Chipping Away

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A new year, a new post

2020 was a strange year.

Also the sky is blue and water is wet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Let's Go!

The first batch has hit the mailbox. I held off on Kia-- I got the card I was missing for $1 including shipping; same deal on Tim Wittman's card. They should be here next week. I also have held off on Steve Kinsey (only because I forgot to stamp the envelope; it'll go out tomorrow) and Greg Ion. Turns out Ion was hired by Temecula United in California, so I'm hoping to hear from them about an email address or mailing address to reach him directly. The addresses I had found for him were all in Washington, Oregon, and Arizona-- I doubt those are correct now.

Also, I found David Byrne on Facebook. I tried messaging him about how I can mail him. We'll see if I get an answer. That would be a huge one if I hear back. Looks like he's still in South Africa, but no longer coaching Glendene United. I also emailed Hellenic FC, where he once played and his brother is currently Technical Director. They gave me his phone number, but I've never tried to make an international call before. I'm way better with writing anyway. I may try texting him.

A little more digging has found me Bobo Lucic's whereabouts, so I plan to try him soon, along with a second attempt at Dalibor Cvitanovic.  Related: I need Slovenian and Bosnian stamps. Canadian ones too so I can get my last Mark Karpun card signed, and hopefully try Pasquale Deluca again, along with Dale Mitchell and Carl Valentine. Maybe an Argentinian one to send to Omar Gomez. Probably some Italian ones too, since I'd like to try Roberto Baggio. And a Swiss one so I can send to Roger Federer. Okay, I'm getting off-topic now.

I also need to contact Stuart Lee about finishing my Sidekicks game program.

As of right now, the project is down to needing at least one signed by each of these guys.

TRIED WITH NO LUCK - 18
Arturo Velazco (2017), B.J. Esposito (2017), Chris Simon (2017), Desmond Armstrong (2016), Ed Anibal (2017), Erik Rasmussen (2015), Gregg Willin (2016), Hugo Perez (2017), Iain Fraser (2016), Joe Papaleo (2016), Keder (2017), Marcelo Carrera (2017), Paul Peschisolido (2016 RTS), Poli Garcia (2016), Teddy Krafft (2016), Terry Rowe (2016 RTS), Victor Nogueira (2016), Wes Wade (2016)

HAVEN'T TRIED - 20
Alan Hinton, Alex Tarnoczi, Brian Enge, Chris Haywood, Chris Szanto, Claudio De Oliveira, Dan O'Keefe, Eric Dade, Fahmi El-Shami, Frank Rasmussen, Jason Putthoff, Jimmy Daka, Joe Kirk, Joe Mallia, Majid Jay, Rick Snyder, Russ Prince, Saeed Bakhtiari, Shane Schwab, Tony Csiszar

DECEASED - 11
Barry Wallace (d. 2006), Billy Ronson (d. 2015), Domenic Mobilio (d. 2004), Earl Foreman (d. 2017), Keith Weller (d. 2004), Mike Reynolds (d. 1991), Nenad Nikolic (d. 1999), Pedro DeBrito (d. 2014), Slobo Ilijevski (d. 2008), Stan Stamenkovic (d. 1996), Stan Terlecki (d. 2017)

TRIED WITH SUCCESS - 10
Daryl Doran, Diego Mandagaran, Doug Neely, Jim Gabarra, Kim Roentved, Kris Peat, Pato Margetic, Rene Ortiz, Terry Brown, Tim Schulz

MAILED/PLANNING - 24
Bernie James (mailed today)
Bill Crook (mailed today)
Bobo Lucic (mailing once I get a Slovenian stamp)
Chico Borja (mailed today)
Chris Hundelt (mailed today)
Dale Ervine (mailed today)
Dale Mitchell (mailing this weekend)
Dali (mailing once I get a Bosnian stamp)
Damir Haramina (mailing once I get a Croatian stamp)
David Byrne (hoping to get an address and South African stamp soon)
David Hoggan (mailed today)
Dennis Mepham (mailed today)
George Fernandez (mailed today)
Greg Ion (mailing soon)
Jan Goossens (mailing once I get a Dutch stamp)
Kia (mailing next week)

