Charles Rice had one goal in mind when he left his Charlotte, N.C. home last July and headed south for the National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlanta. "I wanted a Mint [1994 Upper Deck] Mantle/Griffey dual autograph," says Rice, an active autograph card collector and advanced collector specializing in baseball, basketball and football. Indeed, Rice was recognized in the September 1999 issue of Beckett Baseball Card Monthly for his complete and difficult-to-compile 29-card 1998 Donruss Signature Series Preview set. In Atlanta, it only took Rice about 20 minutes to find what he was looking for--hey, that's he beauty of the National--so when he was walking away from a dealer's table with his Mint Mantle/Griffey card, Rice figured he had everything he wanted in his collection. "I felt very complete," Rice says. "With the Donruss set finished and the Mantle/Griffey in hand, for the first time I wasn't looking for anything." No one was happier about that than Charles' wife, Connie. "She could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel," he says. Not so fast. That tunnel turned out to be alittle longer than anticipated. As Charles, Connie and their son, Charles II, walked the show floor, Rice happened upon a dealer with a stack of about 10 1998 Donruss Signature Series Autographed Previews on his table. Naturally, Rice couldn't resist. "I figured I would look and see if there were any doubles I wanted," he said. Suddenly, Rice was floored. There in his hands, second card in the stack, was a gold-colored autographed Preview of Sean Casey--- a card that Rice, perhaps the world's most knowledgeable '98 Donruss Signature Series Preview collector, had never seen, heard of, and knew nothing about. "It takes alot to get me excited," Rice says. "But man, was I excited." He tempered that excitement just long enough to ask the dealer how much he wanted for the card. The dealer replied that since Casey was having such a good season, he considered him to be better than a common. And since the price of the Casey Preview was not listed---remember, almost no one knew this card existed--the dealer simply wanted double the price of what the regular Casey Signature Series card listed for. Rice couldn't give the dealer the money quick enough. With the card firmly in hand, Rice set out for the Playoff booth where Doug Goddard-- a former Donruss employee who was instrumental in the Donruss Signature Series product line--- was working. Goddard told Ricewhat he already knew: the Casey card is extremely scarce. How scarce? Rice estimates that there are fewer than 10 Caseys on the market. Shortly after the National concluded, Rice's story about completing the very difficult '98 Donruss Signature Series Preview set-- which at the time was thought to be a 29-card set--- appeared in the September issue of BBCM. Then came the e-mails from Beckett readers, some congratulating Rice on completing what has to rank as one of the most difficult autograph sets ever released in the hobby. One e-mail in particular caught Rice's eye: a collector asking Charles for information on a Geoff Jenkins 1998 Donruss Signature Series Autographed Preview. Geoff Jenkins? He wasn't a part of the complete autographed set. Again, a card Rice had never heard of. He got right after it. "After getting that e-mail I only wanted to buy the card," Rice says. "But I gave the guy some information and offered him $100 for the card. He said he would consider it. For me though, consider was not the answer and not selling was not an option. I offered him $140 to complete the deal now." The deal got done, and Rice thought he finally had a complete set. Then Goddard dropped another bomb on Rice. There was still another card, albeit extremely scarce, to the '98 Donruss Signature Series Autographed Preview set--- DAN WILSON, of which Rice says he was told by another Donruss employee that just around 100 signed cards exist. The kicker is that only a couple of the cards of WILSON ever made it to the market--- less than four perhaps--- leaving the vast majority in a vault at Donruss (now at Playoff). Goddard told BBCM the WILSON cards remain in possession of Playoff and cannot be released until Playoff recieves a full MLB and MLBPA license. Says Goddard: "Sean Casey and DAN WILSON were scheduled to be in our Preview set in Donruss Update. They both, however, returned their cards too late to be in the packs and therefore were held in our card library. However, a few-- less than 10 -- may have gotten out during the Pinnacle bankruptcy. "As for Jenkins, I know at least 10 players were sent gold cards with their regular Signature Series cards. A few of these were returned signed, and might have been inserted into Update packs late in the cycle. But Jenkins was not a part of the original Signature Preview set. What's out there now probably was lost in the Pinnacle transition/bankruptcy." Rice hit the internet waves with vigor, asking about the previously unknown WILSON card. Nothing came his way. He was about to give up hope when he recieved word from a collector who-- surprise-- had the card and was willing to trade. Rice made the deal for the WILSON but declines to say what he gave up for it. "Donruss then confirmed that I had a complete set," he says. Finally. "The whole thing was about to drive my wife nuts," Rice says. Rice's WILSON card is the only one he had seen or heard of until recently, when friend and fellow collector Michael Wardell of Louisiana landed one. Rice says another friend of his, BBCM 1999 Supercollector of the year Rob Victor of Washington, has also recently acquired a WILSON card. But Rice believes those three WILSON autographed cards could possibly be the only three on the market. He says daily searches of the Internet and regular contacts with other collectors and dealers nationwide have failed to uncover even the hint of another WILSON. So what might be Charles' plans for the 2000 National in Anaheim? His goal there is to find and purchase a 1995 SP Minor League autograph insert of Michael Jordan. That card, part of a 26-card autographed set that also includes Scott Rolen, Vladimir Guerrero and Nomar Garciaparra, lists for $5,000 in the November issue of Beckett Sports Collectibles. "That Jordan will complete my set," Rice says. Or so he believes.
