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.

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.

MISL40 Recap

I'll admit freely that I was a skeptic when two weeks out, the organizers of MISL40 were still looking for contact info on about 300 former players.  But yet, the entire event went off quite well and I was able to get over 140 cards and photos signed.

I arrived in Las Vegas, checked in, and got all my stuff together... and still arrived at the welcome reception earlier than everyone else. After a while I saw a few people that I recognized as Kai Haaskivi passed by, along with John Louis (trainer from the Chicago Sting). After a while, the doors opened and we all went in. I got to talking for a bit with someone I later found out was Brad Smith. He actually remembered that I wrote to him, and also signed three more cards I had with me.  He asked if Ralph Black was coming-- he wasn't unfortunately.

I laughed at his mentioning of Black, asking "Gonna have round two out in the hallway here?" referring to their 1991-92 season fight in Tacoma.  Smith laughed and said "You know, after all that we're actually really good friends now."  It's like Darren McCarty said about hockey fights: you go and pound each other's faces in, and then after the game you buy each other a drink.

A trio of cards from Brad Smith

After a break for some food, a chance to talk to a few fans who showed up (notably Cowboy Salazar from San Diego and Joey Thomas from Dallas who was getting a lot of cards signed as well; Sockers fan Gabriel Clum showed up the next day as well with a binder full of photos to get signed) and to just stand back, take it all in, see these guys all interact with each other, I started making the rounds.  Guy Newman came by to talk to Cowboy and signed a photo for me.

Oh yeah, I had a few guys from the Philadelphia Fever (including 76ers broadcaster Marc Zumoff) see my Cleveland Force shirt and apparently had to settle a bet among them that I wouldn't be able to answer their question: Who was known as Ruben Twelve Letters?

Now, going back to my hockey broadcasting days I was known as "The Schwab" because of my trivia prowess and the ESPN show Stump The Schwab where amateur trivia gurus go up against ESPN statistician Howie Schwab in an all-out trivia battle royale. So whoever bet against me lost when I quickly named Ruben Astigarraga, former forward for the Force and the ASL's Cleveland Cobras.

Dave MacKenzie was next up, signing nine cards for me and laughing about the card of Mike Sweeney from 1988-89 that depicts him instead of his fellow countryman.  His wife asked to see the cards I had with me so I got the binder of the entire set project for her to check out.  At the same table were Billy McNicol and Norman Piper, who each signed a photo.

Nine cards from Dave MacKenzie, AKA Not Mike Sweeney

Alan Mayer was one of the newest inductees into the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame (two members of the Class of 2019 came out for the weekend, Roy Turner being the other). His son and grandson both came with him and were around at events the entire weekend. He signed seven cards and a photo that I had with me. I also spent some time chatting with Dave D'Errico about what he's been up to in the business world-- he's been working on a project that's like a pumped-up version of LinkedIn that has a ton of potential. He also signed a photo for me.

The Kamikaze, Alan Mayer

Juli Veee was a major one I was hoping to meet. The aforementioned Greg Suttie helped me out in getting my set cards signed for me a while back so I was pretty much all set on him, but I agreed to help out a couple of local collectors in Dave and Brian (both of whom have been mentioned on here before) as they've helped me out a lot in the past with player ID'ing at Sidekicks events and hooking me up with cards when needed. I also printed up a photo of Veee as well. He signed all of them, and even said he had never seen the photo before, asking me to email it to him when I had a moment.  He said it's been tough to find color photos from the MISL.  Veee also brought along prints of some of his artwork for everyone to take with them. A lot of the players were even having each other sign them to commemorate the reunion.

Over the weekend, we had a late addition to the list in Godfrey Ingram. Luckily, I had success in mailing to Ingram, sending to an address in the UK, and getting it back with a US stamp and a San Diego postmark. Attempts from other collectors to addresses in San Diego and St. Louis were unsuccessful, so he's been a tough one to get a hold of.  Fortunately in-person he was incredibly personable. I had a ton of cards with me and he was excited to sign them all, saying that he had never seen a few of them before.

Godfrey saw the cards and photo I had of Gordon Jago and it stopped him dead in his tracks. So he went with me over to Gordon saying he wanted to show that one off to him and presents it to Gordon's table with a "Long long ago... in a galaxy far far away..." and turns over the photo showing a young Gordon Jago at the Meadowlands in New Jersey when he was Tampa Bay's coach.  Gordon signed it and three other cards I had with me.

I'm surprised I had any cards of him left!

Perry Van der Beck was another late addition that I found out about a day or two before the event, but I was able to pull a few cards of him. I had gotten most of mine signed at the NASL event back in the fall, but fortnately I had a couple and Brian came through with a bunch. I followed that up with Nick Megaloudis signing a photo.

I had about five more of the 1991-92 card, but I felt this was plenty

The last two for the night were Gerry Gray and Zoltan Toth. "Gerry with a G, Gray with an A" as he put it is a member of the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame's class of 2001.

