Tag Archives: Jacksonville Jaguars

NFL

Stewart, James

Cards: Atomic 2001, Upper Deck 2000
Acquired: TTM 2017, C/o Home
Sent: 8/29     Received: 9/30  (32 days)

Tecmo Super Bowl on the Super Nintendo expanded upon the previous entries most notably updating the rosters and adding the Jaguars and the Panthers. I played the game, but not with the same fervor as I did the previous entries- as the Houston Oilers had been gutted due to the salary cap and Bud Adams meddling. The Jags showcased James Stewart as their main back. He was more of a powerback with high hitting power and low speed and provided somewhat of a challenge when he was in excellent condition.

James was selected in the first round of the 1995 draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars (19th overall). This draft had a pretty solid lineup of runningback talent headlined by the cursed Ki-Jana Carter. Other notables included Tyrone Wheatley, Napoleon Kaufman, Rashaan Salaam, Sherman Williams, Curtis Martin, and Terrell Davis. Stewart plodded away behind the Jaguars line for 5 seasons. His best year came in 1999 when he put up 931 yards on 249 carries, while rushing for 13 TDs.

In 2000, he was allowed to sign as a free agent with the Detroit Lions. The Lions had been looking for a replacement for Barry Sanders since his sudden retirement in 1999. While James was up to the task, it would’ve been impossible to replace the future Hall of Famer. Still, Stewart put together 1184 yards and 10 TDs in 2000, and 1021 yards and 4 TDs in 2002.  During the 2003 preseason, James’ shoulder was shattered. Unable to fully recover from the injury he retired at the conclusion of the season.

G/GS 101/69        Rush 1478       Yds  5841        Avg 4.0      TD 48     Lg 56
Rec 220       Yds 1715      Avg 7.8        TD 9        Lg 56

NFL

Shipley, Jordan (3)

ab11 jshipley st

sco10 shipleysco10 jshipley HRCards: Score 2010, Score 2010 Hot Rookies, Adrenalyn 2010, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2010 Studio Rookies, Photo Memorabilia, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2011, Score 2011, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2010 Dress for Success, Absolute Memorabilia 2010 Rookie Jersey Collection, Absolute 2011 Stargazing, Panini 2011 Plates.
Acquired: IP 12/19/2015, Bud Light Austin Tour. IP 6/25/2016, Jordan Shipley Camp
See Also: Jordan Shipley, Jordan Shipley (2)

Knocked out a few more Jordan Shipley cards at a signing I heard about through BAM in December. dor&s10 shipley SRadr10 jshipleyI got to the event location even before Shipley did and was a bit nervous to go in since it was such a random little corner store in Lakeway. Then I saw Jordan and his wife pull in, and right afterwards- a cop pulled in behind

them to issue a ticket. Pretty funny. When I brought it up with Jordan, I told him that I didn’t take a photo because I thought it would have been in bad taste, he and I had a small chuckle.

Jordan signed all these items in a really nice gold Sharpie. He was mightily impressed by the classy Donruss Rookies & Stars to which he dor&s11 jshipleysco11 jshipley jcstopped and looked at, and then remarked that he hadn’t seen the card before. It’s really nice that these events are taken care of the way they are. BAM runs a tight ship, and they are really getting this down to a science. The photo memorabilia is nice, but the logos are garishly
large.

I went to Jordan’s event in June the next year reloaded with a bunch of patch cards. The weather was seasonably humid, with a touch of evening showers. Thankfully the downpour cleared up before the event ended. Nathan hooked me up with this event, and initially I had dor&s10 jshipley dfspoff10ab jshipley jchoped that it would’ve been a crown event for a fellow collector who was going to visit- but that fell through. Still I managed to fly solo and scoop up Jordan on all the cards I had brought. Again he was in awe of some of the cards that he had never seen. We briefly talked about the patch cards, which surprisingly he questioned the authenticity of the Score and Donruss cards, because the threads were so tight.

That’s entirely possible, but since these were from the rookie premiere, the jerseys may have actually been made of other materials. These cards are very nice issues. I really like mem15 shipleythe Absolute Stargazing card. Lots of space for an autograph to take off on the card.

I ran into Gameday Sportstours while I was there. I was impressed by their staff and dedication to the hobby.  It renewed my faith in their operation and I will probably use them again in the future.  They are definitely a mom and pop type operation, but overall after talking to the owner I got a good feel for
him and his crew. It’s a shame he pretty much just specializes in Cowboys events. I’d love to see him put something together for the Texans or Oilers. The highlight of talking to his crew was them trying to sell me an autographed helmet, but thanks to my aversion to getting footballs and helmets signed, I was largely uninterested. It also helped that my collection is so deep, that I had already gotten many of the classic names in their collection.

pa11 jshipley pl

NFL

Byner, Earnest (2)

ud91 byner MVP pset89 byner

Cards: Upper Deck 1991 Team MVP, ProSet 1989, ProSet 1989 Traded, Skybox 1992, GameDay 1992
Acquired: 2012, Canton Acquisition. 2016, Future Considerations.
See Also: Earnest Byner

After his stint as a coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars runningback coach from 2010 to 2011 Earnest Byner was signed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneer staff in 2012 serving under Greg Schiano. Unfortunately Shiano’s style didn’t mesh in the pros, and he was gone after two seasons. Byner was not retained as ownership decided to clean house after 2013.

Since that time Earnest has addressed ‘The Fumble’ in public, apologizing to fans for what happened, and giving a tear-jerking recollection of it during the 30 for 30 ESPN documentary “Believeland”.   Time heals all wounds though and the vast majority of Browns fans really embrace Byner as one of their own without judgement.  It goes without saying that it’s great that Byner has been able to move on from what happened- something that he said stuck with him and changed his playing style for the remainder of his career in the NFL.

Earnest has done a lot of motivational speaking too. He also has no problem engaging his fans in public and is very popular in Cleveland. My friend DeadHorse scored these Byner autographs for me along with Kevin Mack and Greg Pruitt at an Ohio based Cleveland Browns event they attended.  DeadHorse was kind enough to accommodate me on the 3 cards which I felt were his best action shots of Byner (Skybox 1992, ProSet 1989 CLE, and GameDay 1992).