Category Archives: NFL

NFL, usfl

Eatman, Irv

Gameday 1992, #201
Pro Set 1989, #170
Score 1990, #76

CARDS: Pro Set 1989, Score 1990, Gameday 1992
ACQUIRED: TTM 2022, C/o Home
SENT: 5/18/22 RECEIVED: 6/2/22 (15 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Clocking in at 6’6″, 271, big OT Irv Eatman played college ball at UCLA.
  • He was moved to OT in his Senior season after playing DL most of his career at the school.
  • Selected by both the Philadelphia Stars (USFL) and the Kansas City Chiefs (NFL) in the respective drafts for each league.
  • He opted to join the USFL playing for the Birmingham Stars in 1984.
  • In 1986, after the USFL collapsed, Irv took his trench work to the Kansas City Chiefs.
  • Irv saw action at both RT and LT, before a knee injury cost him his starting job in 1990.
  • Eatman signed as a FA with the New York Jets in 1991, helping shore up their OL.
  • 1993 saw Irv return out west playing for the Rams, who needed help on the line after the retirement of Jackie Slater.
  • The next season, he’d play for the Falcons- but only saw action in 4 games.
  • I seem to remember at this point Irv was considered a bit washed up coming into his 13th season.
  • The HOUSTON Oilers signed him in 1995 and I remember not being too enthusiastic about the signing.
  • But much to my surprise I was wrong, Irv came through, and in fact started all final 16 games of his career in 1996 in H-Town.
  • Irv went into coaching starting in1999 coaching with the Packers and Steelers (’00), as an OL coach.
  • In 2001, Irv joined Dick Vermeil’s staff in KC, where he coached the OL through the 2005 season.
  • After coaching for the Raiders in 2006, Irv decided to step away from professional coaching to spend more time with family and raising his son.
  • Since then he’s done a lot of charitable work, and worked in youth sports camps.

ACCOLADES:

  • All USFL All-Star 1984-’86
  • USFL Man of the Year

NOTES:

Irv had some great cards, and with two of them being set needs, I sent these two out. As an added bonus he was also a HOUSTON Oiler.

AAF, Arena, CFL, NFL

Jones, Malachi

Topps AAF 2019, #83
Topps AAF 2019 Certified, #AU-MJ

CARDS: Topps AAF 2019, Topps AAF 2019 Certified
ACQUIRED: 2020, Box Breaker. 2021, Future Considerations
FAILURE: TTM 2019, C/o Home

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Malachi Jones played for 2012-’15 at WR for Appalachian State.
  • An UDFA of the Atlanta Falcons in 2016, he’d be cut after mini camp.
  • Malachi took his game to the NAL to the High Country Grizzlies in 2017.
  • In 10 contests, he caught 66 passes for 685 yards and 16 TDs.
  • After a short stint in the American Arena League’s Atlanta Havoc, he signed with the Albany Empire in 2018.
  • He had a solid debut, catching 77 passes for 1156 yards and 29 TDs.
  • After being signed and cut by the Bears, Malachi signed with the Atlanta Legends of the AAF in late 2018.
  • Despite the team’s QB woes, he caught 22 passes for 312 yards and 2 TDs over 8 contests.
  • After the league folded abruptly, Malachi resigned with the Albany Empire in 2019.
  • He had a spectacular return to the Arena Football League with 96 catches for 1,440 yards and 25 touchdown catches.
  • Malachi helped the team win the Arena Bowl XXXII after the season.
  • Although he was selected by the Seattle Dragons of the relaunched XFL, Jones opted to sign with the Montreal Alouettes.
  • In 2021, he returned to the Albany Empire, but the league quickly fell apart.
  • This led Malachi to play for the Carolina Cobras in 2022.

ACCOLADES:

  • NAL Offensive Rookie of the Year 2017
  • Arena Football Offensive Rookie of the Year 2018
  • Arena Football Wide Receiver of the Year 2018

NOTES:

I hadn’t had any luck with Malachi, when a friend of mine on Facebook who knew him, reached out and said he could get him for me.

He also collected World League stuff like I did. I helped him out on a few addresses, and he helped me. Then like that, overnight, he disabled his Facebook and I never saw him again.

Later Malachi had a good laugh when I sent him a Tweet of me in my Atlanta Legends Malachi Jones jersey sneaking in to represent the AAF during an XFL 2020 broadcast in H-Town.

NFL

McMurtry, Greg (2)

Gameday 1992, #78
Fleer Update 1990, #U-6
Topps Stadium Club 1992, #273
Pro Set 1992, #572

CARDS: Fleer Update 1990, ProSet 1992, Topps Stadium Club 1992, Gameday 1992
ACQUIRED: TTM 2024, C/o Home
SENT: 4/29 RECEIVED: 5/17 (18 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

I had thought that at some point over the years, outside my Patriots Blitz back in the early ’90s (when the team truly stunk), that I had gotten Greg on a few other trading cards- but I had not.

The Gameday one is one in which I had a Mandela Effect about. I swore that I had gotten him on this card sometime ago, and that he also had a Skybox 1992 Impact card. (That one turned out to be Hart Lee Dykes.)

Also the Topps Stadium Club 1992 card is one that I was particularly sore about for sometime. It is a photo of him catching a TD against the then HOUSTON Oilers, as the Patriots upset them for the win at Foxboro. (I had to go to school the next day, eat crow, and pay out a 20 buck bet.)