Ten Years In: That's a Wrap.

I feel like this blog is coming to an end not with a bang, but with a whimper. But after just over ten years, this will be my final post in the 1987-1993 Pacific Soccer Autograph Project.

It was a fun project. I got to meet a lot of great players, great fans, and found that this niche sport still has a lot of die-hards following it around the country-- not just its MISL/NPSL past but even its MASL present and future. Hell, I was even one of the keepers in a 2019 MISL Alumni game!

But the fact is, I'm tapped out. I haven't mailed out a request to a former MISL player for this project in your years-- since November 8, 2021. I don't think my remaining needs can be filled via mail-- at least not easily or at a worthwhile risk. I think the well has pretty much dried up on who I can buy from or trade with. And with the Dallas Sidekicks folding and not even having a worthwhile alumni event in years, anything local and in-person is impossible.

Overall, I gave it a good run and I'm glad I did it. I figured when I started that I might get to 50-60% of these sets finished off.

Instead, I hit over 93% and had successes in nine different countries.

My remaining needs are listed at the bottom of this entry. If you come across this blog in the future, please know I probably am still looking for them so don't hesitate to reach out.

In the meantime, my main autograph site is at DFWGrapher.com, and for the past few years I've been co-host and now main host of the TTMCast podcast. Check both of those out!

1988-89 Pacific	1990-91 Pacific	1991-92 Pacific
2 Stan Stamenkovic	18 Mike Reynolds	20 Greg Ion
48 Frank Rasmussen	29 Gregg Willin	37 Keith Weller
	34 Slobo Ilijevski	40 Omar Gomez
1989-90 Pacific	37 Claudio De Oliveira	41 David Byrne
67 Chris Hundelt	39 Stan Terlecki	56 Domenic Mobilio
67 Chris/Kevin Hundelt	53 Steve Kinsey	68 Chris Simon
	58 Dennis Mepham	79 Pedro DeBrito
1992-93 Pacific NPSL	75 Nenad Nikolic	83 Dali
30 Teddy Krafft	84 Barry Wallace	84 Marcelo Carrera
63 Pedro DeBrito	111 Pedro DeBrito	113 Rick Snyder
87 Joe Kirk	114 David Byrne	118 Claudio De Oliveira
104 Dale Ervine	150 Greg Ion	140 Gregg Willin
9* Kia	166 Majid Jay	2* Claudio De Oliveira
	173 Tacoma All-Stars
	177 Wichita All-Stars
	189 Domenic Mobilio
	192 Preki
	217 Earl Foreman

PARTIALLY COMPLETED1990-91 159 San Diego Sockers ChampsNEED: Black, Cogsville, Ladouceur, Wade, Wright, Ortiz
1990-91 178 St. Louis All-StarsNEED: Ilijevski
1990-91 204 West GoalNEED: Kia
1990-91 205 Byrne & FernandezNEED: Byrne
1991-92 155 KC All-StarsNEED: Goosens
1991-92 158 Wichita All-StarsNEED: Weller
In closing, thanks for following along for so long. It's been fun and maybe I'll be able to quietly finish these sets off eventually. And as the great Hal Lebovitz always signed off, "Stay well and see you somewhere, I hope."

Eight-Year Update

Hi, how are ya?

Yes, I'm still alive. But I believe I may be close to tapped out on this project.

It's been a nice run. I started this all just on a whim eight years ago, thinking that even getting half of these cards signed would be pretty nice. Instead it went much better than I ever could have expected: a complete signed 1987-88 set including all errors and variations, a trip to Las Vegas where I ended up playing in goal with and against some MISL greats, and mailed successes all over the world (Netherlands, Denmark, Canada, Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina). I've met collectors from all over the country. I solved one mystery of a missing player, and worked to try to track down a missing referee. And all told, I made it to over 90% completion.

Back in July 2022 at the National, collector Rob Parker helped me out with Chico Borja and Diego Mandagaran for my 1992-93 NPSL set.

Zoran Karic was my most recent TTM success, knocking out the last sig needed on the 1990-91 San Diego All-Stars card after a lengthy wait. I also got Carl Valentine since my last post.

But aside from that... I'm just throwing up my hands. I have tried to do whatever I can for the last few in each set and I'm close to the end.

I'm not killing this project. Never that. But I think it definitely has fallen to the backburner. I'll need assistance and luck to get it the rest of the way over the hump.

And it hurts a bit. Getting SO close to being complete and just not quite being able to get there despite all efforts is hard. As of right now, this is the unsigned list. Players in bold red are confirmed to be deceased.

1988-89: 2 Stan Stamenkovic; 48 Frank Rasmussen

1989-90: 67 Chris Hundelt (corrected); 67 Kevin Hundelt (photo and info actually Chris)

1990-91: 18 Mike Reynolds; 29 Gregg Willin; 34 Slobo Ilijevski; 37 Claudio De Oliveira; 39 Stan Terlecki; 53 Steve Kinsey; 58 Dennis Mepham; 75 Nenad Nikolic; 84 Barry Wallace; 111 Pedro DeBrito; 114 David Byrne; 150 Greg Ion; 159 SD Sockers (need Ralph Black, Donald Cogsville, Jacques Ladouceur, Wes Wade, Paul Wright, and Rene Ortiz); 166 Majid Jay; 173 Tacoma All-Stars (need to restart this, need all players); 177 Wichita All-Stars (need to restart this, need all players); 178 St. Louis All-Stars (need Ilijevski, deceased); 189 Domenic Mobilio; 192 Preki; 204 West Goal (need Kia); 205 Byrne/Fernandez (need Byrne); 217 Earl Foreman

