want List again.

In November, I mailed to Bruce Savage and got him back.

In October, I mailed to Waad Hirmez, Greg Ion, Kia, and Dennis Mepham. Never got ANY of them back, and lost among those are the 1990-91 West Goal card (already signed by Ingram and Segota), the 1990-91 Tacoma All-Stars card (already signed by Preki and Schmetzer), and the 1990-91 San Diego All-Stars card (already signed by Segota). My only hope is that I remember seeing a few successes from Kia take over a year from others. My fingers are crossed, but I'm not holding my breath,

In August, I mailed to Mark Karpun and Tim Wittman, and got both back.

In July, I mailed to Bernie James, Dave Hoggan, Bill Crook, Steve Zungul, Dale Mitchell, and Bobo Lucic successfully. And I got nothing back from Chico Borja, George Fernandez, Chris Hundelt (lost the 1989-90 card with the wrong name signed by Kevin), Mark Kerlin, Dale Ervine (lost the 1990-91 Wichita All-Stars card signed by Borja, Moreland, and Fearon), Steve Kinsey, Dalibor Cvitanovic, Jan Goossens, Damir Haramina, Pasquale Deluca, and Omar Gomez.

In May, I got Heinz Wirtz successfully.

So, 2019 was NOT a good year for this project. While yes, I got ten players back, I got no response from fifteen, and even lost nine autographs in the process. Damn, that hurt. So, I figure it's time to reach out and try to contact players directly before just rolling the dice.  Yesterday, I went through Facebook to see what I can find.

Two responses thus far: Damir Haramina and Mark Kerlin. They're going out into the mail next week.

I also messaged David Byrne, Tony Csiszar, Brian Enge, B.J. Esposito, Waad Hirmez, Doug Kriska, Dennis Mepham, Paul Peschisolido, Russ Prince, Erik Rasmussen, Shane Schwab, and Carl Valentine with no response yet.

I need to find Ed Anibal, Desmond Armstrong, Saeed Bakhtiari, Marcelo Carrera, Eric Dade, Jimmy Daka, Pasquale Deluca, Claudio De Oliveira, Poli Garcia, Omar Gomez, Chris Haywood, Alan Hinton, Kevin Hundelt, Greg Ion, Majid Jay, Keder, Steve Kinsey, Victor Nogueira, Dan O'Keefe, Joe Papaleo, Hugo Perez, Jason Putthoff, Frank Rasmussen, Terry Rowe, Chris Simon, Rick Snyder, Chris Szanto, Alex Tarnoczi, Arturo Velazco, Wes Wade, and Gregg Willin.

And I need to retry Terry Brown, Dali, Daryl Doran, Jim Gabarra, Zoran Karic, Ted Krafft, Diego Mandagaran, Pato Margetic, Doug Neely, Rene Ortiz, Kris Peat, Brian Quinn, Kim Roentved, and Tim Schulz.

Finally, I need a more solid gameplan on finishing off these multi-player cards.

I also need a few unsigned cards again. the 88-89 Waad Hirmez; the 89-90 correct version of Chris Hundelt; the 90-91 George Fernandez ASG MVP; the 91-92 San Diego All-Stars card; and a whole bunch of 1992-93 NPSL cards (Fernandez, Kirk, Borja, Ervine, and most of the gold inserts).

Signs of Life

The biggest thing I hate about an empty mailbox is the uncertainty.  Did the player just throw my letter away? Did I have a wrong address and the new occupants threw it away? Are they just taking a while? Did the USPS manage to destroy it? Did a sticky-fingered employee see what it was and grab it? Are they just done signing?

That's why as frustrating as the Return To Sender sticker is, at least it's certainty.  So when my attempt at Dennis Mepham by mailing via his wife's office came back with the address covered and RTS stamps all over it... well, at least I know where my cards are, even if it's back in my hand unsigned.

It's been a little over a month since I started mailing again and I've sent out 22 requests. So far, I have two successes, two RTS failures, and 18 somewhere out in the ether.

Well, soon to be 17. Dale Mitchell appears to be in my inbox today; I had emailed him about sending cards up to him and about a week ago he told me they were signed and on their way back. Informed Delivery shows an envelope with Canadian postage coming in.  I hope this triggers a deluge of international returns. Typically mail takes three days within the US from dropping in the outbox to delivery day. International mailing has usually been a week for me. Looks like it may be 9 or 10 days now.  Seven of those remaining 17 are international ones. And this time I didn't have the right stamps for each country, so I had to put cash in for the return postage. So that inconvenience may add a little time to the response.

