Cards: ProSet 1989, Score 1989, ProSet 1990 PB
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 4/26 Received: 5/16 (20 days)
The Buccaneers drafted Mark Carrier out of Nicholls State at the top of the 3rd round, to pair him up with overall #1 pick Vinny Testaverde in 1987. A solid pickup by Tampa, Carrier would start hitting his stride by 1988, making 57 receptions for 970 yards and 5 touchdowns. He’d follow up his sophomore campaign with career highs across the board, with 86 receptions for 1422 yards and 9 touchdowns. Mark would be named to the ProBowl and All Pro after the 1989 season. He’d continue to play for the Buccaneers through 1992, and then join Vinny Testaverde in Cleveland via free agency in 1993. As of 2011, he remains the franchise’s all-time leader in career receiving yardage with 5,018.
At the conclusion of the 1994 season, Carrier would be drafted by the Carolina Panthers in their expansion draft with the 32nd pick. He’d begin anew in Carolina, making 66 receptions for 1002 yards and 3 touchdowns for the Panthers in the 1995 season paired up with Steve Beuerlein. Mark would follow this up with a 58 reception season for 808 yards, however by 1997 injuries would begin to limit his playing time, and after starting only 1 game over the 1998 season, Mark would retire.
Mark is a voracious TTM signer and is currently enjoys coaching Pee Wee football in the Tampa area. He also appeared in Tecmo Super Bowl for the Buccanneers, and in Tecmo Super Bowl III Final Edition for the Carolina Panthers. Mark (wide receiver, 1987 draft) is not to be confused with the defensive back by the same name drafted by the Chicago Bears drafted in 1990.
G/Gs 177/139 Rec 569 Yds 8763 Avg 15.4 Td 48 Lg 78
same as a little known pop star named Michael Jackson). Michael would grab 17 receptions his rookie season while adding his first two touchdowns to his resume. 1992 would see Jackson become an incumbent at receiver where he’d make 755 yards receiving and 7 touchdowns. In 1993, he’d almost duplicate these statistics, changed his number to 81, (due to uniform number requirements,) and briefly changed his name back to Michael Dyson. An injury shortened 1994 would clear Jackson’s return for 1995 where he made 714 yards receiving and 9 touchdowns.
At first glance when I got Michael’s autograph through the mail, I was a bit upset because the initial thing I saw was the giant slash going across the card. I thought he had just marked through the card. To my relief it was part of his very unique signature. (As with many other players, I have begun to give players the duplicate cards that I have floating around in my collection to thank them for their time.) Another group of really nice cards here. I even considered adding in his Score Supplemental 1991 but thought that would be a bit over the top. ProSet was technically beaten to the punch by Hi-Pro Marketing, who released a rookie card of Michael Jackson in their Action Packed Rookies series a few months before anybody else. (Ironically they also had the first Brett Favre card on the market too.) I very much liked all three of these designs, -in particular the GameDay card stands out with its very unique squared shoulders pose of Michael, who looks like a quarterback in this image. ProSet once again delivered very solid photography on their card with an exciting action shot of Jackson sprinting down the field, while Action Packed (as noted above) provided us his first true rookie card on its embossed surface with a nice clean view of Jackson looking for the ball.
