Sept. 23 Report: Former Chicago Bears Kicker Bob Thomas

Nearly 200 days ago (194 to be exact) I sent a a few cards off to former Chicago Bears kicker Bob Thomas to get signed. This has turned out to be my longest wait to date on this project, but I am happy to report a triple success.

Thomas, a former Notre Dame player, went on to become the 388th pick in the 1974 NFL Draft. Though he was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams, Thomas never played a game for the West Coast team.

He is primarily know for his career with the Bears (1975-84). He also suited up for the Detroit Lions, San Diego Chargers and New York Giants.

One of the col things in researching players I used to watch in my youth is finding out what they are up to today. Thomas is a justice for the Supreme Court of Illinois. Pretty cool to establish such a prestigious career after enjoying a lengthy and successful NFL career.

Returning to the autographs, Thomas signed all three cards I send to him, despite me asking him to keep the duplicate. In addition to signing the cards he also added the inscription "Romans 5:8".

Day of the Year: 264
Number of Autographs This Year: 242

July 1 Report: Former Chicago Bears Player Revie Sorey

Apologies for the brevity of the last three posts, but I had a quick out-of-towner thrown on me at short notice I had to tend to.

So I'm back but trying to play catch-up on a lot of things, including this blog. Which is a good thing because it means autographs are still being acquired.

Today's addition comes from another of those NFL payers from the 1970s and 1980s which is so dear to me. Revie Sorey, an All-Pro guard for the Chicago Bears (1975-83), signed a pair of football cards to go into the collection.

Before playing with the Bears Sorey competed at Illinois collegiately.

Day of the Year: 181
Number of Autographs This Year: 223

April 1 Report: Virgil Livers, Herman Weaver and Roger Carr

Thankfully the mailman wasn't in an April Fool's mood today and he delivered me some nice 1970s NFL successes.

First up is former Chicago Bears cornerback Virgil Livers. Livers played college football at small Western Kentucky, yet he impressed enough scouts to be drafted in the fourth round of the 1975 NFL Draft.

Livers had 12 interceptions in his five-year career with the Bears, returning a pair of them for touchdowns.

Herman Weaver earned his nickname "Thunderfoot" from Howard Cosell during a Monday Night game when the Lions were playing.

This is the second time I have gotten Weaver to sign cards for me, the first being about 15 years ago. Back then he signed and also added his nickname to the card.

Today's version comes with a Bible verse in place, which I completely respect too.

In all Weaver punted for 11 years in the NFL -- 1970-76 with Detroit and 1977-80 with Seattle. The Sporting News, in 1988, named him one of the top 20 punters of all-time.

Today's third and final success comes from Roger Carr.

Carr played most notably for the Baltimore Colts (1974-1981), though he also spent time with Seattle Seahawks (1982) and San Diego Chargers (1983). He was drafted in the first round after his college career at Louisiana Tech.

His career numbers are 271 receptions, 5,071 yards and 31 touchdowns.

His best year was in 1976, whe he caught 43 passes for 1,112 yards -- almost 26 yards per catch.

He made his lone Pro Bowl that season as well.

Day of the Year: 91
Number of Autographs This Year: 128

Feb. 16 Report: Mike Hartenstine, Benny Barnes, Sean Landeta and Teemu Selanne

With no U.S. mail service on Monday due to the Presidents' Day holiday, I guess Tuesday was ripe for a few successes.

Though I also officially have my first failure. Bernie Kosar kept the two cards I sent him to sign and in their place sent a letter back saying he wants $20 to sign one autograph. No thanks Bernie. Call me old school, but I just have a hard time swallowing an athlete -- in particular a modern day star who made millions -- asking his fans for money to sign his name.

So I'm done with him and onto people who don't have a hard time giving a few seconds, literally, to their fans to write their name.

Mike Hartenstine, a former All-American at Penn State who was a second-round pick in the 1975 NFL Draft, spent most of his career with the Chicago Bears (1975-1986) and was a member of the Super Bowl XX winning team.

Not that Bernie is counting or anything, but Mr. Hartenstine actually took the time to sign three cards for me. That's probably 30 seconds of his time. If you're Bernie that adds up to about $20,000 for an 8-hour workday.

Bennie Barnes helped Stanford win two Rose Bowls in 1970 and 1971 before being signed by the Dallas Cowboys in 1972.

Barnes played cornerback for the Cowboys from 1972-1982 and helped them win Super Bowl XII. He had 11 interceptions in his career.

Mr. Barnes signed (gasp Bernie) two items for me to help me fill in two of my Cowboys 1980s team sets. And he didn't even charge 20 cents!

Sean Landeta played most of his career with the New York Giants, where he helped the team to Super Bowl XXI and XXV wins. Landeta led the NFL with a 37.8 net average in 1989, and led the league with 24 punts inside the 20 in 1990.

By the end of the 2005 season, Landeta had amassed 1,401 punts for 60,707 yards (43.3 yards per punt average), with 381 punts in the 20 and 166 touchbacks and a 35.3 net yard average. His punts, punting yards, and punts landing inside the 20 are all among the NFL's top five leaders in each category.

Landeta was the last active NFL player who played in the USFL for the Philadelphia Stars. On March 6, 2008, the 25th anniversary of the first USFL game, Landeta officially announced his retirement from football. He became the last USFL player to retire from professional football.

Don't tell Bernie, but Mr. Landeta signed two cards me too. And he even included his own card as the second autograph. And he didn't charge me for the card, either.