Last Saturday I got to go to a card show where Tatu was signing. I had gotten most of what I needed signed over time with mailing and trading and a couple of in-person outings, but it's always good to upgrade to cards signed in blue and in-person.  He was awesome, commenting on the photos on the cards, reminiscing about his days with the Sidekicks. I told him about the Vegas event, and he was glad to know Doc Lawson and Godfrey Ingram showed up to it, plus a lot of guys he used to play against like Kai Haaskivi and Alan Mayer. He had been contacted but was unable to go as he was doing a lot of work to get things together for the new Mesquite MASL team that he's coaching.

It's definitely a different Tatu from the first time I met him, and I found out why. The first time I met him was when I tracked him down at the 2002 MISL ASG Skills Competition. He didn't do the postgame signing, but I was able to find him on his way out to the parking lot (I knew the building quite well: it was my high school's home hockey arena so I knew all the exits from the place). I asked him to sign a card, which he did, and then my pennant. He seemed incredibly annoyed by the second request.

It turns out there was a reason for that: I told him I had seen him at the Skills Competition but I didn't mention our paths crossing besides seeing him play. He says he couldn't play as well as he would like since he was dealing with a foot sprain. He tried to get out of participating because of it, but they pushed him into it, and admittedly, he wasn't playing his best. So I'm sure being in pain had a LOT to do with his response that day, because every time I've seen him since, he's been incredibly nice and signs a ton via mail.

I also have some more stamps coming in today-- a bunch of 5 and 10 cent fillers so I can use the rest of the 20 and 25 cent ones I have. So I'll likely crank out a few more domestic mailings if I can.  I also have some baseball and hockey ones I'd like to do.

A success, a failure, and some waits

Starting again with the good, former Dallas Sidekick Beto signed for me in a two-week wait, and also wrote a short note back asking where I got the cards of him from. Unfortunately I've gotten then from so many places over the years I don't really have a single source. So if anyone out there has a bunch of unsigned cards of him, please let me know, as it seems he might like some copies of them.

On the bad side, Heinz Wirtz got RTS'ed. I have a couple other addresses on him to try so if anyone has any intel on which to use, please let me know.

I have a few others still out: Scott Manning, Nenad Zigante, and Preki. Manning at least I'm reasonably sure will come back. Preki I'm at least hopeful on. Zigante, I have no idea.

Looking back through history, requests I never got back...

JANUARY 2013
Tatu - I later got everything signed by him so all is good!

SEPTEMBER 2015
Beto - Again, I later got everything from him (see above, haha) so all is good
David Hoggan - No luck via TyneCastle FC
Steve Zungul - Later got all but one (1987-88) signed by him
Erik Rasmussen - One of my few international failures
Mark Frederickson - No answer via a business address, but got him later at home
Steve Kinsey - Still haven't had luck with him

OCTOBER 2015
Dennis Mepham - No luck via a home address
Scoop Stanisic - No luck via Columbus Crew, but got everything later via trades
Nenad Zigante - No answer through Wake FC

MARCH 2016
Kai Haaskivi - Despite being a fellow Finn, I got nothing back
Preki - Just missed him as I had seen a success less than a week before I mailed
Paul Wright - I had an old address for Speed To Burn and never even got a RTS sticker
Jim Gabarra - Missed him with Sky Blue Soccer; but I got him later, we're cool
Kevin Hundelt - Got him in trades later; now I just need to track down Chris...
Pasquale Deluca - Another rare international failure

MAY 2016
Greg Ion - I cannot track this guy down! Two RTS, then this one unreturned...
Iain Fraser - No answer at San Juan Soccer Club

SEPTEMBER 2016
Desmond Armstrong - Nothing through Sporting Nashville
George Fernandez - Nothing via his home address after success a year before
Waad Hirmez - Southwest Soccer Club? No luck...
Victor Nogueira - West Coast FC? No luck...
Joe Papaleo - Syracuse Development Academy? Nothing...
Gregg Willin - Nothing from a home address...
Wes Wade - No answer from the Tucson Soccer Academy...
Ted Krafft - No luck from a home address, but later got him via trades
Mike Brady - No answer via Duke

NOVEMBER 2016
Poli Garcia - Tried a home address without luck

MAY 2017
Marcelo Carrera - No answer from IMG
Bobby Joe Esposito - No answer from BCSA
Dennis Mepham - No answer from a second home address
Hugo Perez - No answer from the LA United Futbol Academy
Gyula Visneyi - Nothing from a home address
Steve Zungul - No answer in my attempt for the 1987-88 card
Ed Anibal - No answer through home
John Klein - No luck, but later got in trades
Arturo Velazco - Nothing via home
Keder - Maybe I just need to avoid mailing to West Coast FC; No Keder, no Victor Nogueira.
Frank Klopas - Nothing via home, but got him in trades later
Greg Muhr - Nothing via home
Angelo Panzetta - Nothing via Allegheny
Chris Simon - Nothing via home

