Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Lost Letters from Latrell Sprewell

About 3 weeks ago I went to lunch at my parents' house. My mom was cleaning out a closet and asked me to go through some boxes of stuff that were mine, take what I wanted and throw out the rest.

One of the boxes contained all sorts of scrapbook stuff that only a parent would save (high school newspaper articles, report cards, etc.) Along the way, I started saving tons of sports clippings as well. Why I saved ticket stubs to Memphis State-McNeese State basketball games, I'll never know. There was one item that just made me laugh. It's the letter found below. You can click on the image if you need a larger, more readable version.



The letter leads to so many different questions.

Was I a big Latrell Sprewell fan at some point?
No, not even remotely.

Why would I ever write him?
I was a huge sports card dork (recovering) and basically sent out cards to about 500 players over the course of several years trying to get them to autograph them and send them back. (Yes, I still have an autographed Rodney Rodgers rookie card and no, I didn't have a girlfriend for quite some time).

Why would I keep this?
I have no clue, it's beyond me.

Is there a funnier player to have a letter from knowing what we know now?
This has to rank up there. A Sprewell letter on Warriors letterhead ranks right next to owning a Rae Carruth promise ring or a O.J. Simpson autographed bloody gloove. I could probably sell this letter on ebay if it had some of P.J. Carlesimo's neck hair on it. Priceless.

Lastly, what's even better, is some of Sprewell's words. He claims he couldn't sign my card because he receives far too many requests like this. Really, Latrell was getting hundreds of requests a day? Hardly. Also, it says he sent me some Warriors items. I have no clue what they were. I kept the letter, but not the Warriors memorabilia. Baffling. Last, I love the closing, "yours in basketball." Right back at you Spree.

107 comments:

Anonymous said...

In fairness, guys like you who send out hundreds of requests for autographs are the reason athletes don't honor such requests.

Chris said...

I'm pretty sure if Alonzo Mourning found the time to autograph the cards he got in the mail, Spre had some time as well.

Yours in basketball,


Chris

Anonymous said...

I have to agree. There is no reason he should be expected to sign cards, posters or anything sent in the mail. And, I must say, your assumption of how much mail Sprewell was getting is too quick. Also, you completely brush aside that your items were returned along with some bonus stuff. As if that was not worth anything. It is novel to own such an item from such a player. Beyond that, you should not be expectant of anything here.

Anonymous said...

why would you think sprewell had so much time on his hands? he was one of the most popular players in the league as a warrior

Anonymous said...

Because typing a letter on Warriors letterhead is so much less time consuming than scribbling on a card...

palefire said...

I love Latrell. I did, and I do.

Anonymous said...

people from the Warriors stuff wrote this. It's obvious Spree never even saw that letter.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't have been quicker to just sign the card. Eh, Spree?

Chris said...

I wasn't heartbroken or anything that Sprewell didn't sign the card. I just thought owning the letter all these years later was funny. But to assume that Spree didn't have time is absurd. If Alonzo Mourning and David Robinson, much bigger stars than Spree, could find time to sign my cards, so could Latrell. It's not a big deal though. I don't fault him. Like I said, I just think the letter is a pretty funny keepsake at this point.

Yours in basketball,


Chris

Gidon said...

This is obviously a form letter, photocopied by some intern in a 1000 copies and sent to (probably) everybody who asks for an autograph.

In itself, that indicates that Sprewell was getting enough such requests to justify having this system in place. If you think about it, a minute of Spree's time cost the Warriors ~$20 (assuming his salary was $10M/year). That's waaaay more than 5 intern minutes' worth (maybe $1?)

Granted, this was probably something he asked the Warriors organization to do for him, which you can construe as him being selfish/lazy/whatever.

Anonymous said...

At least they returned your materials.

Frankly, i'd have tossed 'em.

And are you so sure that it was really Alonzo signing your card and not just another team intern that may have been more devious than the Warriors' one?

Autograph fishing like this just tarnishes the whole romantic notion of it all, as if it ever really existed.

Unknown said...

Im a huge sprewell fan and collector. I have about 1300 different sprewell cards. To the casual fan I can see how this comes off bad. But everyone I've ever talked to that have met spree in person have said how nice and genuine he is. He also didn't autograph many items/cards. There is only one year he signed skybox cards for the nba unlike most players who have countless certified autos floating around. He was and is very private and to himself.

Chris, I agree that David Robinson and Alonzo were bigger names than Spree, but he had a huge impact in the nba and was a 4 time all star. All while playing his prime years with no supporting cast in G state. He didnt get attention because of their bad record and not being on tv. He also led the NYK to the finals without Pat Ewing. David Robinson and Zo never did that unttill they had mvps next to them (Duncan and Wade with Zo)

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First off, I’m going to sign all of my e-mails, Yours In Basketball. As for artifacts, probably one of the coolest things I have is the full bag from Larry Bird Night at the Garden with all the gear. Thanks

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