Not the funnest of mail days

I got a bit of a surprise on Thursday when I went out to the mailbox, and found one of my old TTM SASE's sitting in there.

Since I haven't sent out a request in like four years, I thought that this might be one of those instances that I've read about where someone receives a signed item back after having written it off years earlier. This would not be one of those instances.

Some of the folks that are unfortunate enough to have been coming around here for a while, might recall that I use to do a "TTM Triumph" series. The posts weren't great, but they did gave me something to talk about there for a bit, so they were good for me in that regard. I stopped doing the posts around the time that I stopped sending out requests. My venture into the world of TTM's didn't last too long, and not because I stopped enjoying the getting of autographs, no, the letters; that's what did me in. 

For better or worse, I'm a rambler. I do it in blog posts. I probably do it when talking. And I do it when writing letters too! Try as I have, it's a habit that I just can't seem to break. If I didn't have any blogs to keep up with, I could've probably kept sending out requests, but writing multiple page letters for each of my requests (if you think my posts are bad, just imagine being one of the poor souls who's received one of my letters) while also trying to keep this blog updated on a semi-regular basis, was just too much for me. 

While still actively sending out requests I kept track of what I sent to who, and when; but have long since recycled those records. And not being in possession of the greatest of memories, I can't remember every single person that didn't respond to my requests. The North Houston postmark didn't help narrow things down either. However...

... after pulling out this note first, I had a pretty good idea who this request had been to.

At some point in the distant past, I had gotten a bunch of tiny envelopes for free. I think that they might've originally been for wedding invitations, or possible baby shower invites. Either way, I found that they were the perfect size to use for a card when doing TTM's. They seemed to give them just a little bit more protection while on their journey. Opening the envelope, my suspicions as to this was from were concerned.

Another one of these was in the little envelope as well.

I remember reading of Bill's passing, but after looking again, had forgotten that it was just a little over a month ago.

As mentioned already, I don't recall exactly when I sent this, but it had to have been at least four years ago. I had been trying to get as many cards signed as I could from the 1989-90 Hoops set at the time (a project long since abandoned), and remember seeing that a lot of people were having success with Coach Fitch. I figured that he would be an automatic success, but obviously I was wrong.

I of course have no way of knowing why my attempt failed, but wouldn't be surprised if it was just a matter of a bunch of other people seeing the same thing that I saw, and then inundating him with requests. I would imagine that that happens on fairly regular basis. I also have no trouble imagining how overwhelming it can be for the requestee when this does happen.

So, yeah, not the greatest of mail days. It's actually kind of sucky. Though, probably not anywhere near as sucky as it is for the family who appear to be going through all of his old mail and returning cards to those that sent them. That certainly isn't something that I would want to task myself with. 

And for the record, I do appreciate their gesture, I just wish I could've told them not to bother with my card.

TTM Triumph: Mike Woodson

The successes have been rolling in as of late, most being of 1989-90 Hoops variety, so let's take a quick look at one of said recent successes:

Mike was member of the 1979 Men's team that won gold at the 1979 Pan American Games. Even though he spent eleven seasons playing in the NBA, the former Hoosiers standout, is probably now best known for the 21 seasons that he has served as an assistant/head coach in the NBA.

As always, many thanks go out to Mr. Woodson for taking the time to sign my card.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph: Alvan Adams

It's been almost two months since my last success was shown, during that time I've received six or seven more positive returns. Today's card is probably my favorite of those returns:

After three years at Oklahoma, where he had set many a school record (most of which have since been broken), Alvan left after his Junior year to enter the NBA Draft, which him being selected by Phoenix with the fourth overall pick in the 1975 draft.

Even though he had a very successful 13-year career (all with Phoenix), Alvan is best remembered for his rookie season in which he averaged 19.0 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 5.6 apg, 1.5 spg, and 1.5 bpg -- making his lone all-star appearance, and winning Rookie of the Year honors.

That 1975-76 season was not only memorable for Suns fans because of Alvan's debut, but also because of the team's unexpected playoff success. Their record of 42-40 gave the Suns the number three seed in the west, which meant they had a first round bye (this is back when only five teams made the playoffs in each conference). Their first playoff action saw them upset the number two seeded Seattle Supersonics in six games. That win sent them on to the conference finals where they would face the previous season's champion, and owner's of the number one seed, the Golden State Warriors. In a strongly contested, and often heated series, the Suns would emerge victorious, defeating the heavily favored Warriors in seven games.