AUGUST 2017
Danny Pena - Nothing from the Beach Futbol Club

At a little over three years into the project my percentage is great overall: successful with 176, RTS/unsigned on 34, and 46 unreturned. Of all the sports I collect, only baseball has a higher success percentage for me-- but soccer involves a lot more rolling the dice and trying addresses that no one else ever has tested before, while with baseball I can research and know who signs and who doesn't.

A quick update and recalculation

Well, it's time to make a call...

Unfortunately, I don't think I'm getting three of my multi-signed attempts back.

On March 7, 2016, I mailed off my 1990-91 Tacoma All-Stars card to Preki. Already signed by Brian Schmetzer and having seen some Preki responses via his home address, I tried, and hoped for the best, and have gotten nothing now 17 months later. So, we'll chalk that one up as a loss. Hopefully I can grab an unsigned copy, mail it to Preki FIRST, then get Schmetzer, and finish it off with Kia.

That same day, I mailed the 1991-92 San Diego All-Stars card to Paul Wright. Kevin Crow had signed it for me, and I assume Nogueira, Hirmez, and Quinn will be tough since I haven't seen (m)any TTM successes from them. So I figured I might as well try Wright and then see if someone can help me on the others... and then found out his business address had changed.  So, we'll try him again once I get another copy.

The one that hurts most though is the 1991-92 Kansas City All-Stars card. That one had been to the Netherlands and back for Jan Goossens, to Kansas and back for Kim Roentved, and to Oregon and back for Jim Gorsek. I figured I'd try Iain Fraser next, then finish it off with a shipment to Canada for Carl Valentine... and it never came back from Fraser after nearly 15 months (sent May 31, 2016).

So, I had to scratch five sigs from my count.

On the more positive end of things, I did at least get David Banks back after a previous RTS (two-week turnaround, signed in red), and Guy Furfaro via the school he coaches at after a 6-week wait (also including a signed note).

I also won an eBay auction this week for a Preki I need, and am waiting on a Brian Quinn one to end as well.

Lastly, I mailed out another small batch this week-- Brad Smith, Denny Vaninger, Danny Pena, Jimmy McGeough, Dick McCormick, and John Hamel.

I also have in my notes that I mailed to Mark Frederickson on May 16 (second attempt, this one being via his home address), but yet I'm finding an envelope with his address on it, making me wonder if I actually tried him or not. I may have to see if I still have the cards or not-- that will be my best evidence.

Speaking of cards, SportLots.com now sells soccer cards! A couple dealers have some I need at 18 cents each, so I probably will try to pick some up soon.  I might also stock up on any Sidekicks Alumni that I need. There are still a few I need though that no one has on there yet.  Trades/cheap sales are welcome if someone can help me out.  Here's what I need...

1988/89: 36 Alan Hinton, 69 Nenad Zigante

1989/90: 34 Scoop Stanisic (CORRECTED VERSION ONLY!), 67 Chris Hundelt (CORRECTED VERSION ONLY) - seems these two are tough to find!

Once I buy up the ones I need, I plan to send off to Wright, Quinn, Preki, Zigante, Dali, Joey Kirk, Beto, Andy Chapman, Pato Margetic, Bill Crook, and David Hoggan. Possibly a few others, but unfortunately I'm hitting a point where I think I may have done all that I can via mail!

Mail Call: October 1-3

I got a RTS from John O'Hara, but found a new address to mail out to, so we'll hope for the best from there. I'm also just waiting on my foreign postage to get here and then I'll have a decent overseas batch to mail out (14 MISL, one outdoor, and two hockey).

In the meantime, I got a few more back.

OCTOBER 1
Tom Kain, c/o work, 3/3, 1 month. Kain works with Nike, pretty high up in the company. He signed all three cards I had of him. I was pretty happy to see this one come back, as if memory serves me correctly a previous attempt to him on SCN went unreturned.

Branko Segota, c/o home, 5/5, 2 weeks. This is the second time I got Segota and it finishes off all the cards I need him on (and then some). He typically signs in pen, just as a heads up.

Duncan MacEwan, c/o home, 2/1, 1 week. Second time is the charm! He signed the David Doyle card that features his photo in blue pen, and also signed my letter.

