NFL

Darby, Alden ‘The Juice Man’

sage14 adarby
Card: Sage 2014
Acquired: 2015, Box Breaker

Alden finished his career at Arizona State with 217 tackles, 2 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 10 interceptions at Strong Safety. He had 2 interceptions he returned for TDs, oddly both against the USC Trojans. He ran a decent 4.5 40,  displays the physical prowess to play all positions in the secondary, and is a smart gunner on special teams, but went undrafted in 2014. A practice squad mainstay so far in his brief NFL career, Darby has yet to see game time action outside of the preseason. Picked up by the San Diego Chargers in 2014, he signed with the Steelers in 2015, but was cut in early September of that year. The New Orleans Saints quickly scooped Darby up and added him to their practice squad.  He was signed to a futures contract by the squad in 2016.

 

NFL

Armstrong, Bruce (2)

pset92 armstrong pset91 armstrong PCards: ProSet 1991, ProSet 1992
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent: 11/17   Received: 11/24    (7  days)
See Also: Bruce Armstrong

The venerable Bruce Armstrong really nailed down the right/ left tackle positions for New England throughout the late 80s and into the 1990s, so much so that he was nominated for the NFL HoF in 2011, and the Patriot organization retired his number. Armstrong over his storied career played in a franchise high 212 games. Amazingly enough he started as a tight end at Louisville, before switching over to tackle as a Senior- where he allowed zero sacks. Armstrong had it all over his career with the Patriots, combining speed, power, and durability, making him a formidable pass and run blocker.

Merv Corning’s work on the Pro Set Superbowl cards were  not enough, so the company had him come back to create the All Pro subset in 1991. He also chipped in some spot work on ProLine as well. While I was never a fan of ProSet 1992’s break in style between the two series that year, they still had some pretty good photos littering the set and this card with the red pants is a really nice throwback issue the Patriots briefly did.  A solid signer, the venerable Armstrong boasts a 90% response rate (250+ attempts) through 2015.

 

Arena

Lindholm, Garrett

tntafl14 lindholmCard: TNT Arena 2014
Acquired: IP 2014, San Antonio Talons V New Orleans Voodoo

Before the game against the Voodoo I motioned Garrett over towards the visitor end zone and gave him his cards. He was pretty excited to have his own card and signed one for me.

Garrett Lindholm played for Tarleton State during college but went undrafted in 2010. An accurate kicker with an incredible leg, Garrett once hit a 64 yard field goal to send a game to OT.  He received nibbles from both the Falcons and Colts during preseason, but was cut and found his way to the Arena Football League with the Milwaukee Mustangs. Garrett had an impressive rookie year going 20/31 on field goals and 82/98 on extra points. He’d join the Rattlers in 2013, but the Rattlers didn’t need him to kick too many field goals, since they scored so many TDs, evidenced by 158/167 extra point attempts. He’d join the San Antonio Talons in 2014, kick 89/95 extra points and 10 of 16 field goals. With the Talons going on hiatus after the 2014 season- Lindholm joined the New Orleans Voodoo for 2015.  He’d kick 55/61 extra points and 6 of 11 field goals, before the Voodoo too would go on hiatus…

Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.