NFL

Carroll, Wesley

Cards: Score 1991, Star Pics 1991, Action Packed Rookies 1991, Topps 1992, ProSet 1991.
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home.
Sent: 7/19   Received: 7/25  (6 days)

Wesely had apparently fallen behind on his TTM autographing. As from what I had researched he had not been signing anything in roughly a year, when all of  a sudden sports collectors.net started registering some hits that got progressively smaller in date range. I went ahead and took a stab at Wesely, partially because he was on my list for Action Packed Rookies to get signed, and also because he was a member of the Miami-FL team that handed the University of Texas one of its most embarrassing bowl losses. I sent him 3 cards to sign, and 2 additional cards to keep. He ended up signing all of them and returning them in a scant 6 days.

A fifth year player, Carroll played 3 years at Mississippi Junior College before transferring to UM in 1989. A fine all around athlete with good size, Wesely made a good slot receiver due to his willingness to block and also fearlessness over the middle. In his senior season at Miami he registered 952 yards and 6 touchdowns on 61 receptions. At the time of his departure from the college he ranked second all time with 114 catches.

The Saints would make Carroll their second round choice in the 1991 draft and he’d be one of 11 from Miami taken that year. A modest rookie season would leave Carroll with 18 receptions and a touchdown in 12 games in 1991. He’d follow that up with 5 starts in 1992, grabbing another 18 balls for 292 yards including a 72 yard bomb for a TD. This would be statistically his best season. In 1993 Carroll would sign with the Bengals via free agency adding 8 more catches to his resume,- but racked up a heavy injury bill over his short playing time and retired before the 1994 season.
Further investigation reveals a workers compensation claim that Carroll won against the Saints and Bengals for his injuries in 2010 that covered industrial injuries to his cervical spine, lumbar spine, left upper extremity, both knees, left lower extremity, left thumb, and hypertension, causing 46% disability and need for further treatment. It is with this, that I hope that Wesley is enjoying as restful a retirement as physically possible.

G/Gs  40/5    Rec 42     Yds  557       Avg  13.3     Td 3      Lg 72t



ufl

Bond, Jy


Card: TNT Cards 2011
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 8/15   Received: 8/25 (10 days)

So I created a whole set of trading cards and put them under the Top Notch banner. A few United Football League players of late have taken notice of what I had been doing and wanted copies of their cards. I decided to handle this as a chance to explore a novel way to approach TTM autographs. In exchange for the file or the card, I ask that they send me an autographed copy of that card I created for my collection. Jy was the first of those experiments and successes at this. It solves a lot of things for me by allowing me to get some exposure and spread positive word for little cost, practice my trade, get an autograph, and do a small thing that counts a lot more for these players than people think.

It all started with a small set of UFL cards that I worked on in March. I didn’t put much thought to it as I was passing the time. With the days getting longer I posted a few up on the team Facebook sites. I really didn’t consider that  players might contact me for their card. Within a few days though, Jy contacted me and asked why I hadn’t made one of him yet, so I felt obliged and set to work on the second series of UFL cards, which brought the set up to over 100 profiles.

I sent him a small set of his card through ProShooterDirect that I created, and for 24 of them, it was quite a fair price.  He got it by the weekend and mailed me out the 2 cards, since I had no use for 22 more cards floating around my apartment, it would allow me to inspect the quality of the print and see how well the autograph took to their paper.
His autograph has a nice strength and loop to the signature, and looks very impressive in silver. Along with the two cards, he also sent me a nice thank-you note in Aussie offering to meet up whenever we get the chance and refer more players to me if I’d like.

I’ve sent out a set to the Mountain Lions, and also have been in contact with a few other players so far. I hope to be able to put together a comprehensive collection of UFL players autographs before the end of season 3. Unabashedly when coming up with the concept for this card, I wanted to aim for something that would be a card that would introduce fans to the teams and the league.  I framed the front of the card with a nice, classy, white border. I did some tweaks later to the cards after receiving the prints on the back where the type came out a bit small, but overall I was quite pleased with how these turned out.

Disclaimer: The photos and logos remain the properties of their respective parties. The designs, bios, and presentations, I do claim ownership over. I am not affiliated with the United Football League or any of its member teams and these are classified as ‘mock up’ demonstration fan art cards.

NFL

Conlan, Shane

Cards:  Action Packed 1992, ProSet 1989, Upper Deck 1992, Topps 1990
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o home
Sent: 7/5  Received:  8/3  (26 days)

After an All-American career playing outside linebacker at Penn State, Shane Conlan would be drafted by the Buffalo Bills with the 8th pick of the 1987 draft after trading down from the 3rd pick with the Houston Oilers, (who took Alonzo Highsmith). He’d be the third linebacker off the board after Cornelius Bennett and Mike Junkin.  An impressively stacked defensive draft, Conlan would not disappoint as he was named defensive rookie of the year after the strike shortened season. An impressive specimen of both speed and size Shane had an instinctive nose for the ball. He would be named All-Pro in 1987, 1988 and 1990, and go to the Pro Bowl from 1988-1990. After 6 seasons with the Bills and 3 SuperBowl appearances, Conlan would take his talents to the Los Angeles Rams in 1993 during the first year of free agency. He would play with the franchise through its transition to St. Louis and retire after the 1995 season.

Shane since retirement has been active in trying to improve former player benefits. (One of his teammates and friends from Penn State is former runningback Steve Smith, who suffers from ALS.) He’s also received accolades being named to the Bills’ 50th anniversary team and to the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. He currently works for Senior Management group in Wayne, PA .

Shane was nice enough to sign these cards in under a month. I offered to allow him to keep a few but he signed all 4 and the extra and returned them in the SASE. A very nice return as I liked all these cards- even the Topps 1990.

G/Gs 120/114   Tac  751    Sac 7.0   Fum 6
Int 5    Yds 36   Avg 7.2    Td 0    lg 28

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