Tag Archives: topps 1990

Arena, CFL, NFL, WLAF

Collins, Shawn

Cards: Gameday 1992, Proset 1989, Action Packed 1990, Topps 1990, Fleer 1990
Acquired: 50/50 Consignment- Sportscollectors.net, 2020

Shawn Collins was actually a tight end at Northern Arizona where he set the school’s all-time career records for TDs (24) and catches (201). In 1986, he posted 70 catches for 1,016 yards- a school, single season record, and then followed up with 61 receptions in 1987, and 54 in 1988. Scouts decided that Shawn was best suited to play wide receiver before the 1989 draft. He’d be selected near the back end of round one by the Atlanta Falcons.

Shawn had an outstanding rookie season for the Falcons. He led all rookie receivers with 58 catches, and set rookie franchise records, leading the Falcons with 58 catches for 862 yards. An acrobatic receiver who is fearless in traffic, Collins’ 58 receptions were the most by any rookie during the 80s and 16 of his 58 grabs went for 20 yards or more. He’d be an unanimous 1989 NFL All-Rookie selection.

With a sea change at head coach in Jerry Glanville, the Falcons were expected to be very aggressive at WR, but after landing in Jerry’s doghouse, Shawn’s numbers suffered and he finished with 34 catches for 503 yards and 2 TDs in 90, and just 3 catches for 37 yards in 91. He joined Browns in 1992 and caught 3 more passes for Cleveland. Shawn joined the Bucs in 1993, but did not make the roster. He’d later sign with the Packers and was on their roster for 4 additional games.

Shawn then made a comeback with the Frankfurt Galaxy of the newly retooled World League, catching 18 passes for 215 yards and a TD. Returning stateside, he immediately joined the CFL where he played for the Memphis Mad Dogs and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1995, posting 29 passes for 536 yards and 2TDs. Shawn played one final year in the Arena Football League for the Iowa Barnstormers catching 5 passes for 52 yards.

Shawn does not sign through the mail at all. I had spied out a signing through Sportscollectors.net at a really fair price, and waited for the event to pop. I was not disappointed and jumped at the chance to have him sign these 5 cards.

G/GS NFLRECYDSAVGTDLG
98143314.6561
G/GS WLAFRECYDSAVGTDLG
1821511.9128
G/GS CFLRECYDSAVGTDLG
2953618.5258
G/GS ARENARECYDSAVGTDLG
55210.40N/A

NFL

Anderson, Ottis ‘OJ’ (3)

Cards: ProSet 1991 SBXXV, Score 1990 Ground Force, Topps 1990 1,000 Yard Club, Absolute Ink 2015
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home.
TTM 2020, C/o Home
Sent: 11/18 Received: 11/30 (12 days)
Sent: 2/22 Received: 3/1 (7 days)
See Also: OJ Anderson, Ottis Anderson (2)
* Fee Enclosed

When I saw that there was a small spike in Ottis Anderson autographs, I had to pound these cards out the door as fast as I could. I had gotten him in the past, way back in 2010, and paid an exorbitant fee to secure the autographs. On top of that the autographs were not consistent card to card- which really upset me. Later I pulled a certified autograph of OJ’s which really made me feel better- however I realized after the fact, because I didn’t have a firm grasp on my inventory back then, that I missed out on a lot of great cards to get signed.

Among my favorites of this era were the Score 1990 Ground Force cards. This one of Ottis was released in their Series II set. It’s a nice little shot of him, and his white uniform pops off the dark background quite nicely.

The Topps 1990 card seemed to be the ubiquitous shot of Ottis running for 3 yards with 4 defenders on him. It’s a well framed shot, if not for the hot green and yellow used to stage the significance of the image.

Much later I picked up this Absolute Football Ink certified autograph. I meant to give it away as part of a promotion to some people who I know through my Facebook group, but I fell in love with the design of the card and decided to keep it.

Very clearly I still wanted to get Ottis’ autograph still on a few more cards. Among them was his Pro Set 1990 MVP Super Bowl XXV card. This card was not released in the 1990 set, rather it was a special insert into Pro Set 1991 Series II. While somewhat rare compared to the other cards in the set, because Pro Set in general was overprinted, there really wasn’t a shortage of this card- just of demand. I was not aware that it existed until last year, but had trouble finding it in the open market. Eventually one of the new friends I had made through a Facebook TTM group I help manage (Rick) nabbed a copy for me that I got signed.

No doubt, Ottis had many set needs I was still after, and all of these represented one in one fashion or another. Hopefully I am done, but when I initially sent it to him this time around, I forgot the donation. He returned the letter and cards, so I awkwardly put it in there with the cards and a note. He responded in no time flat, signing all 4.

NFL

Pinkett, Allen (2)

Cards: Action Packed 1990, Topps 1990, ProSet 1991, Pacific 1992
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 11/18 Received: 12/2 (14 days)
Failure: TTM 2017, C/o Home
See Also: Allen Pinkett

Allen had some incredible cards over the year and as an Oilers fan I had wanted to get back around to getting these cards signed. I tried back in 2017- but for some reason I did not receive anything back from the usually reliable Pinkett. Luckily I had duplicates for many of the cards that I wanted autographed and just reloaded and waited.

I was also inspired by recently watching his titanic efforts over again in the historic 1988 Houston Oilers v Cleveland Browns playoff showdown. The game- between coaches Jerry Glanville and Marty Schottenheimer, while highly contested, with the Oilers eventually advancing, sealed Schottenheimer’s fate in being unceremoniously fired by the Browns.

The game turned out to be one of Pinkett’s finest moments, as he ground up 82 yards on 14 carries and a TD, as well as 2 catches for 24 yards and a TD. – Come to think of it, his 1992 Pacific entry could be from that game. Anyway it’s worth it if you can still find the game online somewhere to look at as you will also see NBC in all its broadcasting greatness with Don Criqui and Bob Trumpy behind the mic.

After sending out to Pinkett that first time TTM back in 2010, I gave myself a hearty headslap that I left out his ProSet 1991 entry. It’s a dynamic and beautiful card of Allen, where his expression can clearly be read along with his running style.

While I really liked the shot of Allen off to the races in his Pacific entry, his Action Packed card was a classy shot. In one of those rare Topps entries, Allen can been seen catching a pass in a near profile view, however I suspect this was probably during warm ups like many of Topps cards during that period.