And this one ought to really get Bernie's attention. A possible future Hall of Famer (definitely not talking about Bernie) in Teemu Selanne returned a pair of cards to me today as well. And he, too, sent a second card of his own to me signed. And you guessed it, he didn't charge me for the autograph or the extra card.

Now we're talking about a guy who as I write this ranks 18th all-time in regular-season goals and in the top 15 or so in just about every category that has to do with goals. Good to know some people still appreciate their fans -- even if they do make millions of dollars today.

Day of the Year: 47
Number of Autographs This Year: 83

Feb. 13 Report: Brian Baschnagel and John Dutton

Today marked the 100th request of the year I have sent out in my 2010 autograph campaign. Just for the record that request was to Ivan Lendl, the tennis Hall of Famer turned golf nut. Hopefully in this space in a few weeks I will be able to report that success as I add another signed golf ball to my collection.

I all I sent six different requests today since there will be no mail tomorrow or Monday for the Presidents' Day holiday.

In exchange for those six, the post office returned two of my previous requests today, both from former NFL players I watched growing up. First up is former Chicago Bears wide receiver Brian Baschnagel.

Baschnagel played for the Bears from 1976-1984, where he caught 134 passes for 2,024 yards -- an average of more than 15 per reception.

Prior to being the Bears' third-round pick in 1976, Baschnagel was a two-time Academic All-American at Ohio State.

Today's other success was from former Dallas Cowboys defensive end John Dutton. Slowly I seem to be filling in my Cowboys team set from 1980.

Dutton was the fifth overall pick out of Nebraska in 1974. He spent five years with the Baltimore Colts before joining the Cowboys (1979-1987). He made three consecutive Pro Bowls beginning in 1975, when he had 17 sacks for the Colts.

In 1980 Dutton was a part of one of the most formidable defenses in NFL history, playing alongside Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Randy White and Harvey Martin.



Day of the Year: 44
Number of Autographs This Year: 79

January 28 Report: Jim McMahon, Bruce Armstrong, Scott Norwood, Walt Williams, Brad Daugherty and Hersey Hawkins

From this point forward I'm expecting no more than 1 or 2 autographs per day s I've gotten past the initial blitz to see how my mailing campaign would fare. I've been stunned so far with the results, so it was really surprising to receive six different successes today.

Ill start with a cool add to my NFL and Golf collection, all in one. Jim McMahon, a former All-American at BYU, quarterbacked the Chicago Bears for many years, most notably during the 1985 season when the Bears won Super Bowl XX.

McMahon is definitely a free spirit, and one who has taken to golf perhaps more avidly than he did in football. He regularly plays in his bare feet and is great fun with his fans at the celebrity tour events.

So I asked him to sign a golf ball for me, which he did and he even inscribed it as follows, "To Mark Hit Em Straight Jim McMahon 9 SBXX".

Keeping in the football field, I also added the signature of one of the most dominant offensive linemen of his era, Bruce Armstrong. Armstrong was named to six Pro Bowls during his 15-year career with the New England Patriots.

Definitely a No. 1 pick who lived up to his expectations.

Staying in the AFC East, we move just a bit over to Buffalo where kicker Scott Norwood agreed to sign for me as well. The former James Madison University player was one of the last USFL holdovers who played in the NFL. Norwood kicked for the Birmingham Stallions in 1983 and 1984 before catching on with the Bills in 1985, where he eventually became the club's all-time leading scorer.

The other three successes come from the NBA, which is without a doubt the weakest section of my present sports autograph collection. Basketball has never really been "my sport", but I still appreciate the talent and dedication it takes to make it to the highest level in your field of athletics.

That said, I've added the signatures of Walt Williams, Brad Daugherty and Hersey Hawkins to my ever-growing collection.

Williams was a No. 1 draft pick out of Maryland, who essentially helped bring the school's hoops program back from the dead in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He played 11 seasons in the NBA with six different teams and scored nearly 8,400 points in his career.

Daugherty followed a great career at the University of North Carolina by being the overall No. 1 draft choice in the 1986 NBA Draft. He was an All-Rookie first teamer who went on the be a five-time All-Star. Sadly his career was cut short by a back injury, but he still had over 10,000 points, 5,200 rebounds and more than 2,000 steals.

Lastly Hersey Hawkins put his signature on a few cards for me as well. Hawkins was a No. 1 draft pick in 1988 who played for 14 season in the NBA. During that time he scores 14,470 points.


Day of the Year: 28
Number of Autographs This Year: 51

January 11 Report: Gary Fencik, Joe Ferguson and Jeff Lageman

Today marks a streak of 5 consecutive mailing days where I have some success to report. Two of these three former NFL players competed in the 1970s and the other was most prominent in the 1990s.

First we have the former Chicago Bears safety Gary Fencik, whio played 12 seasons for the team and retired as their leading tackler and interceptor. He was part of the victorious team that played in Super Bowl XX and he was named to two Pro Bowls, proving the Yale grad could play football as well.



Joe Ferguson was a standout at the University of Arkansas where he was the Southwest Conference Player of the Year before being drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the third round of the 1973 draft.

During his NFL career, which spanned from 1973-1990, Ferguson passed for nearly 30,000 yards. I was saddened to hear that in recent years he has battled both leukemia and cancer. Thankfully this appears to be in remission. We'll keep Joe and his family in my prayers so that there is not another medical issue as significant as those two in his future.

Lastly today we have Jeff Lageman, the former University of Virginia standout who, despite his size, made a fine career in the NFL as a linebacker. First for the New York Jets, who drafted him in the first round of the 1989 draft, then later for the upstart Jacksonville Jaguars franchise.








Day of the Year: 11
Number of Autographs This Year: 13