Disappointment Setting In

On January 18, I mailed a baseball to Kevin Tapani. 10 days later I received my ball back signed. Since then, I have mailed out 17 baseballs. I didn't have high expectations at the time, but after receiving 7 back fairly quickly, my expectations raised. I got my hopes up. I thought I was making it easy for former players to sign and return balls to me and couldn't fathom why someone would discard one. I soon expected to get all of them back. Now, disappointment is setting in.

Guys like Tapani, Reardon, and Tom Kelly confirmed what I had uncovered while researching. They are great, timely signers through the mail. I didn't know what to expect from guys like Kaat and Gagne, but both surprised me with very fast returns.

I have decided that the three minor league players I sent mail to (Sano, Benson, and Hendriks) are long shots. I called Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers and spoke with a man who informed me that the Twins take over the mailing department during Spring Training and lots of fan mail gets lost in the shuffle.

That leaves 7 other baseballs out there in the world. Camilo Pascual and Rick Aguilera were just mailed late last week. Both were long shots, but worth a try. Besides it's too early to tell with them. Frank Viola is semi-reliable but takes an average of 2-3 months so I shouldn't be worried about him quite yet. And the 8x10 I sent to Brad Radke nearly 2 weeks ago, well I'm not even sure I sent it to an accurate address. However, Jim Perry is traditionally a very fast, reliable signer through the mail, and here I sit 23 days later still waiting. Kent Hrbek is another down-to-earth, reliable, and timely signer. 16 days is stretching beyond Hrbek's average response time. And then there's Gene Larkin . . . I feel like the best letter of request that I've written was to Gene Larkin. I don't know why I thought he'd be an easy get, but 23 days and no return.

Maybe patience is a virtue I just wasn't blessed with. Maybe I need to realize these guys have lives and may be busy and need to allow myself to be surprised a month or two from now. Yet every day, I return home from school excited to open the mailbox and see who I may have heard from. And lately, everyday that mailbox is merely full of bills. I sure hope my luck changes soon.