Tag Archives: skybox 1992

Arena, NFL

Tomczak, Mike (2)


Cards: Skybox 92, Action Packed 1989, Score 1989
Acquired: TTM 2016, C/o Work
Sent:  12/4/16    Received: 2/11/17 (65 days)
See Also: Mike Tomczak

Mike’s dreams came true when he joined the Chicago Bears- a team he idolized as a kid. While Ditka put so much pressure on Mike that he considered quitting the sport he loved, Mike ended up carving out a 15 year career in the NFL playing at a variety of stops in the league after Chicago. Infamously during his stay in Green Bay he opted to hold out for a better contract- which caused the team to cut him, and brought about the Brett Favre era that much quicker. Mike had no problem spreading the love around, throwing to 35 different players in 88 touchdown strikes. While Mike only topped the 300 yard mark one time with the Bears, Packers, and Browns, he blossomed late in his career adding 3 more to his career with the Steelers. Mike is known for being the lead guitar player during the Bears infamous 1985 ‘Super Bowl Shuffle’ video. He also shares the same birthday with fellow quarterback Doug Flutie.

Tomczak had some great cards over his career. It took me some time to figure out which ones to send him. After some deliberation I decided on these three. I liked the design and photo for all three of these cards. Action Packed did a short run test promo in 1989 that covered a few NFC teams. It was pretty much identical to their 1990 run, minus the copyright. Score 1989 was blockbuster by any right with the vibrant colors and strong action photos standing out. Skybox was a late addition to the market, coming from the basketball arena, but its initial offering was simple, clean, and impressive.

NFL

Byner, Earnest (2)

ud91 byner MVP pset89 byner

Cards: Upper Deck 1991 Team MVP, ProSet 1989, ProSet 1989 Traded, Skybox 1992, GameDay 1992
Acquired: 2012, Canton Acquisition. 2016, Future Considerations.
See Also: Earnest Byner

After his stint as a coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars runningback coach from 2010 to 2011 Earnest Byner was signed to the Tampa Bay Buccaneer staff in 2012 serving under Greg Schiano. Unfortunately Shiano’s style didn’t mesh in the pros, and he was gone after two seasons. Byner was not retained as ownership decided to clean house after 2013.

Since that time Earnest has addressed ‘The Fumble’ in public, apologizing to fans for what happened, and giving a tear-jerking recollection of it during the 30 for 30 ESPN documentary “Believeland”.   Time heals all wounds though and the vast majority of Browns fans really embrace Byner as one of their own without judgement.  It goes without saying that it’s great that Byner has been able to move on from what happened- something that he said stuck with him and changed his playing style for the remainder of his career in the NFL.

Earnest has done a lot of motivational speaking too. He also has no problem engaging his fans in public and is very popular in Cleveland. My friend DeadHorse scored these Byner autographs for me along with Kevin Mack and Greg Pruitt at an Ohio based Cleveland Browns event they attended.  DeadHorse was kind enough to accommodate me on the 3 cards which I felt were his best action shots of Byner (Skybox 1992, ProSet 1989 CLE, and GameDay 1992).

NFL

McDowell, Bubba (3)

scosup89 mcdowellpset92 mcdowellsky92-bmcdowellap90-bmcdowellpac91-bmcdowellgday93 mcdowellCards: ProSet 1992, Score Supplemental 1989, GameDay 1993. Pacific 1991, Skybox 1992, Action Packed 1990.
Acquired: In Person 9/13/2015, Houston Texans v. Kansas City Chiefs. 10/30/2016, Houston Texans v. Detroit Lions.
See Also: Leonard ‘Bubba’ McDowell, Bubba McDowell (2),

Bubba was at the Churrascos Pregame brunch with Curtis Duncan. It’d mark the first time that I’d meet him in person suprisingly- after all the School of the Legends (now defunct) discussions we had. I had quite a stack of cards and had hoped to get him at the Oilers 25th Anniversary Party but he had a last second commitment that prevented him from attending.  He’s even more engaging than I remember from the videos, and he was nice enough to take the time to sign a few cards for me from the stack.

Again it was a shame that ProSet made this switch mid-set to this design in 1992. Either look was okay with me for the time, but not in the same set. It’s a great full body photo of the hard hitting defensive back. His Score 1989 notwithstanding was one that I’ve tried getting autographed on numerous occasions but it got eaten by the mail gods. I never found this one until a few weeks ago and added it to the stack. It’s an oldie, with a purple frame and white marquee that leaves much to be desired. Still it’s his earliest rookie card. This GameDay 1993 card is a sizzling shot of Bubba. I mistakenly thought it was from the Bears game earlier that season when he took the ball to the house at the end of the half on Monday Night, but in reality it was one of the more grim days in Oilers history- a game referred to as ‘The Comeback’. Bubba intercepted this pass and returned it 58 yards for a score to make the game 35-7, before the Bills furious rally.

The next year, I went with my wife to the Texans v. Detroit Lions game. Bubba was among the selected players to appear in the fan zone, right inside the stadium gates, but outside of the stadium to give autographs. It was a long hike to the front of the stadium from our seats. The next problem I faced was that if you already have entered the stadium, you can not exit the stadium- even to go to the fan zone. It seemed asinine, but in this day and age of security I understood. After a brief conversation with the head of ticketing, they let me go through. Bubba was seated with former Oiler, Charlie ‘The Razor’ Frazier.

Unwilling to press my luck for more than three autographed cards, I selected the Pacific, Skybox, and Action Packed cards from my lot and let it rip. Bubba told me that he had a lot of great memories- fun memories- especially of former head coach Jerry Glanville.