1991-92: 20 Greg Ion; 37 Keith Weller; 40 Omar Gomez; 41 David Byrne; 56 Domenic Mobilio; 68 Chris Simon; 79 Pedro DeBrito; 83 Dali; 84 Marcelo Carrera; 113 Rick Snyder; 118 Claudio De Oliveira; 140 Gregg Willin; 155 KC All-Stars (need Goosens); 158 Wichita All-Stars (need Weller, deceased); 2 Claudio De Oliveira

1992-93: 30 Teddy Krafft; 63 Pedro DeBrito; 87 Joe Kirk; 104 Dale Ervine; 9 Kia (Gold)

That corrected Chris Hundelt corrected card is a killer. I had one copy, mailed it to the last address I had for him, and never saw it again. If you have this card in bulk, I need multiple copies (or just a single signed one). I have six copies of the error; it appears to be much more prolific.

The multi-player cards are just too hard. When you get two of three, mail to the third, and never get it back, it's frustrating to restart. Once you get to five and six player cards, losing one at 80+% completion is a back breaker (90-91 cards 159, 173, and 177 are prima facie evidence of this). I always try to start with the hardest one first and finish with the easiest, but with this project it's tough to know who is going to be easy and who is not.

And so, this may be the end. I'll still have these in my book of want lists, but I think I've done about all that I can. eBay has dried up, with only stuff I already have popping up for sale. Ray in Baltimore has sold off most, if not all of his stuff, and anyways I bought out everything that I needed from him already anyway.

If you don't see another update here, don't be surprised. The flame of hope still burns on these last sigs, but it dims further and further with each passing year.

Chipping Away

Not a whole lot to talk about here over the past few months.

I did finally get my second Pato Margetic knocked out at least, this one being for the 1990-91 set. It was about an eight-month wait, but hey, it's done at least. Considering he signed just one of two for me several years ago and I had seen a few unsigned returns, I was kind of wondering if I'd get the second one done or not.

Others that I forgot to mention since my last update in September: Kevin Crow, Branko Segota, and Brian Quinn all signed my 1990-91 San Diego All-Stars card; Tim Schulz on my 1992-93 NPSL card (mailed to New York City and returned from Colorado); Jim Gorsek signed a team All-Star card; and Terry Rowe and Erik Rasmussen each signed multiples through addresses in Europe.

Unfortunately I'm still waiting on a few that were mailed around the same time as these guys: Carl Valentine to the Vancouver Whitecaps, Preki to a home address, and Zoran Karic to a home address. Karic is the aforementioned San Diego All-Stars card, so clearly I'm highly hopeful for its return. I'd rather not have to restart yet another All-Star card project.

I'll be making a trip all over the east coast this summer mostly for minor league baseball autographs and the National Sports Collectors Convention (NSCC) in Atlantic City. So if any of you like baseball and happen to be in the places we're stopping, come on out, let's meet up. Here's my schedule:

Friday July 22: Huntsville, AL
Saturday July 23: Indianapolis, IN
Sunday July 24: Toledo, OH
Monday, July 25: Sandusky, OH
Tuesday July 26: Akron, OH
Wednesday July 27 through Sunday July 31: Atlantic City, NJ (NSCC)
Saturday July 30: Wilmington, DE
Monday, August 1: Cooperstown, NY
Tuesday August 2: Portland, ME
Wednesday August 3: Worcester, MA and Manchester, NH
Thursday August 4: Scranton, PA
Friday August 5: Baltimore, MD
Saturday August 6: Harrisburg, PA
Sunday August 7: Norfolk, VA
Monday, August 8: Williamsburg, VA
Tuesday August 9: Durham, NC
Wednesday August 10: Greensboro and Winston-Salem, NC
Thursday August 11: Chattanooga, TN
Friday August 12: Little Rock, AR
Saturday August 13: Frisco, TX
Sunday, August 14: RIP Drew. Cause of Death: Exhaustion and Autograph Overdose

My want list (from my previous entry in January) is fully updated. I'm hoping by some crazy outside chance I can find something from it at the National, but I'm not too hopeful. All I've ever found are a few complete sets and boxes.

2022: Another Want List Update

Another turning of the calendar, so let's update what I still need on this project and see what I can knock out this year! I'd love it if I could finish off the 1988-89, 1989-90, and 1992-93 sets with some buying and trading.

1987-88 Pacific: COMPLETED!

1988-89 Pacific
2 Stan Stamenkovic
48 Frank Rasmussen

1989-90 Pacific
67 Error Chris/Kevin Hundelt (I'd like to get this signed by both of them)
67 Corrected Chris Hundelt

1990-91 Pacific
18 Mike Reynolds
29 Gregg Willin
34 Slobo Ilijevski
37 Claudio De Oliveira
39 Stan Terlecki
53 Steve Kinsey
58 Dennis Mepham
75 Nenad Nikolic
84 Barry Wallace
111 Pedro DeBrito
114 David Byrne
150 Greg Ion
159 SD Sockers
166 Majid Jay
173 Tacoma All-Stars
174 San Diego All-Stars
177 Wichita All-Stars
178 St. Louis All-Stars
189 Domenic Mobilio
192 Preki
204 West Goal
205 David Byrne, George Fernandez
217 Earl Foreman

1991-92 Pacific
20 Greg Ion
37 Keith Weller
40 Omar Gomez
41 David Byrne
56 Domenic Mobilio
68 Chris Simon
79 Pedro DeBrito
83 Dali
84 Marcelo Carrera
95 Carl Valentine
113 Rick Snyder
118 Claudio De Oliveira
140 Gregg Willin
155 KC All-Stars
158 Wichita All-Stars
2  Claudio De Oliveira

1992-93 Pacific
30 Teddy Krafft
63 Pedro DeBrito
80 Diego Mandagaran
87 Joe Kirk
102 Chico Borja
104 Dale Ervine
9 Kia (GOLD)

The multi-player cards (mostly team All-Stars) I may have partially-completed.

