Monday, June 22, 2020

50-Year-Old NFL Legend Cardboard

Last week I was on eBay looking for an affordable box to break, since I'm not really buying any retail right now. I found one (which will be saved for a later post), and in my customary way, searched around for other items the seller had for sale. I came across a "U-Pick" lot of 1970 Topps football and saw there were some pretty good players available and add it to my purchase. With the shipping included, these 10 cards came out to about a dollar apiece.

The highlight of this purchase was knocking off two players from my NFL All-Time Team Project. For this project, I'm collecting one card from each player who was chosen for the NFL's 100th Anniversary All-Time Team this past season. My criteria for these cards is that they must fill one of these criteria: 1) a Hall of Fame rookie, 2) a vintage card (defined as pre-1982 for this purpose), or 3) a serial-number of 500 or lower. I was able to pick up two new cards for this project.



And Gale Sayers is a big one for a dollar. This alone made the purchase worth it to me. It's off-center, but otherwise in great condition. The same can be said for John Mackey. It's even more off-center, but its condition is great.


I also tried to pick out a few other Hall of Famers. Robinson, Wilcox, and Bethea are all enshrined in Canton. My favorite card of these four is Elvin Bethea because this is his rookie. Again, an average of $1 per card got me a Hall of Fame rookie from 1970. I'll take it. Gary Garrison is a name I recognized from recent years' Hall of Fame finalists. I don't know much about him, but I know he was a finalist or semi-finalist for the Hall in the past year or two, so I went ahead and selected my first card of him for my lot.


And, of course, I took whatever Packers he had available from the set, too. This is my first Doug Hart card. Up to this point, the only card I had of Gale Gillingham was an All-Pro card he shared with John Hannah. It's a great card--with a Packer great and a Hall of Fame great on the same card--but it's nice to have one of Gillingham flying solo.

Friday, June 12, 2020

It's Friday and This Stuff is Free!

I may be one of the last bloggers to jump on this bandwagon, but I have way too much stuff from my big football purchase. So all these cards are free for anybody who claims them. This will 99% football, but--surprise!--there were just a few other sports in the lot and all of those cards are going to be up for grabs in this post.

I'll number the pages and you can select cards by giving me a page number and a slot number. Slots will go left to right, top to bottom, so the top row will be 1-3, middle row 4-6, and bottom row 7-9. So the card smack-dab in the middle of the first page would be 1.5. I think you know the drill.

Here we go with some free cards!

Page 1

Let's start with some Hall of Famers

Page 2

More Hall of Famers (or soon-to-be HOF)

Page 3

Rookies of players who had solid careers

Page 4
More rookies. A little more recent, varying degrees of success. (Card #5: Tony Bosi
Page 5
Inserts from a time when the concept was a little more novel
Page 6
More inserts and/or parallels (Card #1: James Jackson)
Page 7
How about some coaches?
Page 8
Players in college uniforms (Card #8: Jeff Burris)

Page 9
A little break from the football. (Card #4: David Wesley Collector's Choice German Edition)
Page 10
Now we're just going to start progressing through the years
Page 11

Page 12

Page 13

Page 14

Page 15
Card #9: Brett Perriman

Page 16

Page 17
Card #1: Fred Lane, Card #3: Kevin Carter, Card #4: Jeff Graham
Page 18

Page 19

 Page 20
Tarvaris Jackson, RIP
Page 21


Page 22
I mentioned before there was a lot of Collector's Edge
 Page 23
And we'll end on some cards that I found interesting. Card #7: Bubby Brister, Card #8: Rodney Peete

So there you have it. Claim what you want and I'll try to get these out in a timely manner. Make sure I have you're mailing address by shooting me an email at tntcardsstg at gmail.

Also, I've put together some team lots for ebay. I have a lot for just about every team, approximately 40 cards apiece. I'm putting them up for $1 per lot, plus shipping. If you're interested in one, let me know that, too. I'll be posting them on ebay some time next week.

One last thing: there's a contest at Chavez Ravining that's got some great prizes and is easy to enter. Go check it out! Have a great weekend, everybody!

Monday, June 8, 2020

Lots of Variety, One Great Purchase

I am having a blast with my recent pick-up. I bought a lot of 2 plastic boxes of football cards from a classified and I've been digging through a couple thousand cards since then. There is so much variety that I'm finding stuff I've never seen or heard of before. There's even some stuff that I've failed to identify still. I would estimate that I found about 500 keeper cards, though I don't have everything cataloged and put away yet, so I can't give a number with certainty. It's clearly going to keep me busy for a while this summer, though.

