Tag Archives: St. Louis Rams

NFL, NFLE

Niklos, J.R.

VGF 2005

CARD: VGF 2005
ACQUIRED: 2022, Private Purchase

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Solid athlete started career as a DB for Ohio State in 1997 and 98.
  • Transferred to Western Illinois and was moved to TE by coaches who said he reminded him of Marv Cook.
  • Playing for the Leathernecks from 99-01, broke school receiving records.
  • At pro day as FB ran a 4.5 40 and was nicknamed ‘The Fastest Fullback in the NFL’, by then head coach Mike Martz.
  • Undrafted in 2002, was signed to the active roster of the Rams off of the Seahawks as a TE
  • Spent a total of 4 seasons with the Rams, joining the Frankfurt Galaxy in 2005 playing RB.
  • After league folded following the 2007 campaign, Niklos saw time with the Raiders (2005-06), Cleveland Browns (2007-08), and was briefly on IR with the Chiefs before deciding to hang up the cleats.
  • As of 2023, runs a sports performance business in Illinois.

NOTES:

A special bonus card thrown in when I purchased the remaining AAF sets I needed, I really get a kick out of these ‘deep cuts’ like JR Niklos.

NFLE

RUSHYDSAVGTDLG
1053793.6430
RECYDSAVGTDLG
262389.5135t
NFL

Walsh, Steve (3)

  • Fleer 1990, #396
  • Action Packed 1990, #60

Cards: Fleer 1990, Action Packed 1990
Acquired: TTM 2022, C/o Home
Sent: 1/7 Received: 1/18 (11 days)
Failure: TTM 2020, C/o Home

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

After failing on Steve a year or two ago, I went ahead and got him on these two cards. I think this covers all the Dallas Cowboys cards I wanted him on, but I still have a few set needs from when he was with the Saints to send out in a few years.

NFL, Super Bowl MVP

Rypien, Mark (3)

CARD: Pro Set 1990 Super Bowl MVP Hack
ACQUIRED: TTM 2022, C/o Home
SENT: 9/14 RECEIVED: 9/24 (10 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

I am just beside myself with my greatest trading card accomplishment. It is fitting that the first player that I got an autograph of on my Pro Set 1990 Super Bowl Hack card would be the first player who didn’t receive the Merv Corning treatment, Super Bowl XXVI MVP Mark Rypien.

Since I was a kid, I loved these cards and consider them one of the best subsets ever in the trading card industry. It disappointed me immensely that Pro Set didn’t continue making Merv Corning MVP works after Ottis Anderson (Super Bowl XXV) so I thought, if I ever had the chance, I’d do it myself. I was inspired.

Frankly it took me a long time to get to this point. A lot of personal pain, the humiliation and burn out from a previous design job, leaving the art field again, only to take this challenge upon myself finally to see this through- all over the last year.

The OJ Anderson MVP card was the final Merv Corning art card from this set (L), The Rypien and Aikman cards seamlessly transition to the additional set.

I painstakingly made sure that the design was as close as possible to the original. The typography, both front and back, the colors, matching the alignment, ensuring fidelity to the originals, and that’s without even doing the artwork and tinkering with the printer.

Eventually I posted them to the Facebook autograph group I am an admin of, and then started printing them out in early September of that year. I hadn’t been this excited in a while to get a return like this- except for the fact that Mark signed it on the back.