Mark Karpun (mailing once I get Canadian stamps)
Mark Kerlin (mailed today)
Omar Gomez (mailing once I get an Argentinian stamp)
Pasquale Deluca (mailing once I get Canadian stamps)
Steve Kinsey (mailing this weekend)
Steve Zungul (mailed today)
Tim Wittman (mailing next week)
Waad Hirmez (mailed today)

CONDITIONALS/SPECULATIVES - 12
Zoran Karic (mailing once Fernandez returns)
Paul Wright (mailing once Hirmez returns)

Kevin Smith (mailing once Wright returns)
Brian Quinn (mailing once Fernandez, Karic, Hirmez, and Wright return)
Kevin Crow (mailing once Fernandez, Karic, Hirmez, Wright, and Quinn return)

Donald Cogsville (mailing once Hirmez and Wright return)
Jacques Ladouceur (mailing once Hirmez, Wright, and Cogsville return)
Rod Castro (mailing once Hirmez, Wright, Cogsville, and Ladouceur return)
Ralph Black (mailing once Hirmez, Wright, Cogsville, Ladouceur, and Castro return)
Bruce Savage (mailing once Dale Mitchell returns)
Carl Valentine (mailing once I get Canadian stamps and Goossens returns)
Jim Gorsek (mailing once Goossens and Valentine return)

I'm always looking for trades as well if it will help lighten my writing and postage expenditures.

Inspired for a restart

Returning from MISL40 has re-energized me a bit to get going one more time on mailing and researching addresses to try to finish off as much of this project as I can. Overall, I'm down to needing only 168 signatures to complete the project.  Of those, 142 are still alive as far as I know.

There are a lot of these guys that I haven't tried at all, or tried at a failed address but I've been able to update them. And some I had success with once already and just need to get on a few cards I was lacking at the time. So, let's see what I can do.

Headed for the mailbox this weekend:
David Hoggan
Steve Kinsey
Dale Ervine
Kia
George Fernandez
Bill Crook
Greg Ion
Dennis Mepham
Steve Zungul
Mark Kerlin
Waad Hirmez
Chico Borja
Bernie James
Chris Hundelt

If I manage to go a perfect 14/14 on these, I'll finish off three multi-signed cards, and it will leave me only three away from the 1987-88 set (I'd need Pasquale Deluca, Poli Garcia, and Hugo Perez, each of whom I have failed with by mail) and four away from the 1989-90 set (I'd need Joe Papaleo, Bobo Lucic, and the late Domenic Mobilio and Pedro DeBrito) being completed.

I'm not betting on it though.  I'm 100% on Ervine, Kia, Borja, and James at least. Had mixed results with Zungul and Fernandez. I have a giant 0-fer on Hoggan, Kinsey, Mepham, Hirmez, and Ion. And I have yet to try sending to Kerlin, Hundelt, and Crook.

I also have a Paul Wright envelope ready to go, but I'm hoping to get Hirmez back first. Both Waad and Paul are on the 1991-92 San Diego All-Stars card and the 1990-91 champions celebration card.  If I can go 2-for-2 on them with those, then the ASG card will go to Brian Quinn next, then Kevin Crow, and the celly shot will go to Ladouceur, Black, Castro, and Cogsville in some order.

I also need Nogueira (ASG) and Wade (Champs) on them, but I've heard of little to no luck with them TTM, so I'll be holding off on those until maybe someone can get them for me in-person. I may even try directly emailing some of the guys that are toughies to see if I can find a good address.

I also am in need of a few unsigned cards (or signed, I won't reject those!) as well. From the 1992-93 NPSL set, I'm missing card #87 of Joe Kirk, as well as several gold "Pacific Picks the Pros" inserts-- #3 Fahmi El-Shami, #4 Zoran Karic, #6 Joe Mallia, #9 Kia, and #10 Tim Wittman.  If I can find someone with a Kia for trade, I'll hold off on sending to him until I get it. I'd buy copies of them, but not at the $3 each I've seen on eBay.

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!

MAIL CALL: And then there were nine...

It took a few tries, but I managed to track down Heinz Wirtz.