 Let's examine the variety a little, shall we? These cards stretched into the 1970s and early 1980s. There weren't many all-time greats in the older cards, but you can see there were at least two All-Pros here. I have to admit I'm not familiar with Leon Gray or Herbert Scott, though.


As we move through the 80s, I recognize more names. In all, I would guess that pre-1990 cards make-up only about 5% of the total cards in the boxes. As might be expected, the greatest concentration came from 1990-1995.


As I went through the cards, I gained some insight to the changes in our hobby. For example, here is 1990, divided by brand. Beyond these four, there weren't too many products to choose from in 1990.


But here is 1991. There's a big difference here. In some cases, the same companies from 1990 released new brands, such as Topps introducing Stadium Club or Fleer coming out with Ultra. We also have new companies, like Pacific, Pro Line, Upper Deck, and Wild Card joining the fray. Product choices went wild in the early 90s.


























Here's another view. This is the list of "Major Releases" for 1992 and 1993, as shown in the Trading Card Database. To illustrate the great variety in this lot, the purple visited links show the brands that I had to click on to catalog cards for that year. You can see that I received a little something from almost everything these years.


Let's take a closer look at the cards I've decided to add to my collection. Here we have some all-time greats with 5 HOFers and one who deserves consideration (Tyrer).


As always, my All-Decade collections received a boost. Here are the 1980s players. Who knew that Wild Card made a Chrome set in 1993, as seen in Andre Tippett (top center)?


Here we have the 1990s players. I had never before seen Collector's Edge's Super Bowl sets, like Cornelius Bennett above. I learned that they did them for a few years. Only the teams who made the Super Bowl are in the sets. The gold foil on Willie Roaf's 1997 Score card indicates the Hobby Reserve parallel, which I had never come across before.


There was so much representation from the 90s that I couldn't include just one image. I discovered that I was underrating 1994 Playoff. And that Thurman Thomas Warp Speed insert is just slick.


Now we move into the 2000s. Torry Holt is seen in 2000 Collector's Edge T3. I'd never seen this product before. I learned that the hobby edition has a refractor-y foil and sides are embossed, while the retail version is plainer. I picked up some of both the hobby and retail. The guy I bought this from seemed to have a preference for Collector's Edge.


And even some cards from the newly-formed 2010s All-Decade Team! I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do the same type of collection with these players as I have done with All-Decade teams of the past, but I'll hold on to these while I decide. Rookies of Calais Campbell, Eric Weddle, and Eric Berry are a good thing, though. I'll most likely post about this new decade team in the future.


A football purchase wouldn't be complete without some Packers. Here we have some shiny 90's Lambeau Leapers.


These guys were among my favorites when I was a kid. I especially like the Chmura card in the middle. Was he the team's long snapper at one point? I really don't know.


 And, of course, there were cards from my non-collecting years that I didn't have.


Heisman winners in college unis! These are the first Charlie Ward football cards I have, and there are three of them. This was the unexpected collection hit for me. I wasn't expecting Heisman winners from their college days. Earl Campbell is from 2019 Leaf Draft, so you can see that the collection extended to present-day, even if it was just a few cards.


1989 Pro Set supplied some new cards for my centers collection, which includes pictures of centers with their hands on the ball.


As I'm winding up this post, I have a few interesting finds to share.



First, this 1993 Pro Set Power Power Combo insert fits in both my All-Decade team for Art Monk and my Heisman collection for Desmond Howard. Both of those players were standouts for the . . . Falcons? This is an uncorrected error.




















Or how about this Heath Shuler? Does anybody at all know what this is? I haven't identified it yet, and I can't find TGIF Cards in the TCDB. The card is acetate and kind of cool. If you have any information about it, please comment below.


And one last oddity. I definitely wasn't expecting any autographs, but there was one. Joseph Patton was a 3rd-round pick for the Redskins in 1994. And Yatil Green is missing his auto! This card says, "Genuine Autograph," in the bottom-left corner. It has a print run of 5,000. But I see no autograph. After doing some research, I learned that the only cards with a print run of 5,000 were signed. It looks like Yatil missed one here.

I've really enjoyed this purchase so far. I posted some trade bait last week; most of it is still available if you are interested in some rookies, inserts, or parallels from this lot. I may do another post or two as I continue to sort, log, and store this awesome cardboard.

