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 #13 and #14: Lodeweges, Heale, and Snyder

A few weeks back, Paul Buxton gave me a few Dutch stamps so I could mail a few requests overseas without having to enclose straight cash.  The first one came back to me on Thursday.

One down, two to go...

Dwight Lodeweges is now the manager of SC Heerenveen. It took only two weeks for him to sign my card and even wrote a short letter back--

Hello Drew,
Nice to see a picture from way back. Wow, time flies. Me and my family had a great time in North America. We enjoyed the people and still go back on a regular base. I signed your card. Good luck to you and whatever you do.
Greetings, Dwight Lodeweges

Another former Dallas Sidekicks defender

Friday brought another two to me as Gary Heale signed six cards and Troy Snyder four in a little under a month.  Heale also enclosed a short note, saying simply "Drew, Hope this works. Best Wishes, Gary Heale."

It certainly does work, sir.