Seven cards from Gerry Gray

Zollie the Goalie was great-- lots of stories about the Sockers' championships in the 80s and 90s. Apparently the team owner was upset at their 1988 sweep of the Cleveland Force for the championship-- by not winning in five in the home arena, that was a potential for one more huge crowd that he lost out on.  He signed a bunch of cards I had as well, including finishing the dual with him and Victor Nogueira from the 1990-91 set. I had one signed by each, but now I finally have a completed one.

I haven't posted the photos yet since I took a shot of them all together. Back about a year ago, I printed business cards for myself in the style of the 1989-90 Pacific set, since it was my favorite design of the MISL sets and easy to replicate. So I reused my Photoshop template for it, enlarged it to 4x6, and printed off photos for several of the players to sign. I had to take some liberties on the colors of the name box: several of the teams weren't around when the sets came out, so I took a guess at what color they likely would have used.

Day Two started off with an Uber over to a soccer facility to go out and kick it around a bit.  It's pretty cool getting to just sit back and listen to Gerry Gray, John Louis, and Kai Haaskivi just talking soccer. At one point Louis asked Kai if he was Danish, and Kai responded that no, he was Finnish. So Louis apologizes, saying he didn't mean to insult him if he accidentally did, and I said "It could be worse, you could have said Swedish," to which Kai deadpans in typical Finnish fashion "He would have to get out and walk if he had said that."

I wasn't planning on playing at all, just maybe kick it around a bit and then sit back and watch. But as I was standing getting ready to take pictures, Cowboy comes running off the field and gets into his goalie gear. I asked if they need another goalie and he said they could use one since the other team didn't have one. So I scrambled to get my shirt and gloves on and jumped in on a team with Gray, Ingram, D'Errico, Kenny Mayer (Alan's son), Dallas fan Joey Thomas, Sydney Nusinov of the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame, Doc Lawson, and Bob Bozada.  A few minutes in, the first shot comes rolling in on me... and I manage to mishandle it right into the net, leading D'Errico to shout "Who the hell gave us the Swiss National Team's keeper?!"  But after letting that one in, I played pretty well with a couple decent saves. We lost 4-3 with 1980 Rookie of the Year winner Jim Sinclair sniping me upper 90 just moments after a free kick.  No one could have stopped that one-- absolutely perfect placement on it. Alan Mayer said "You really should have had that winner. I mean, all you had to do is jump about five feet in the air, stretch out as far as you can, and get about eight inches taller, that should have been an easy one!"  Juli Veee said I played well in goal: I'll take praise from an Indoor Soccer HOF member over the win ANY day.

After the game, Gus Mokalis signed the cards I had plus a photo, Sinclair signed his photo (shown above) and Bozada signed an index card since I had nothing else for him as a super-late addition. I rode back with Mayer, Sinclair, and MacKenzie, hearing a few more stories, with Mayer lamenting the fact that players used to always use Vaseline on their knees to prevent rug burn from the turf and it would get all over the ball and make it tough for a goalie to handle. I told them I was using that as my excuse on that first goal.  Did you know MacKenzie played both soccer and hockey at Colgate? He left the school as the hockey team's fifth leading scorer all-time and still goes back for their alumni game.

In hindsight, I should have asked Sinclair to add "MISL40 Game Winner"

Later that night, we had the Hall of Fame dinner, where Doug Verb thanked everyone for attending and teamed up with Nusinov for the induction of the newest class, recognition of past inductees who were in attendance, and a memorial recognition of HOF members Ron Newman, Earl Foreman, and Fernando Clavijo, all of whom passed away in the last twelve months. I also was able to get the last two players I had cards of to sign theirs: Doc Lawson and Kai Haaskivi. Len Bilous, 1980 co-Coach of the Year winner, also signed an index card for me.

If you've never met him, Doc is one of the nicest people you could ever meet (well really, I haven't met any bad people in the indoor soccer world). He does a lot of work with youth sports in his native country of Liberia. One of the best stories I've heard from his playing days was close to the end of his playing career. Richard Chinapoo, previously of the Dallas Sidekicks, had just signed with Baltimore and moved his family halfway across the country to play with the Blast. Late in the season, the Sidekicks were appearing likely to be out of playoff contention, but they wanted to give Doc one more chance at a championship before he retired, and were all set to send him to the defense-hungry Blast in exchange for Chinapoo. But Doc vetoed the trade. He believed it wouldn't be right for Chinapoo to have to uproot his family yet again.

You'll have to pardon any over-pontificating I do of Haaskivi.  Being half Finnish myself, I follow a lot of Finnish athletes. Finland is usually best-known for hockey, ski jumping, pesapallo, and eukonkanto. We aren't well represented outside of those sports in America: in the NFL there was Tyler Varga; basketball only has Lauri Markkanen, Erik Murphy, Hanno Mottola, and Drew Gooden; in baseball it's only Jeff Lahti, Kevin Tapani, Luke Putkonen, Chad Mottola, and Will Ohman. The soccer team has yet to ever qualify to play in a World Cup or UEFA Euro Championship, recently was promoted to the B Division of the UEFA Nations League, and only qualified for the Olympics in 1980, 1952 as the host country, and 1936 where they finished 14th ahead of only Luxembourg and Turkey.