Friday, June 5, 2020

Trade Bait from a Recent Football Haul

A couple weeks ago, I posted about a classifieds find of about 2200 cards in somebody's collection. I've had a great time going through it all, and I probably found about 500 cards to fit in my collection. I'll show some of the keepers later. Today, I don't have a lot of time to post, so I'll share some of the trade bait I acquired. There won't be many pictures with these; everything is just in a list.

For these trade bait cards, I'm running this a little like Nacho Grande's Trade Stacks. Claim what you would like and send me a something from my wantlist. For the cards listed here, let's say you give me one card for up to four cards from me. Since there are far too many cards to simply list them all here, I chose a couple of card types that I know a few bloggers collect: NFL rookies, 1990s inserts, and parallels. Also, these cards are all football, so apologies to my baseball-only friends, but this might not be for you. I also picked up a box of 1991 Fleer baseball, but I haven't broken into it yet. So I might have some baseball-related trade fodder to offer later.

Here are the rookies I have for trade from the boxes:
  • Napoleon Kaufman (Score)
  • Herman Moore (Pacific)
  • Kordell Stewart (Classic 5-Sport)
  • Tyrone Wheatley (Score)
  • Rashaan Salaam (Impact)
  • Frank Sanders (Ultra)
  • Tony Brackens (Score)
  • Antowain Smith (Playoff First & Ten)
  • Brock Huard (Topps Season Opener)
  • Marty Booker (Pacific Paramount)
  • Peerless Price (Edge Fury Millennium)
  • Santonio Holmes (Topps Total)
  • Jason Campbell (Topps)
  • Andy Dalton (Press Pass)
  • Eddie Royal (Upper Deck)
  • Barry Foster (Fleer, Topps Traded)
  • Donnell Woolford (Topps)
  • Tim Brown (Pro Set)
  • Rodney Peete (Pro Set)
  • Don Beebe (Pro Set)
  • Steve Walsh (Pro Set)
  • Eric Allen (Pro Set)
  • Randall McDaniel (Pro Set)
  • Terrell Buckley (Topps)
  • Kevin Smith, Cowboys CB (1992 Topps)
  • Jason Hanson (Pro Set Power)
  • Rick Mirer (Upper Deck)
  • Kyle Orton (Press Pass, Topps)
  • Matt Forte (Upper Deck First Edition)
  • Steve Atwater (Topps)
  • Dre Bly (Collector’s Edge Superior)
  • Marcedes Lewis (Upper Deck Rookie Premiere)

Obviously, not every card I listed above. Just a representation of the rookie cards I have up for trade above.

 The Inserts:
  • 2003 Upper Deck MVP Future MVP #WR11 Tyrone Calico
  • 2007 Upper Deck Rookie Fantasy Team #RFT-KK Kevin Kolb
  • 2004 Press Pass Big Numbers #26 Jonathan Vilma
  • 2012 Topps Paramount Pairs #PA-HG Percy Harvin/Jabar Gaffney
  • 2012 Score Complete Players #13 Matt Forte
  • 1993 Classic 4-Sport Power Pick #PP14 Reggie Brooks (PR 80000)
  • 1993 Classic Draft Draft Star #DS13 OJ McDuffie (PR20000)
  • 1993 Wild Card Chrome Stat Smasher #SS26 Marvin Jones
  • 1993 Pro Set Power Power Moves #PM4 Hugh Millen
  • 1993 Pro Set Power Power Moves #PM15 Mark Ingram
  • 1993 Pro Set Power Power Moves Update #PM38 Vince Workman
  • 1993 Pro Set Power Power Moves Update #PM44 Michael Brooks
  • 1993 Pro Set Power Power Prospects #PP40 Tom Carter
  • 1993 Pro Set Power Power Draft Pick #PDP18 Irv Smith
  • 1995 Classic Draft Rookie of the Year #ROY15 Ray Zellars (PR2500)
  • 1995 Fleer Flair Preview #29 Errict Rhett
  • 1996 Collector’s Choice MVP #M1 Larry Centers
  • 1996 Collector’s Choice You Make the Play #Y51 Herman Moore
  • 1997 Collector’s Choice Turf Champions #TC23 Eric Metcalf
  • 1997 Collector’s Choice Turf Champions #TC25 LeShon Johnson
  • 1997 Collector’s Choice Turf Champions #TC28 Jeff Jaeger
  • 1997 Collector’s Choice StarQuest #SQ31 Raghib Ismail
  • 1998 Metal Universe Quasars #2 Ryan Leaf
  • 1992 Pro Line Quarterback Gold #6 Jim Everett
  • 1991 Topps 1000 Yard Club #6 Earnest Byner
  • 1994 Classic Pro-Line Live Draft Day #FD9 Heath Shuler (PR 19940)
  • 1995 Back to School (Playoff) Rick Mirer
  • 1988 Topps 1000 Yard Club #20 Webster Slaughter
  • 1997 Pro Line Memorabilia Bustin’ Out #B11 Brad Johnson
  • 1993 Wild Card Field Force #CFF-93 Curtis Conway
  • 2000 Collector’s Edge Super Bowl XXXIV #R8 Todd Lyght
  • 2000 Collector’s Edge Super Bowl XXXIV #T7 Steve McNair
  • 1994 Classic Draft Promo #P2 Heath Shuler

