Tag Archives: action packed 1990

NFL, Pro Football HoF

Newsome, Ozzie (2)

Cards: ProSet 1991 Legends, Upper Deck Legends 1997, Action Packed 1990
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent:  Received:   (days)
See Also: Ozzie Newsome

When I first restarted the TTM hobby about 10 years ago, I truly didn’t know what to expect. I just thought I’d hit some of the most memorable players that I remembered. Ozzie was a thorn in the side of the Oilers ‘back then’, and while I only had the pleasure of witnessing the tail end of his career, Ozzie had earned my respect by the end of it all. I had a lot of cards of his, and when I started collecting again, I just fired the first two out I could find, not knowing that there were so many other cards out there in the dark corners of the web.

Ozzie has a lot of good cards. The ProSet 1991 Legends card was a gimme. I had to do that since this was a really nice Merv Corning illustration. I didn’t really respect these cards back then but now, being there and seeing the hard work involved, I really like how this one turned out. The autograph- well that’s another thing.

The Upper Deck 1997 Legends card was a set need. I had no clue he was in this set until much later. It’s a great card and photo. Each being immaculate. The backs of these cards- well they leave much to be desired and are stuffed with a bit too much busy information.  Again the autograph is just sorta… there… but I really can’t complain can I?

The 3rd entry is possibly my favorite of the bunch is Ozzie’s Action Packed 1990 entry. It is just a beautifully framed action shot, and it is one of these rare straight on photos, so you see him making the grab from the view of a quarterback. I had to get it signed and it was the first one on the list after I got him the last time.

His 1991 Action Packed card just barely missed the cut. Again, another amazing shot. Also I saw his Upper Deck 2011 College Legends card, but it was a bit too late to send that one out. Still I am happy that he spent the time to autograph these three cards for me- or did he?

Ozzie has been dogged on and off for a few years as a stamper. These are not stamped. If they were, pooling would occur on the cards, and be extremely obvious on the Action Packed one. When I opened the return envelope I was just entirely too suspicious. Something was just off about the autographs. After tediously overlaying them up in Photoshop, all of the signatures nearly matched. There were just some very small differences between the autographs, but the height, weight, angle, and length from card to card were consistent. While there were distinct difference between all the autographs, I just had a hard time believing that he could nail them so closely without consciously knowing he was.

Later when I discussed this was others on a message board, they informed me that Ozzie’s autograph has changed over the year due to a possible health issue. He went back to apparently hand signing after it happened- and he hand signs everything. The other collectors presented similar signatures that had passed JSA and other authentication benchmarks, so I guess I can not look these gift horses in the mouth.

NFL

Carrier, Mark (WR-2)

Cards: Upper Deck 1992 Bucs Checklist, GameDay 1992, Topps 1990 1000 Yard Club, Action Packed 1990
Acquired: 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 1/2 Received: 1/11 (11 days)
See Also: Mark Carrier WR

Well 2019 is off to a good start with my first official success in Mark Carrier former Bucs, Browns, and Panthers receiver. Along the way with all three franchises he seemed to leave an indelible and respectable mark on each franchise. It wasn’t until 2018 that wide receiver Mike Evans of the Bucs broke Mark’s single season receiving yardage record for the franchise during the last game of the season. A stellar TTM respondent, Mark signs virtually everything- provided you of course don’t confuse him with the defensive back from the same era. As this is the 10th year I’ve been back at the game, I’ve decided to dust off the books and write some of those players who responded to me over the years. Mark was one of those who responded way, way back in 2011, signing a slew of cards for me.

In 2014, Mark announced the Panthers second round pick at the draft. As of this post he is the Director of Player Relations for the team.

A player with a stack of amazing cards, I had wanted to reload and get back to Mark again for a few more that I had overlooked.

Probably my favorite of this stack is the Upper Deck 1992 Buccaneers Checklist. The artwork is just amazing on this card. They just don’t make them like they used to anymore. The bold outline around the card is just right and frames the image in a very classy way. I especially like how Mark’s profile image and him catching the football take precedence over the buccaneers by simple boldness of color.

His 1,000 Yard Club card was like most cards from Topps to me at the time- always at least a distant 3rd or 4th in quality or interest to me. While the look is quite dated, that is part of the charm of this card. The boldness of the yellow combined with the orange and green is typical of design from that era. Still it is a great photo of him and at the time it was the only glossy card that was in each pack.

As usual during this period for the most part, Action Packed set a high bar for others to follow in terms of photo quality. This card was no different, and is an exciting action shot of Mark. Most photos it seemed were also framed from this distance in the set as well in a very comfortable ‘in your face’ distance. I didn’t have this card but when I saw it, I knew it’d look amazing autographed so I picked up one.

The GameDay 1992 card feels like the weakest to me of the group. Maybe because it is the only one with a defender in the image, or the fact that the rules of the card are for only the main subject to be in color, take away from the overall shot, but regardless- this was more of a set need than anything else.

Mark has a pretty solid autograph all the way around. The looping C in his last name really makes his mark go.

NFL

Case, Scott

Cards: ProSet 1989, ProSet 1990, Action Packed 1990, Action Packed 1991
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent: 7/9    Received:  7/19      (10 days)

Scott case played JC ball at tiny NE Oklahoma A&M in Miami, OK before catching on with the Sooners. He played for the Norsemen from 1980 to 1981 earning JC All-American Honors (’81). He joined Oklahoma in 1982. There he quickly cemented himself as the starting cornerback and had 2 interceptions that year. In 1983, Scott jumped to Free Safety and tied a school record with 8 interceptions that year. He’d be drafted in the second round of the 1984 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons.

A headhunter in the secondary at corner, Case developed a reputation as a reckless ballhawk, and an aggressive enforcer at the line of scrimmage. In 1988, he had a career high 10 interceptions, earning him his only Pro Bowl berth. 

With the arrival of Jerry Glanville in 1990, Case moved to free safety and saw his tackle numbers explode and in both 1990 and 1991 he posted 160+ tackles on the season, and 100+ tackles through 1993. While there were some spectacular names that came and went through the secondary, Case’s consistent presence allowed him to move up the career stat charts to finish second in tackles (946) and fourth in interceptions (30).

After 11 seasons with the Falcons, Scott joined the Cowboys in 1995 where he played one final season under his college coach from Oklahoma, Barry Switzer. Case at long last earned his due and won Super Bowl XXX, retiring after the season.

As of 2018, Scott lives in Georgia and owns a construction company. He is very good to the TTM community and signed these 4 cards for me in no time flat. 

Scott’s first cards appeared during the big boom of collecting during the late 80s. (After his 10 interception season, nobody could really ignore him anymore.) All the major brands (Topps, Score, and ProSet) put out cards of Scott in his glory. Thankfully the Falcons hadn’t made the jump to black yet, and there were a few cards that existed of him in the old school red uniform. Sifting through the piles of cards that I had available, I came across these 4 that really stood out to me. My favorite is either the Action Packed 1990 card or his ProSet 1989 card, as their photos stood out a bit more than the others. Scott has a nice autograph, and it is complimented well by his choice of marker and strength of signature.

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