So to have not only an indoor soccer Hall of Famer, but one who played in my homeland of Cleveland? You're damn right I'm a fan. I actually met Kai when I was about two years old-- my family attended a Finnish church near Cleveland and he made a few appearances there. I remember getting a card of him in the first pack of soccer cards I ever got when I was about six or seven years old from the Dairy Mart up the road from my house. So getting to meet him at the NASL50 event back in the fall and again at MISL40 was great.

Typically I try to limit to no more than a single page of cards for a player to sign.  This is one event where I made an exception: seeing as I was helping out Dave and Brian with some cards and also considering I didn't know if I'd ever have a chance to see some of these guys again, I felt it was reasonable to do so. And no one seemed to mind either-- these guys got a kick out of seeing the cards and photos and would have sat and signed and recounted stories all day. I figured it would be like that-- so many players I've mailed to have written notes back, which you rarely ever see in other sports.

Here's to hoping we'll see a MISL50 event in another ten years!

MISL40 Confirmations

Names are slowly trickling out as to who will be in Las Vegas next week! Approximately 50-75 guests are expected to be in attendance according to Doug Verb's interview on Soccer Sam's radio show "Kick This!" in Rochester this past weekend. This is the first time I've heard an actual number attached to it. I don't know if this is just former players, or also includes execs or even fans. But whichever way, it sounds like a pretty nifty turnout.

Confirmed so far?

From Doug Verb: Doug himself, Ed Tepper, Juli Veee, Zoltan Toth, Kai Haaskivi, Guy Newman, Roy Turner, Billy McNicol, David D'Errico, Doc Lawson, and Gerry Gray.

Added by Greg Suttie: Paul Wright, Gus Mokalis, Chico Borja, Alan Mayer.

Added by Sydney Nusinov: Gordon Jago

Brad Smith has also said he will be attending, and there have been comments talking about a meet and greet with Eric Wynalda-- not an indoor player, but still well-known in American outdoor soccer.  Wynalda coaches the USL's Las Vegas Lights, and I believe we're attending the Lights vs. LA Galaxy II game at Cashman Field. So even if there's no M&G, I might be able to get him there, and I'll get to see a legendary minor league stadium that also hosted a few Oakland A's regular season games in 1996. Or I may venture down to the strip that night because come on, July 4 in Las Vegas? THAT is the way to do it.

So that's 16 names. I know the schedule talks about a Hall Of Fame get together, and some comments have been made about trying to get all the living Indoor Soccer HOF members as well (in addition to a few already confirmed, that would be Victor Nogueira, Kim Roentved, Tatu, Steve Zungul, Brian Quinn, Mike Stankovic, Dale Mitchell, Erik Rasmussen, Bruce Savage, Daryl Doran, Zoran Karic, Pato Margetic, Hector Marinaro, Shep Messing, Kenny Cooper, Timo Liekoski, and Keith Tozer; Kevin Crow, Branko Segota, and Don Popovic have already said they unfortunately can't make it, and Preki probably can't due to coaching duties with the Seattle Sounders). Hopefully some of these guys will be there.

Who am I hoping to see most? I might do a celebratory dance if I see Waad Hirmez, Dennis Mepham, Steve Kinsey, David Byrne, Kia, George Fernandez, Bernie James, Dale Mitchell, Dale Ervine, Victor Nogueira, Dave Hoggan, Gregg Willin, Bobo Lucic, Claudio De Oliveira, or Chris Hundelt. I either need multiple cards signed by them, or need them on a multi-player card to complete it. Stuart Lee too: I'd like to finish off my 1987-88 Sidekicks game program.

I'll add more names as they're announced...

June 27: Nick Megaloudis has confirmed he will be in attendance.

June 30: Doug added Jim Sinclair, David MacWilliams, David MacKenzie, Godfrey Ingram, and Len Bilous. Said 8 Hall of Famers will be there. By my count, we're at 23 names.

Vegas Prep

Sounds like some fancy-ass private high school, right?

Nah, just getting ready for the trip to MISL40.

It'll be tough limiting my baggage-- I'm flying with Sun Country, so I can carry a personal item for free (17x13x9), or a slightly larger (24x16x11, 35 lbs.) carry-on for a fee. I can get away without checking anything, but I may have to bite the bullet on the carry-on. I have three card boxes and two binders, plus clothes, some photos, a few other autograph-related items (envelopes and stamps in case someone says "Oh, I can get those signed for you," Sharpies, index cards) and basic living stuff so it might not be doable in something the size of a laptop computer case or small backpack.

Positive note, at least the photos aren't 11x14 the way they are when I go to the National Sports Collectors Convention. Of course, if I could find photos that size on a few players, I probably would print them.

I just got a couple new shirts as well-- OldSchoolShirts.com had Cleveland Force and Crunch shirts so I grabbed one of each. For you fans of the other MISL teams out there, they also have Baltimore Blast, NY Arrows, Philly Fever, Pittsburgh Spirit, Chicago Horizons and Sting, St. Louis Storm, Wichita Wings, Hartford Hellions, Phoenix Inferno, L.A. Lazers, Buffalo Stallions, Las Vegas and Memphis Americans, and a MISL logo shirt. And that's not even including the outdoor and non-MISL indoor teams they have, plus several defunct teams and leagues in other sports.