Again, just a representation so you can see the variety of inserts in the lot.
 The Parallels:
  • 2019 Leaf Gold Kelvin Harmon
  • 1995 Classic Draft Silver #6 Kevin Carter
  • 1995 Classic Draft Silver #22 Tyrone Poole
  • 1995 Classic Draft Silver #44 Eric Zeier
  • 1995 Classic Draft Silver #49 Tamarick Vanover
  • 1995 Classic Draft Silver #85 Zack Crockett
  • 1996 Collector’s Edge Advantage Perfect Play Foils #114 Brett Perriman
  • 1996 Pacific Blue #199 Vaughn Dunbar
  • 1996 Pacific Blue #344 Fred Barnett
  • 1997 Collector’s Edge Extreme Silver Foil #P36 Ki-Jana Carter
  • 1997 Collector’s Edge Extreme Silver Foil #P87 Fred Barnett
  • 1997 Collector’s Edge Extreme Silver Foil #P151 Dana Stubblefield
  • 1997 Collector’s Edge Extreme Silver Foil #P176 Gus Frerotte
  • 1997 Collector’s Edge Extreme Silver Foil #P108 Wayne Martin
  • 1997 Collector’s Edge Extreme Silver Foil #P77 Jimmy Smith
  • 1999 Collector’s Edge Odyssey Millennium Collection Blue #38 Tim Couch
  • 1999 Collector’s Edge Odyssey Millennium Collection Red #136 Jon Kitna
  • 1999 Collector’s Edge Masters Holosilver Non-numbered #160 Jeff Graham
  • 1995 Collector’s Edge Gold #33 Lewis Tillman
  • 1995 Collector’s Edge Gold #115 Irving Fryar
  • 1995 Collector’s Edge Gold #144 Rodney Hampton
  • 1995 Collector’s Edge Gold #149 Erik Howard
  • 1995 Collector’s Edge Gold #187 Ricky Proehl
  • 1995 Collector’s Edge Nitro 22K #20 Bryce Paup
  • 1995 Collector’s Edge Nitro 22K #36 Chris Zorich
  • 1995 Collector’s Edge Nitro 22K #77 Ernest Givins
  • 1995 Collector’s Edge Nitro 22K #137 Quinn Early
  • 1995 Collector’s Edge Nitro 22K #142 Chris Calloway
  • 1995 Collector’s Edge Nitro 22K #151 Mo Lewis
  • 1995 Collector’s Edge Nitro 22K #153 Fred Barnett
  • 1993 Skybox Impact Colors #306 John L. Williams
  • 1994 Upper Deck Electric #213 Kenneth Davis
  • 2019 Leaf Gold #4 Anthony Ratliff-Williams
  • 2012 Score Glossy #55 Kevin Smith
  • 2000 Ultra Gold Medallion #214G Kimble Anders
  • 1998 Ultra Gold Medallion #48G Fred Lane
  • 1995 Collector’s Choice Players Club #300 Craig Heyward
  • 1999 Collector’s Edge Advantage Millennium Collection Red #55 Herman Moore
  • 1995 Classic 5-Sport Autograph Edition Silver #S36 Kevin Carter (NOT an Autograph)
  • 1999 Collector’s Edge Masters Hologold Non-numbered #9 Chris Chandler


In addition, there are probably about 1,000 more base cards up for trade from this haul, ranging from 1986 to 2016. I'd say the most plentiful sets are 1989 Topps Traded, 1992 Upper Deck, various Collector's Edge sets from 1995-2000, and Upper Deck Victory from the early 2000s. If you're interested in a specific set or team, feel free to make inquiries. Remember, the deal for these cards is one card from my wantlist for up to four cards from this lot from me. You can leave a comment or email me at tntcardsstg at gmail. I hope some you readers can use some of the cards I have waiting here. Let's make a trade!

By the way, I've already sent some of you a message to check if you want any of these cards; those cards in the message are just heading your way in a pay-it-forward kind of way.