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!

New arrivals and the six year mark

Finishing off the 1987-88 set and grabbing a few needed ones from the 88-89 and 89-90 sets in a trade with a collector in Virginia has put a bit of a spring back in my step, and I dropped twelve requests in the mail a week and a half ago. Four already came back today: Jimmy Daka, Terry Brown, and Alex Tarnoczi for the 1992-93 set, and Yilmaz Orhan, who I asked to sign the 1990-91 St. Louis Arena card. He scored the first MISL goal in the arena's history while playing for Hartford. I also have a 1989-90 Dennis Mepham headed my way, courtesy of a collector in Canada. My other mailings include Erik Rasmussen after I emailed and asked him about signing, and Terry Rowe with an address from a Wichita Wings fan who has been in recent contact with him. On the domestic side, Tim Schulz, Pato Margetic, Diego Mandagaran, Branko Segota, Kevin Crow, and Jim Gorsek were asked to ink their last remaining card-- or add ink to some already-signed multi-player cards.

This week marks six years since I really started this project. At this point, it's getting down to the real nitty gritty-- guys with only one card (Chris Simon, Marcelo Carrera, Rick Snyder), guys living overseas (Jan Goossens, Ron Fearon, David Byrne), guys I can't find at all (Claudio De Oliveira, Steve Kinsey, and all together now-- Majid Jay), the deceased who I can possibly trade for (Keith Weller, Pedro DeBrito, Domenic Mobilio), the deceased who may never have even signed their card at any point (90-91 Mike Reynolds, Stan Terlecki, Nenad Nikolic), and the tough ones needed to finish off a multi-player card but I'm too paranoid to send to because I don't want to risk losing it a second time and starting over again a third time (George Fernandez, Kia, and Dale Ervine).

I've been doing far more lately via trades and purchases than any other method. A little peek at some numbers...

Stats	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Received	62	68	40	5	11	5	6
Sent	88	98	59	6	28	9	17
Pctg.	70.5	69.4	67.8	83.3	39.3	55.6	35.3

Clearly I've slowed my output of letters since 2017, and my rate of success has dropped vastly since 2018. And that's what makes the home stretch of this whole project tough. It sucks to mail one out that you haven't gotten... and then never receive it back at all.

But it's worse when you mail off something already signed by a few players and never see it again. I've lost count of how many times I've had to retry a multi-player card. It's why that success percentage on the right side of this blog has fluctuated a bit on the 1990-91 and 1991-92 sets. Get a card signed by three of four, send to the fourth... and if it disappears you're back to a card signed by zero of four.

And that's why-- especially in-person-- I try to get several copies of a multi-player card signed. You never know when you'll have to try again, so it's nice to have a head start.

When I first started this project out, I never really thought completing it would be a possibility. I knew that there were a few who were dead, a few overseas, and probably would be a few who don't want to sign for whatever reason. In my mind, 75% was going to be a nearly unattainable goal. Instead, I hit that in three years. A year ago I said "I'd like to get to 90% overall in the next year. I'm only six away from having the 1987-88 set kicked; let's see if I can finish that one off too." I achieved both of those goals this year.

So what's my goal for September of 2022? I don't really know. I'd love to have this whole thing finished by then but I know that's a pipe dream-- it's tough to complete a set that has one "white whale" in it (in hobby parlance, it's THE card/autograph/item you need that-- if it exists-- may be a true one-of-a-kind), but the 1990-91 set has at least two in Jay and Nikolic.

The final two 1980's sets are doable. So, I think that's my 2022 goal: finish off the 1988-89 and 1989-90 sets. If my mailings all come back successfully, then I'll be left needing only a 1988-89 Stan Stamenkovich, a 1989-90 Chris Hundelt, and a 1989-90 Chris/Kevin Hundelt error signed by both players. I know there's at least one copy out there of the Stamenkovich signed. And I had an error Hundelt signed by Kevin at one point (before it disappeared in mailing to Chris). I need a few unsigned corrected Chris versions-- I'm tapped out on that one.

LEVEL UP! Set completed!

 

When you get this far into a project, victories get to be few and far between. You've already mailed to the guys that are still coaching and therefore easy to find. You've even dug into LinkedIn profiles and Facebook searches, and attended events in Dallas and Las Vegas. You've even emailed former players to enlist their help in tracking some down. You've traded with and bought from everyone you could find.

The early explosion is long over. Now comes the point of frustration-- finding the wrong person with the same name, the dreaded yellow sticker telling they've moved and have no forwarding address on file with USPS, the ones who moved back to Europe, the ones who died, the ones who just don't want to be bothered.

It just makes the successes mean that much more when you do see them.

Hugo Perez was the last one I needed to complete my 1987-88 set. The problem is that his name isn't exactly uncommon. He's still in the public eye, but I don't know much about the postal system of El Salvador to toss out a letter via their National Team. He didn't answer me on Twitter-- either via direct message or public tweet. So, I found what I hoped was an up-to-date address, and threw caution to the wind and gave it a shot.

