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.

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.

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).

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.

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).

State of the Project Address

Before we begin, I got Bill Crook back on Saturday-- five cards via his home address in about 2 months.

Wow, four years ago today was my first post here, kicking off the project in earnest. I had gotten several cards signed before this, but really didn't have a goal besides "1. Get stuff signed; 2. ?; 3. Profit." Four years ago today, it began with a goal and some sort of shape.

I didn't really know what to expect when I started this whole thing. I knew that with a few deceased players-- and especially with some on multi-player cards-- that completing this whole thing was unlikely, perhaps impossible. I wasn't even sure that I could ever get a single set totally done. I didn't know if I might get a response of "Who the hell are you?!" from a few players.

And now, here I am only nine cards from finishing the 1987-88 set, and eight cards from completing the 1989-90 set.  The 1987-88 set will be the easier of the two: all nine remaining are alive at least, and as a number of collectors have said, it's still doable if they're all alive.  The 1989-90 set is still lacking the late Dominic Mobilio and Pedro DeBrito.

I've managed to finish all the 1987-88 spelling errors and color variations, and am only one short on the various wrong-photo errors (and that one in the mail to Chris Hundelt).  Even on multi-player cards, I've finished off a handful (one of the 1990-91 Sockers Champs cards, the Nogueira/Toth, the Sidekicks, Comets, and Crunch All-Stars, several 1990-91 ASG action cards, the 1991-92 Borja/Clavijo, and the Crunch, Storm, and Stars All-Stars).

Through this project, I've gotten to meet plenty of fans and a ton of players and coaches: Tatu, Doc Lawson, Kai Haaskivi, Willie Molano, Dev Reeves, Krys Sobieski, Billy Phillips, Marcio Leite, Dave MacKenzie, Mike Sweeney, David Doyle, Rod Scott, Mike Powers, Terry Woodberry, Rusty Troy, Gordon Jago, Victor Moreland, Perry Van der Beck, Alan Willey, Brad Smith, Alan Mayer, Godfrey Ingram, Juli Veee, Gerry Gray, Zoltan Toth, Gus Mokalis, Kenny Cooper, and Roy Turner.

And the number of "Don't ever bother me again" reactions has been... well, zero. A few haven't responded, but that's to be expected. I don't know that every address is correct, and some may have moved with the new occupants just dropping the letter in the trash. And some may just not want to be bothered.

But with the project sitting at over 80% completion, I'd say I've been largely successful.

Keep 'Em Rolling In

Saturday brought another project hit back, with Tim Wittman coming back to me after about three weeks.  I had just gotten his 1992-93 NPSL gold card to go with the base set card, and I added in his 1991-92 Soccer Shots card as well.

Monday: looks like nothing coming today, just part of my order of baseball cards to mail off courtesy of a purchase from SportLots.

I likely will write something this weekend on the four-year anniversary of this blog and project as well. Hopefully I'll have a few successes to cover too...

TUESDAY EDIT: Well, I spoke too soon on the "nothing coming today" comment as one came in that didn't show up on Informed Delivery. Bobo Lucic signed all three I sent to his team in Slovenia. He also returned the $2 I sent to cover return postage.

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.

Finishing with a sure thing

An important lesson I've heard on multi-player cards: Get the hard ones done first.

Of course, flying blind on a project like this as I have been, it's hard to know who the hard ones are going to be. You may send to a guy early and find out he's easy to get and then discover someone else is tough. Or sometimes an easy signer might turn tough out of nowhere. There's nothing worse than getting a few and then never seeing it again: a 1991-92 Kansas City All-Stars card that disappeared on its way to Iain Fraser with Gorsek, Goossens, and Roentved sigs is my biggest tale of woe. I reacquired it with Roentved's sig, and it's currently off to Goossens to try it all again; then Valentine, then Gorsek, and then maybe someone, somewhere, can get me Fraser in-person.

