38 months of non-returns

I'm in kind of a dead spot right now. I haven't sent any out in a few weeks (I'm waiting for my international postage so I can mail off my foreign soccer requests; my next batch of stamps comes on November 1) and so my returns have been minimal. It's also a dead spot for IP graphing since baseball is over and hockey has been a waste for quite a while.

So, just because I can't think of anything else to write about, everything I've mailed and not gotten back since I started this blog back in March of 2013. Not including soccer though since I have a whole other blog on it.

Maybe writing about them will exorcise some of the mailbox demons.

AUGUST 2, 2013
Manny Ramirez-- a longshot, and probably would have been ghost-signed anyway.

FEBRUARY 10, 2014
Derek Morris-- looks like he quit signing right about the time I sent.

JUNE 16, 2014
Bob Golic-- always a spotty signer, and I just missed one of those good-signing streaks.

JULY 14, 2014
Al Bumbry-- not sure what happened here; usually he's been a good returner, but mine just slipped through the cracks, I guess.

OCTOBER 3, 2014
Brook Jacoby-- another who is typically spotty, I'm now 0/2 on him; I may have to try him with the Blue Jays once I get my set card again

FEBRUARY 22, 2015
Paul Molitor-- seems like I mailed during a cold spell; he's another who is on-again, off-again as a signer.

MARCH 9, 2015
Steve Sullivan-- another longshot that failed; he's never been a good TTM signer.

JULY 24, 2015
Mick Vukota-- another longshot as I've never seen a success from him at any point, but I needed him for a set

JULY 25, 2015
Bob Grich and Jason Woolley-- Woolley hasn't signed by mail in a long time, and Grich came right at the end of his previous "one free, $5 for others" policy that is now a straight $5 for all

AUGUST 5, 2015
Jeffrey Loria, Jim Kiick, Miroslav Satan-- all longshots so I wasn't expecting much; I later picked up Loria and Kiick in trades and may have gotten Satan in trade too-- I'd have to look it up

AUGUST 22, 2015
Roman Cechmanek-- the first international mailing that hasn't come back, so this is a bit of a surprise

AUGUST 31, 2015
Mike Heath, Rich Hebner, Phil Housley-- very surprised at these, as all three have had fairly high success rates lately; I saw a success from Housley right after I sent, and none since

SEPTEMBER 5, 2015
Gary Pettis-- major surprise: he's typically good via mail (just not IP)

SEPTEMBER 7, 2015
Alex Tanguay, Pascal Dupuis-- major surprise; these guys typically are good and both seems to have just quit signing in 2015

DECEMBER 29, 2015
Daymond Langkow, Tony Amonte, Mike Richter, Owen Nolan, Todd Bertuzzi-- all total Hail Mary attempts on some Topps Total needs

JANUARY 7, 2016
Albert Pujols-- missed the Christmas gravy train

JANUARY 20, 2016
Borje Salming-- looks like I had an old address for him

FEBRUARY 18, 2016
Steven Kampfer, Jussi Jokinen, Aaron Ekblad, Erik Gudbranson, Jonathan Huberdeau, Shawn Thornton, Vincent Trocheck, Jaromir Jagr, John Madden, Al Montoya-- these were the photos I ordered for the failed Panthers' IP attempt, and I have had remarkably few come back signed: a depressing waste of money, to say the least

MARCH 7, 2016
Dennis Martinez, Rod Carew, Denny McLain-- Martinez is an on-again, off-again signer; Carew usually would do it at Spring Training but didn't this season; McLain stopped signing due to two "fans" who shall remain nameless who made a threat against him for him losing the card they sent him just before I mailed out (he still signs for a few bucks, at least)

MARCH 25, 2016
Dmitry Kulikov, Brandon Pirri, Nick Bjugstad, Reilly Smith-- see February 18.

MARCH 30, 2016
Lubomir Sekeras, Ladislav Nagy, Lubos Bartecko, Oleg Petrov-- a few more international attempts that haven't come back; before Cechmanek's 2015 non-return, I was a near-perfect 48/49 crossing borders (plus three RTS where I at least got my unsigned items back) but have been only 19/31 since (with one RTS)

MARCH 31, 2016
Greg Olson, Matt Merullo, Tony Perezchica, Ben Zobrist-- surprising on all but Zobrist, as I assume he'll catch up once the season is over

APRIL 4, 2016
Bill Withers, Donald Brashear, Rudy Poeschek-- all longshots, all failed so far; I should note that I continue to hold out some hope on 2016 mailings so I hesitate to call these failures yet

MAY 25, 2016
Joey Bosa, Laquon Treadwell, Ezekiel Elliott, Josh Doctson, Rashard Higgins, Cardale Jones, Christian Hackenberg, Corey Coleman, Tyler Ervin, Demarcus Robinson, Dak Prescott, Devon Johnson, Kenneth Dixon, Carson Wentz, Cody Kessler, Derrick Henry, Paxton Lynch, Braxton Miller-- again, we're early in the NFL season, so I'm sure at least a few of these guys will just catch up on mail in the offseason

MAY 31, 2016
Tom Tupa, Kevin Mack-- again, surprising these haven't come back, especially with my Dawg Pound return address labels...

JUNE 4, 2016
Kelly Hrudey, Jocelyn Lemieux, Gary Leeman-- Leeman hasn't signed in a few months, not has Lemieux, and Hrudey was out of CBC literally a couple days after I mailed out

JUNE 15, 2016
Kenny Walker, Frank Stams, Antonio Langham, Ralf Mojsiejenko-- Langham often takes a few months, Walker and Stams haven't signed since before I mailed, and Mojsiejsnko was a longshot

JULY 26, 2016
Pat Leahy-- another who typically takes a while, not too worried here

AUGUST 16, 2016
Andruw Jones, Adrian Beltre, Alex Rodriguez, Clayton Kershaw-- Kershaw does his in the offseason, Beltre I bet will too, A-Rod was a Hail Mary, and Jones seems to catch up every few months

AUGUST 22, 2016
Mo Vaughn-- another who hits the mailbox every few months

AUGUST 23, 2016
Gene Hiser-- surprising, as he typically takes only a week or two and the last success I saw came the day before I mailed.

AUGUST 24, 2016
Lance Johnson-- One Dog had put the pen down for a while, then came a short success streak so I figured I'd try him; I may have missed the hot streak

SEPTEMBER 6, 2016
John Olerud, Rob Dibble, Jim Corsi, Scott Leius, Steve Trout, Hal Haydel, Jeff Montgomery, Mason Raymond-- Raymond probably will later in the hockey season; Montgomery is in the offseason, so any time now I'd expect this one; Haydel typically takes a while; Trout is a minor surprise; Leius, Corsi, and Olerud typically take a while; Dibble is a bit of a longshot

SEPTEMBER 19, 2016
Leon Hooten-- Should be coming just about anytime now, as he usually takes about a month; haven't seen any successes since March though.

I don't give up on any I mail since I've had some long waits come back (I've had 30 requests take a year or more but come back successfully), but still it's hard to hold out hope on some of these.

I also wonder about mail theft sometimes with the likes of Heath, Hebner, Olson, Merullo, and Perezchica, all of whom have high success rates on SCN (83%, 89%, 95%, 96%, and 98%, respectively). Granted, if you're desperate enough to steal cards of these guys, you're really in need.