After five months I wasn't too hopeful. And then today, a couple weeks after the conclusion of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, my Hugo Perez card came back signed.

After getting my first card for it signed almost 20 years ago, the 1987-88 Pacific set... finally... is complete.

On Display!

First off, a big thanks to Ray for reminding me to post it on here. I think I promoted this everywhere but my blog!

After about a month of work throughout May, I have my site done for showing off everything in the sets I'm doing. It covers every sport, plus my writing and media work. Eventually I may add a page for my trade items or something. I'm not really sure yet.

But go ahead and check it out. It's best viewed on a computer rather than a phone or tablet. The tabbing that I had to do for the set pages' layouts doesn't translate well to smaller screens.

DFWGrapher.com

Knocking one out from New Jersey

About a week and a half ago I got another response the Facebook messages I sent out a while back (almost a year ago, I think!). Bobby Joe Esposito said I could just send my cards to his office and he'd sign them for me. So I did.

And he did.

So, that puts me at 103 signed and only ten left to go on the 1988-89 set.

I'm also working on a project right now dealing with all things related to my autograph collection, specifically my signed sets and a place to show off what I have so far. It's online already but only a few people have seen it so far; I don't want to really publicize it until it's completely finished. Once it's totally done, I'll promote it here. The tough part is linking all the photos to the site itself. It takes some repetitive work that gets to be downright mind-numbing. But it should be ready to go by next week if I can keep to my current pace.

It also has several articles I've written for various sites and publications over the years. So if you like what you're reading here, there's even more wide-ranging sports writing there.

A seller's market in the card and autograph hobby

In my last post, I mentioned that Ray in Baltimore was putting up a bunch of signed soccer cards for sale on eBay. Those started going up the other day, so make sure you check the link in my previous post here and see if he has what you need. Good prices on them as well.

I have my eBay account set up so anytime someone puts up a new listing up for any signed Pacific soccer cards (and a few other projects), I get a notification email. Typically I get a new listing every few days on the soccer stuff, and it's often the same ones over and over that are overpriced getting relisted since they didn't sell the first time (sorry random seller, but no one is paying $30 for a signed Tatu card or $10 for Peter Ward). At least a few from Ray were listed on there, but imagine my surprise when I got a bunch of new listings that weren't his!

Even more surprising, one is from Ray's town, but wasn't Ray. I found that it's a guy I've dealt with before though. That person has a couple singles I need as part of a couple lots, plus a small Cleveland Crunch lot I may snag. I messaged him and he wants to see my want list.

And in a posting that had me excited, then dismayed, and finally enraged, another seller has a lot of 104 1987-88 Pacific cards, including the Hugo Perez card I need to finish that set. Excited since the signed card is out there so I don't have to hope for a longshot TTM. Dismayed because the lot is $250. Maybe I'll get lucky and someone I know will pick it up and I can acquire Perez. There are a few others in there that would be nice condition upgrades, but again, I just can't do $250 right now when I'd need maybe 20 of them at most.

I put in a lowball offer that was predictably rejected, and asked the seller if they would be willing to sell the Perez alone if the lot doesn't sell. Adding to the disappointment the answer was no, that it would just go to a big auction house if it doesn't sell (though if it doesn't sell on eBay, do you really think it will sell there?).

And after looking at them very closely with input from two other indoor collectors, that's where the rage sets in: I have some questions about the authenticity of several in the lot. Similar pens, similar slant, similar placement, and at least two in the exact same handwriting (the same capital B which does not match the sigs I have gotten from reliable sources). What's weird is the toughest sigs in the lot all looked good. It was guys who are easier to get who have the questionable sigs. Sure, it's possible that signatures change over time (mine certainly has over the previous 20 years), but that drastically? Whatever it is, it's enough for me to question the Perez. Hard pass: back to the mailbox.

For better or for worse, it's definitely a seller's market right now. The card hobby and industry rebound/bubble has been making news nationwide. My mom up in Oregon said she saw a package on their news about it. Buying supplies like pages, sleeves, and toploaders has been near-impossible online without paying a premium. Junk wax boxes and packs have been going for prices that were unheard of a year or two ago. Grading companies have been forced to raise their prices in an effort to stem the tide of people sending in bulk submissions (45-day gradings are now taking 8-10 months).

So, perhaps the time is right for sellers of even a niche product like indoor soccer cards and autographs to come out of the woodwork and hope to capitalize. But caveat emptor. Do your homework on making sure what you're buying is good. If you ever have questions and want to see some examples for comparisons, feel free to ask me.

Personally, I don't sell any autographs (or at least VERY rarely) but seeing these prices any sane person would have to be considering it. Even with all the doubles I have the most I'll do is trade. I put up a trade post in a Facebook group and have gotten a few bites (one from Germany, one from Hungary). Maybe I'll be able to swing a trade somewhere for Perez and others.

Anyways, Ray's stuff is good, so go and check out his auctions now that he's getting them listed. I think he said he'll be putting up 20 lots every two weeks in what will likely be a multi-year process. Currently it's 5 women, 5 indoor, 5 USA outdoor, and 5 international.

Check out some eBay action!

Texas is finally returning to normal now after a week.

My wife and I were some of the luckier ones in all of this. Our electric bill won't hit $5000. We only were without power for 36 hours (got down to 35 degrees inside). And had our outage lasted longer, we had a plan in place to pack up the cats and live out of her office that had power, heat, internet, and TV still operating.