And so with the 1990-91 Cleveland Crunch All-Stars card, how was I to know Kai Haaskivi would be the toughest one to get?  Not that it mattered: I've gotten him a couple times in-person and he was the third one I got on the card out of four. And I actually did it right: I mailed the completely unsigned card off to him first... and never got it back.

I reacquired the card already signed by Michael King via a trade (I thought it was part of my mailed success from him, but as my entry on it proves, it was not; I likely got it from either Ray in Baltimore or Brian in Kansas City).  Mike Sweeney, a solid TTM signer, signed it in-person at the NASL50 event in Dallas back in October. Kai Haaskivi signed it as well there (and signed a few singularly at the MISL40 event in Las Vegas too; good in-person, he's just not accessible TTM as my two mailings including one written in Finnish have shown).

I did it right on the last one at least. I knew Bernie James was a good signer since he had signed his individual cards for me in 18 days back in 2015, not long after King.  This time, it took him only 13 days to return it, finishing off the quad.

This is the first team where I've completed both their 1990-91 AND 1991-92 All-Stars multiplayer cards.  The Sidekicks didn't have one for 1991-92 for unknown reasons (Tatu, Wes McLeod, and Kevin Smith were their All-Stars, and I would have completed this card easily), and Baltimore didn't get one in 1990-91 (Savage, Manning, and Valentine would be gettable now; sadly, Dominic Mobilio would not).

I'm glad this one came back and I hope it starts the ball rolling on more. Considering the number I've gotten back in under two weeks (75 out of 180), I was starting to get a little concerned since I hadn't received anything from my most recent batch yet. Clearly patience is not always my strong suit.

End of year sigh of relief

On the last day of the year, the Scott Manning cards I mentioned in my last entry found their way into my mailbox-- 4 months, and finishes a dual and adds to another multi-player card.

2018 was a lighter year for soccer mailing, but my targeted attempts were successful-- six mailings, five successes with one RTS from Heinz Wirtz. Plus I pulled in a long wait from Brian Quinn, and added several needs in-person at the NASL 50th Anniversary event in Dallas. I also found my 2002 MISL All-Star Game pennant, purchased a large lot of sigs I needed, and though I haven't gotten to a game yet, the Sidekicks are back.

Got one!

I'm a little concerned that my Scott Manning request has been out for three months now with no return. I've seen returns of six weeks and ten days from another collector, and I sent one myself in 2016 that took six weeks. I'm really hoping it didn't get lost, as it was the 1991-92 Blast All-Stars signed by Kenny Cooper, and the 1989-90 Scoop Stanisic error...

Positive note though: I did get Nenad Zigante back after three months! I had mailed him originally in 2015 with no answer to a team he coached (Wake FC). I tried again through a home address in September and got these back. It was postmarked from Las Vegas, which surprised me. It seems he has worked in the past with the Las Vegas Surf club for some camps and clinics, so perhaps he was out there for one.

Still no news on the potential Las Vegas MISL 40th reunion. I'm keeping my ears open, though...

A success, a failure, and some waits

Starting again with the good, former Dallas Sidekick Beto signed for me in a two-week wait, and also wrote a short note back asking where I got the cards of him from. Unfortunately I've gotten then from so many places over the years I don't really have a single source. So if anyone out there has a bunch of unsigned cards of him, please let me know, as it seems he might like some copies of them.

On the bad side, Heinz Wirtz got RTS'ed. I have a couple other addresses on him to try so if anyone has any intel on which to use, please let me know.

I have a few others still out: Scott Manning, Nenad Zigante, and Preki. Manning at least I'm reasonably sure will come back. Preki I'm at least hopeful on. Zigante, I have no idea.

Looking back through history, requests I never got back...

JANUARY 2013
Tatu - I later got everything signed by him so all is good!

