Tag Archives: baltimore ravens

Jackson, Michael (1961-2017)


Cards: Action Packed Rookies 1991, Pro Set 1991, Game Day 1991
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 4/25   Received: 5/9  (14 days)

Michael Jackson went to Southern Mississippi where he was the primary benefactor of future NFL great Brett Farve‘s throws.  They would both be drafted in 1991 and while Farve would go to Atlanta, Jackson would have to wait to be drafted near the top of the 6th round by the Cleveland Browns. A speed merchant and track star since high school, Jackson would establish himself as a long bomb threat for the Browns and also wear  the #1 jersey, further endearing him to the fans as a superstar for his unique choice of jersey for a wide receiver. (Of course, his name happened to be the same as a little known pop star named Michael Jackson).  Michael would grab 17 receptions his rookie season while adding his first two touchdowns to his resume. 1992 would see Jackson become an incumbent at receiver where he’d make 755 yards receiving and 7 touchdowns. In 1993, he’d almost duplicate these statistics, changed his number to 81, (due to uniform number requirements,) and briefly changed his name back to Michael Dyson. An injury shortened 1994 would clear Jackson’s return for 1995 where he made 714 yards receiving and 9 touchdowns.

The Browns in 1996 enraged the city of Cleveland by moving to Baltimore in the middle of the night. While the team had a very bad season, Jackson became quarterback Vinny Testaverde‘s favorite target, with a career high 1201 yards on 76 receptions and a league high 14 touchdowns receiving.  With another 900 yards in the book after 1997, Jackson saw his 1998 shorted by injury and only have 477 yards. He’d retire after the season due to injuries, and move back to Louisiana, where served briefly as mayor of his hometown. Certainly Jackson was the find of the 6th round of the 1991 draft and if he hadn’t have had his career ended prematurely due to injury, he would have been a steal.

At first glance when I got Michael’s autograph through the mail, I was a bit upset because the initial thing I saw was the giant slash going across the card. I thought he had just marked through the card. To my relief it was part of his very unique signature.  (As with many other players, I have begun to give players the duplicate cards that I have floating around in my collection to thank them for their time.) Another group of really nice cards here. I even considered adding in his Score Supplemental 1991 but thought that would be a bit over the top. ProSet was technically beaten to the punch by Hi-Pro Marketing, who released a rookie card of Michael Jackson in their Action Packed Rookies series a few months before anybody else. (Ironically they also had the first Brett Favre card on the market too.) I very much liked all three of these designs, -in particular the GameDay card stands out with its very unique squared shoulders pose of Michael, who looks like a quarterback in this image. ProSet once again delivered very solid photography on their card with an exciting action shot of Jackson sprinting down the field, while Action Packed (as noted above) provided us his first true rookie card on its embossed surface with a nice clean view of Jackson looking for the ball.

G/Gs  114/92      Rec 353     Yds  5393     Avg 15.3       Td 46    Lg 86t

*UPDATE* 5/12/17- Michael Jackson’s motorcycle was traveling at a high rate of speed around 1 a.m. Friday when it crashed into a car that was backing out of a parking space and into both lanes of the highway. Both he and the driver of the car were killed.

Daniel, Eugene

Card: ProSet 1990
Acquired: TTM 1993, Colts Blitz

Speedy defensive back Eugene Daniel was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the 8th round of the 1984 draft. Another one of these Louisianan products to sneak through to the NFL from LSU, Eugene Daniel was a highly underrated cornerback during his career and was considered a long shot to make the team roster. He turned out to be a complete cover corner, that had the speed to play both man to man defense and zone coverage.

His NFL debut was a splash, as he made 14 interceptions from 1984-1985. Over the rest of Daniel’s career he wouldn’t come close to attaining those numbers, but was relied on for his durability and consistency as a cover cornerback who could fence the run. Eugene Daniel and Wayne Capers in 1985 were the first team duo from the Colts to be named defensive and offensive players of the week together against the Packers that season. In 1986, he’d recover a blocked punt and return it for a touchdown against the Falcons. It would prove decisive as the Colts would win 28-23 and kickoff a 3 game winning streak for the team. Eugene in 1993 also made a critical interception of Boomer Esiason that set up the game winning score against the Jets. It’d be his only pick of the season.

Daniel played for some garishly bad Colts teams which never finished with more than 9 wins. This probably led to him not receiving as much acclaim as he probably should have gotten. He’d play one final season in Baltimore (for the Ravens) in 1997. This is interesting to note, because Daniel was drafted the year the Colts moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis, but he’d retire from the NFL in Baltimore.  Over his career Eugene led the Colts in interceptions 3 times, and tied for the NFL lead in 1985 with 8 thefts- but never made the Pro Bowl or was named AP.

Regardless, Daniel did in the meantime sneak into the Colts record books for most games played consecutively (185) which has been since taken by the venerable Peyton Manning. He also appeared on Tecmo Bowl, Tecmo SuperBowl, and Tecmo SuperBowl Final Edition.

A great autograph, Daniel signed this card during one of my early bulk team send outs in the 1990s. Otherwise, word is that he is an elusive TTMer.

G/Gs 207/191    Tac 735   Sac 2   Fum 2
Int 38   Yds 483    Avg 12.7   Td 3    lg 97t

Montgomery, Greg (1964-2020)

Card: Topps Stadium Club 1992
Acquired: In Person 1993, Houston Oilers Training Camp

An incredible punter with a booming leg, Greg Montgomery rarely, if ever, got his due. Try it on a prolific offense where you never got the chance to punt.

Drafted in the 3rd round in the 1988 draft out of Michigan State where he set numerous records, Montgomery was inserted right away into Jerry Glanville‘s raucous cast and crew of personalities. His rookie season would be his worst- at 38.8 yards a punt. In fact, over the next 8 seasons of Montgomery’s stellar career, he’d never average below 42 yards. Most notably, Greg averaged an incredible 46.9 yards a punt in 1992 (but he didn’t have enough punts to qualify because the Oilers offense scored so often). -This tied him for the highest punting yard average during the 1990s, while his 43.6 yard career average is one of the highest over that period.

Seeking a big dollar contract from the Oilers after his All-Pro season in 1993 in which he averaged 45.6 yards a kick, the Oilers opted to find another punter. Greg was cut, and signed with the Lions where he played one season in 1994 averaging 44 yards a punt. Out of football that following season, he’d return to play for two more seasons punting for the Baltimore Raviens in 1996 and 1997, before retiring at the age of 33.

G/SPYDSAVGBLKLG
142/142 5242283143.6877

UPDATE 9/4/20- Greg passed away on August 22nd, 2020 at the age of 55. The cause of death was not revealed.