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 don
e 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 on
e 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
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