SEPTEMBER 2015
Beto - Again, I later got everything from him (see above, haha) so all is good
David Hoggan - No luck via TyneCastle FC
Steve Zungul - Later got all but one (1987-88) signed by him
Erik Rasmussen - One of my few international failures
Mark Frederickson - No answer via a business address, but got him later at home
Steve Kinsey - Still haven't had luck with him

OCTOBER 2015
Dennis Mepham - No luck via a home address
Scoop Stanisic - No luck via Columbus Crew, but got everything later via trades
Nenad Zigante - No answer through Wake FC

MARCH 2016
Kai Haaskivi - Despite being a fellow Finn, I got nothing back
Preki - Just missed him as I had seen a success less than a week before I mailed
Paul Wright - I had an old address for Speed To Burn and never even got a RTS sticker
Jim Gabarra - Missed him with Sky Blue Soccer; but I got him later, we're cool
Kevin Hundelt - Got him in trades later; now I just need to track down Chris...
Pasquale Deluca - Another rare international failure

MAY 2016
Greg Ion - I cannot track this guy down! Two RTS, then this one unreturned...
Iain Fraser - No answer at San Juan Soccer Club

SEPTEMBER 2016
Desmond Armstrong - Nothing through Sporting Nashville
George Fernandez - Nothing via his home address after success a year before
Waad Hirmez - Southwest Soccer Club? No luck...
Victor Nogueira - West Coast FC? No luck...
Joe Papaleo - Syracuse Development Academy? Nothing...
Gregg Willin - Nothing from a home address...
Wes Wade - No answer from the Tucson Soccer Academy...
Ted Krafft - No luck from a home address, but later got him via trades
Mike Brady - No answer via Duke

NOVEMBER 2016
Poli Garcia - Tried a home address without luck

MAY 2017
Marcelo Carrera - No answer from IMG
Bobby Joe Esposito - No answer from BCSA
Dennis Mepham - No answer from a second home address
Hugo Perez - No answer from the LA United Futbol Academy
Gyula Visneyi - Nothing from a home address
Steve Zungul - No answer in my attempt for the 1987-88 card
Ed Anibal - No answer through home
John Klein - No luck, but later got in trades
Arturo Velazco - Nothing via home
Keder - Maybe I just need to avoid mailing to West Coast FC; No Keder, no Victor Nogueira.
Frank Klopas - Nothing via home, but got him in trades later
Greg Muhr - Nothing via home
Angelo Panzetta - Nothing via Allegheny
Chris Simon - Nothing via home

AUGUST 2017
Danny Pena - Nothing from the Beach Futbol Club

At a little over three years into the project my percentage is great overall: successful with 176, RTS/unsigned on 34, and 46 unreturned. Of all the sports I collect, only baseball has a higher success percentage for me-- but soccer involves a lot more rolling the dice and trying addresses that no one else ever has tested before, while with baseball I can research and know who signs and who doesn't.

A success, and a delay

Let's start with the good.

Got Jim Gabarra back last week, signing three cards, so that inches me closer on the 88/89, 90/91, and 91/92 sets.

I also sent requests out to Preki, Beto, Heinz Wirtz, Scott Manning, and Nenad Zigante. We'll keep the fingers crossed...

The bad news: It looks like the MISL 40th Anniversary event will be moved back to the spring.

And that's not necessarily bad, really. I was hoping to go up to Cleveland at Christmas, and doing a Vegas weekend and a Cleveland week so close together would be tough, if not impossible. This helps give me some time to potentially do both if I can swing it.

I saw a few former players' names on the email list for it, so I'm hoping that we might get several interested. And giving a few extra months for preparation and keeping it away from a major holiday should help to get some more in.

Who would I like to see? Well, namely...

Ed Anibal, Desmond Armstrong, Beto, Mike Brady, David Byrne, Bill Crook, Dali, Pasquale Deluca, Claudio De Oliveira, B.J. Esposito, George Fernandez, Poli Garcia, Omar Gomez, Kai Haaskivi, Damir Haramina, Chris Haywood, Alan Hinton, Waad Hirmez, David Hoggan, Chris Hundelt, Greg Ion, Majid Jay, Mark Karpun, Keder, Mark Kerlin, Steve Kinsey, Bobo Lucic, Scott Manning, Pato Margetic, Dennis Mepham, Dale Mitchell, Victor Moreland, Victor Nogueira, Angelo Panzetta, Joe Papaleo, Hugo Perez, Paul Peschisolido, Preki, Erik Rasmussen, Frank Rasmussen, Terry Rowe, Chris Simon, Rick Snyder, Tatu, Carl Valentine, Juli Veee, Arturo Velazco, Gregg Willin, Heinz Wirtz, Nenad Zigante, and Steve Zungul

And anyone on a multi-player card that I don't have finished. Yeah, I'm a bit transparent in what I want, aren't I?