We still have no water right now but we'll survive that just fine. I try not to get overly political on my autograph-related places and try to maintain a fairly centrist approach, but Greg Abbott's unpreparedness and Ted Cruz's cowardice are bullshit. I can't say the last few years have made me a Democrat, but they have certainly guaranteed that I'm not a Republican.

Anyways, last time I was here I mentioned that I bought a lot from Ray who is liquidating his collection. He just emailed a group of us to let us know that he's going to start putting items up on eBay soon.

So go and check out his sales. His eBay is 02cruiser and the listings will likely start next weekend.

A huge bit of assistance!

Oh, the benefits of networking!

I've mentioned Ray in Baltimore a number of times on this blog. Nine days after I started this blog, he contacted me through Big Soccer about autographs. I've bought a few needs from him, he's given me a few items as well, we've assisted each other on addresses, and I try to help him get stuff signed anytime I can whenever I'd go to Dallas and Mesquite MASL games. He's one of the premier collectors (if not THE premier collector) of indoor soccer autographs over the years.

So when he emailed me to let me know he was selling off a significant chunk of his signed cards, I jumped at the chance to add some major needs to this project and upgrade the quality of a few sigs as well. The timing couldn't have been better: I hadn't used my January postage budget and I had a gift card left from Christmas, and those covered most of it.

Today they arrived: eight in the 1987-88 set, five in the 1988-89 set, three from 1989-90, thirteen on ten cards from 1990-91, seventeen on six cards in 1991-92, and fourteen in 1992-93. I also grabbed twenty Cleveland Crunch cards from the 1999-00 Roox set.

Also check out the stats on the right side: I am now only ONE card away from having the 1987-88 set kicked: Hugo Perez. I may start putting a list together of ones I'd like to upgrade as well-- anything smeared, signed on the back, personalized to Not Drew, or signed with a bad pen. I don't mind them as placeholders but I'm sure I can do better on some.

A new year, a new post

2020 was a strange year.

Also the sky is blue and water is wet.

I got an email from Ray in Baltimore the other day and realized I hadn't updated anything here in a while, so, here goes. It's probably good to have something in here for the start of 2021.

On a personal note/issue, I contracted Covid around Christmas. I was fortunate that most of my symptoms were minimal: a lot of coughing that still is affecting me now but no other breathing difficulty. My fever only lasted 3-4 days, same with body aches and loss of appetite. I had a day with hives on my feet, and another with a mild loss of taste. No nausea. My wife had it too around the same time: worse hives and nausea for her but no fever. I still have a cough now, and from what I'm seeing it may last a while. But no other symptoms and nothing indicating potential contagiousness. It didn't kill me but I can certainly see how it would kill a person. It wasn't fun. I'm still wearing a mask; and I did before-- except around the person we caught it from (oops). You should wear yours too.

I closed up my main sports autograph blog in October because it just wasn't worth maintaining anymore. Most of my autograph updates are going on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and several Facebook groups, and it had largely outlived its purpose. When I first started writing it, it chronicled my in-person outings deeply, I had interviews/profiles of other collectors, I covered what I'd send through the mail... Over time, it was just a list every month. Then maybe every two months. It just wasn't worth keeping up with it.

This blog, however, will remain open and in use. Autograph collecting is a big hobby and it has thousands of resources, maybe even millions. It has grown vastly over time, and especially since 2013. Indoor soccer collecting is a small niche. And I believe blogs are at their best if they are dedicated to a niche group or activity. Some of the best autograph blogs out there are dedicated to collecting just a specific set.

I sent out 600 requests in 2020, but only 9 were in the soccer world. Of those nine two failed on my first try: David Byrne got RTSed due to pandemic restrictions in shipping between the US and South Africa, and Damir Haramina said my cards arrived with severe water damage. So that puts me at seven requests besides those. Mark Kerlin came back successfully in July, as did Shane Schwab in August, and Damir Haramina in October: these were covered in recent previous posts.

I still haven't gotten Tony Csiszar back yet, and I retried David Byrne about a month ago. I checked in to make sure they had received them, or in Byrne's case to give him a heads up that they hopefully will be there soon. The Trump/DeJoy "reforms" (read: sabotage) at USPS have been really awesome for this hobby.

Two additional successes have arrived though: I heard back from Waad Hirmez on Facebook and he gave me an address to send to. Speaking of those awesome reforms, I sent the cards to him on November 30 and he messaged me December 10 to let me know he signed them and was sending them back. They finally got postmarked 11 days later and arrived here on December 26. I'll be glad when Wednesday gets here.

Lastly, you may remember a few years back I picked up a nice eBay lot of autographs and cards and other MISL collectibles. Among it was a 1987-88 Dallas Sidekicks playoff game program signed by everyone on the team except for three players-- Tatu, Victor Moreland, and Stuart Lee.  I got Tatu and Moreland to sign at the NASL 50th Anniversary event in 2018, leaving me with just needing Lee.

We can count it off as completed: I emailed him with the youth soccer organization he works with in Washington, and he hit me with an address. So I mailed the program off along with a card from the Sidekicks Coca-Cola set, and got both back signed right at the end of the year.

So, here I sit entering 2021 still needing 138 sigs to complete this project. I'm hoping some trades/purchases will fill in at least a few gaps along the way since I really think I've hit a major brick wall by mail. And with the Covid pandemic still raging, who knows what will happen with in-person signing. Besides, I don't know of any events that would fill in the gaps I have.