OCTOBER 3
Theo Kulsdom, c/o home, 4/3, 2 weeks from the Netherlands. I had mentioned before how Kulsdom got returned to me with a note from the current occupant of his former address saying he was no longer there, but to try finding him on Facebook. So I did and he said to send them on over. He signed them and wrote a short note as well.

John Bain and Jeff Cacciatore, each c/o work, each 2/1, each 1 week. A pair of former St. Louis teammates signed their 1987-88 cards and wrote a short note back.

So, as I said I'm just waiting on my foreign postage to arrive. As soon as it does, here's who will be getting requests...

Craig Allen, UK
Dominic Feltham, UK
Paul Peschisolido, UK
Steve Pittman, UK
Terry Rowe, UK
Gary Stanley, UK
Mike Dowler, UK
Godfrey Ingram, UK
Ron Fearon, UK
David Byrne, South Africa
Dalibor Cvitanovic, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Damir Haramina, Croatia
Nenad Markicevic, Serbia
Bobo Lucic, Slovenia

I'm also sending to Roberto Baggio in the world of outdoor soccer (to Italy), as well as hockey players Pavel Vorobiev (to the UK) and Borje Salming (to Sweden).

Speaking of Salming in a roundabout way, I got my FA Sápmi jersey in the mail the other day as well. For those who don't know, FA Sápmi is a CONIFA team composed of Sámi players from the areas of Northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. I believe I'm part Sámi as my family originally came from this area. I still have relatives in Tervola, Kemi, Rovaniemi, Kemijärvi, and Sodankylä in Finland, as well as Karasjok, Norway. I haven't been able to prove it 100% yet, as documentation of this is hard to come by; but I have been told that it is accepted that anyone north of a line from Oulu to Pudasjärvi has a lot of Sámi ancestry. Other past ancestors of mine came through Jukkasjarvi, Sweden as well. So I wanted to get something to represent that part of my background and after talking to the team's president, I was able to buy a jersey. It even has #21, which I typically have worn for floorball (along with #52 and #11). Salming is part Sámi, and it was via reading about him that I became more interested in finding out more about my background in that area. In fact, if the research on geni.com is all correct, he and I are 11th cousins once removed through his dad's side of his family, who I believe are 100% Sámi.

I plan to write a foreign request tutorial very soon as well.

Mail Call, 9/19/2016

Got four in yesterday as well as a RTS.

SEPTEMBER 19
Tino Lettieri, c/o work, 3/2, 2 weeks - In addition to both the red and green versions of his 1987-88 Pacific card, Tino also signed my letter via his pizzeria in Minnesota.

Dave Clements, c/o work, 2/2, 2 weeks - Two cards from him, he even put in cardboard piexes to prevent bending and paid extra postage on it via his cotton candy vending business

Terry Brown, c/o home, 4/3, 2 weeks - Nice one here, signed three cards and even wrote a short note back thanking me for following his career.

Chico Borja, c/o work, 5/5, 1 week - Speedy response from a multi-time All-Star who now coaches soccer and golf while working as a high school assistant principal.

Unfortunately the failbox delivered Duncan MacEwan with the Yellow Sticker of Doom. I did find another potential address for him though, so I'll likely give it a shot tomorrow, along with writing out a few more.

Back to the grind

I figured I would have a couple fast ones roll in from my most recent batch.

In two weeks, both A.J. Lachowecki and Kevin Crow came back to me, signing two and four cards, respectively. Lachowecki signed the back of the 1988-89 error card (Kris Peat is depicted; he signed the front).

I also mailed out to Steve Zungul, Daryl Doran, Wes Wade, Duncan MacEwan, Chico Borja, Theo Kulsdom, Ted Krafft, Steve Eise, Thomas Strunk, John O'Hara, Sean Phillips, Mike Fox, Branko Segota, and Chris Kenny. Fox is a second attempt: my try a week and a half ago resulted in a note back from a different Mike Fox (owner of M&M Paper) saying he was not the soccer player. I found a new address in Colorado I plan to try.

Kulsdom took some work: a former Cleveland favorite, I tried an address in the Netherlands earlier this year with no luck, getting a note back from the woman now living there that he wasn't there-- she suggested I try Facebook. So I was able to find him there and messaged him asking if he could sign my card.  He answered a week later that he would love to, and included his address. Fortunately I have a couple of Dutch stamps left so I can cover postage just fine.

Speaking of foreign postage, my batch for October has been selected. I plan to buy international stamps around the first part of the month, writing, mailing, hoping, and waiting. I also have about 8 more domestics to write this week and am already planning my November group as well.

