jay johnstone through the mail success!

11 days is all it took for jay johnstone to sign and return 3 of the 4 cards i sent to him. he kept the 1986 topps card i sent, which is fine with me, but signed his 1978 topps1981 fleer and 1982 fleercards for me. i did include a $10 donation for his charity - sporthings and more, and he also included a note thanking me for the donation and asking me to spread the word to other autograph seekers about 'kids of class baseball' which i assume is connected to sporthings and more.

johnstone had two stints with the dodgers - first from 1980 to mid 1982, and then again in 1985 which would be his final season. he played well in the post season - first for the phillies in 1976 and 1977, and then for the yankees against the dodgers in 1978 - but he saved his biggest post season hit for the 1981 world series as a dodger against the yankees. in the bottom of the 6th inning in game 4, johnstone hit a 2-run pinch hit home run off of ron 'whiplash' davis to tie the game at 6. the dodgers would score 2 more runs in the 7th, and would wind up beating the yankees 8-7 to even the series at 2 games apiece. they would win the next two games to claim their first championship since 1965, and johnstone would go on to perform on solid gold with his teammates steve yeager, jerry reuss and rick monday. i shudder to think what might have happened had johnstone not hit that home run...

thanks jay!