May 23, 2013

Unearthing a Cavaliers Time Capsule

May 16, 2012 by 8 Comments

Back at the beginning of May, I came across an interesting piece from Paul Lukas of Uni-Watch and ESPN fame. The article was about a sports fan named Andy who had lost his job and decided to sell some of his childhood sports memories to help with bills. Read the back-story here.

The condensed version of the story is this: when he was a kid (late 80′s, early 90′s), Andy wrote to a ton of major league sports franchises asking for autographs, stickers, or anything they were willing to send. He got answers back from 16 teams. He saved whatever they sent in the original envelope and stored them away.

And now he was selling them on eBay.

“You are bidding on a piece of mail sent to me almost 20 years ago in response to fan mail. … At nine or ten years of age, I wrote letters to every professional major league basketball and hockey team, mentioning my favorite player on that team and asking for anything that they might be willing to send back. …

Sixteen teams responded to my letter. Some envelopes contained photocopies of team apparel catalogs. … Some contained autographs from Hall-of-Famers. …

These envelopes are like a time capsule. … Whatever was sent to me 20 years ago is still inside today.”

I checked out his auctions, and sure enough there was an envelope from the Cavs.

Well, why not. The minimum bid was $25. Buy it now for $50. I placed a bid for $25, and won. Why pay $25 for a mystery envelope? What are the chances that the contents are worth at least $25? All fair questions. The answer of course is the thrill of the chase.

I haven’t purchased a pack of baseball cards in ages, but this had a similar feel to it.

What was I hoping for? Honestly, a team photo would have been awesome. Whatever it was, I thought we’d have some fun together.

The envelope contained a typed letter from the Cavs, two 1990-1991 pocket schedules, one Cavs bumper sticker (sponsored by WOIO Nineteen, 850 am WRMR and Sports Channel), one Cavs keychain (sponsored by Firestone Cleveland/Akron tire and service centers) and an 8×10 Mark Price over-sized NBA Hoops card.

If you are curious, the letter simply says-

“Dear CAVS Fan: Thank you for your letter expressing an interest in the CAVS. To show our appreciation, enclosed is some fan material to help you cheer on the CAVS.

Again, thank you for your continued support and interest in the CAVS.

Sincerely,

THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS”

I love the old orange logo. I also find it funny that they spelled out CAVS in all caps every time. The items themselves appear to be left over from different promotions and giveaways.

What will we do with these now? I don’t know. Maybe they get passed around the writing staff. Or they could become contest fodder. Or they get put back in the envelope for another 20 years.

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  • TSR3000

    Still have my two Price jerseys- one is the white home jersey before the Gund opened and the other is the black one with turquoise stripe. I really miss the blue and orange color scheme.   

  • Vindictive_Pat

    I was also a kid in the late 80′s and early 90′s, and around that time our school would have an annual auction where everyone had to write letters to companies/sports teams/music artists/etc and ask them to donate things for the auction.  My friend wrote to Jon Secada and got a bunch of stuff from him… remember Jon Secada?

  • The_Real_Shamrock

    Pretty cool Price-Daugherty-Nance-Ehlo-Hot Rod those were the days!

  • Harv 21

    Have a beautiful photo taken by a buddy from center court seats of the opening tip at a game in ’93-94, Larry Nance jumping agaist some Australian center on the T-Wolves whose name escapes me. Gerald Wilkins and Daugherty in position. Great unis. Believe it was literally Daugherty’s last game, and the start of a very dark Cavs period.

    That old stuff is very cool because, like a song or smell, evokes all sorts of memories. 

  • REEPJP

    I used to write lots and lots of fan letters….it was my compromise with my mom during the summers that I would write instead of read. She would proofread the final copy and I would decorate the envelopes to try to make them stand out in the fan mail heap. Unfortunately I only got responses on a handful….the one I remember best was an 8″x10″ “from” Joe Montana when he was with the Chiefs. It wasn’t even signed, but I bragged for weeks at school that Montana and I were pen pals. Haha

  • saggy

    i wrote to Bob Feller once when i was around 12.  I never got anything back.  

    Then, a few months later, i saw Bob Feller and told him that I had written to him, and that I was still awaiting a response.  He said, “Don’t hold your breath, kid.”  

  • NamedMyKidPrice

    Mark Price could still work these dudes in the league.  Favorite player ever! 

  • Mike

    I did this same thing in the early 1990s (for the 1991-92 season).  I remember that Beckett (the basketball card pricing guide) listed the team addresses for each team in one issue and wrote a story about getting free items from the teams.  I wrote to all of the teams in the league.  The Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers gave the most stuff.  I ran across this the other day as I was doing some cleaning.  The Magic sent a photo of their cheerleaders.  It would be so exciting to receive a letter in the mail from an NBA team.