Mail Call: A series of quick successes, and a return to the failbox

In my last post I mentioned that I had mailed out a few, had more to come, and then tacked on even more on top of that.  Since restarting this month, my mailouts have gone to...

MARCH 7: Paul Wright, Preki, Tatu, Kai Haaskivi (written in Finnish), Jim Gorsek, Bruce Savage

MARCH 10: Don Popovic, Doug McLagan, Batata, Jim Gabarra, Paul Dougherty, Greg Ion, Eddie Radwanski, Mark Simanton, Kevin Hundelt, Charley Greene, Chico Moreira

MARCH 14: Alan Mayer, Stan Cummins, David Boncek, Kelly Mock, Brian Hall, Gino D'Ippolito, Esse Baharmast, Marty Templin (with Herb Silva), Ricky Davis, Ted Eck, Tony Glavin, Freddie Thompson, Jean Willrich, Gerry Gray

The results have begun trickling in this past week, with a deluge of four yesterday.

March 18, Don Popovic came rolling in, as he signed three cards and even wrote a short note on my envelope, saying the league needs more fans like me. Awesome! Popovic gives a small, vertical sig on the cards but it looks pretty cool.

The next day I got Charley Greene, as he signed three cards and wrote a short note back as well. Always glad to see the former Cleveland Crunch guys returning. I actually met Greene at the 2002 All-Star Game in Cleveland where he played in the Alumni Game.

Yesterday came Bruce Savage on five cards, Ricky Davis on two cards plus a note back, Ted Eck on three cards, and Gerry Gray on two cards plus a note back.

I'm planning on buying international stamps in April. I have a few hockey mailings to go to Canada and Slovakia, and I might see if I can send off a few soccer ones to Canada as well-- Carl Valentine, Drew Ferguson, Pasquale Deluca, Frank Klopas, Tasso Koutsoukos, Dale Mitchell, and Mark Karpun are all up there. No Slovakian players that I've found just yet.

I also need to look into getting postage for returns from the UK (£2.25, it appears? Looks like I have ten to mail out, so at least it's a nice round number), Bosnia-Herzegovina, Argentina, Croatia, Slovenia, and South Africa too. If anyone knows the prices or where I can buy stamps for the return envelope, I'd greatly appreciate it.

I also got RTS'ed by Chico Moreira. That's my third attempt and third failure on him so I may be done trying him unless someone else reports a success somewhere.

More in the Mail, and a cross-town venture

Thanks to the holidays and battling an ear infection, I never got around to putting up photos on my previous entry. And I likely won't on this post either. But I'll try to stay on top of things in 2016.

First up, a run through the TTMs...

DECEMBER 22
Homer Screws, 3/3, 2 months

DECEMBER 23
Diego Mandagaran, 7/3, 2 months - he also sent four signed photos and a couple unsigned ones

DECEMBER 26
Tim Wittman, 6/6, 2 months
Peter Ward, 4/4, 2 months

DECEMBER 28
Kia Zolgharnain, 4/4, 3 months, also sent along some coupons for Dick's Sporting Goods

JANUARY 4
Jan Goossens, 8/7, 3 months, also sent a short note and returned my postage money from the Netherlands

I also got a RTS from Theo Kulsdom-- or the person living at the address I had for him. She recommended I try Facebook and it looks like he's now in England.

On January 7 I re-sent to Bruno Ferretti (third time is the charm, I hope), re-sent to Kim Roentved, and sent for the first time this go-around to Zoran Karic. Zoran was very fast for me a few years ago so I'm hoping for a similar response time this year.

Right now, I'm at 57/88 from my 2015 mailings. Once I remove the RTS's and such, I'm still waiting on 14: Erik Rasmussen, Brian Quinn, Steve Zungul, Beto, David Hoggan, Mark Frederickson, Steve Kinsey, Andy Chapman, Dennis Mepham, Scoop Stanisic, Mark Mettrick, Nenad Zigante, Gregg Blasingame, and Doug Neely.

I got out across to Allen for the Dallas Sidekicks' Alumni Game, and got a few guys to sign there. Doc Lawson signed 6 cards for me, Mike Powers signed 6 as well, Dev Reeves 3, Terry Woodberry 1, David Doyle 2, Rusty Troy 3, Krys Sobieski 7, Billy Phillips 1, and broadcaster Norm Hitzges 1 (I decided I'd get a broadcaster on each 1990-91 set checklist-- Norm on one, and maybe JP Dellacamera on the other). I missed Mike Uremovich, Willie Molano, and a few I was hoping to help Ray in Maryland with, but aside from that, not a bad day. I have addresses on Molano and Uremovich at least.