Going to the NBA finals for the first time in franchise history, the team would meet up with a much more experienced Boston Celtics team, who eventually go on to take the series in six games. As an aside, game 5 of that series, the famous triple overtime game at the Garden, is still considered by many to be the greatest game in NBA history.

As always, many thanks to Mr. Adams for taking the time to sign my card. With his card, I now have 22 cards from the 1978-79 Topps set signed.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph: Rich Wingo

I sent out a couple of football requests about a month ago, Friday saw the first successful return from that batch:

Rich played his college ball at Alabama, winning two National Title's along the way. In 1979 he was part of the famous "Goal Line Stand" that would lead to a victory over the Nittany Lions in the Sugar Bowl.

After college, Rich played five seasons with the Green Bay Packers before retiring. He is currently serving is first term as a representative in the Alabama House of Legislature.

As always, many thanks go out to Mr. Wingo for taking the time to sign my card.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph: Jamaal Wilkes

Today's success came on the second attempt, but a player of "Silk's" caliber was certainly worth trying twice.

Referred to as a "perfect player" by the legendary coach Wooden, Jamaal Wilkes was a winner pretty much everywhere he went.

Playing for coach Wooden at UCLA, Jamaal won two national titles, and while there was a key component in the teams record setting 88 game winning streak.

A three time All-Star during his twelve year NBA career, he would win, not only the ROY award during his first season with the Warriors, but also his first championship as well. Best known for his time with the Lakers during the Showtime era, he would win three more championships in 1980, 1982, and 1985. Jamaal is also a member of both the Basketball Hall of Fame, and the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

As always, many thanks go out to Mr. Wilkes for taking the time to sign my card.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph: Lenny Wilkens

Even though Lenny Wilkens is considered to be an almost guaranteed success when sending him a TTM request, I was still pretty excited to get this one back.

Coach Wilkens' list of accomplishments is longer than my arm, so in an attempt to keep this short, here are just a few: He was a nine-time all-star during his sixteen-year playing career, he coached the Sonics to their only championship in franchise history (1979), coached Team USA to gold at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and is second all-time in coaching wins. And if that isn't enough, he has been elected to the basketball hall of fame three times, as a player, a coach, and as a member of the 1992 Dream Team (assistant coach). Oh, and he's also a member of the college basketball hall of fame as well.

As always, I would like to send a big thank you out to Mr. Wilkens for taking the time to sign my card.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph: Stu Jackson

My 1989-90 Hoops autograph project continues on with another recent success:

I have wanted Stu's autograph for a while now, primarily because he was member of Oregon's Kamikaze Kids, him having a card in this particular set is just an added bonus.

A coach at both the collegiate, and professional level, he was also the NBA's Executive Vice President for over a decade.

As always, I would like to send a big thank you out to Mr. Jackson for taking the time to sign my card.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph: Muggsy Bogues

Were I to make a list of my top 5 favorite successful returns to date, today's card would, without a doubt, be amongst those listed. If you were a basketball fan in the late 80's and into the 90's, it was almost impossible not to be a fan of/root for, Tyrone "Muggsy" Bogues:

A four-year graduate of Wake Forest, Muggsy left school as the ACC all-time leader in both assists and steals (since surpassed in both categories). The summer before his senior season, he was a member of the U.S. National Team that won gold at the 1986 FIBA World Championship in Spain.

Drafted with the 12th overall pick in 1987 by the Washington Bullets, he would play with the team for one season before being chosen by the Charlotte Hornets in 1988's expansion draft. Spending the next ten seasons in Charlotte, his likable personality and exciting game play would make him one of, if not, the most popular player in franchise history. Later playing two seasons with both the Warriors, and the Raptors, Muggsy retired in 2001, after a very respectable 14 year career in the NBA.

As always, I would like to send a big thank you out to Mr. Bogues for taking the time to sign my card.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph: Ken Henderson

After having taken a six month (or more) break from sending out requests, I had started to forget how exciting it was to find one of my SASE's included with the day's mail. The first batch of letters that I sent out a couple of weeks ago are starting to yield quite a few successes, which explains why you have been seeing me do so many of theses posts lately. Today's post will feature the first baseball return from said batch of recent requests:

Playing for seven teams over his 16 year career, Ken Henderson's best season came as a member of the White Sox in 1974. That year he played in all 162 Games, had 602 At Bats, 76 Runs, 176 Hits, 35 Doubles, 5 Triples, 20 Home Runs, 95 RBI, 12 Stolen Bases, 66 Walks, .292 Batting Average, .360 On-base percentage, .467 Slugging Percentage, 281 Total Bases, 2 Sacrifice Hits, 8 Sacrifice Flies and 9 Intentional Walks. His all around solid play earned him a 19th place finish in the MVP voting, which may not seem all that special, but it ended up being the only year he would garner such consideration.

