Mail Call: Kim Roentved

My first attempt to Kim Roentved a few months back got RTS'ed, but I can't complain much.

After all, even though it took a while to get back to me, I got Jan Goossens back in that time from the Netherlands. And he signed the two All-Star cards you'll (hopefully) see below. I then was able to send these along to Kim and add his signature to them as well.

It's a little blurry at the edges. My phone's camera lens
cover shattered this week and instead of forking over $112
to have it repaired, I found out I can do it myself for
about $6 in a few weeks.

If I feel like taking a chance on Dale Mitchell soon, I'll send the 1990-91 card to him next.  The 1991-92 card could go to Carl Valentine, Jim Gorsek, or Iain Fraser next.

I also got a card sent to me this week from Mike Powers. I spoke to him at the Sidekicks Alumni Game and he got my address and set me a team card from the 1986-87 Sidekicks Championship squad and signed it. He tossed in a couple extras as well and asked me to pass them onto Mark and Dave. I don't have a photo of it due to the aforementioned camera issues, but I'll hopefully post one up soon.

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.

Quick Holiday Update - TTMs and Purchases

Photos to come later; this is just a quick write-up.

I've slowed down a lot the last couple of months.  My normal postage budget went into savings for potential Black Friday deals at my local card shop. When those didn't pan out, I bought a mandolin and put some aside to mail out some hockey requests. But on the positive side, I do plan to start hitting the soccer requests hard in the new year.

I was able to cut down on my potential writer's cramp though by buying a few off Ray in Maryland, whom I mentioned a few months back when I picked up some Kai Haaskivi and Billy Ronson items. This time I bought a bunch off him-- 45 to be exact-- including 11 from the 1987-88 set, 6 from 1988-89, 14 from 1989-90, 9 from 1990-91, and 5 from 1991-92. So that knocks out 45 that I needed right there.

I got six back in November and December as well.  The first one was an oddity-- former MISL commissioner Earl Foreman kept my cards, instead signing three ABA cards signed on the back. My second attempt at sending to Cacho Cordoba came back successfully, as he signed four cards and wrote a short note.

I went about three weeks without anything, then received Walter Schmetzer and Mike Sweeney. I had a success via mail from Andy Schmetzer, and Paul in Seattle got me Brian Schmetzer, so my mailing from Walter finishes off the entire trio.  Sweeney signed four cards, personalizing them all, and even wrote a short note back apologizing for taking so long. Not a worry-- I still have ten out there whom I've been waiting for even longer (and even got a baseball success back recently that took seven years).

Moving into December, Joe Waters signed four cards and wrote a short note back as well. The lone disappointing success (a paradox if I ever heard one) was from Pato Margetic. I sent him three cards and he kept two, signing and returning only one of them. At least it was my Cleveland Crunch card.

I had a few RTS in there as well: my second attempts on Chico Moreira and Bruno Ferretti were unsuccessful.  A trio of Moreira sigs were in the ones I bought from Ray though, so I only have two more to get on him. And I bet I can find another address for Ferretti. I also got Kim Roentved bounced back due to the demise of the Wichita B-52s. Like Ferretti though, I'm sure I can find an address on him as well.

Hopefully January will have a lot more writing. I plan to end out a lot more, plus I'll be writing for SportsCardForum.com on various subjects. Maybe I'll see what I can do on the MISL sets for them.

One final positive: January 2 will be the Dallas Sidekicks alumni game. I hope to get a few cards signed there 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.

Mail Call #21: Alan Willey, a failure, and some remailings

We'll start off again with the bad news: Emil Dragicevic came back with a RTS sticker.

The better news: I found an address for him, so I remailed.  I also tested out the new addresses on Ralph Black, Kevin Smith, and after some research, re-tried Chico Moreira's address with a little extra info on it. Apparently his house is part of a complex, so I attached the number of his unit to it now that I found that out. We'll see what happens there.

The actually good news: I had one legitimate success as well, with Alan Willey signing 3 cards in 8 days. He was only in two of the MISL sets, but I had an extra of one so I sent it as well. I figure if I have only one or two different cards, I'll send a double with it. So far everyone has been willing to sign them when I do (in soccer at least; some in other sports aren't quite as willing).

A quick response from a top scorer

Hopefully I'll have more today. I know I mentioned before that Wednesdays are usually a slow day for me, and that held true this week. Tuesday was full, but it was also a Tuesday after a Monday holiday.

Mail Call #20: Kewley, Kazemaini, Troy, and Hector

We'll start this one off on a down note: Kevin Smith was RTS'ed. Apparently he is no longer with Dallas Solar. I'll be trying him with his new team this week.

The good news is that I did pull in four successes yesterday.  Ali Kazemaini was first in, signing four cards for me through his current business. It took about 6 weeks.

Former Crunch, still lives near Cleveland

Rusty Troy, a Texas native and former Sidekick also signed four. His took only a week and is part of the most recent batch of mailouts.

Rusty played at University of North Texas

Kevin Kewley signed four in a week as well. He personalized all four of them

Lastly is all-time leading scorer Hector Marinaro. Currently a college soccer coach near Cleveland, he signed five in a week-- including the ASG card signed by George Fernandez and a business card with a short note on the back.

Still my all-time favorite player

The ASG card will be off to Zoran Karic soon to (hopefully) be completed!

Mail Call #15, #16, #17, #18, and #19: A bunch!

Looks like I got a little behind, didn't I?

Hockey season is kicking into gear, plus I hit the Texas State Fair one day and we bought a new printer. Plus my wife and I might hit Six Flags this weekend. And the Browns are playing every week. So posting updates kind of fell by the wayside for a few days.