I didn't find it really odd that the active teams don't have shirts (probably some major trademark protection on them), but moreso that the Baltimore Blast DO have one-- the only still-used MISL name to have one. So no Sidekicks, Stars, Sockers, or Comets. But also no St. Louis Steamers or Minnesota Strikers?!

I also grabbed some extra cards on SportLots and eBay to fill in some gaps-- including a 1980s Kansas City Comets team set. I saw a few L.A. Lazers and Memphis Americans sets, but they were more than I was looking to spend. And as alluded to above, I'll put together some 4x6 photos on a few players, done in the style of the 1989-90 Pacific set. Plus an 8x10 of me with Kai Haaskivi from back in October.

I haven't heard any more news on potential players for it. Over on Turf and Boards, Sydney Nusinov makes mentions of a few players that I hope will be there, along with the schedule of events. And Greg Suttie has mentioned a few players in Facebook groups that have he has near-100% confirmation from.

I also grabbed a few cards of Eric Wynalda, as he's head coach of the USL's Las Vegas Lights. They'll be playing against the LA Galaxy II. I'll grab some Pete Rose cards too-- after all, it's Las Vegas AND he was co-owner of the Cincinnati Kids. I also am considering an Aviators-Aces AAA ballgame, but it's looking unlikely.

Hope I'll see some of you out there!

See you in Vegas!

It's official, I'll be at the MISL 40th Anniversary Reunion celebration in July!

I reserved my hotel spot, along with my ticket for the invite-only events and plane ticket so I'm all set to be there for everything.

I haven't heard any official list of former players who will be there yet, aside from Greg Suttie mentioning that he's gotten Juli Veee, Zoltan Toth, George Katakalidis, and Cha Cha Namdar likely to be there. Alan Mayer has also said he will be there along with Norman Piper, league co-founders Doug Verb and Ed Tepper and the family of legendary coach Ron Newman.

Several historians of the game will be there as well-- I'm seeing the likes of the aforementioned Greg Suttie of the Suttie on Soccer podcast and Sydney Nusinov of the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame.

A few have said they won't be able to attend, including Otto Orf, Branko Segota, Marco Rizi, Paul Dougherty, and Marty Templin.

And it looks like there's at least interest in attending from players Chico Borja, Doc Lawson, Kia Zolgharnain, Dave MacKenzie, Keith Tozer, Hayden Knight, Freddy Garcia, Dave MacWilliams, and Gerry Gray; coaches Joe Machnik, Len Bilous, and Roy Turner; exec Paul Garofolo; and broadcaster Randy Hahn. Hopefully we'll see more added to that list!

Either way, I plan to carry every unsigned card I have with me, especially those I need for my sets. And I may even take the signed collection with me to show off and possibly doubles to trade if there are other collectors in attendance. I know a few have expressed interest.

Doing a little housekeeping on here, I added the 1992-93 NPSL set officially to the project and took down the Soccer Shots set-- a little bit of a tradeoff, making one available as deal bait while adding the other officially to the canon.

NASL 50th and a TTM success

Man... What a weekend!  I came away with a good 40-some cards and photos signed over two days. And I probably could have gotten even more.

A couple weeks ahead, Ray sent me some cards from Baltimore to get signed for him, along with a ticket stub and program from the 2002 MISL All-Star Game, which I attended in Cleveland. He said the program and stub are mine for getting stuff signed for him, and if I get a lot sone, there would be more headed my way.

So on Saturday, I made the drive across to Frisco for the players' practice, scheduled for 9:30.  I had no idea where to go, and every parking lot had a ridiculous $20 price tag, so I drove out to the practice fields and found a lot that was free, open, and already had a car parked in it. Perfect.

I got out and was getting ready to walk toward the stadium when the guy in the car called out to me, asking if I was there for the NASL practice. He said he was too and we got to talking for a while, said his name was Leroy, and he was playing in it.  We just chatted for a good 30 minutes or so about soccer as other cars began to arrive.  I realized quickly this was Leroy Spann, former San Jose Earthquakes forward.  Charlie Kadupski, a former Cleveland Cobra, came over and joined in our conversation, followed soon after by three others-- Freddie Garcia (former Cleveland Force), Zequinha (former Detroit Lightning), and Rudy Pena (former Milwaukee Wave), joined by their wives who came to watch.  All signed their cards for me while we chatted and I got to listen in on their recollections of playing in the NASL, MISL, AISA, and NCAA.

As I stood outside the fences watching once practice started, a guy walked by and told me to come on in-- Steve Parker a longtime trainer who was around for the weekend's festivities.  So I got to watch the practice from pretty much right on the sidelines.

I also ran into Brian from Kansas City, another collector that I've known a while and had dinner with on my summer baseball roadtrip. Of course several other local collectors were around in Brian, Dave, and Mark. Soccer fortunately doesn't draw out too many crazies the way the big four sports do.

