Most of my recent mailings have been for other sports-- lots of baseball and hockey (and even a non-sports-related request to the great singer Bill Withers), but there have been a few for this project that have gone out as well.
On March 30, I mailed out to Greg Ion (new address; got RTS'ed on my previous attempt) and Scott Manning. Also got my Canadian stamps out and sent off to Pasquale Deluca, Drew Ferguson, and Tasso Koutsoukas. I was going to mail to Frank Klopas as well, but he's back in the States, so that'll save me a buck or two. Note that I mailed to a different address for Koutsoukas than what was in my 2016 Address List. If I get a response from it, I'll let everyone know and also change it up on the List.
I've gotten nine arrivals since my last update on here, in chronological order...
March 22: Gino D'Ippolito signed 2/2 (both on the back of the card in blue pen), and Stan Cummins also did 2/2, personalizing both cards.
March 24: Alan Mayer signed a pair and wrote a short note back. Cool thing about Mayer's sig that reader and local 'graphing colleague Brian pointed out to me, he draws goalposts around his sig. I'll post a photo or two later if I remember to once I'm home.
March 26: Kelly Mock signed 2/2, while Tatu did 7/7. One of those seven was the 1990-91 set's Dallas All-Stars card, which was already signed by Doc Lawson, Mike Powers, and Krys Sobieski, so it's the second All-Stars card I've completed besides the 1991-92 Cleveland card with Zoran Karic, Hector Marinaro, and George Fernandez. Also that day I got a message from Stephanie Ferretti via Facebook. She wanted to let me know that Bruno received my cards and letter-- I had mailed them to a house that she owns and rents out, but she received them and he would sign them and send them back. She said he really liked my letter, and that he does get out to a few Sidekicks games every year, coaches youth teams, and owns a tile and granite business in Farmers Branch. I looked up the address for it and changed it on the Address List.
March 29: Doug McLagan signed 4 cards and sent a letter back to me, saying I should try to get out to the Sidekicks game when the Comets come through-- he does travel with them and always likes meeting fans. I actually had hoped to go when they came through this season, but it was a midweek game so I couldn't do the 45-minute drive each way and be up for work the next day. Hopefully it'll be a weekend this season.
March 31: As expected, Bruno Ferretti's cards came in, three signed in black and one in gold. I love the way gold Sharpie looks on cards. If you find a good one, go with it. The bronze ones are nice too. Silver is just so unpredictable, some are great, some are terrible.
April 1: No fooling, Doug Neely came in, my longest success time yet on this project. I mailed to his home on October 27 following a RTS from his business and got it back about five months later. I'm certainly not complaining, as it beats the alternative.
April 4: Brian Hall signed 2/2 in about 3 weeks. Since he's head of a refereeing organization I hoped he might have a lead on Majid Jay. He didn't: he said NO ONE knows where Jay is now. So needless to say, any help in tracking him down would be greatly appreciated.
As of right now, here are the requests I have outstanding and when I sent them.
SEPTEMBER 2015: Erik Rasmussen, Brian Quinn, Steve Zungul, Beto, David Hoggan, Mark Frederickson, Steve Kinsey
OCTOBER 2015: Andy Chapman, Dennis Mepham, Scoop Stanisic, Mark Mettrick, Nenad Zigante, Gregg Blasingame
MARCH 2016: Paul Wright, Preki, Kai Haaskivi, Jim Gorsek, Batata, Jim Gabarra, Paul Dougherty, Eddie Radwanski, Mark Simanton, Kevin Hundelt, David Boncek, Marty Templin/Herb Silva, Tony Glavin, Freddie Thompson, Jean Willrich, Greg Ion, Scott Manning, Pasquale Deluca, Drew Ferguson, Tasso Koutsoukas
I certainly haven't lost hope on the 2015 ones: with Neely coming in recently it's certainly not hopeless and in other sports I've had seven that have taken two years or more. I'm planning on doing another big mailing in May since I already blew my April stamp budget on doing some mailings to Canada; hopefully I'll be able to start on some of the guys I only have one or two cards of. I hate sending just one card per request but that's the way it goes. Either that or I'll get crazy on the international requests. Regarding my comments last post about it, Ray in Baltimore recommended I just put a couple bucks in to cover return postage. I've had success that way sometimes so it may be worth a shot on guys I can't get stamps on. Looks like I can buy British ones relatively easily at least.