Hopefully though, I'll have more to post more here in the next year than I did in 2020. Maybe I'll be able to finish off the 1987-88 and/or 1989-90 sets since I'm so close on those. Maybe I'll get the want list down under 100. We'll see what happens.

Water water everywhere...

Not long after my last post, I got a message on Facebook from Damir Haramina.  My cards had finally arrived to him in Croatia... ten weeks after I had mailed them, and with severe water damage.

Amazingly this isn't the first time I've had this happen: my mailing to Dali a few years ago came back to me looking like it had chosen to swim its way from Bosnia to the US. Fortunately I had extras on Haramina so I remailed (this time with some plastic protection around them) and received them back this past weekend. One more down for the 1990-91 set!

I've also gone back to working on the (unsigned) outdoor sets I need. I bought a bunch on SportLots, so I'm down to just needing these to finish them off...

2016-17 Aficionado
24 Marquinhos

2018 Prizm World Cup
1 Lionel Messi
5 Gonzalo Higuain
10 Paulo Dybala
13 Eden Hazard
25 Neymar Jr.
31 Marcelo
36 Casemiro
38 James Rodriguez
54 Mohamed Salah
63 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
74 Paul Pogba
78 Hugo Lloris
79 Kingsley Coman
89 Jonas Hector
93 Leroy Sane
96 Mesut Ozil
127 Javier Hernandez
154 Cristiano Ronaldo
155 Andre Silva
185 Aleksandar Mitrovic
197 Andres Iniesta
202 Isco
229 Luka Modric
231 Mateo Kovacic
235 Emil Forsberg
242 Breel Embolo

2018-19 Donruss
40 Leroy Sane

2018-19 Donruss Dominator
D-7 Harry Kane

2018-19 Donruss Elite Series
ES-1 Lionel Messi

2018-19 Donruss Legends Series
LS-5 Diego Maradona
LS-6 Pele

2018-19 Donruss Magicians
M-10 Otavio

2018-19 Donruss Out Of This World
OW-9 Kylian Mbappe

2018-19 Donruss Optic
11 Paulo Dybala
18 Thomas Muller
22 Mats Hummels
24 Manuel Neuer
37 Sergio Aguero
38 Gabriel Jesus
47 Saul Niguez
52 Edinson Cavani
53 Kylian Mbappe
54 Angel DiMaria
66 Christian Pulisic
81 Youri Tielemans
92 Giovani Lo Celso
105 Roberto Firmino
120 Christian Eriksen
132 Kylian Mbappe
133 Paul Pogba
139 Toni Kroos
140 Julian Draxler
154 Memphis Depay
191 Kai Havertz

Oof, yeah, so there are some big names I still need in there. Prizm Messi, Neymar, Dybala, Coman, Pogba, and Ronaldo; the Optic Mbappe pair and Havertz; OOTW Mbappe... It'll probably take some good trading or a couple hundred dollars cash to land them all.

On the positive side, I have several big doubles I could hopefully trade (multiple copies of most of the Donruss base Rated Rookies, for example, and several of the base Mbappe).

A Five Year Retrospective

Five years ago today, the first two successes of this project came to my inbox, officially kicking off the project.  I had always figured I'd just see how far I could get in it all. With several foreign players returning to their home countries, several more deceased, and countless others who may just not want to be bothered, I figured that completing this would be a hell of a trick. Furthermore, while indoor soccer has some devoted fans, the number of signed copies of these cards (or even unsigned copies) can't possibly rival many baseball, football, basketball, and hockey card sets, limiting trading opportunities. I thought maybe I'd get to 75% completion across the entire thing, ever.

Five years in, I'm past that 75% mark. Granted, I hit that three years in, but still, that's more than I figured I'd get to. I'm closing in on 85% completion, and that's even after adding in the 1992-93 NPSL set on a whim because I was able to get most of it for a reasonable price. I'm over that 85% mark on just the MISL sets.

I've reached out to several via Facebook with varying degrees of success. Shane Schwab and Mark Kerlin came back successfully. Tony Csiszar and Damir Haramina did not. My attempt to mail to David Byrne was RTSed thanks to South Africa postal restrictions during COVID-19; I'll try again once they're back to semi-normal operations. People who never responded include Carl Valentine, Erik Rasmussen, Russ Prince, Paul Peschisolido, Dennis Mepham, Doug Kriska, Waad Hirmez, Bobby Joe Esposito, and Brian Enge.

For the most part, it's starting to dry up. There are several that I've tried without success, some of those multiple times.  Check out the breakdown year by year:

2015: 88 mailed, 62 successes

2016: 98 mailed, 68 successes

2017: 59 mailed, 40 successes

2018: 6 mailed, 5 successes

2019: 28 mailed, 11 successes

2020: 5 mailed, 2 successes

There's not a whole lot more I can do without some help via trades, 50/50s, or some in-person luck. A lot of it is that these multi-player cards are absolute killers (I know I can get some of them; I'm just afraid of getting one signed by all but one, mailing it to the last guy... and never seeing it again). I'm hoping that this Indoor Soccer Alumni group that's on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere might be able to help me out.

I do at least have two nice updates from my last post: as stated above I got my Shane Schwab card back signed. I also had a big flash from the past end up in my mailbox as my mailing out to George Fernandez over a year ago came back to me on August 18, with him signing the last four cards I needed from him. So I went and updated my want list from the last time I posted it.

Overall, I can't say I'm in the home stretch on this, but I'm certainly starting to slow down. Maybe one final Hail Mary push soon. Ray in Baltimore sent me a big list of contact info on some guys, along with some of the unsigned cards I needed. I need to get in gear and try some emailing, I think. I have a new batch of stamps coming this week, so no time like the present to see what I can find.