From there, it was all a blur. I know that at points during that first day between the practice and going over to the team hotel, I got autographs from Jan Book, Buzz Demling, Dave D'Errico, Peter Chandler, Doc Lawson, Art and Asher Welch, Roger Verdi, Jorge Siega, Charlie Mitchell, Alan Merrick, Freddie Lewis, Billy Phillips, Victor Moreland, Perry Van der Beck, and Kai Haaskivi.

As Ray said when I sent him this picture, "That's one fine pic of Kai.
Too bad he had to stand with some collector dude to get his pic taken."
Also, its rare to get two Finns smiling at the same time.

I also got to chat a while with Greg Suttie, who runs the MASL Off The Wall group on Facebook, and also has become kind of THE national media maven for the sport with a podcast and website on all things indoor soccer.  One random journalist took a picture of me holding my Kai Haaskivi cards while at practice, and took note of my project and my name as we talked about the sport, this event, and even the sports collectibles hobby in general.  I don't know what agency he was writing for, but I'll keep an eye out for it.

Sunday, I did practice again in the morning, followed by the game later in the day. Arron joined me as well for it. At practice, Kyle Rote and I ended up chatting for a bit beforehand and he signed a card I had from Ray. I also got Mike Sweeney on some set needs, plus Bobby Moffatt, Lincoln Phillips, and Arnie Mausser for Ray.

Postgame, I was able to get right down on the field for a bit, where Kevin Eagan and Tom King signed. Up on the concourse, I got Tatu, Ossie Vasquez, Jim Leeker, Mark Demling, and Alan Willey.

Talking to a few guys, Dave D'Errico told me he's archiving as much as he can on American soccer-- programs, photos, articles, anything. I have his number to contact him about it. Also, Billy Phillips told me to email him about some old Sidekicks items he has-- many leftover programs and such.

Overall, this was a great event. There were a few hiccups in planning here and there-- for example stadium security didn't know about the autograph signing, but they were more than happy to let us stay extra, leaving a gate open for us to exit.  The players and their families were great to the fans and really enjoyed getting out on the field again and seeing their former teammates and competitors. Spann was telling me he still plays for a traveling senior tournament team and it showed-- he had himself a hat trick in the game.

Here's to hoping the MISL 40th anniversary event can happen as well as this one did!

Several players wives wanted to see the cards I had (including Zequinha's wife who had never seen the photos on the cards I had before, and took a picture of them) and some took pictures of them signing for me.

Oh yeah, the TTM-- I got Preki back in about a month, signing all five cards I sent, including finishing off the 1991-92 St. Louis All-Stars card.

Lost and Found, Part II

I'm in Ohio.  I went to my dad's house today.

I emerged with this.

This pennant was signed by nearly every member of the 2001-02 MISL All-Star and Alumni Game teams at their FanFest at the Cleveland SportsPlex in Warrensville Heights, Ohio.

Give me a day or ten (I'm a bit busy with baseball 'graphing) and I'll try to have a clear ID of every signature on it.

Throwback Thur... err, Flashback Fri... no... Superannuated Saturday!

I can't believe I found this!

I was clearing off an old flash drive today so I could take one with me to save some Genealogy info on at the library. Unfortunately a migraine foiled my plans.

It's cleared up significantly now, fortunately. So I went through the stuff from the flash drive. And came across some photos dating back into high school.

You may remember that this project started in earnest back in 2002 when I went to the MISL All-Star Game, including the Skills Competition and Fan Fest. Some random person (apparently named Nathaniel Schaffer) took photos at the Fan Fest. And I appeared in two of them while getting autographs.

Here's to hoping I can track Schaffer down and see if he has more!

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.

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.

An Outing in Allen

Only ten days between updates?!

Fortunately I was able to go to the Sidekicks' Alumni Game. The list of players was smaller than previous years, but it still was good. The Alumni Game lasted a whole three minutes. I know at least one player wasn't too happy about that. I hope they expand it out more next season. It's just kind of insulting and a waste of time to give them only three minutes. Perhaps they could do like the Dallas Stars and make it into a postgame event. Play the regular game at 4 pm, then have a shorter game, maybe two ten-minute halves starting an hour afterward.

I only had cards on six players, but as usual they signed everything I had. I was hanging out with the three other local collectors I've probably mentioned on here, Brian, Dave, and Mark. Mike Powers was the first one we saw, and he signed all ten cards I had. Powers is always great, enjoys talking to fans, gives a great sig, and is careful on his placement of it, trying to put it in a good, visible spot.

Doc Lawson came by next, signing nine. Brian used to work with him so of course they had a great time chatting. I've probably mentioned Doc's charity on here before but if I haven't definitely go and check it out. And even if I have, it certainly can use extra promotion. Donami Sport is working to expand youth soccer in Lawson's birth land of Liberia, a West African country that has been hit hard by civil war and outbreaks of Ebola.

