Tag Archives: donruss rookies & stars 2010

Heisman Trophy Winner, NFL

Leinart, Matt

Card: Donruss Rookies & Stars 2010, Score 2009
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent: 9/25 Received: 2/11 (139 days)

Matt Leinart attended USC and played QB for the Trojans, winning the Heisman Trophy in 2004 and multiple awards during his college career. After taking over for Carson Palmer in 2003, Leinart won Associated Press National Championships in 2003 and 2004, and would’ve capped off his Senior year with another victory- if not for that pesky Texas Longhorns squad in the Rose Bowl. He’d finish as the Trojans all-time leading cumulative passer in many categories including completion percentage (64.8%) and TDs (99).

He’d be selected by the Arizona Cardinals with the 10th overall pick of the 2006 draft. Contentious negotiations caused a holdout, and as a result Kurt Warner stepped up as starter. Still Matt played well during his rookie season, setting a new benchmark for a rookie, in single-game passing yardage with 405 yards, against the Vikings. He’d start 11 games in the end, but sprain his shoulder to conclude his rookie year. The numbers weren’t bad for a rookie campaign, especially since it was the Cardinals. Matt had 2547 yards and 11 TDs to 12 interceptions. – This would actually represent a high mark statistically for his career.

Handed the starting QB job by new coach Ken Whisenhunt in 2007, Leinart broke his collarbone in early October- ending his season. He’d finish with 647 yards passing and 2 TDs in 5 starts. Warner took over as starter in 2008 as Matt rode the bench playing sporadically through 2009. He’d again regain the mantle as starter in 2010, but lose out in camp to Derek Anderson, and later be cut by the team.

The Houston Texans signed Matt as their backup to incumbent Matt Schaub, but he didn’t see any significant playing time. The Texans were having one of their finest seasons in 2011, but after Matt Schaub suffered a lins franc injury, Leinart stepped in as starter against the Jags. At first everybody waited with baited breath to see what Leinart would do, but he came out firing going 10 of 13 for 57 yards and a TD- before he broke his collarbone and yielding to the legend known as ‘TJ Yates’. Leinart again finished on IR for the season.

Cut by the Houston Texans in 2012, Matt played for the Raiders for one season- backing up former teammate Carson Palmer. He’d then be in camp briefly for the Bills in 2013, but after being cut, elected to retire.

I was not a great fan of Matt Leinart. After he played at USC, and then lost to the University of Texas in the Rose Bowl, he was I guess, caught off guard, and just said all the wrong things to the camera. It pretty much set up my dislike for him, as I felt he was trying to take something away from UT for beating the Trojans in the game.

It’s whatever. I think we’re the better football team. You know, they just made the plays in the end.

What I got out of it was, “The best team didn’t win today,” And unfortunately when you lose any game, you are not the best team on that given day- so I though the comment reeked of bad sportsmanship- especially when the best team is the one that always wins!

When he came to the Texans, I was initially not happy about the arrangement at all, but mellowed on him after listening to how he’d changed his life and abandoned his hard partying ways. He grew on me, and I was actually sad when the team cut him in 2012.

As of 2019, Matt does studio analysis for Fox Sports College Football. I had hoped to corral Matt at the Longhorns USC game in 2018, but he didn’t appear, so I went ahead and gave him a shot in the dark after getting some encouragement and tips from my friend Deadhorse. After 4 months or so I got quite a jolt out of getting both of these autographs back- that’s for sure!

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NFL

Shipley, Jordan (3)

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sco10 shipleysco10 jshipley HRCards: Score 2010, Score 2010 Hot Rookies, Adrenalyn 2010, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2010 Studio Rookies, Photo Memorabilia, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2011, Score 2011, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2010 Dress for Success, Absolute Memorabilia 2010 Rookie Jersey Collection, Absolute 2011 Stargazing, Panini 2011 Plates.
Acquired: IP 12/19/2015, Bud Light Austin Tour. IP 6/25/2016, Jordan Shipley Camp
See Also: Jordan Shipley, Jordan Shipley (2)

Knocked out a few more Jordan Shipley cards at a signing I heard about through BAM in December. dor&s10 shipley SRadr10 jshipleyI got to the event location even before Shipley did and was a bit nervous to go in since it was such a random little corner store in Lakeway. Then I saw Jordan and his wife pull in, and right afterwards- a cop pulled in behind

them to issue a ticket. Pretty funny. When I brought it up with Jordan, I told him that I didn’t take a photo because I thought it would have been in bad taste, he and I had a small chuckle.

Jordan signed all these items in a really nice gold Sharpie. He was mightily impressed by the classy Donruss Rookies & Stars to which he dor&s11 jshipleysco11 jshipley jcstopped and looked at, and then remarked that he hadn’t seen the card before. It’s really nice that these events are taken care of the way they are. BAM runs a tight ship, and they are really getting this down to a science. The photo memorabilia is nice, but the logos are garishly
large.

