A William Van Landingham baseball autograph arrived in the mailbox this week ending a short autograph drought.
A couple days later, a Rusty Greer autograph arrived after a very short six day wait.
Van Landingham spent his entire four year Major League career with the San Franciso Giants.
His rookie season was his best year. He went 8-2 with an earned run average of 3.54, and 56 strikeouts.
Van Landingham's best claim to fame is the fact that he set the record for longest complete name in MLB. Former Atlanta Braves catcher, Jarrod Saltalamacchia tied Van Landingham for the record.
In 1996, Van Landingham took on another long named pitcher, Jason Isringhausen, tying a record for the longest combined names of two starters.
Van Landingham responded to my autograph request in 59 days and his signature is the first one I have received in red ink.
Greer responded in just six days, tying Vance Law, Ricky Jordan, and Bruce Benedict, for the second fastest response.
Like Van Landingham, Greer spent his entire career with one team, the Texas Rangers.
In 1996, 98, and 99, Greer and the Rangers took on the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series.
All three times the result was the same with the Yankees defeating the Rangers. Greer struggled in all three series, recording a total of four hits in 36 at bats.
Today, Greer works as an assistant head coach at Texas Wesleyan University.
While Van Landingham and Greer came through with autographs attempts to reach Royce Clayton and Brad Havens failed. Both requests came back return to sender.
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