Iowa man writes to former baseball players

BOONE, Iowa (AP) - Boone resident Tom Owens first dropped a 6-cent government postcard in the mail, destined for the hands of a Major League Baseball player, in 1972. He wanted something tangible to hold from the sport he loved ... he wanted a connection with his favorite players.

Although he had never played baseball past Little League, Owens was a big fan of the sport, and the players within it. Before long, he had ditched the government postcards in lieu of envelopes stuffed with self-addressed stamped envelopes and baseball cards. He collected the autographs of Bob Veale, Paul Owens and others. He would provide a baseball card, they would provide an autograph - a personal touch on the game he loved.

As Owens got older, however, the prices of postage stamps went up as the number of autographs he got went down. Envelopes marked "Return to sender" or autographs written so illegibly they could have been drawn by anyone filled his mailbox.

"I thought, 'Well, what am I collecting? Someone's scribble?'" Owens said.

And so, he changed his game plan. Now, he writes to former baseball players exclusively.

"I chose to start looking towards the past and start contacting former players," he said. "That was so much more fulfilling for me because they are grateful to be remembered."

And now, instead of asking for an autograph on an enclosed baseball card, he asks a few questions.

He's no longer collecting autographs, he's collecting interactions. He wants a story.

"I think the idea of wanting a story came from my writing," Owens, a former journalist, said. "When I would be interviewing a former player, whether I was working for Sports Collectors Digest when I was co-editor, when I was writing for a major league team's yearbook or magazine, or doing other journalism, I still found that a former player wasn't always genuine when they were speaking. They've said the same thing so many times, and I thought how could I get a pure story from a former player?

"A letter, I felt, was the answer," he said. "With a letter, it's like baseball - neither one has a time clock. You can do as much or as little as you want in the amount of time that you choose. With two postage stamps, paper and envelopes, you can be a part of Major League Baseball."

He would provide the envelope and questions, they would provide the memories. The questions were always specific to the players' career and not ones that could be answered with one-word answers. One letter each day, 2-3 questions in each letter.

The responses he got were surprising. Some answers were very brief, although insightful.

"Rickey - tight with the money. It was all business," replied Wally Westlake, a 1951 All-Star for several different clubs, when responding to Owens' question about dealing with Pittsburgh General Manager Branch Rickey.

"The 'Flying Scot' was fine with me," wrote Bobby Thomson, known for his pennant-winning "Shot Heard Round the World" in 1951, when asked about his nickname. "It explained what I was all about - birthplace and moments when I had a chance to use my speed. A sportswriter obviously came up with the name."

Others surprised Owens with the length of their response. Sending a personalized letter to each player, which ended with "Baseball fan since 1971," he also included a page with the player's name at the top of it and some basic stats - a letterhead page for the players to use. The 1949 American League Rookie of the Year Roy Sievers discarded this sheet, and instead sent back two neatly folded pieces of yellow legal pad paper, with his memories.

"My dad and I thought it best to sign with the Browns, due to the fact I could make it to the big leagues faster," Sievers wrote to Owens' question about considering the Cardinals. "As it turned out, everything worked out alright. Playing with the Cardinals would have been great. They were a good club."

Owens now has a blog, where he posts all of his interactions. And others are taking notice, in a day and age where many current players charge for autographs or don't sign them at all. For Owens, paying someone for an autograph isn't collecting ... it's purchasing.

"I'm not paying anyone anything for their memories," he said. "My memories of baseball feel like gifts. And if a retired player will share a gift with me, I'm grateful."

Owens has no plans on how long he will continue writing the letters, but he also has no plans on stopping. He prefers writing to players with shorter careers - the ones that played briefly, and with a fervent love for the game.

"It's a wonderful thing to see how much fun they had," he said. "I think players with short careers have regrets it did not go better. They have decades to think about what they could have improved on as if they could have been taller or faster. They've had time to think and decide whether they would be angry or grateful for that moment of glory."

With each passing day, another letter passes through Owens' mailbox, and that same sheer joy that he got when he was younger returns as he checks for the mail each day with anticipation returns. And this time, he has yet to find an envelope marked "Return to sender" in his mailbox.

The reason he does it is simple. He wants insights, and he wants a connection that's more than a signature on a picture ... and he does it for the players like now 91-year-old Barney Mussill, a hurler with the 1944 Phillies.

"Baseball is the only game that will last forever," Mussill concluded his response with. "You and I are proving that right now. Baseball and friends are forever."

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Information from: Boone News-Republican, http://www.newsrepublican.com