I'd like to get to 90% overall in the next year. I'm only six away from having the 1987-88 set kicked; let's see if I can finish that one off too.

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.

By request: an updated Want List

First up, big thanks to Ray in Baltimore for helping me out again with a few unsigned cards that I needed from my previous post.

Over on my YouTube Channel, I had a request from Rob, an avid blog and channel follower and collector of indoor soccer and hockey (and maybe other sports too? I know those two at the least...), asking if I had an updated Want List for this project.  So I may as well just go ahead and post it on up here. I also put in some notes on any recent communications and such, plus any specifics for multi-player cards.

Lastly, I mailed in the latter half of 2019 to Waad Hirmez, Greg Ion, Kia, Dennis Mepham, Omar Gomez, Pasquale Deluca, Jan Goossens, Steve Kinsey, Dali, Dale Ervine, Chris Hundelt, and Chico Borja without success. So, you can figure out the placement of "Tried TTM with no response" on the list below with those guys.

1987-88

36 Dennis Mepham (No response to Facebook message)

38 Pasquale Deluca

48 Poli Garcia

57 Hugo Perez

61 Waad Hirmez (No response to Facebook message)

88 Steve Kinsey

1988-89

2 Stan Stamenkovic (deceased)

8 Slobo Ilijevski (deceased)

12 Erik Rasmussen (No response to Facebook message)

25 Victor Nogueira 

36 Alan Hinton

48 Frank Rasmussen

60 Slobo Ilijevski (deceased)

62 Billy Ronson (deceased)

65 Carl Valentine (No response to Facebook message)

66 David Byrne (Mailed recently after a Facebook message)

68 Desmond Armstrong 

70 Terry Rowe 

75 Erik Rasmussen (No response to Facebook message)

92 Waad Hirmez (No response to Facebook message)

95 B.J. Esposito (No response to Facebook message)

97 Joe Papaleo

1989-90

6 Waad Hirmez (No response to Facebook message)

26 Joe Papaleo 

33 Domenic Mobilio (deceased)

47 Pedro DeBrito (deceased)

66 Greg Ion 

67a Chris Hundelt / Kevin Hundelt ERR

67b Chris Hundelt COR

100 Dennis Mepham (No response to Facebook message)

1990-91

8 Arturo Velazco

9 Damir Haramina (Mailed recently after Facebook message)

18 Mike Reynolds (deceased)

28 Terry Rowe 

29 Gregg Willin

31 Keder

34 Slobo Ilijevski (deceased)

37 Claudio De Oliveira

39 Stan Terlecki (deceased)

47 Dali 

53 Steve Kinsey 

58 Dennis Mepham (No response to Facebook message)

75 Nenad Nikolic (deceased)

78 Ed Anibal

84 Barry Wallace (deceased)

98 Waad Hirmez (No response to Facebook message)

104 Domenic Mobilio (deceased)

111 Pedro DeBrito (deceased)

114 David Byrne (Mailed recently after Facebook message)

147 Pato Margetic 

150 Greg Ion

159 San Diego Sockers Champions (Need signed by all players)

161 Domenic Mobilio (deceased) / Wes Wade (Need signed by both)

166 Majid Jay

173 Tacoma All-Stars (Need signed by all players)

174 San Diego All-Stars (Need signed by all players)

177 Wichita All-Stars (Need signed by all players)

178 St. Louis All-Stars (Have signed by all except the deceased Ilijevski)

189 Domenic Mobilio (deceased)

202 Haaskivi/Quinn (Have signed by Haaskivi; need Quinn)

204 West Goal (Have signed by Ingram; need Kia and Segota)

205 Byrne/Fernandez (Have signed by Fernandez; mailed recently to Byrne) 

207 Wright/Smith (Need both)

213 Joe Papaleo

216 St. Louis Arena (not sure who to have sign it; perhaps a former team owner)

217 Earl Foreman (deceased)

1991-92

2 Waad Hirmez (No response to Facebook message)

20 Greg Ion 

37 Keith Weller (deceased)

40 Omar Gomez

41 David Byrne (Mailed recently after Facebook message)

47 Terry Rowe 

56 Domenic Mobilio (deceased)

68 Chris Simon

69 Chris Haywood

79 Pedro DeBrito (deceased)

83 Dali 

84 Marcelo Carrera

95 Carl Valentine (No response to Facebook message)

98 Paul Peschisolido (No response to Facebook message)

113 Rick Snyder

118 Claudio De Oliveira 

140 Gregg Willin 

153 San Diego All-Stars (Need signed by all players)

154 Baltimore All-Stars (Have signed by all but the deceased Mobilio and Ronson )

155 Kansas City All-Stars (Need signed by all players)

158 Wichita (Have signed by all but the deceased Weller)

160 Earl Foreman (deceased)

1991-92 Bonus Inserts

2  Claudio De Oliveira

1992-93

1 Eric Dade

4 Doug Neely

16 Chris Szanto

22 Jimmy Daka

27 Alex Tarnoczi

30 Teddy Krafft

34 Russ Prince (No response to Facebook message)

37 Tony Csiszar (Responded to Facebook message; mailing this week)

39 Zoran Karic

60 Tim Schulz

63 Pedro DeBrito (deceased)

75 Saeed Bakhtiari

80 Diego Mandagaran

82 Jason Putthoff

85 Jim Gabarra

87 Joe Kirk

89 Rene Ortiz

93 Terry Brown

94 Daryl Doran

98 Doug Kriska (No response to Facebook message)

99 Dan O'Keefe

102 Chico Borja

103 Brian Enge (No response to Facebook message)

104 Dale Ervine

107 Kris Peat

109 Kim Roentved

1992-93 Gold Inserts

3 Fahmi El-Shami

4 Zoran Karic

6 Joe Mallia

8 Victor Nogueira

9 Kia

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).