We saw Victor Moreland come through after that. He was walking with a cane, but we did see him on the field moving around alright during the game. He signed the four I had with me (and 8 more later on) and mentioned that he signs his full name on Wichita Wings cards, but just his last name on others. I always like knowing about signing quirks like that.

Gordon Jago stopped and chatted for a good while as well. It's always great hearing his stories. For example, we learned that he worked with the Baltimore Orioles during their 1970 Championship season. While coaching the Baltimore Bays, who were owned by Orioles' owner Jerold Hoffberger, he worked in the Orioles' front office on the side as well. It's not every day you get to say you talked to someone who was member of a World Series winner AND is an Indoor Soccer Hall of Famer AND  was knighted a member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He has a book coming out soon as well, and he signed three cards for me.

I also was able to help Ray in Baltimore out with a Jay Bednar sig. Brian actually played defense in high school in front of Bednar.

We watched the first half of the game and the Alumni match before heading to the concourse. David Doyle was the first one we saw, and he signed the three cards I had. I keep forgetting but I'll have to post the Doyle sigs I have, as he's changed how he signs the last few years.

Moreland passed by later and signed again, as did Billy Phillips who signed the two I had.

After the game we waited around hoping to see a few others that I wanted to get for Ray, but had no luck; I think they may have taken the stairs down rather than the elevator.  Out on the field, I was able to get a few current players: Fernando Garza, David Kamali, and Carlos Videla each signed two (one for me and one for Ray), and Tony Santibanez signed the card Ray sent along.

Overall, a pretty good outing. I'm hoping for more and there's still talk that the team might do a salute to the 1987 Champs later in the season, so I'll keep an eye out for that. I'll also be hoping for the next card giveaway to be on a weekend when I'm in town.

Update to start 2017

Not much to talk about on the TTM front. Or in-person for that matter.

DECEMBER 15: George Katakalidis, c/o work, 2/2, 1 month
DECEMBER 19: Craig Allen, c/o son's team, 2/1, 2 months to the UK (wrote note back)
DECEMBER 22: Donald Cogsville, c/o work, 1/1, 1 month
DECEMBER 24: Marty Templin and Herb Silva, 6/4, 9 months (each wrote a note back)
DECEMBER 24: Nenad Markicevic, c/o team, 1/1, 2 months to Serbia

In-person, I went for the Sidekicks on their first trading card giveaway. Looks like they'll have two, maybe three this season. I also got a few signed for Ray out in Baltimore.

Gabe Arredondo 3/3 (2 for Ray)
Ray Aguayo 2/2 (1 for Ray)
Cameron Brown 2/2 (1 for Ray)
VcMor Eligwe 2/2 (1 for Ray)
Cody Ellis 2/2 (1 for Ray)
Mike Jones 2/2 (1 for Ray)
Clint Ritter 2/2 (1 for Ray)
Billy O'Dwyer 1/1 (for Ray)
T.J. Nelson 1/1 (for Ray)
Jose Guillen 1/1 (for Ray)
Clark Binning 1/1 (for Ray)

Sidekicks have their Alumni Game on January 14, so I'm hoping to go out to that one, plus whatever other card giveaways I can get to. My band is hitting the road on a few weekends so my availability may be limited.

That said, if you're near Dallas, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Fayetteville AR, Little Rock, or Abilene, come check us out in the next month or two-- Death Before Breakfast.

A Visit To Allen

I made another trip out for the Sidekicks last night since it was their final regular season home game and thus the last chance to get my (and Ray's) team set cards signed.  I ran into Brian as well-- as expected-- and we finally saw Gordon Jago up in the press box so he signed for us and chatted for a bit-- five cards for me. He did confirm that the Sidekicks will be back again next year. Apparently they didn't know for certain if they would have a team until about three weeks before the start of the season this year. Brian also gave me a bunch of extra cards of the local guys-- those came in handy later.

During the game, Brian messaged me that he was pretty sure he saw David Doyle talking to Jago but wasn't certain. We took a walk at halftime hoping to find him, but no luck.  We did however run into Terry Woodberry who signed the four cards I had from Brian's stash.

After the game, Mike Jones signed a card I had for Ray and Brian told me he did indeed see Doyle, who signed the four I had. His signature was different tonight. I'll post a comparison later. On the field Dejan Milosevic and Patrick Shamu each signed two cards-- one for me, one for Ray. Unfortunately I missed out on David Kamali, didn't see Rubencho signing at all, and never saw the other four I needed (Fernando Garza, Michael Grba, Paul Hason, and Franck Mbemba). To finish off the night, Brian gave me one of the team logo cards from the 1991-92 Soccer Shots set, which Nick Stavrou and Doyle both signed. It looks pretty sharp signed in gold.

This week, I'm planning on getting a roll of stamps and sending out a good 50 requests. Most will be soccer with a few baseball and hockey sprinkled in.  I'll post a list of who I send off to. Also Ray said he'll send me a few as compensation for getting most of the Sidekicks team set signed for him, so I'll certainly post what I get from him as well.

Keeping on top of things...

Anyone who says hockey players are the most gracious signers in pro sports is full of it. It's indoor soccer players. And I say this as one who collects hockey first and foremost.

