Gerald McNeil, Akili Smith, and Adam Eaton

I am going to discuss a return that I got yesterday as well as one that I got back early in the baseball season.  The first return is from Gerald McNeil.  He went to Baylor University and then went to play in the USFL with the Houston Gamblers.  I loved watching the Houston Gamblers with their run and shoot offense.  Of course having one of the best QBs didn't hurt-Jim Kelly.  Mr. McNeil surpassed the 1000 yard receiving mark with the Gamblers.  When the USFL folded, he went to the Cleveland Browns.  He was an excellent return man and made the Pro Bowl.  I had him sign a 1987 Topps card and a picture that I found online.  I really love the picture-it is him returning a kick for a touchdown (was called back) in Cleveland and there is a police officer in the background that is jumping with his arms up.  It is awesome.  He signed both cards with his name and nickname (ice cube).  

The second return was from Akili Smith.  I got him through a private signing on sportscollectors.net. I was born in Astoria, Oregon and as a kid I always thought I would attend the University of Oregon. I love the Ducks and really enjoyed watching Mr. Smith play there.  I rooted for him with the Bengals and was sad to see it not work out.  I don't think he necessarily got a great chance or a second chance (like some seem to always get) but what do I know. LOL  A few years ago I got an extra card from Dan Fouts that he signed.  It is a two sided card with Fouts on one side and Smith on the other.  I sent it in and it came out looking great.  

The last return was from Adam Eaton.  I am not talking about the former major league pitcher but the minor league (hopefully soon major leaguer) outfielder in the Diamondbacks organization.  I really like Adam Eaton and hope that he gets a real shot in the majors.  The only reason that he hasn't already been brought up (in my opinion) is that he is only 5 foot 8 inches.  He is hitting over 380 for the Reno Aces and has stolen a bunch of bases (over 30).  He was an all star last year in single A and this year in triple A.  He has been successful everywhere he has played.  I told him that he was in the perfect place this year because of his coach-Brett Butler.  If anyone can talk to him about the challenges and how to succeed as a smaller ballplayer it is Brett Butler.  One of the reasons I chose to write him was an interview I saw with him online.  He was talking about a bus ride home in the middle of the night and what happened when they came upon construction.  It was funny.  I also found a great picture of him online where he is acting silly in the dugout.  I loved the fact that he is enjoying himself while playing a game.  Mr. Eaton wrote me a note back where he said: He loved Missoula and that it was a great town and team.  His career goals are to be the best player/person that he can be.  The biggest influence on him are his dad and brother Dale.  He plays for them everyday.  

Everyone should root for him to be successful :)

Fair Hooker and Terrell Buckley

I decided to write my fellow ASU alum Fair Hooker to have him autograph an ASU collection card.  He signed it with a great clean signature.  Mr. Hooker was an excellent wide receiver for ASU.  He had 42 catches for over 660 yards in 1968 and six touchdowns.  He caught 25 passes for 322 yards in 1966.  You have to remember that ASU was not a big passing offense during this time.  In 1968 he amassed half of the passing yards.  He played in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns.  He had some good seasons for the Browns. He caught almost 30 passes or more in three straight seasons and had over 400 yards receiving in each of those seasons.

I also received a return from Terrell Buckley who I loved watching him first at Florida State and then in the NFL.  He was during that great run of cornerbacks that FSU.  In the NFL he had 3 or more interceptions in all but 2 of his seasons.  He returned 6 interceptions for touchdowns plus a punt return as a rookie.  When he intercepted a pass you thought that he might take it back.  I will always remember him with the Dolphins but I am sure that he loved going to the Patriots and winning the Super Bowl.  He signed a Florida State pocket pro for me.

Birthday Presents

On my birthday my wife was extremely generous to me.  I received a few autographed items from her plus a box of 1987 Fleer Baseball cards which I will use in my hobby.  One of the autographed items was a Washington Huskies mini helmet signed by Warren Moon with the inscription of Rose Bowl MVP.  I have always wanted to add an autographed piece from Mr. Moon.  I loved watching him play and he was an incredible quarterback.  I loved watching him in Houston and the run and shoot.  It is amazing to think that no one wanted him out of college because of the black quarterback stigma back then.  The helmet really looks great!!  Another item was an autographed 8x10 of Fred Jackson, the excellent running back for the Buffalo Bills.  I love Fred Jackson!  He is a great runner as well as receiver.  He was having such a great year last year before he got hurt.  I find it truly hard to believe that the Bills want to reduce his use so that they can use Spiller more.  No offense to C J Spiller but I think they are CRAZY!  I also got a tristar Dallas Cowboys hidden treasure photo.  The Cowboys are my favorite team so I was very excited about that.  I received Robert Newhouse which was very cool.  I remember watching him play while growing up.  Who can forget his touchdown pass in the Super Bowl victory over the Broncos.  I hope that he is still doing well after the stroke he had last year.   