As always, I would like to send a big thank you out to Mr. Henderson for taking the time to sign my card.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph: Nick Libett

I wanted to take a break today from all the recent basketball successes, and instead, show off a nice hockey return:

A twelve year veteran in the NHL, Mr. Libett is considered by most to be one of the best two way left wingers in Red Wings' history. Always a durable player, he led the league in games played four times. The former Detroit captain was also revered for his toughness, always being ready to throw down when necessary. An All-Star in 1977, he would play ten years in Detroit and two more with Pittsburgh before retiring in 1981. Nick finished is playing days with 237 goals and 268 assists, scoring 505 total points.

As always, I would like to send a big thank you out to Mr. Libett for taking the time to sign my card.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph: Bobby Hansen

After taking a break for a couple of months, I have started sending out requests again, which thankfully, usually results in some successful returns -- hence the recent return (pun?) of these TTM posts, including today's:

In 1979, Bobby was a member of the U.S. team that won the gold at the inaugural FIBA Men's Junior World Championship in Brazil.

He played four years at Iowa, which included going to the Final Four in 1980.

Drafted in 1983, he would go on to play for ten seasons in the NBA, seeing action with Utah, Sacramento, and Chicago. The highlight of Bobby's career came during the 1992 NBA Finals as a member of the Chicago Bulls, where the three pointer he hit (followed by a steal) to start the fourth quarter of game 6, is often credited for sparking the rally that saw Chicago erase a 15-point deficit to beat the Portland Trailblazers (and break a young Jon's heart) for the NBA Championship.

Retiring in 1992, Bobby has spent the last 25 years doing color work as member of the Hawkeyes radio broadcasting team.

As always, I would like to send a big thank you out to Mr. Hansen for taking the time to sign my card.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph: Bob Weiss

A recent success from the former player and longtime coach:

Always considered a very reliable player, Mr. Weiss played for twelve seasons in the NBA, which included being a member of the Warriors 1967 Championship team. Early in his career with Philadelphia, he spent some time playing in Eastern Professional Basketball League (or EBL, which would later become the CBA) as well. While there, playing for the Wilmington Blue Bombers, he led the league in assists during the 1966-67 season and was named to the All-Star First Team.

As always, I would like to thank Mr. Weiss for taking the time to sign my card.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph: Al Skinner

I haven't done one of these posts in a while now, mostly due to the lack of returns, which usually happens... when you're not actively sending out any requests.

It's been at least six months now since I sent out my last request, even though I was having an almost 80% success rate, I just really got burned out when it came to the letter writing. Having not sent anything out recently, I was a bit surprised to see one of my familiar SASE's arrive in the mail a couple of weeks back. Having not received any of these back for a few months now, I couldn't tear this envelope open quick enough in my attempt to see who it was from.

If I was surprised to even get one of my older requests back, I was even more surprised to see who it was, as I really didn't think this one was ever coming back. My request to Mr. Skinner was part of my very first batch sent out, which according to my records, was on 10/29/15. I remember when I sent this one out, I felt like it was a bit of a risk, because not only weren't there any successful returns posted anywhere online, there weren't even any attempts mentioned anywhere. So all in all, I'm glad I decided to give him a go.

Al Skinner was a beast at UMass, leading the team in rebounding in his sophomore through senior seasons, and in scoring in his junior and senior seasons. During his senior season he also happened to record the first triple-double in team history while playing against St. Peter's, finishing with 28-18-10. He would go on to play three seasons in the ABA with the New York/New Jersey Nets, where along with former fellow Minutemen star, Dr. J, he would win a title during the '75-76 season. After the ABA folded, he played three seasons in the NBA, before retiring after a season playing in Spain. Mr. Skinner is currently the head coach at Kennesaw State.

As always, I would like to send out a big thank you to Mr. Skinner.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph #36: Mark Price

This one's been sitting in a folder for a little while now, but that wasn't because I thought any less of this return, just an oversight on my part.

