elias sosa through the mail success!

this one was a bit of a surprise. i had sent a card to a home address i had for mr. sosa way back in april. then, in june, i sent one c/o the dodgers. finally, i came across a third address, and used that one in september. i am guessing that was the one that worked, but i don't really know, so the return time could be anywhere from 6 months to 3 weeks. anyway, he signed the frontand the back!

sosa joined the dodgers (along with old friend lee lacy) during the 1976 season as part of the trade that sent dr. mike marshall to the braves. his only full season with the dodgers was the 1977 campaign. that year, the dodgers were 8-36 in regular season games in which sosa pitched, which really doesn't reflect his ability but rather his role, i suppose. the season started out rocky for him as he allowed 7 earned runs in his first five appearances of the season, but he really turned things around, allowing only 7 earned runs the rest of the way (39 appearances). he finished with a 2-2 record, a 1.98 era and an 0.85 whip. his only save of the season was a 3-inning save against the braves on september 7.

sosa is perhaps best known as one of the three dodger pitchers to surrender a home run to reggie jackson in game 6 of the 1977 world series. sosa was the second (following burt hooton and preceeding charlie hough), and that pitched turned out to be the final one he threw as a dodger. sosa was purchased by the pirates after the season ended, then sent to oakland for manny sanguillen prior to the start of the 1978 season. he would go on to play for montreal (where he would pitch against the dodgers in the 1981 nlcs) and detroit before finishing his career with san diego in 1983.

as i understand it, sosa currently works in some capacity for mlb as an ambassador for the game to south and central america.

this is the 19th piece of my modest 1978 topps dodgers autograph project.

here's the tally:

team card (red adams) - through the mail success!
dusty baker
glenn burke
ron cey - through the mail success!
vic davalillo - ebay success!
terry forster
mike garman - through the mail success!
steve garvey - through the mail success!
ed goodson
jerry grote - through the mail success!
burt hooton
charlie hough - through the mail success!
tommy john - ebay success!
lee lacy - through the mail success!
tom lasorda
dave lopes - through the mail success!
ted martinez - ebay success!
manny mota - through the mail success!
rick monday
johnny oates - ebay success!
doug rau - through the mail success!
lance rautzhan - through the mail success!
rick rhoden
bill russell - through the mail success!
reggie smith - through the mail success!
elias sosa - through the mail success!
don sutton
steve yeager
nlcs (davey lopes) - through the mail success!

19/29 = 66%

thanks elias!