I also received some money from family and used it to order some other items.  My first was from the Insider Deals from Tristar.  I bought the package that had 3 autographed 8x10s: Ray Guy (best punter I have ever seen!), Jim Otto (met him once when I was a boy and his hands were HUGE), and Ben Davidson (wanted to send to him before his passing but never did).  I have lived most of my life in the Bay Area so it was great to get this deal.  Ray Guy should be in the Hall of Fame and I can't believe that he isn't.  Hopefully this wrong will be one day righted.  I have wanted a photo of Jim Otto for while.  I had thought about buying an unsigned one and sending it to him with his fee.  I still may down the road.  The toll that his playing career took on his body is just amazing.  It definitely demonstrates the dark side of the NFL.  One of the things that I liked about Ben Davidson was that he was on two of my all time favorite shows: CHiPs and Dukes of Hazzard.  I hope he is in peace in heaven. 

The other money was spent at mainlineautographs and Claremont Shows and I will talk about those items when I receive them. 

More Recent returns

Hello again,
     Since we are having our carpets cleaned I have some free time so I figured I would update my recent returns. 
     The first one I will talk about is the great Virgil Trucks.  I have to first send my best wishes to Mr. Trucks as I have read that he took a fall and is in the hospital.  I received my items from him a couple of days prior this.  I really hope he is ok.  He truly seems like a really nice man and I am not saying that just because he signed for me.  I have sent to him before but I had to send to him again because I found this cool artwork greeting card of him.  It is on fineartamerica.com  It is an artist rendition of him on the mound and you can put whatever you want on the inside.  I put his name and major accomplishments.  He signed it on the inside.  I thought it was an unique item to get signed and included an extra copy for him.  I also had him sign a Ronnie Joyner bio-illustration.  Mr. Trucks wrote me a letter back and in it stated how much he enjoys peoples interest in his career.  I included a donation to his church. 
     Another return was from Bill Stein.  I remember watching him play for the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers.  I always liked his baseball cards because in a lot of them he is smiling.  He just seemed to be a nice guy and that he enjoyed playing baseball.  One of the best is his 83 donruss where he is in the process of fielding a grounder (or it could have been posed) and he is smiling.  I asked him what his favorite memory is and he said playing against Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.  His favorite place to play was Fenway Park.  His former head coach at Southern Illinois Joe Lutz had the biggest impact on his career.  I also asked if he collected baseball cards growing up and he said that he did. 
     I also received a return from Jack Faszholz a former pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals and Rochestor Red Wings.  I read about Mr. Faszholz on the blog baseball interactions.  He is a great story.  He had a great career in the minor leagues and due to the time period and circumstances never really got a great chance in the majors.  I think he would have had multiple chances if he played in today's game.  He set the record for all-time wins for the Red Wings.  The fact that I thought was so cool was that he struck out both Jimmie Foxx and Mickey Mantle.  There are probably not too many people who can say that.  Ultimately he had to make a choice between staying in baseball and pursuing his other passion-the church.  During his playing days he was also studying to become a minister.  He chose to leave baseball and work for the church.  He said that although his career was basically in the minor leagues-it's great to look back to competing with players who later ended up in the Hall of Fame.  He also played a season with his brother Gene and he said that it was the most enjoyable season of any he played.  They both had good seasons.  Brother Gene played every inning of every game in 154 game season.  He thinks his brothers numbers would have been better if he had been given some days off.  His favorite biblical passage is Ephesians 2:8-9:  "For by the grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of your own doing, IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD - not because of works lest any man should boast."  In addition to signing for me, he sent along copies of newspaper articles for the games he struck out Foxx and Mantle. 
      I turned 40 last week so I have started to do a collection of autographs of players from 1972.  I was looking for players that had done something on the day of my birth or during that year.  One player I sent to was Denis Menke.  (Side Note: one of my peeves with today's game is all the strikeouts!!) On my birthday he walked 4 times in a nine inning game and this was the second time he had done that in a month (no intentional walks in either game).  The high for the year was 5 and those were in extra inning games and included at least one intentional walk.  I thought that was cool and then I come to find out while researching his career that he was born the same day as me (July 21st).  He signed a custom photo for me.  Another player that I received was Bill Stoneman who threw a no hitter in 1972 (also had one earlier in his career).  He signed the same custom photo card for me.  Mr. Stoneman also was the general manager for the Angels and helped build the team that won the World Series over the San Francisco Giants. 