Even though I didn't get to watch him play very often, Mark Price was one of my favorite players as a youngster. I didn't exactly know why at the time, but thinking about it now, it was probably because of his slower methodical style of play... kind of a throwback to the earlier days of basketball. A lot of people seem to have forgotten just how good he was before the injuries started piling up. A four time all-star, one of only seven players to reach the 50-40-90 club (at least 50%  FG from the field, 40% from three, and 90% from the FT line in a single season), and he was always near the top of the league in assists --- Oh, and forget the two gold medals acquired from the 1983 Pan American Games and the 1994 FIBA World Championship.

I had sent the now head coach of the Charlotte 49ers both of his cards from '89 Hoops set to try and get signed. A little less than a year later they came back, one signed and one unsigned, so I'm guessing he only signs one item at a time, which is fine I will just have to try again at some later date on the other card.

As always, many thanks go out to Mr. Price.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph #35: Byron Scott

Here's a nice recent success from a former coach of the year, and winner of three championships with the Showtime era Lakers, Byron Scott:

This is another one that I didn't think would be coming back as I had the misfortune of sending my request to him just like a week or so before he was let go as the head coach of the Lakers. But just one day shy of a year from the send date, it came back successfully with a nice big signature to boot.

As always, many thanks go out to Mr. Scott.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph #33: Pat Riley

The successful return featured in this post has got to be one of my biggest yet. Were I to make a list of some sort, it would easily be in the top three.

Being a devout Trail Blazers fan growing up, I certainly didn't have any love for the Lakers, but even from a young age I had a great deal of respect for Pat Riley as a person. In fact, his book "Show Time" was not only the second basketball related book I ever read (after "Breaks of the Game"), but it was the second sports book that I ever read.

A big part of why I have always liked him so much, comes from reading an interview of his when I was around 9 or 10, in which he discussed the Texas Western team that beat his Kentucky team for the NCAA championship in 1966. Even that early in life I was greatly impressed by the reverence in which he spoke of that Miners team and it's players. You just don't see that kind of respect given by a player on the losing side to the team that beat them all that often. And of course, over the years he has continued to discuss that Texas Western team with the highest regard in countless books and documentaries.

Even if there wasn't all that, just getting a successful return back from someone who, as a player, coach, and executive has been able to amass ten championship rings is pretty darn cool. So, many thanks go out to Mr. Riley.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph #32: Don Kaiser

Since everyone seems to be about all things Cubs as of late, I figured I might as well get in on it too. Although my minor contribution to the craze will only be to show yet another semi-recent successful return:

Mr. Kaiser's major league career only lasted three years, all with Chicago. Due to his phenomenal high school career, which saw him win 49 of his 50 outings -- with seven no-hitters and two perfect games, Don received a $50,000 signing bonus from the Cubs in 1955.

During his rookie campaign he saw limited action, in the form of 18 total innings, all of which were in relief. Don's first start came on June 2, 1956 against the Dodgers, in which he threw a 2-hit shutout. Unfortunately for him, and the Cubs, this would be his best outing in the majors. Just a year and a half after that start first start, his career in the big leagues would be over, finishing with a 6-15 record and an ERA of 4.15.

Many thanks go out to Mr. Kaiser for signing my card.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph #31: Jon McGlocklin

After a mere three week wait, I got a nice return from the Bucks longtime television analyst:

Averaging 16 points a game during the regular season and  nearly 15 ppg during the playoffs, Jon McGlocklin was a key component on Milwaukee's 1971 championship team. His ability to shoot from distance made for a very effective in and out pairing with Lew Alcindor, which was able to reduce the amount of double teaming that Alcindor received -- thus allowing him to be even more effective than he already was. An eleven year pro, Mr. McGlocklin was also an all-star during 1968-69 season after averaging almost 20 points a game.

As always, I would like to send a big thank you out to Mr. McGlocklin.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph #30: Louie Dampier

This week saw the return of my longest outstanding request so far. After 11 months I got my card back, signed of course, from the ABA's all-time leader in points -- Louie Dampier:

Along with being the all-time points leader, Louie Dampier was also the ABA's all-time leader in games played, minutes played, and assists. He was also only one of two players, to play all nine years of the ABA's existence (Byron Beck being the other). A seven time all-star, Mr. Dampier was a member of the Colonels 1975 championship winning squad. In 2015, he was inducted into the Naismith hall of fame.

As always, I would like to send a big thank you out to Mr. Dampier.


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.

TTM Triumph #29: Steve Largent

Normally I try not to do two of these in a row, but this past Saturday, another request that I didn't think would come back successfully...did!

This one took seven months to come back, but was well worth the wait. So as always, I would like to send a big thank you out to Mr. Largent.

Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.