Even after all these years however, I have to give him credit - where he has always been an accomodating signer either responding TTM or in-person where he has dutifully signed autographs and taken pictures.
On the mound, Gossage had a distinguished career, where in his prime, he was a multiple innings fireman out of the bullpen - compared to the modern one-inning closers, who get maligned at times for dictating their usage rather than being on call as needed.
While Pagan should have been a player you maybe able to count as a success when trying for better players' autographs on a big league team - maybe he was as difficult to get as the established Giants' stars of the day like Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner or Pablo Sandoval.
PS: I think as long as I'm collecting something, the blog posts on this blog will simply continue - but the relative lack of engagement on my part hits a little different for me, where blogging feels a little dated and it might not be worth it to go on much further.
I was out of the country for the last couple of weeks and when I came home, it was a pleasant surprise - to get my SASE back in about a month with my cards signed in blue Sharpie.
2008 Upper Deck Spectrum
#69 Nick Swisher
#84 Felix Hernandez
#85 Ichiro
#DJ 91 Derek Jeter - Retrospectrum insert
2009 Upper Deck Spectrum
#82 Tim Lincecum
#98 Vernon Wells
#95 Ian Kinsler
#SS-TH Tim Hudson - Spectrum Swatches insert / jersey card
#65 Derek Jeter
#33 Troy Tulowitzki
2012 Topps
#10 Jon Lester
#154 Ty Wigginton
#TM-35 Zack Greinke - 1987 Topps minis insert
#TT-17 Joe Morgan / Brandon Phillips - Timeless Talents insert
#42 Drew Pomeranz
#283 Brandon Allen
#285 Drew Storen
#131 Ian Desmond
#27 John Buck
#194 Danny Duffy
2013 Bowman Platinum
#BPP 91 Michael Wacha
#54 Josh Hamilton - Gold parallel
#68 Johnny Cueto
#BPP 90 Marcel Ozuna
2013 Bowman Platinum
#44 Jarrod Parker
#BPCP 94 Ty Hensley - refractor
#60 Will Middlebrooks
#BPP 67 Joey Gallo
2013 Topps Series I
#54 Jaime Garcia
#236 Joe Nathan
#308 Desmond Jennings
#43 R.A. Dickey
#277 Brendan Ryan
#4 Yadier Molina
#268 David Lough
#247 Luis Perez
#TM-42 Willie Mays - 1972 Topps minis insert
#146 Kyle McClellan
#102 Denard Span
#237 Brandon Lyon
2013 Topps Series I
#44 Anthony Rizzo
#275 Johnny Cueto
#135 Eric Hosmer
#255 Josh Johnson
#23 Jemile Weeks
#100 Mike Moustakas
#231 Melky Mesa
#TM-18 Carlos Santana - 1972 Topps minis insert
#32 Craig Breslow
#180 Casey Kotchman
#258 Doug Fister
#159 Felipe Paulino
2013 Topps Series I
#329 Rafael Soriano
#38 Brian Wilson
#133 James Shields
#120 Ian Desmond
#207 Matt Holliday
#330 Ryan Raburn
#266 Albert Pujols
#CD-18 Chris Sale - Chasing the Dream insert
#221 Heath Bell
#312 Scott Hairston
#71 Kyle Kendrick
#208 Kurt Suzuki
2013 Topps Series I
#16 Andre Ethier
#52 C.C. Sabathia
#137 Edinson Volquez
#34 Felix Hernandez
#179 Detroit Tigers - 2012 ALCS Game 4
#35 Justin Verlander
#288 Starling Marte
#183 Drew Hutchison
#241 Jacoby Ellsbury - Emerald parallel
#164 Lucas Harrell
#56 Joe Blanton
#250 Jon Niese
2013 Topps Series I - die-cut pack designed as a hanger
#141 Carlos Santana
#22 Clayton Kershaw
#213 Alex Rodriguez
#263 Ted Lilly
#85 Sean Doolittle
#187 Nick Maronde
#111 Casey Kelly
#CD-25 Mike Moustakas - Chasing the Dream insert
#215 Gordon Beckham
#279 Vicente Padilla
#168 Kyle Farnsworth
#211 Jarrod Parker
2013 Topps Series I - die-cut pack designed as a hanger
#28 Prince Fielder
#155 Mat Latos
#113 Starlin Castro
#115 Tim Hudson
#17 Shin-Soo Choo
#149 Yovani Gallardo
#254 Sean Burnett
The Million Dollar Chase info card
#56 Joe Blanton
#250 Jonathon Niese
#152 Jose Contreras
#177 Elliot Johnson
2013 Topps Archives
#27 Manny Machado
#88 Derek Holland
#102 Matt Moore
#169 Pedro Alvarez
I thought these boxes might be worth a gamble, even though the packs inside are probably still retail discards and I don't think I was going to pull anything good - while there were no loose 1988 Donruss or 1989 Topps sticking out, that told me nothing.
The one hit included with the 20 packs was a 2011 Bowman Sterling Nolan Fontana Team USA jersey card #USAR-NF - very random, but it's a hit.
I pulled a 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Jake Peavy mini serial #'d to 50 which I thought was my best hit - so this break was probably par for the course until I looked closer at a couple of other cards.