Hopefully I'll be mailing more in the next few months. I'm also planning on buying some from a friend of Ray's soon as well.

Quick Holiday Update - TTMs and Purchases

Photos to come later; this is just a quick write-up.

I've slowed down a lot the last couple of months.  My normal postage budget went into savings for potential Black Friday deals at my local card shop. When those didn't pan out, I bought a mandolin and put some aside to mail out some hockey requests. But on the positive side, I do plan to start hitting the soccer requests hard in the new year.

I was able to cut down on my potential writer's cramp though by buying a few off Ray in Maryland, whom I mentioned a few months back when I picked up some Kai Haaskivi and Billy Ronson items. This time I bought a bunch off him-- 45 to be exact-- including 11 from the 1987-88 set, 6 from 1988-89, 14 from 1989-90, 9 from 1990-91, and 5 from 1991-92. So that knocks out 45 that I needed right there.

I got six back in November and December as well.  The first one was an oddity-- former MISL commissioner Earl Foreman kept my cards, instead signing three ABA cards signed on the back. My second attempt at sending to Cacho Cordoba came back successfully, as he signed four cards and wrote a short note.

I went about three weeks without anything, then received Walter Schmetzer and Mike Sweeney. I had a success via mail from Andy Schmetzer, and Paul in Seattle got me Brian Schmetzer, so my mailing from Walter finishes off the entire trio.  Sweeney signed four cards, personalizing them all, and even wrote a short note back apologizing for taking so long. Not a worry-- I still have ten out there whom I've been waiting for even longer (and even got a baseball success back recently that took seven years).

Moving into December, Joe Waters signed four cards and wrote a short note back as well. The lone disappointing success (a paradox if I ever heard one) was from Pato Margetic. I sent him three cards and he kept two, signing and returning only one of them. At least it was my Cleveland Crunch card.

I had a few RTS in there as well: my second attempts on Chico Moreira and Bruno Ferretti were unsuccessful.  A trio of Moreira sigs were in the ones I bought from Ray though, so I only have two more to get on him. And I bet I can find another address for Ferretti. I also got Kim Roentved bounced back due to the demise of the Wichita B-52s. Like Ferretti though, I'm sure I can find an address on him as well.

Hopefully January will have a lot more writing. I plan to end out a lot more, plus I'll be writing for SportsCardForum.com on various subjects. Maybe I'll see what I can do on the MISL sets for them.

One final positive: January 2 will be the Dallas Sidekicks alumni game. I hope to get a few cards signed there as well.

Mail Call, #22-29

Yeah, so I got lazy again.

Here's a recap very quickly on who I got over the last few weeks.

OCTOBER 16
Perry Van Der Beck, 4/4, 10 days
David Brcic, 5/4, 10 days, added a short note

OCTOBER 17
Ben Collins, 5/4, 26 days, personalized all, wrote a note back
Kris Peat, 5/4, 11 days, wrote short note back

OCTOBER 19
Nikola Ristic, 3/3, 13 days
Daniel Donigan, 5/4, 13 days, wrote a short note back

OCTOBER 24
Simon Keith, 3/2, 3 weeks, sent a signed copy of his book

OCTOBER 26
Gus Mokalis, 4/4, 3 weeks, personalized one
Ralph Black, 8/8, 2 weeks

OCTOBER 27
Ken Fogarty, 4/3, 3 weeks, wrote short note back

OCTOBER 29
Kevin Smith, 6/6, 2 weeks
Emil Dragicevic, 3/3, 2 weeks

OCTOBER 31
Joe Koziol, 4/4, 1 month, wrote a short note back, kept one card

I also got some RTS's as the Failbox has been extra full lately. Coming back to me (and going back out again with new addresses) were Walter Schmetzer, Bruno Ferretti, Doug Neely, and Cacho Cordoba.  I also got RTS'ed a second time by Chico Moreira. So I may have to try out a few more addresses on him. Maybe the third time will be the charm (or the fourth, or the fifth, or the sixth...). I may just try mailing it to his son first, and hope or the best there.

Paul Buxton up in Seattle also helped me out, getting Brian Schmetzer to sign four cards for me. I have a few hockey sigs to get for him down here next time I go for the Stars.

Mail Call #21: Alan Willey, a failure, and some remailings

We'll start off again with the bad news: Emil Dragicevic came back with a RTS sticker.

The better news: I found an address for him, so I remailed.  I also tested out the new addresses on Ralph Black, Kevin Smith, and after some research, re-tried Chico Moreira's address with a little extra info on it. Apparently his house is part of a complex, so I attached the number of his unit to it now that I found that out. We'll see what happens there.

