Tag Archives: St. Louis Cardinals

AAF, NFL, University of Texas, WLAF

Bradley, Bill ‘Super Bill’ (2)

Cards: Upper Deck Legends 1997, Top Notch Signature Select
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent: 9/15/18 Received: 1/13/20 (487 days)
See Also: Bill Bradley ‘Super Bill’

Bill Bradley signed my custom card of him, and also sent back the extra with more inscriptions upon it. A solid return, he wrote me a nice note with a full page of additional inscriptions and thanked me for being a fan and putting this website together with my shrines to the multiple leagues.

I hadn’t seen Bill since he appeared in Austin for the Upper Deck set signing back in 2011. In the meantime, while he was coaching at Lamar (2012-2014) I found this Upper Deck Legends card I really wanted to get him on, but I opted not to try him through the mail yet.

Time passed, and in 2018- after much deliberation, the Alliance of American Football established their last franchise in San Antonio. I quickly speculated that the team was going to nab Mike Riley as their head coach. While at the Season Ticket Holders Team Announcement Party, Mike let me in on a little secret since he knew I was a San Antonio Riders fan- he was courting Bill to come back and work for him on the Commanders defense as a defensive secondary coach!

Bill’s secondary in the AAF was an exciting unit to watch and led the league in turnovers. His coaching legacy now also includes the AAF Defensive Player of the Year Derron Smith, and a bevvy of players who were signed to NFL, Arena, and XFL rosters.

NFL

Anderson, Ottis ‘OJ’ (3)

Cards: ProSet 1991 SBXXV, Score 1990 Ground Force, Topps 1990 1,000 Yard Club, Absolute Ink 2015
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home.
TTM 2020, C/o Home
Sent: 11/18 Received: 11/30 (12 days)
Sent: 2/22 Received: 3/1 (7 days)
See Also: OJ Anderson, Ottis Anderson (2)
* Fee Enclosed

When I saw that there was a small spike in Ottis Anderson autographs, I had to pound these cards out the door as fast as I could. I had gotten him in the past, way back in 2010, and paid an exorbitant fee to secure the autographs. On top of that the autographs were not consistent card to card- which really upset me. Later I pulled a certified autograph of OJ’s which really made me feel better- however I realized after the fact, because I didn’t have a firm grasp on my inventory back then, that I missed out on a lot of great cards to get signed.

Among my favorites of this era were the Score 1990 Ground Force cards. This one of Ottis was released in their Series II set. It’s a nice little shot of him, and his white uniform pops off the dark background quite nicely.

The Topps 1990 card seemed to be the ubiquitous shot of Ottis running for 3 yards with 4 defenders on him. It’s a well framed shot, if not for the hot green and yellow used to stage the significance of the image.

Much later I picked up this Absolute Football Ink certified autograph. I meant to give it away as part of a promotion to some people who I know through my Facebook group, but I fell in love with the design of the card and decided to keep it.

Very clearly I still wanted to get Ottis’ autograph still on a few more cards. Among them was his Pro Set 1990 MVP Super Bowl XXV card. This card was not released in the 1990 set, rather it was a special insert into Pro Set 1991 Series II. While somewhat rare compared to the other cards in the set, because Pro Set in general was overprinted, there really wasn’t a shortage of this card- just of demand. I was not aware that it existed until last year, but had trouble finding it in the open market. Eventually one of the new friends I had made through a Facebook TTM group I help manage (Rick) nabbed a copy for me that I got signed.

No doubt, Ottis had many set needs I was still after, and all of these represented one in one fashion or another. Hopefully I am done, but when I initially sent it to him this time around, I forgot the donation. He returned the letter and cards, so I awkwardly put it in there with the cards and a note. He responded in no time flat, signing all 4.

AFL, CFL, NFL, Pro Football HoF, wfl

Maynard, Don (1935-2022)

Gallery

Cards: Topps 1970, Upper Deck Legends 1997
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home*
Sent:  8/4   Received: 8/20    (16 days)
* Donation enclosed of $10 per flat

Don Maynard is considered the best receiver in Jets history, one of the best receivers in AFL history, and one of the best receivers in NFL history.  At the time of Maynard’s retirement he held the NFL record for career receptions and yards. He was the first player to crack the 10k barrier in receiving yards. An amazing feat considering it was still during an era where the passing game had not fully developed yet. Don epitomized consistency and longevity. (Oddly enough he never led the league in catches at any time but his sheer numbers made up for it en force.) 

Maynard was originally drafted by the New York Giants in 1957, but only played one lone season for them before bolting North to play for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL. He’d return shortly thereafter to the fledgling AFL in 1960- becoming the first signee of the then New York Titans (later Jets). Over the next 10 seasons in the AFL he’d be named to the All-AFL team 4 times. In the final season before the AFL NFL merger, he’d help the Jets win Super Bowl III and notably graced the cover of the big game’s program guide as well. 

Don joined the Rams in 73, but ultimately ended up on the St. Louis Cardinals for a lone season, retiring after a bout with the WFL playing for the Shreveport Steamer/ Houston Texans. 

Maynard played college ball for Rice, and later Texas Western (UTEP). He was a proven runningback and defensive back, but was unpolished gold at receiver. His number has been retired by the Jets,  got his gold jacket along the way, and has been a Grand Marshall for UTEP at one of their parades. He lives outside of the El Paso area, in relative anonymity. 

I had been wanting Don for sometime but I thought he was out of reach. I really liked these cards of his and always wanted to get them signed so I went ahead and took a shot with a small donation. In the end I also had a Pro Set Super Bowl III card that I opted to send to Matt Snell instead (because he should’ve been MVP). Still the Topps 1970 is iconic, while the Upper Deck Legends 1997 hits all the marks for perfection. 

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UPDATE:

1/10/22- Don Maynard died Monday at the age of 87.