2007 Upper Deck
#46 Juan Salas
#308 Matt Holliday
#391 Jeff Conine
#8 Josh Fields
#328 Jose Garcia
#395 Cole Hamels
#126 Shane Costa
#129 Mike Sweeney
Scoreboard Challenge info card
2009 Upper Deck Spectrum
#23 Carlos Quentin
#39 Dan Uggla
#85 Ichiro
#17 Alfonso Soriano
#1 Brandon Webb
2013 Topps Series II
#633 Victor Martinez
#530 Wade Miley
#459 Jesus Montero
#407 Juan Pierre
#408 Coco Crisp
#549 Huston Street
#TM-62 Paul O'Neill - 1972 Topps Minis insert
#384 Jake McGee
#540 Michael Bourn
#642 Austin Jackson
#492 Jose Molina
#613 Jhoulys Chacin
2013 Topps Series II
#560 Yunel Escobar
#575 Justin Morneau
#471 Trevor Cahill
#486 Jason Kubel
#517 Pedro Alvarez
The Million Dollar Chase info card
#CD-15 Giancarlo Stanton - Chase it Down insert
#338 Mike Trout
#483 Yordany Valdespin
#378 Joe Kelly
#554 R.A. Dickey
#577 Matt Harvey
2013 Topps Series II
#416 Jordan Lyles
#452 Raul Ibanez
#417 Blake Forsythe
#544 Tyler Chatwood
#597 Marco Scutaro
#456 Pablo Sandoval
#492 Jose Molina - Emerald parallel
#422 Alfredo Marte
#609 Scott Baker
#409 Logan Morrison
#539 Phil Coke
#356 Greg Dobbs
2013 Topps Series II
#333 Santiago Casilla
#342 Matt Dominguez
#499 Billy Butler
#383 Matt Harrison
#518 Nolan Reimold
#364 Carlos Pena - red border parallel
The Million Dollar Chase info card
#590 Liam Hendriks
#354 Casey Janssen
#538 Brett Wallace
#572 Lorenzo Cain
#431 Blake Beavan
2013 Topps Series II
#506 Andy Pettitte
#563 Nate Eovaldi
#389 Phil Hughes
#548 John Lackey
#637 Ben Revere
#388 Justin Turner
#MM-6 Ike Davis - Making Their Mark insert
I don't mind the thin stock but Topps could have gone all the way and used 'primitive' cardboard stock - like the original Topps cards these are supposed to mimic.
It's like I want to pull something in 2013 - that feels like it came from a pack in 1972, 1982, 1985 or 1990 [maybe not that year].
Pack one
#179 Tommy Milone
#44 Chris Davis
#64 Asdrubal Cabrera
#MT-RD Rob Dibble - Mini Tall Boy insert; it's not any taller than a regular sized card but it looks different because 1/3rd of a regular sized card has been cut off; Dibble is covering Angels games for some media outlet and I just got him to sign three more random cards, so this one should be inked up in-person at some point this MLB season.
#141 Adam Jones
#151 Jason Motte
#28 Mike Schmidt
#65 Paul Konerko
Pack two
#138 David Murphy
#166 Ryan Vogelsong
#5 Allen Craig
#92 Ken Griffey Jr.
#215 Bob Welch - SP
#146 Eddie Murray
#167 Rod Carew
#21 Adrian Beltre
Pack three
#143 Jake Odorizzi
#197 Chris Sale
#12 Jarrod Parker
#DFF-NU Otis Nixon / B.J. Upton - Dual Fan Favorites insert [not quite with Nixon's recent legal problems and Upton's slow start]
#60 Robinson Cano
#127 David Price
#164 Dan Uggla
#17 Hanley Ramirez
Pack four
#68 Matt Harrison
#140 Dylan Bundy
#168 Pablo Sandoval
#29 Angel Pagan
#83-PG Pedro Guerrero - 1983 All-Stars insert
#84 Coco Crisp
#121 Ian Kennedy
#161 Anthony Rizzo
Pack five
#96 Edwin Encarnacion
#106 Tim Lincecum
#165 Stephen Strasburg
#27 Manny Machado
#MT-AB Albert Pujols - Mini Tall Boy insert; these were listed 1:5 but I got two.
#42 Mariano Rivera
#93 Ian Desmond
#122 R.A. Dickey
Pack six
#88 Derek Holland
#102 Matt Moore
#169 Pedro Alvarez
#209 Dwight Evans - SP
#152 Craig Kimbrel
#37 Elvis Andrus
#70 Ozzie Smith
#147 Hiroki Kuroda
Pack seven
#25 Dexter Fowler
#81 Will Middlebrooks
#119 Ian Kinsler
#97 David Wright - Gold parallel serial #'d 186/199
#69S-SKCK Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Steve Carlton and Clayton Kershaw - 1969 4-in-1 sticker insert
#155 Wilin Rosario
#30 Yu Darvish
#51 Carlos Gonzalez
Pack eight
#194 Yadier Molina
#45 Chase Headley
#56 Josh Reddick
#83-LD Leon Durham - 1983 All-Stars insert
#148 Dustin Pedroia
#178 Giancarlo Stanton
#1 Babe Ruth
#69 Eddie Mathews