I might also have some help on those guys before then. Someone might be able to get me Juli Veee, and Kai Haaskivi will be at the NASL event next month here in Dallas. And some that I've mailed off might come back. And I might gamble on a few more European mailings.

To be honest, though, the answer is anyone. I may have to go seek out some photos to get signed since I'm nearly 80% of the way into the card sets.  I'd hope to find some that I could blow up to 11x14, but that might be tough. I could go for 8x10 at least, maybe even down to 5x7 if I have to.

Lost and Found: The value of networking

A month back, I lamented missing out on a much-needed eBay auction. After a frustrated Facebook post about missing out on it and cursing the universe for its timing in my being unable to buy it due to the upcoming trip to the National Sports Collectors Convention, I put out a call to find out who bought it.

It wasn't Rob, or Ray, or Doc; but Ray and I did email the seller asking him to pass our information on to the buyer if possible.

So then local collector and friend Brian messaged me on Facebook, asking me about the lot that I was interested in. And a day later as we were both getting prepared for 'graphing the NHL Draft (quite a fruitful weekend, I must say; if you're a hockey fan I recapped it on my other blog) I get a call from him.

He said after seeing my post and frustration that he was hesitating to tell me, but he was the buyer of it! Which actually was the best possible result I could have gotten from it. More than anything I just wanted to know where they were because of some set rarities, like the aforementioned Scoop Stanisic corrected version.

It was an amazing coincidence. I have an eBay saved search for any signed Pacific MISL cards, so any time some come up for auction I get an email notification. I didn't get one on this. Brian and I both happened to search on the same day for soccer autographs on a total whim, came across it, both put in offers a few hours apart, and his got picked.

Brian offered me even better-- there were some he wanted for his own collection, mostly any MISL guys that he didn't have anything from and the Dominic Mobilio sigs, but after that he was willing to give me a good deal on any that I might need that he didn't-- including most of the 1992-93 NPSL ones.

I'm still considering the 1992-93 Pacific NPSL set to be non-canon and a side project, but I have 2/3 of it finished it off thanks to his offer.

The moral of the story: get in good with your fellow collectors. You never know when they can help you out (and you them).

First mailday in seven months

Wow, I've been pretty quiet, haven't I?

I keep on talking about buying the unsigned cards I'm missing but haven't yet. Still. My spare money is all going toward the National and the NHL Draft, so maybe I'll finally get around to it in August or September. That will mark three years since I started hitting it hard, so it's probably a good time to go for a final push.

That first batch was sent on September 5, 2015 to a total of 27 players. Some came back quickly-- Michael King and Wes McLeod in a week.  Some never came back-- Beto, David Hoggan, Steve Zungul (whom I later got), and Erik Rasmussen.

And one I just got back yesterday-- 1,017 days later. I mailed to Brian Quinn at San Diego Soccer Club and had given up; I was going to try him via University of San Diego, perhaps even a home address. Instead, yesterday I came home to six cards signed in black, with my letter folded up neatly around it for protection.

I'm not overly hopeful about finding any MISL stuff at the National, but I'll still be keeping an eye out and have my want list with me. I saw a bunch recently on eBay, but they're all ones I already have and have pretty high price tags; having gotten a 1987-88 Preki a while back for a buck or two, I couldn't justify paying the $12-15 price tags for him and others who are still alive.

Well that answers my question...

Back on August 16 I said...

"I also have in my notes that I mailed to Mark Frederickson on May 16 (second attempt, this one being via his home address), but yet I'm finding an envelope with his address on it, making me wonder if I actually tried him or not. I may have to see if I still have the cards or not-- that will be my best evidence."

