Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Back to the drawing boards... Also, a success and an outing!

I picked up the box set of 1989-90 Pacific cards on eBay this week, hoping to get the corrected Scoop Stanisic card, as well as hope that it might have the corrected Chris Hundelt card.

Instead, all I got were the errors.

So, my quest to find these still sits at a big fat zero. I had my doubts about the Stanisic at the beginning, and now I'm even doubting the existence of the Chris Hundelt correction. NASLJerseys.com is the only place I've ever seen the Stanisic version, and I've never seen the Hundelt, only seen it listed on Trading Card Database, who does not have a scan of it.

Is there anyone out there who can confirm without a doubt the existence of either?

And if so, what's your price to sell them to me?

I did have one success just after the eBay bonanza in my previous post arrived.

I mailed to Godfrey Ingram in the UK and had gone a few months with nothing so I assumed the worst, that it had disappeared.

On the contrary: it arrived a couple weeks ago with a US stamp over the British one, postmarked from San Diego, with all seven cards signed including the San Diego Storm All Stars card already signed by Daryl Doran.

Nice timing for that: after the FC Dallas-NE Revolution game, I waited outside and got Tom Soehn on three cards, and Fernando Clavijo signed 18, including the St. Louis card. It's now just missing Usiyan and Preki.  I likely will try Tomo after tax season is over. For those who don't know, he works as a tax accountant in California, so he's probably a bit busy for the next few weeks.

Give me a week or two and I'll do a post on players I'm missing for the sets, as well as cards I even need unsigned.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Another 1987-88 variation, and an eBay goldmine

Let's get the boring note out of the way first: Card 22, Godfrey Ingram is in two variations: Godfrey and Godfry. So we're at 127 for that and 801 total. Dammit, I liked the nice even 800...

And now, eBay.

About a week ago, Ray notified me to an eBay auction full of Sidekicks stuff, unsigned cards, signed cards and photos, signed shirts, game programs... and all for $20, plus $10 shipping. So I dug into my stamp budget for April and decided to pull the string on it.

And oh am I ever glad I did.

I contacted the seller about the cards, asking if there were more signed ones and he initially said just the ones in the photos-- but also mentioned Slobo Ilijevski was in among them. Additionally, I needed the Chico Moreira that I saw.  He then messaged to add that there were a bunch more, too many to list in full.

Today the box arrived. I'll let the photos tell the story (ignore the black spots, they're on the lens of my camera, which has been broken for over a year; the spots won't come off)...














If you're counting, that's 80 signed cards and 42 sigs on photos and certificates. There are also two shirts with autographs all over them as well. The shirts are unfortunately stained and worn, but still, I'll take them.

New additions to the Pacific project: Bill Crook, both variations of Ingram, Erik Rasmussen, Slobo Ilijevski, Chico Moreira, and Andy Chapman.

There also are probably over 1000 unsigned cards in here as well. Total price paid including shipping...

$30

I basically paid 25 cents per signature and got the shirts and unsigned cards and shipping free.

Now that's a deal I'll take ANY day.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

March Update

So as I said, I've definitely slowed down a bit. My TTM attention lately has been more on baseball, but hopefully I'll have some new soccer ones to try soon. I'm hopefully getting some unsigned copies of the unsigned cards that I've sent out and failed on. Plus there's an eBay auction that *hopefully* will get me a Chico Moreira (and possibly a Slobo Ilijevski?) that I need as well as some others that I think I already have signed (plus a ton of unsigned cards, and signed smaller photos).

I did at least have a few successes plus an eBay purchase come in, as well as one more IP outing in Allen.

I totally forgot to mention my Lee Cornwell success. Via home, he signed my card and wrote a full letter back in about six weeks. It arrived back in the middle of January.

Three days after him, I got broadcaster JP Dellacamera. After getting Sidekicks broadcaster and radio legend Norm Hitzges on one checklist, I figured I'd get Dellacamera on the other one. He also wrote a short note back.

The following day, Dali responded from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Unfortunately the envelope got soaked somewhere between there and here. I think the envelop may have tried to swim across the Atlantic. The signatures bled everywhere, the cards' corners were severely bashed up, and the water damage was crazy. So I likely will try him again. At least I know he signs!

On February 10 Sean Phillips came back to me. I sent to a soccer shop in Maryland, but the postmark was from California. He signed my card on both sides and also wrote a letter back.

And finally, a long one: It took almost a year and a half (513 days to be exact) but Gregg Blasingame signed three cards for me via the team he coaches.

Meanwhile, I picked up a Preki sig on eBay from the 1987-88 set. I'm hoping to try a few more via mail soon once I get the unsigned ones. I had no luck via a Washington home address, but he's coaching in St. Louis now, so I'll try him there.

Lastly, an IP outing in Allen:
Willie Molano 5/5
Kiley Couch 2/2
Jamie Lovegrove 2/2
Juan Gamboa 2/2
Ricardinho 2/2
TJ Nelson 2/2
David Kamali 2/2
Clark Binning 2/2
Tony Guillen 2/2
Fabinho 2/2

One of each of the 2/2 guys went to Ray in Baltimore. Not too bad-- 17/20 on the year for this year's team set!

If I end up winning my eBay auction (less than two hours until I know) I'll put a full list of sigs I picked up. A lot of them will be available for trade.