Non-set IP 'graphing

Been pretty slow on the mailing front lately. Since my last post I had a significant couple of car repairs, bought a vintage guitar amp, and had to make a few repairs on it as well. So about $1400 later, it meant my schedule of attending games and even mailing requests has been zero.  I got Bruce Savage back on December 21, but aside from that, nothing received. And nothing sent in ANY sport since my last four went out on January 2.

I did finally manage to get out to a couple games this past weekend to help Ray out with some cards he sent my way. I hadn't been to a single game in Allen since late last season (and that was the lone game I attended that season; the lack of an alumni game has been a killer for me) and hadn't yet gotten out to any games in Mesquite.

Well, I picked a good game to go to for Mesquite. With their starting goalie out with a foot injury and their backup on tour with the US Futsal Team, the Outlaws brought assistant coach and one of the all-time greats, Edilson "Sagu" Xavier out of retirement on an emergency basis. Now age 46, his last pro game was in January 2015, a 9-5 win at Brownsville for the Sidekicks.

Sagu looked like he hadn't lost a step. Aside from a disastrous second quarter, he was 17/19 in goal including a clean sheet in the opening quarter. Outlaws took home a 11-7 victory. Sagu's 177th career win keeps him at 10th all-time in all indoor leagues. Amazingly, this was the first time I ever saw him play in-person.

Indoor soccer's tenth-winningest netminder...

The Outlaws do the same as the Sidekicks with an on-field postgame signing, so I was able to knock out several of the cards that Ray sent down: Rio Ramirez, Mitchell Cardenas, Brenden Lee, Jorge DeLeon, Jay Jay Oteze, and Ramon Nunez, plus a Cody Ellis card that I still had left from the Sidekicks.  Had I thought about it, I would have brought a Sidekicks or Blast logo card for Sagu to sign.  Tatu was also signing on the field afterward. I have several items left for him, but the line near him was always long so I didn't want to hog it with my stuff, so I just got a photo with him. I also ran into Dave and Mark, two 'graphers I hang out with a lot at Sidekicks games.

... and its third-leading point scorer.

Sunday was a trip out to Allen to see the Sidekicks. Kind of the opposite game: Sidekicks led 6-1 late in the second quarter before going on to lose 8-7. Can't even blame Bozas' coaching for this one: he's serving a two game suspension. On a more positive note, I had cards for ten players who were in the Sidekicks' lineup. Signing a pair each were Lipe DeAndrade, Andy Ordonez, Chris Sendejas, Felipe DeSouza, Josh Hernandez, Kristian Quintana, Raul De La Gala, Dario Joya, and Victor Almendariz.

Mesquite and Dallas are both out of playoff contention so my IP 'graphing season is over just as soon as it started.  Meanwhile, I'm hoping to get back to mailing soon. I have a lot of IP baseball outings coming up, but I'll try to fit in whatever I can both timewise and moneywise.

My Christmas List and A Podcast Appearance!

A rare non-indoor, non-autograph post!

First off, the podcast: I appeared on the awesome TTMCast with Jeff Baker. We mostly talked about other sports autographs, but I did touch briefly on the indoor soccer project for a bit as well, stuck in between a lot of hockey and baseball talk.  Check it out though, it was fun to do!

TTMCast.com is the site for all of his podcasts; mine is on the 12/22 episode.

And now, let's see if some of you can help me out. I'd like to try to finish a few unsigned soccer sets that I have. Got lots of doubles, inserts, and parallels to trade in these sets and a few others. Here's what I need...

1992 Score Italian: 392, 419

2016-17 Aficionado: 8, 24, 39, 46, 56, 66, 82, 86, 87, 98, 103, 108, 110, 136, 139, 144, 148

2018 Prizm World Cup: 1, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13, 18, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, 31, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, 51, 53, 54, 55, 63, 64, 65, 67, 70, 74, 78, 79, 82, 88, 89, 91, 93, 96, 97, 101, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 113, 114, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 131, 133, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 143, 148, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 176, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 185, 188, 192, 194, 195, 196, 197, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 210, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 229, 230, 231, 232, 235, 236, 242, 244, 245, 246, 247, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 268, 272, 273, 274, 275, 277, 278, 279, 284, 286, 287, 288, 289, 293, 299, 300

2018-19 Donruss Soccer
Base: 13, 40, 55, 83, 97
Dominators: D-7, D-8
Donruss 89 Tribute: DT-6, DT-8, DT-10, DT-16
Elite Series: ES-1, ES-2, ES-7, ES-11, ES-13, ES-18
Legends Series: LS-1, LS-4, LS-5, LS-6, LS-9
Magicians: M-2, M-5, M-9, M-10, M-17
Out of This World: OW-2, OW-9
Optic Base: 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 18, 22, 24, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 54, 64, 65, 66, 69, 75, 76, 79, 80, 81, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 105, 117, 120, 132, 133, 139, 140, 151, 152, 154, 191

I'd prefer to trade rather than buy, though I know I can get several of these on SportLots. Let me know your needs in a comment or an email (drewpelto at gmail) and I can see what I have up for trade.