Better evidence: Getting five cards back signed from him on November 24.

I also made a small trade with Ray in Baltimore a few weeks back-- picked up some 1992-93 Pacific sigs from him. I haven't officially started on that one, but I figure I'll trade for as many as I possibly can from other collectors. I don't have any unsigned ones, even.

Meanwhile, I haven't heard many/any rumblings on the Sidekicks for the 2018-19 season. The worst news in all of this is that they were very quietly removed from the Inactive Teams list on the MASL website.

Do any other MASL teams ever have alumni games the way the Sidekicks used to? I'd be interested in autographs from some players who might show up for games in Baltimore, St. Louis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Diego, and Tacoma. Maybe a few others like Harrisburg or Syracuse.

Patience pays off!

I'm looking at making another big push soon on some of the ones I have left.  I'll buy some of the unsigned cards I'm lacking via SportLots in November and start getting to writing to finish out the year. I'll have a large lot of postage coming next week.

In the meantime, a few more have rolled in since my last update here. It's a slow trickle really, but a couple of them were long waits which has gotten me excited again to send more out. Plus a few friends of mine have started mailing with cards I gave them and had some successes from Tatu, Wes McLeod, Preki, and Hector Marinaro. And of course, I'm seeing successes from various boards I post on.  So it's time for a big push here, I think; see if I can at least get a couple more big needs knocked out.

I've gotten a few back over the past few months: Jimmy McGeough, John Hamel, Brad Smith, Denny Vaninger, and Dick McCormick all came back pretty quickly (two months or less). Vaninger and McCormick each took two tries. Vaninger's MYSA address didn't work but his home did. The Seattle Sounders are following in the footsteps of their American Football counterpart Seahawks and not accepting fan mail-- even for coaches of their youth organizations. Fortunately McCormick's home address worked for me after they returned their "Not Signing" note.

Two lengthy ones that I feared were gone came back in the last month.  I sent to Ron Fearon in the UK and got it back with a California postmark (and US postage added over the UK stamp). He also added a short note on an index card. It took a year, but after thinking it was gone, it was great to get it-- huge sigh of relief there! I had forgotten that the 1990-91 Wichita All-Stars card was in there signed by Borja. It'll go to Dale Ervine next, and then to Victor Moreland to finish it off.

The second long-awaited return came from my second batch of mailings since I started the project. My first group was sent on September 5 and 7 of 2015. Of those, I'm still waiting on seven of the 32 that didn't get RTS'ed. The second batch went out on October 6 and I got 23 of 27 back-- a much-improved rate. Let's up that to 24/27 now as Andy Chapman's four cards found their way into my inbox yesterday after a brief 744-day trip (two years and 13 days, for those counting at home).

So, to update the tracker a bit...

TRIED, NO LUCK
Beto, David Hoggan, Brian Quinn, Erik Rasmussen, Mark Frederickson, Steve Kinsey, Dennis Mepham (zero for two), Scoop Stanisic, Nenad Zigante, Kai Haaskivi, Preki, Paul Wright, Jim Gabarra, Kevin Hundelt, Pasquale Deluca, Greg Ion, Iain Fraser, Desmond Armstrong, Waad Hirmez, Victor Nogueira, Joe Papaleo, Gregg Willin, Wes Wade, Ted Krafft, Mike Brady, Poli Garcia, Marcelo Carrera, Bobby Joe Esposito, Hugo Perez, Juli Veee, Ed Anibal, John Klein, Arturo Velazco, Keder, Frank Klopas, Greg Muhr, Angelo Panzetta, Chris Simon, Danny Pena

NOT YET TRIED
Mark Kerlin, Heinz Wirtz, Dale Mitchell, Carl Valentine, David Byrne, Frank Rasmussen, Chris Hundelt, Bill Crook, Bobo Lucic, Damir Haramina, Joey Kirk, Claudio De Oliveira, Stan Terlecki, Brian Schmetzer, Omar Gomez, Chris Haywood, Eloy Salgado, Rick Snyder