The actually good news: I had one legitimate success as well, with Alan Willey signing 3 cards in 8 days. He was only in two of the MISL sets, but I had an extra of one so I sent it as well. I figure if I have only one or two different cards, I'll send a double with it. So far everyone has been willing to sign them when I do (in soccer at least; some in other sports aren't quite as willing).

A quick response from a top scorer

Hopefully I'll have more today. I know I mentioned before that Wednesdays are usually a slow day for me, and that held true this week. Tuesday was full, but it was also a Tuesday after a Monday holiday.

Mail Call #20: Kewley, Kazemaini, Troy, and Hector

We'll start this one off on a down note: Kevin Smith was RTS'ed. Apparently he is no longer with Dallas Solar. I'll be trying him with his new team this week.

The good news is that I did pull in four successes yesterday.  Ali Kazemaini was first in, signing four cards for me through his current business. It took about 6 weeks.

Former Crunch, still lives near Cleveland

Rusty Troy, a Texas native and former Sidekick also signed four. His took only a week and is part of the most recent batch of mailouts.

Rusty played at University of North Texas

Kevin Kewley signed four in a week as well. He personalized all four of them

Lastly is all-time leading scorer Hector Marinaro. Currently a college soccer coach near Cleveland, he signed five in a week-- including the ASG card signed by George Fernandez and a business card with a short note on the back.

Still my all-time favorite player

The ASG card will be off to Zoran Karic soon to (hopefully) be completed!

Mail Call #15, #16, #17, #18, and #19: A bunch!

Looks like I got a little behind, didn't I?

Hockey season is kicking into gear, plus I hit the Texas State Fair one day and we bought a new printer. Plus my wife and I might hit Six Flags this weekend. And the Browns are playing every week. So posting updates kind of fell by the wayside for a few days.

On the plus side, a few have come in over the last week.

One Schmetzer down, two to go

Last Saturday, a couple of former Cleveland Crunch players rolled in as Andy Schmetzer and P.J. Johns signed and returned to me. Schmetzer is now a coach in Seattle, while Johns now works in fertilizer sales and distribution in Ohio.  He also owns a few rental houses, and his wife owns a business that sells secret compartment furniture.

I may need to get some of that secret
compartment furniture. Sounds cool.

Monday brought me Ron Newman.  After the message on Facebook I mentioned a while back, he did just as was requested, signing my four cards and getting them back to me quickly.

One of the greatest coaches in MISL history

Mike Stankovic arrived on Wednesday, signing six cards.

He also wrote "All the Best!" on the inside of the envelope

Friday saw another international arrival, as Mark Karpun signed four cards for me from Canada.

We're now at three countries with successes in this project!

Saturday was a busy one: Marcel Loosveld arrived from the Netherlands.  Unfortnately it looks like the marker he was using died out on him, so he tried to re-sign it in blue pen. It works, I can't complain much there.

He also enclosed his business card with the Dutch National program

Neil Megson also arrived, signing four cards after my initial attempt failed.  I'll be adding his new address to my 2016 address list.

Second time was the charm: seems a few former players are
leaving Crossfire with Megson and (spoiler alert) Ralph Black

And I had one failure, as Ralph Black is no longer with Crossfire Premier Soccer Club. I'll try him again with his new team this week.

I mailed out another batch on Tuesday.  Hitting the outbox were Andy Chapman, Tim Wittman, Hector Marinaro, Nikola Ristic, Kris Peat, Dennis Mepham, Mike Sweeney, Peter Ward, Pato Margetic, Scoop Stanisic, Walter Schmetzer, Simon Keith, Joe Koziol, David Brcic, Ken Fogarty, Bruno Ferretti, Earl Foreman, Homer Screws, Perry Van Der Beck, Joe Waters, Rusty Troy, Diego Mandagaran, Emil Dragicevic, Cacho Cordoba, Mark Mettrick, Doug Neely, Gus Mokalis, Kevin Kewley, Nenad Zigante, Daniel Donigan, Alan Willey, and Gregg Blasingame. I like will re-send to Black, and have a list of another ten or so to try as soon as I feel like writing.

Mail Call #8: Neil Megson

I may need to rename this "Fail Call" with the last few.

After two wrong-address notes back on Monday, Tuesday got the dreaded yellow sticker from Neil Megson.  He is no longer with Crossfire Premier but is still a coach with an organization in the Seattle area. so I will re-stamp and re-send to him soon.