Sure, the MASL isn't one of the Big 4 Leagues (nor were the NPSL or MISL) but I'm sure most would put the NHL as a very distant fourth among those Big 4-- almost to the point of a Big 3-- and some might even argue to put Nascar or the MLS or even the PGA as the fourth.

But the attitudes of the players is night and day with most others.  Saturday night, I went out to Allen and saw the Sidekicks get stomped to the tune of 13-4 against the league's top team. Afterward, the players still came out and signed at two tables set up on the concourse. Other players who weren't scheduled to be at the table signed as well while walking around. And several more signed out in the parking lot as they left. And I even ran into a much-needed alumni player inside.

Saturday night was trading card night, with Panini sponsoring a 20-card set of players in their Donruss design. Looks sharp-- and I'm not just saying that as a Panini employee, then genuinely look good. After the game, I was able to get 12 signed for myself and also for Ray in Maryland. Clint Ritter, Juan Gamboa, and Cody Ellis were at the first table, with Gamboa even apologizing for the bad scoreboard result. I told him it happens, as a goalie myself in floorball I've been on the short end of a 15-2 score in a tournament. While waiting for them, VcMor Eligwe and R.J. Lauvano signed as well while walking around. On my way to the other table, I ran into Willie Molano, who signed six cards I had of him. This made up nicely for me misidentifying him four weeks prior on Alumni Night.

The other table had Arthur Ivo, Ray Aguayo, and Ricardinho. Cameron Brown, who got hit cheaply from behind resulting in a concussion was even still there, chatting with and signing for fans despite the injury. I was surprised, I thought for sure he'd be in a dark quiet place but there he was. I've gotten a concussion before in hockey-- but that was with a helmet and cage and even with it I was still a bit loopy after the game. My best friend at the time came to the game and afterward I asked when she got there... she rode to the rink with me. She swore she'd never go to a hockey game again.

Anyways, after that the group of us there headed outside and to the back where Jamie Lovegrove, Mike Jones, and Fabinho all signed. Jones was battling a shoulder problem as well-- same guy who took out Brown caught him with a bad hit. At least that one got whistled for two in the box instead of just a free kick. And the guy later got thrown down right in front of the ref with no call.

Meanwhile today I got my first success via mail in a few weeks as Zoran Karic completed my 1991-92 Crunch All-Stars triple, my 1990-91 Karic-Goossens ASG dual, and three others.  I'm planning on getting crazy with the mailings again pretty soon. Not sure who I'll go for first; Brian recommended referee Gino D'Ippolito, so I may try all the referees. I also need to find an address for J.P. Dellacamera to go on my other checklist.

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.

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.

Getting this party started...

I started playing soccer when I was a kid during recess in first grade. I wasn't particularly good and I didn't start playing at an organized level until I was in fifth grade (and still wasn't particularly good, with one goal and six assists in three seasons) but I enjoyed playing and watching. It certainly didn't hurt that it was the only sport my home city of Cleveland had a championship in since 1964 (NPSL champs in 1994, 1996, and 1999), and that two of the top three all-time indoor goal scoring leaders played and still live in Cleveland (Hector Marinaro and Zoran Karic; Michael King, who is fifth all-time, also spent a few seasons there).

Indoor soccer's all-time leading goal scorer

So as soon as I found out that indoor soccer cards do indeed exist, I was buying them. I started collecting cards as a whole when I was six and it wasn't long after those first packs of 1990 Score and Pro Set football, 1990-91 Pro Set hockey, and 1991 Donruss baseball that I found out that the Lawson's up the road from my house (which, after a few name changes, is still in operation as Painesville Food Mart) had some 1990-91 Pacific MISL cards. At the county fair a few years later, I found a few boxes of Pacific's 1991-92 product. I even got a few packs of 1989-90 from a local card shop and some 1987-88 as freebies at a card show.

Now an assistant coach with the Sidekicks

By the time I was in high school, the MISL had died, the NPSL saw growth and its eventual death, and then the MISL returned for a second go-round. In 2002 the All-Star Game and Skills Competition came to Cleveland. To make it even better, the Skills Competition was being held at the Cleveland Metroplex sports complex where I had just finished the high school hockey season. It came with an autograph session with all the players as well as the legends who were playing a Force/Crunch vs. MISL Stars alumni game.  Needless to say, I went through the cards, pulled one of every player who might be there (because the idea of getting multiple cards signed never occurred to me until I started graphing on a serious basis the next year), and went down to North Randall to watch and graph. Somewhere (maybe in my dad's house) there is a 2002 ASG pennant signed by nearly every member of the All-Star Teams as well as the alumni squads. I also managed to get 23 cards signed.

While this is where my quest technically began, it wasn't until 2015 that I really got the itch to put some time into it.  I had mailed out a few requests, having success on Marinaro, Karic, Otto Orf, and Daryl Doran (and coming up with nothing from Tatu). But in 2015 I got free tickets for a few Dallas Sidekicks games in the MASL and went to their Alumni Game in January, getting another 17 cards signed. From there, I set out trying to get every card, picking up the sets I was lacking major quantities on (the first three) and scouring the internet for potential mailing addresses.