HAD SUCCESS, NEED TO SEND AGAIN
Steve Zungul (with correct address this time), George Fernandez (one success, one non-return), Cris Vacarro, Scott Manning, Dali, Pato Margetic, Chico Moreira, Michael King, Bernie James, Mike Sweeney, Kia, Zoran Karic, George Fernandez, Kevin Crow, Kim Roentved, Bruce Savage, Jan Goossens

NEED TO TRY AGAIN WITH NEW ADDRESS
Beto, Preki, Brian Quinn, Scoop Stanisic, Nenad Zigante, Paul Wright, Jim Gabarra, Mark Frederickson, Majid Jay, Paul Peschisolido, Mark Moser, Terry Rowe

Maybe I'll get lucky and be able to trade for a few somewhere along the line.

Sad news as well from the Dallas area: as I'm sure many/most/all have heard by now, we're going to be without a team in the 2017-18 season.  Plans right now are to re-open in time for the 2018-19 season. So unfortunately, there will be no Alumni game this year for me. Better hit the mailing hard then, I guess.

A quick update and recalculation

Well, it's time to make a call...

Unfortunately, I don't think I'm getting three of my multi-signed attempts back.

On March 7, 2016, I mailed off my 1990-91 Tacoma All-Stars card to Preki. Already signed by Brian Schmetzer and having seen some Preki responses via his home address, I tried, and hoped for the best, and have gotten nothing now 17 months later. So, we'll chalk that one up as a loss. Hopefully I can grab an unsigned copy, mail it to Preki FIRST, then get Schmetzer, and finish it off with Kia.

That same day, I mailed the 1991-92 San Diego All-Stars card to Paul Wright. Kevin Crow had signed it for me, and I assume Nogueira, Hirmez, and Quinn will be tough since I haven't seen (m)any TTM successes from them. So I figured I might as well try Wright and then see if someone can help me on the others... and then found out his business address had changed.  So, we'll try him again once I get another copy.

The one that hurts most though is the 1991-92 Kansas City All-Stars card. That one had been to the Netherlands and back for Jan Goossens, to Kansas and back for Kim Roentved, and to Oregon and back for Jim Gorsek. I figured I'd try Iain Fraser next, then finish it off with a shipment to Canada for Carl Valentine... and it never came back from Fraser after nearly 15 months (sent May 31, 2016).

So, I had to scratch five sigs from my count.

On the more positive end of things, I did at least get David Banks back after a previous RTS (two-week turnaround, signed in red), and Guy Furfaro via the school he coaches at after a 6-week wait (also including a signed note).

I also won an eBay auction this week for a Preki I need, and am waiting on a Brian Quinn one to end as well.

Lastly, I mailed out another small batch this week-- Brad Smith, Denny Vaninger, Danny Pena, Jimmy McGeough, Dick McCormick, and John Hamel.

I also have in my notes that I mailed to Mark Frederickson on May 16 (second attempt, this one being via his home address), but yet I'm finding an envelope with his address on it, making me wonder if I actually tried him or not. I may have to see if I still have the cards or not-- that will be my best evidence.

Speaking of cards, SportLots.com now sells soccer cards! A couple dealers have some I need at 18 cents each, so I probably will try to pick some up soon.  I might also stock up on any Sidekicks Alumni that I need. There are still a few I need though that no one has on there yet.  Trades/cheap sales are welcome if someone can help me out.  Here's what I need...

1988/89: 36 Alan Hinton, 69 Nenad Zigante

1989/90: 34 Scoop Stanisic (CORRECTED VERSION ONLY!), 67 Chris Hundelt (CORRECTED VERSION ONLY) - seems these two are tough to find!

Once I buy up the ones I need, I plan to send off to Wright, Quinn, Preki, Zigante, Dali, Joey Kirk, Beto, Andy Chapman, Pato Margetic, Bill Crook, and David Hoggan. Possibly a few others, but unfortunately I'm hitting a point where I think I may have done all that I can via mail!