I guess on the plus side, this means I'll have plenty of changes and additions for the 2016 edition of my address list. As long as I sell one, it'll basically cover the cost of my postage on re-sending. So there's that at least.

I did get a hockey success at least. So there's that.

Mail Call #7: Chapman and Wittman failures

You win some, you lose some.

Monday brought two to my inbox both with notes that I had the wrong address.  Andy Chapman's soccer program has a new name and new address; so my cards came back unsigned with my letter a a Post-It note simply saying "Wrong address!"

Fortunately I found their new website, organization name, and address, so we'll try him again soon.

The one that surprised me was Tim Wittman, who apparently is no longer at Johns Hopkins. Like Chapman, my letter and cards came back with a note on the back of the letter saying Wittman no longer works there and they have no way to get a hold of him.

But once again, I found another organization he's involved in coaching, so we'll give him another try.

Here's to hoping Tuesday brings better news. It's a bit unlikely though: in eight years of collecting via mail I've had more successes on Monday than any other day (25.7% of my mailed successes have come on a Monday) and fewer on Tuesdays and Wednesdays combined than on any other single delivery day (lowest single day besides those is Friday at 17.8%; Tuesday and Wednesday combine to 17.4%).

Mail Calls #5 and #6: Vaccaro, Collins, Collins, Borja, Moreira, and a purchase

I got a little busy over the weekend. On Friday I had to pull cards for a baseball outing, Saturday was spent not crushing it at the Rangers-Mariners, and Sunday was spent with the Rangers and at Browns Backers. So, life and other sports got in the way of the project. I'll try never to let it happen again.

Bazinga.

Anyways, I had three successes and two failures as the project hit its two-week mark.  Friday brought in Cris Vacarro and Chico Borja as well as the dreaded yellow sticker from Ben Collins. On the positive side, I did find the team Collins is working with, so I re-enveloped, re-stamped, and re-sent to him there on Saturday.  Vacarro and Borja were both excellent signers. Borja signed all five cards I sent, and Vacarro did as well, even personalizing them all. I have a couple more to send Borja's way in the future, and am still looking for the alternate black-letter version of Vacarro's 87-88 card.

In addition to personalizing, Vacarro added a "Best Wishes"
type message to each, including a nice "Thanks for being a
true fan" on the Wings All-Stars card

Saturday brought in a hockey success, two baseball successes, and another Collins-- Michael this time, who signed all four cards from the sets. I also received a bunch of items I purchased from Ray K. in Maryland.  He had two signed Billy Ronson cards, two signed Kai Haaskivi photos, and the vast majority of the unsigned cards I need, all for $13 including postage.

I was a bit worried about Collins since I had
not seen any successes from him posted on
the various boards I researched. Not to fear:
it came back in 12 days.

I may donate one of the Haaskivi photos to the Finnish Heritage Museum in Fiarport Harbor, Ohio. My dad has worked with them quite a bit and since Haaskivi played most of his career nearby in Cleveland (and even made an appearance once at the Finnish church in Fairport when I was about two years old), it may be something they would like for their collections. I donated a card of Kai to them about ten years ago, but I think this would be better.

I also had a second failure as Chico Moreira came back undeliverable to an address in Broadview Heights, OH. From what I can find, he may still live there (it's near Cleveland) but I can't find the exact address if he is there. I have a few potential addresses, but nothing concrete just yet.  If anyone can help me out on this, it would be greatly appreciated.

Mail Call #1: McLeod, King, and Moreland

A week after mailing, I've received my first successes today.

And also my first failure. My request to Victor Moreland got the dreaded yellow sticker on it-- Return To Sender, Not Deliverable As Addressed.

On the positive side, a quick search found me the carpet business he owns and manages, so I will re-try him there soon.

One of the Sidekicks' greats, McLeod signed six cards VERY quickly

My first two successes came in quickly-- only seven days to wait.  Wes McLeod signed six cards for me in a blue Sharpie, and Michael King signed five-- four Crunch cards in red, and the Sidekicks card in green.

Very cool of King to switch pens. Not many players think of that.

Michael also enclosed a short note on Milwaukee Kickers stationary, it reads...

Drew
Thanks for sending the player cards for me to sign. I hope this is what you wanted. Good memories of some great times. I hope the indoor league survives.
Best Wishes
Michael King

Back in 2012 I got a short note back from Otto Orf as well, and Hector Marinaro dropped in his business card from John Carroll University. I always like receiving notes back from players. Many times I wonder if players actually read letters when I send them, or if they just grab the cards, sign them, and send them off. Notes like that indicate they took the time to read it.