November 12, 2010 - The Beginning

So it all started with a box. A couple of years ago, while browsing around Eastern Market in DC, I came upon a 1988 Topps Complete Set of baseball cards for $20. Now, as any kid who collected baseball cards will tell you, that's a bargain and really, why the hell not. So I snapped it up. I put it on my bookshelf and didn't think anything more about it until a couple of weeks ago.

At the suggestion of a friend I decided to start writing to as many of the players in the set as I could, including the baseball cards, a return envelope and requests for autographs in the letters and see how many I would get back. Call it a baseball-based social experiment; but one that that's results are tangible and cool. There are 792 cards in the set and I've sent out 123 already. I've already gotten six responses:

Jeff Calhoun (P) - November 3, 2010 - Response time: 8 Days

Teams: Astros, Philles

Mr. Calhoun has a somewhat infamous reputation in the annals of baseball history (see link), but I thank him for responding to my request.

Ed Romero (SS/3B) - November 5, 2010 - Response time: 7 days

Teams: Brewers, Red Sox, Braves, Brewers, Tigers

Jim Fregosi (Manager) - [also] November 5, 2010 - Response time: 10 days

Teams (Player): Angels, Mets, Rangers, Pirates
Teams (Manager): Angels, White Sox, Phillies, Blue Jays

Mr. Fregosi is probably my best haul to date. A 17 year Major League veteran and a 22 year manager he was recently honored with the George Genovese Lifetime Achievement Award in Scouting. [Thanks to Mark for the link]

Robbie Wine (C) - November 6, 2010 - Response time: 8 days

Team: Astros

Lee Elia (Manager) - November 10, 2010 - Response time: 16 days

Teams (Player): White Sox, Cubs
Teams (Manager): Cubs, Phillies

Brian Dayett (OF) - [also] November 10, 2010 - Response time: 7 days

Teams: Yankees, Cubs, Nippon Ham Fighters (Japan)
Mr. Dayett is the first player to personalize the card:

To Sam

Best Always

Brian Dayett

For that he gets a special thanks!

So that's it so far. I will add cards as they come in. Right now the statistics stand as follows:

Cards sent: 123

Responses: 6

Response Rate: 4.88%

Average Response time: 9.33 days