Roland James, Ed Mayer, and Ed Mickelson

I received some other returns recently. I had sent two cards to Roland James which he returned signed. He was an excellent cornerback with the New England Patriots after an excellent career at the University of Tennessee. He was part of the Super Bowl team in 1985 that lost to the Chicago Bears. He said that going to the Super Bowl was his favorite memory and even though they didn't win, it taught him so much. I also asked him about the snow game against the Miami Dolphins where they plowed a clean spot for the winning field goal. He said it was a great win for the Pats and he believes that after the game Coach Shula said they would never come to New England that time of the season again. That is pretty funny. I asked him who had the greatest impact on his career and he said that it was his junior high football coach. He taught him so much about working through adversity and playing as a team. He still stays in contact with him. I love to hear things like that since I am a teacher and always hope that I have made a difference in my students' lives. The second return was from Ed Mickelson. I sent him a Ronnie Joyner bio-illustration. I really love these. He returned it signed as well as another photo. He sent me information about the book he wrote which I hope to purchase down the road. Mr. Mickelson got his first major league hit off of Warren Spahn (which he stated was his favorite memory). He was subbing for the great Stan Musial that day. Unfortunately he was blocked in St. Louis so he became kind of stuck in the minor leagues. He put up great numbers and if he would have played in today's era he would have had a lot more opportunities in the majors. A cool point of trivia is that he drove in the final run in St. Louis Browns history. I asked him about his time in Portland, Oregon in the minors. He said that he loved Portland and that it was a great town, great people, and great ballpark. He also said it was his favorite place to play. The last return I will talk about is Ed Mayer. I had read online how Mr. Mayer became a teacher after his baseball career so I knew that I needed to write him. He signed two photo customs (for a lack of a better term) and sent along a card and photo of his own. Mr. Mayer had very good numbers in his limited action. He sent along some information about his career and it was very cool reading. The HOFers he faced had a .210 batting average and all hitters he faced hit .209. He would have made a lot of money in today's game as a lefty reliever! He said that he is very happy-has a large family with five great-grandchildren, he and his wife travel a lot, and they are avid birders. He loved pitching in Wrigley Field-great fans, beautiful ballpark, interesting city. He said that Willie Mays is the best ballplayer that he ever saw. He could do everything. He said he was one of many pitchers that gave up a homer to Willie.

two posts in one night :-)

Since I am on a roll I will talk about two more returns that I received recently. Both are for my Oakland A's coffee table project. They were Harold Baines and Ron Hassey. Harold Baines was a great addition to the A's and is one of the best DHs in the history of the game. Personally I would like to see him get Hall of Fame consideration. It was great to watch him in person and on tv. He was a superb hitter. I got him through a private signing on sportscollectors.net. Ron Hassey was a catcher who became the personal catcher for Bob Welch and helped him win the Cy Young. Another note about him is that he caught two perfect games in his career- Len Barker and Dennis Martinez. That is pretty awesome. I sent to him in care of the New Orleans Zephyrs where he is the manager. These are great additions to my coffee table.

it's been over a year and not done very well : (

Hi again, I knew that I wouldn't be able to update this blog nightly but I thought that I would do better than what I have done. I was busy with my wife and two daughters, teaching, writing letters to expand my collection, and being lazy :). I have an idea about what I want to do going forward and we will see if I can do it LOL. I want to talk about what returns I have gotten as well as anything else I can think of. It will be similar I am sure to some of my favorite blogs like baseball by the letters, baseball interactions, baseball historian, etc. I love to read about players and their thoughts. There are so many great stories out there that I have never heard. I have been able to expand my collection with some great pieces because of the blogs mentioned above and sportscollectors.net. My first return that I will discuss is my most recent: Roy Gleason. Some of you probably know his story but some may be like me and don't. He was a young hot prospect with the Los Angeles Dodgers and received his major league debut in September of 1963. He was primarily used as a pinch runner and did receive one at bat. He doubled and would come around and score. His future looked bright but then he was drafted and went over to fight in Vietnam. While over there he was injured and received the purple heart. He returned the US hoping to return to the major leagues but it just wasn't meant to be. He ended his major league career with a 1.000 batting average. He signed a photo of a baseball and included a signed picture of himself from 1963. He also answered my questions. He was heavily recruited by the Red Sox who sent out Ted Williams to woo him. He said that they hung out, hit in the batting cages, went to a bbq, and talked some more. He said Ted Williams wrote him letters when he was over in Vietnam and that he still cherishes those letters today. I also asked him what it was like to put on the Dodgers uniform and he said that he felt professional and proud and that he felt like he belonged. Thanks for reading and hopefully I will do better in the future.