I had heard of my original address on him getting a RTS, then I found one that got a success and a RTS before I tried it and got RTS'ed.

But after some searching, I found a new one, tried it, and yesterday received two cards signed.

With that, I now have every single error and variation signed from the 1987-88 Pacific set. It puts me down to nine remaining for that set, and down to needing only one on the errors and variations across the entire series (I need Chris Hundelt on his 1989-90 error with Kevin listed).  And it's soon to be eight on the 1987-88 set: Brian in Kansas City has a Desmond Armstrong set aside for me.  I can also add a 1990-91 soon too as Ray in Baltimore is sending an Angelo Panzetta sig to me.

I went through and did a few updates to the address list. I've been helping out Doug Verb a bit whenever I can for the 40th Anniversary so I figured it was time to do some more digging and correcting.

Speaking of which, I don't have any new additions to the list of people who will be there just yet, but I did get all my cards sorted last night. I'm able to fit everything into three boxes and a binder. I'd like to limit my baggage to a single carry-on if I can. It'll be tough, but I might be able to pull it off. I might even look into seeing if I can grab some old team sets on the cheap somewhere. I know the Kansas City Comets had a Pizza Hut sponsored set, Wichita had their Burger King sets, and the L.A. Lazers had some as well. Cleveland used to do some postcard sized ones with various sponsors-- Oh Henry and Smuckers off the top of my head.

I also bought a couple shirts for it today that should arrive in the next couple of weeks. I'll wait to show them off though...

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.

An edit to the earlier...

Bad news, the Las Vegas reunion had to change its date.

Good news though, they believe it will be able to attract more former players!

Per an email from Doug Verb, the Reunion will now be held in Vegas on July 2-4.

Further details will be posted as they are made public.

Another Anniversary Event!

I'll have to miss this one, but if you can get to the Cleveland area, check it out!

"Be there. Aloha."

Not sure if I'll be able to make it, but my fingers are crossed...

If I can't, I may need some assistance on getting some cards signed.

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.

Big event in DFW!

It looks like the Soccer Hall of Fame is finally almost ready to open its doors-- thanks to a pair of Brians (Reser and Gutmann) for giving me info on this...

In addition to the celebration for Hall of Fame Weekend, Frisco will also be putting on a celebration for the NASL's 50th anniversary.

Needless to say, I've already bought tickets because I have a few project needs on guys who will be there for the NASL game-- Tatu, Mike Sweeney, Fernando Clavijo, and of course my fellow Finn, Kai Haaskivi!

I also have hopes for a few other players to be added just for the general festivities as HOF members: Pele (also an NASL player, but unlikely to play at 77 years old), Preki, and Desmond Armstrong would be nice additions.

I have about seven cards I need Haaskivi to sign, plus a couple for Sweeney, one for Clavijo, and maybe three plus some photos for Tatu. I have a ton of non-set cards for him as well (20-30 or so), but I'll hold back a bit.

Hope to see some of you there; my wife and I will be sitting in Section 126 for the FC Dallas-Sporting KC game and the NASL Legends game. We will likely try to make the postgame party at the British Lion Pub, and I may even try to 'graph some of the other events as well.

Good news!

The MASL announced today the return of the Dallas Sidekicks for the 2018-19 season!

I'll be hitting at least a few games this season and my wife even floated the idea-- on her own, no prompting from me-- that we might look into season tickets.

Here's to hoping we'll see a return of the annual alumni game, plus of course a team card set at some point during the season!

MISL 40th Reunion Event?

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed the other day when a post from the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame caught my eye.

If it's too small to read easily, a group is trying to get together a 40th anniversary reunion for the MISL this December/January in Las Vegas.  Not sure yet if I'll be able to go, but I'm hopeful depending on price. I know among the shares and reposts of it on various groups, at least a few former players expressed interest in it (including Mark Kerlin; I have a few cards I need him to sign).  It may be my best/only chance at getting some guys like Kerlin, Brian Quinn, Carl Valentine, Kai Haaskivi, and Juli Veee. Maybe even knock out some of those multi-player cards.

I sent to the email address on it to ask about mailing in autograph items in the event that I can't make it. Haven't heard anything back yet.