One of the few Finns in soccer; most tend to
gravitate toward hockey, running, and skiing

I found most of the players and now sell an address list with all of them on it. Starting this week, I am finally going to test them all out. I figure if I write 40-50 requests per month (that's one roll of stamps), I can get them all tested and mailed out in about six months. I have one out in the mail currently, 34 ready to go tomorrow, and seven more that I just need to write.

I plan to post an update here every time I get a request back, every time I send a batch out, and every time one fails. Of what I've seen of the few requests sent on SCN and of what I know from getting these guys in person, most indoor soccer players love signing and respond very quickly. I hope that continues.

Here's a list of what I have so far, and when and how I got them...

1987-88: Tatu (2002 ASG), Doc Lawson (2002 ASG), Ali Kazemaini (2002 ASG), Marcio Leite (2015 Sidekicks), Gino DiFlorio (2002 ASG), Victor Nogueira (2002 ASG), Charley Greene (2002 ASG), Hector Marinaro (2002 ASG), Dave MacKenzie (2002 ASG).

1988-89: None

1989-90: Zoran Karic (Mail, 2012, 7 days), Cris Vaccaro (2002 ASG), Slobo Ilijevski (2002 ASG).

1990-91: Daryl Doran (Mail, 2012, 10 days), Willie Molano (2015 Sidekicks), Rod Scott (2015 Sidekicks), Benny Dargle (2002 ASG), Hector Marinaro (Mail, 2012, 11 days), David Doyle (2015 Sidekicks), Ron Newman (2002 ASG), Glenn Carbonara (2002 ASG), Marcio Leite (2015 Sidekicks), Terry Woodberry (2015 Sidekicks), Mike Powers (2015 Sidekicks), Krys Sobieski 2x (2015 Sidekicks), Otto Orf (Mail, 2013, 35 days), Zoran Karic (Mail, 2012, 7 days), Kia (2002 ASG), Billy Phillips (2015 Sidekicks).

1991-92: Daryl Doran 2x (2002 ASG and Mail, 2012, 10 days), Branko Segota (2002 ASG), Wes Wade (2002 ASG), Carl Valentine (2002 ASG), Willie Molano (2015 Sidekicks), Richard Chinapoo (2002 ASG), Terry Woodberry (2015 Sidekicks), Mike Powers (2015 Sidekicks), Krys Sobieski (2015 Sidekicks), Roderick Scott (2015 Sidekicks), David Doyle (2015 Sidekicks), Marcio Leite (2015 Sidekicks), Zoran Karic (Mail, 2012, 7 days), Hector Marinaro (Mail, 2012, 11 days), Michael King (2002 ASG), Kai Haaskivi (2002 ASG), Bernie James (2002 ASG), Otto Orf (Mail, 2013, 35 days), Trevor Dawkins (2002 ASG).

I'm going to mail out first to the players from whom I've seen semi-recent successes, and those of whom I have the most cards since I'm planning on writing to them twice. I don't like sending out more than four cards per request, but I'm going to allow myself a hard limit of seven. Most I'm limiting to six or fewer.  The first few are Mark Karpun (sent last week), Jan Goossens, Erik Rasmussen, Kevin Crow, George Fernandez, Ralph Black, Brian Quinn, Gary Heale, Doc Lawson, Kim Roentved, Victor Moreland, Chico Borja, Fernando Clavijo, Thompson Usiyan, Branko Segota, Cris Vaccaro, Steve Zungul, Zoltan Toth, Ben Collins, Beto, Wes McLeod, Andy Schmetzer, Ali Kazemaini, Kia, Kevin Smith, Chico Moreira, Andy Chapman, Troy Snyder, Michael King, Bernie James, P.J. Johns, Richard Chinapoo, David Hoggan, Ron Newman, and Dale Ervine. I also have ready Mike Stankovic, Michael Collins, Steve Kinsey, Tim Wittman, Kenny Cooper, and Mark Frederickson; I just need to write the letters to go into those requests.

Ready to go, hopefully soon to return

I know a few of these guys will be tough: Nogueira, Haaskivi, and Waad Hirmez haven't had any successes via mail, several live in European countries that may not have the best postal systems based on my hockey writing experiences (Dali and Bobo Lucic are both in countries of the former Yugoslavia), several are deceased (Ilijevski, Mike Reynolds, Stan Stamenkovic, Pedro DeBrito, and Billy Ronson to name a few), and some just seem to have disappeared (Nenad Nikolic and Eloy Salgado, anyone? Also, #WheresPreki?).

Tragically, Ilijevski died in 2008 near Seattle,
suffering a ruptured aorta while making a save
in an over-55 tournament game. He played a
record 391 games as a MISL goalie.

I likely will get some help from other collectors along the way. Paul Buxton is a big soccer collector up in Seattle. I also know a few here in the Dallas area, and hopefully I will find some in other cities. I also plan on updating my address list in early 2016. I also have a few cards I'm missing entirely. But I'll post that list another time. This is enough for my opener on this blog.