I went to Jordan’s event in June the next year reloaded with a bunch of patch cards. The weather was seasonably humid, with a touch of evening showers. Thankfully the downpour cleared up before the event ended. Nathan hooked me up with this event, and initially I had dor&s10 jshipley dfspoff10ab jshipley jchoped that it would’ve been a crown event for a fellow collector who was going to visit- but that fell through. Still I managed to fly solo and scoop up Jordan on all the cards I had brought. Again he was in awe of some of the cards that he had never seen. We briefly talked about the patch cards, which surprisingly he questioned the authenticity of the Score and Donruss cards, because the threads were so tight.

That’s entirely possible, but since these were from the rookie premiere, the jerseys may have actually been made of other materials. These cards are very nice issues. I really like mem15 shipleythe Absolute Stargazing card. Lots of space for an autograph to take off on the card.

I ran into Gameday Sportstours while I was there. I was impressed by their staff and dedication to the hobby.  It renewed my faith in their operation and I will probably use them again in the future.  They are definitely a mom and pop type operation, but overall after talking to the owner I got a good feel for
him and his crew. It’s a shame he pretty much just specializes in Cowboys events. I’d love to see him put something together for the Texans or Oilers. The highlight of talking to his crew was them trying to sell me an autographed helmet, but thanks to my aversion to getting footballs and helmets signed, I was largely uninterested. It also helped that my collection is so deep, that I had already gotten many of the classic names in their collection.

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NFL

Tate, Ben ‘Goldbrick’

Card: Donruss Rookies & Stars 2010  (#34/250)
Acquired: 2016, EBay
Failure: TTM 2012, C/o The Houston Texans

Ben Tate played for the Auburn Tigers in college. His best season came as a Senior when he ran for 1362 yards and 10 TDs on 263 carries. He finished his college career with 3321 yards. He had some amazing highlight film that really emphasized displayed his burst and size. I immediately tapped him as being selected by the Texans in the second or third round. Tate was one of the best backs available in the draft. After missing out on Ryan Matthews and  bypassing Toby Gehart the Texans traded up to select Ben.  He’d join a crowded backfield with Ryan Moats, Arian Foster, Jeremiah Johnson, Chris Henry, and Steve Slaton in 2010.

Both he and Johnson tore up the Cowboys defense during the preseason, but Tate injured his ankle during the game. He’d be on injured reserve the entire 2010 season.  Tate paired with Foster to form a nasty duo in 2011,  and ran for 942 yards in 15 games.  During that season Tate suffered from a myriad of injuries from his quadraceps, to his back, and to his groin… ankle and foot.   Nonetheless, it was rumored that the Browns offered a 2nd round pick for Ben in the off-season but the Texans decided to reject the offer.

Tate was nagged by injuries in 2012 as he gathered a paltry 279 yards. Head, toe, hamstring, were among the malaise of ailments that kept Ben on the injury report and on the bench 15 games that year.

With Foster on IR for the entire 2013 season, Tate was counted on to step up and ran for 771 yards on 181 carries in relief of Foster.  It was a contract year for Tate, and he was ‘running for dollars’-to Free Agency.  He played through a lot of injuries again. The Texans meanwhile collapsed to a 2-14 record, and Gary Kubiak and his coaching staff would be released. The Texans were faced with a dilemma- resign Tate to a monstrous contract and cut Foster or keep Foster and let Tate walk. It was quite the debate but in the end the Texans chose Foster over Tate.

Ben signed a large contract with the aforementioned Cleveland Browns in 2014.  He showed up to camp out of shape, and not well conditioned but planted as the #1 back in the team’s RB rotation. He ran for 333 yards on 106 carries, but after missing two games early in the season due to injury, and then being embarrassed in a home game against the Texans rushing only 2 times for -9 yards the writing was on the wall.  He’d be cut the following week, but quickly found gainful employment with the Minnesota Vikings. In 3 games he’d run 13 times for 38 yards before Tate was cut again. The Steelers then picked him up for a game and Ben carried the load 5 times for 19 yards as an injury replacement for Le’Veon Bell.

After the season, Ben received some nibbles in Free Agency, from the Cowboys, Lions, Chiefs and 49ers at various points of 2015, but ultimately was not signed.

Well. Well. Well. Ben Tate. One of my least favorite TTM experiences. After Tate had sat around his whole rookie season on IR, I wrote him a letter asking for his autograph and enclosed 2 cards. Instead of signing them, returning them, or chalking this one up to the mailman monster, Ben Tate liked them enough that he put them on his Facebook account. I know this because I followed him at the time and the exact cards went up roughly a week after I had sent them through the mail. It left me asking him on his page, “Hey, those are my cards. Are you going to sign them?”, and other awkward statements like that. He just ignored me.   It didn’t help that on Facebook that all Ben talked about, no matter how things were going with the Texans was War Eagle this, War Eagle that. He never talked about playing for the Houston Texans.  I had always heard that Tate lacked the commitment to football. Rumors.  Over time my feelings about what happened grew into contempt, and by the end of 2012 I was referring to Ben as ‘Goldbrick’. (Goldbricking is a derogatory name given in sports to players who are collecting a paycheck or are injured all the time and are consequently using the excuse to not be on the playing field. )

It’s tough to categorize where Ben falls, and my personal experience and observation, coupled with his body of material you could color Ben’s desire and commitment either way.

Confident I’d never see my cards I sent him again, I decided to go ahead and buy this certified autographed patch card and close the book on this player.