Wilson's diligence signals success
After the finial game in Cleveland, a reporter asked Dan Wilson if he would be at the optional workout on the off day......... "I thought we had to be there," the Seattle catcher said. "Have you seen my hitting recently? I think I better exercise the option. Off the field, Wilson is a straightforward, amiable sort, intelligent and analytical as a dean's list student of engineering at the University of Minnesota should be. On the field, he applies those traits along with a drive to win that is no small part of the Mariners' success this season. All he sees of late is his 0-for-14 contribution to the team's ALCS hitting struggles, but don't underestimate Wilson's importance to Seattle's unlikely drive to and through the playoffs. We often hear of the indispensable contributions of veteran pitchers, led by ace Randy Johnson and closer Norm Charlton, and of rookie Bob Wolcott. But what of the man who crouches at the receiving end of those pitches, with the pressure of calling many and blocking a few? Only All-Star starter Ivan Rodriguez of Texas caught more games in the American League, 127 to 119. It's no wonder Manager Lou Piniella made acquiring Wilson in a trade from Cincinnati one of the priorities of his first season in Seattle. "Essentially, when we let Chad Kreuter go (in June) and replaced him with rookie Chris Widger, we were putting Dan in a position of having to play everyday," Piniella said. And that may explain why Wilson's postseason contributions have dwindled. "Since we really entered the wild-card picture in mid-August, Wilson hasn't had much of a chance to catch his breath," Piniella said. "Every game's been so important. We've tried to rest him occasionally, but he's wearing down. We know that. A lot of guys are tired, but given Dan's demanding position behind the plate, he's really taking the brunt of it." Despite starting every game since Sept. 5, Wilson hit .301 with 5 home runs in the finial month. That followed his .285 average during August, as he developed into one of the league's best catchers. He was voted the club's Unsung Hero Award, given by the Seattle chapter of the Baseball Writers Association with the unanimous approval of the Mariner coaching staff. Piniella said it isn't unusual for players to fade in their first postseason. "Players aren't generally used to playing in October," he said. "It's as if the body clock tells you this is the time you normally shut it down. Once you experience it one time, you adjust to it other times, the conditioning of the mind becomes easier." Adrenalin kicks in "but that only goes so far," Piniella said. "Constantly playing big games as we have makes players and a team battle-tested. but at some point it wears you down." One theory of Wilson's troubles is that his internal sports clock has shifted over to hockey this month. The NHL is about to start. Growing up in Chicago and later at the University of Minnesota, Wilson by this time of year would normally be wearing shin pads instead of shin guards and goalie skates instead of cleats. "That could be right," said Wilson, who developed an affinity for wearing face masks of any sort. "If I was back at school we'd be playing intramural hockey. We had a pretty good team." Goaltending came as it does for so many families. "I had two older brothers," Wilson said, smiling. He didn't have to say anymore. The little brother is always told to get in goal and "see if you can stop the puck." Wilson's brothers were pretty good at it too. Toby, seven years older, went on to play at Bethel College in Minnesota. Matt, four years older, played at Army. Dan went to the Golden Gophers to become an All-America catcher. And just five years later, two games shy of the Worl Series. And struggling. "I don't want to make games I've played sound like an excuse," he said. "It's harder for me to adjust now to how the pitchers are working me. My swing feels funny, longer. I'm pulling off the ball. I hate for all this to happen now." There is no option but to play through this, with the idea of doing something to help the Mariners get past Cleveland and having time to correct the problems against Atlanta. "Sometimes you just have to pay the piper," Wilson said. "You suck it up and go on."
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