On the plus side, a few have come in over the last week.

One Schmetzer down, two to go

Last Saturday, a couple of former Cleveland Crunch players rolled in as Andy Schmetzer and P.J. Johns signed and returned to me. Schmetzer is now a coach in Seattle, while Johns now works in fertilizer sales and distribution in Ohio.  He also owns a few rental houses, and his wife owns a business that sells secret compartment furniture.

I may need to get some of that secret
compartment furniture. Sounds cool.

Monday brought me Ron Newman.  After the message on Facebook I mentioned a while back, he did just as was requested, signing my four cards and getting them back to me quickly.

One of the greatest coaches in MISL history

Mike Stankovic arrived on Wednesday, signing six cards.

He also wrote "All the Best!" on the inside of the envelope

Friday saw another international arrival, as Mark Karpun signed four cards for me from Canada.

We're now at three countries with successes in this project!

Saturday was a busy one: Marcel Loosveld arrived from the Netherlands.  Unfortnately it looks like the marker he was using died out on him, so he tried to re-sign it in blue pen. It works, I can't complain much there.

He also enclosed his business card with the Dutch National program

Neil Megson also arrived, signing four cards after my initial attempt failed.  I'll be adding his new address to my 2016 address list.

Second time was the charm: seems a few former players are
leaving Crossfire with Megson and (spoiler alert) Ralph Black

And I had one failure, as Ralph Black is no longer with Crossfire Premier Soccer Club. I'll try him again with his new team this week.

I mailed out another batch on Tuesday.  Hitting the outbox were Andy Chapman, Tim Wittman, Hector Marinaro, Nikola Ristic, Kris Peat, Dennis Mepham, Mike Sweeney, Peter Ward, Pato Margetic, Scoop Stanisic, Walter Schmetzer, Simon Keith, Joe Koziol, David Brcic, Ken Fogarty, Bruno Ferretti, Earl Foreman, Homer Screws, Perry Van Der Beck, Joe Waters, Rusty Troy, Diego Mandagaran, Emil Dragicevic, Cacho Cordoba, Mark Mettrick, Doug Neely, Gus Mokalis, Kevin Kewley, Nenad Zigante, Daniel Donigan, Alan Willey, and Gregg Blasingame. I like will re-send to Black, and have a list of another ten or so to try as soon as I feel like writing.

Mail Call #13 and #14: Lodeweges, Heale, and Snyder

A few weeks back, Paul Buxton gave me a few Dutch stamps so I could mail a few requests overseas without having to enclose straight cash.  The first one came back to me on Thursday.

One down, two to go...

Dwight Lodeweges is now the manager of SC Heerenveen. It took only two weeks for him to sign my card and even wrote a short letter back--

Hello Drew,
Nice to see a picture from way back. Wow, time flies. Me and my family had a great time in North America. We enjoyed the people and still go back on a regular base. I signed your card. Good luck to you and whatever you do.
Greetings, Dwight Lodeweges

Another former Dallas Sidekicks defender

Friday brought another two to me as Gary Heale signed six cards and Troy Snyder four in a little under a month.  Heale also enclosed a short note, saying simply "Drew, Hope this works. Best Wishes, Gary Heale."

It certainly does work, sir.

Mail Call #12: Doc

Doc Lawson arrived back in my mailbox today. The legendary Sidekicks defender signed six cards and also enclosed a flyer about the work he's doing with DonamiSport.

If you don't know, Doc has been working in his home country of Liberia to help the sport of soccer grow.  The country has been through two civil wars between 1989 and 2003, been ravaged by Ebola, is dealing with labor rights abuses in the rubber industry, and now has an incredibly young population. Approximately 80% of its people are under 18.

A largely unheralded humanitarian

Another example of Doc's selflessness came late in his playing career. The Sidekicks and Baltimore Blast agreed to a trade that would have sent Doc to Baltimore in exchange for former Sidekicks defender Richard Chinapoo.  The Sidekicks were on their way to a poor finish and Lawson wanted to play for the Blast. But Lawson vetoed the trade. Chinapoo had just moved his family to Baltimore and he didn't want his former teammate to have to uproot them again in the middle of the year to come back to Dallas. Lawson retired at the end of the season, while Chinapoo returned to Dallas the following offseason before moving on to Harrisburg of the NPSL.

Mail Call #11: Ervine and Cooper, plus a Facebook question

After a few slow days, Monday strikes again as the big day for my mail.  Dale Ervine and Kenny Cooper both sent theirs back fully signed.  Both also added postage to make sure it got to me.  I'm not worried: I've sent up to six cards with no problem.

The bottom-left card was in the first pack of soccer cards
I ever bought, about age six or seven

Cooper even used his own postage and envelope and wrote back a full letter:

Drew,
Many thanks for your kind message. Cleveland Force and Crunch was our number one rivalry (great games). The cards you sent brought back many wonderful memories for me. Thank you for your support of soccer. It's people like yourself who have made the game what it is today.
My best to you!
Kenny Cooper Sr. 

Cooper also personalized each with "My Best Drew." Awesome response from one of the greatest coaches in MISL history.

After spending his MISL tenure in Baltimore, Cooper now
lives in the Dallas area and has a son who plays pro soccer

Speaking of responses from great coaches, I got a message on Facebook from someone asking if I'd like the cards I sent to Ron Newman signed on the front or back. He was out of town but is back now and able to sign them for me. It's great to see such care being taken with the cards to go so far as seeking me out to ask how I want them signed. I'd be okay either way but asked for the front. So hopefully I'll see Ron Newman appear in my mailbox soon as well!