Tag Archives: ttm autographs

NFL

Thomas, Robb

Cards: Topps 1992, Score 1991, Stadium Club 1992, Fleer Ultra 1991
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent:  4/27   Received:  5/13  (23 days)

I don’t know why, but Robb Thomas had a few cards in my collection that just kept popping up when I was looking for a player to send to. Then all of a sudden Sportscollectors.net lit up with TTM successes from him, so after a few days of debate I grabbed a stack of his cards and sent them out. In less than a month I got a response from the former Beaver on these 4 cards to which he also inscribed one of them in ball point pen with, “Go Beavs!”

Robb Thomas was a class member of the super draft of 1989. Drafted near the top of the 6th round by the Kansas City Chiefs, he’d be a nice acquisition for the team with 4.55 speed.  (The wide receiver class statistical output quickly drops off after him, with New Orleans Saints WR Floyd Turner being the only notable blip on the radar after Thomas.)  After a weak rookie season, in which Robb spent half the season on IR, he’d make 8 receptions for 58 yards and 2 touchdowns while adjusting to Marty Schottenheimer‘s offense in 1989. In 1990 he’d start 12 games for the Chiefs snagging 41 receptions for 545 yards and 4 touchdowns. A sure handed pass catcher with good instincts, Robb would follow his 1990 campaign up with a similar 1991, leading the team with 43 receptions and chalking up 495 yards again starting 12 games alongside rookie Tim Barnett.

Thomas would sign with the Seahawks in 1992 where he provided depth to the team and would start only 1 game  over 3 seasons. In 1995, Robb would start 2 games and make 12 receptions for 239 yards and a career high 19.9 yards a reception. In 1996 Robb would sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and play for rookie head coach Tony Dungy. Back in the lineup for his most solid playing time since 1991, he’d make 33 receptions for 427 yards and 2 touchdowns in 8 starts. He’d return to the bench in 1997, before returning again briefly in 1998, to help out the Buccaneers devastated wide receiver corps and  ironically make the longest reception of his career, and then retire soon thereafter.

Topps in  1992 finally started seeing the light and the majority of their cards matched this respectable quality card of Robb that they put out. The Stadium Club card, (which was their premier line,) was unique, had higher quality imagery, and the back of the cards had the player’s first card appearance and “The Sporting News” rating system. It was an obvious step up. Fleer on the other hand fumbled the ball right out of the gate. After a decent debut in 1990, Fleer decided in 1991 to release 2 lines as well, but it was gallingly apparent that the 1991 regular was retooled so that it was an even lower quality, imagery, and design than the previous year’s offering. The 1991 Fleer Ultra set was a disaster in itself. I really disagree with squeezing so many type faces into the player information area and the silver seems too strong and almost unnecessary to the design space. The back of this card is even more ghastly, with simple usage of the selection tool to isolate player figures that have arbitrary body parts cut off and a centered picture isolated in a NFL logo mask. An absolute travesty. It was a struggle in approach and feel to even reach the quality of their debut set. The Score 1991 card is a great action shot of Robb, and while they seem to have clearly lost a step, it’s just not as obvious a loss in design as Fleer displays or as much as Topps and its Stadium Club line gained.

Robb was a Tecmo Super Bowl veteran on an offense that largely relied on the ground game of Okoye and Word. Respected by the Tecmo gods, Thomas was always an underrated receiver that could be counted on in a pinch. A big Beaver backer, Robb enjoys sporting events and has dabbled in high school coaching as a wide receivers coach for Summit High School in Oregon where he lives with his wife and kids.

G/Gs  136/37       Rec 174        Yds 2229        Avg  12.8           Td 11         Lg 50

NFL, WLAF

Coauette, Greg



Cards: ProSet WLAF 1991, Ultimate WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent:  4/20    Received :  5/11     (21 days)

After being converted from outside linebacker to cornerback by USC, Greg Coauette would  be a free agent signee with the Los Angeles Rams in 1989. After not making the squad,  Greg would be drafted by the Sacramento Surge of the WLAF during the 5th round of the league’s positional draft in 1991.

He’d lead the Surge secondary that season, grabbing first team All- WLAF honors at strong safety- despite only playing in 8 games, losing the final two contests to a groin injury. Coauette would have a banner season in 1991, notching 4 sacks, 3 interceptions and 40 tackles for the squad paired up with Tom Gerhart. After the season he’d hang up his cleats and retire.

With such a unique last name, the internet made it exceedingly easy to track down Greg to get his autograph on these two cards. I was happy that he responded in less than 30 days where he thanked me for the extra cards for him to keep that reminded him of his time in the league.

He currently lives in the Rancho Murieta area in California, and is a Sargent of the Sacramento Sheriff’s department.  Greg also enjoys coaching the defense on the police force’s charity football versus firefighters event every year (PIG Bowl/ Guns Versus Hoses).

ProSet found a pretty nice shot of Greg stalking the secondary for its card. It’s interesting to note that many of their cards focus on the eye level of the players and attempted to ignore the vacant stands. Greg’s Ultimate WLAF card is not so complimentary with him just sort of walking to probably fetch a Gatorade during a commercial timeout on the field. I like the general design though of the Ultimate card (minus the folding paper edges) and it feels acceptable to break a design tenant by utilizing vertical type in this fashion.

G/Gs 10/8     Tac   40    Sac  4.0    Fum 0     Int  3     Yds 24   Avg 8.0   Td  o

NFL

Mitchell, Brian

Cards: ProSet 1990, ProSet 1991, GameDay 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o home
Sent:  4/25    Received: 5/5  (10 days)

Brian Mitchell was a quarterback originally at Southwest Louisiana. An amazing athlete, he owned virtually all the quarterback records when he left the college and was the first NCAA player to throw for over 5,000 yards and rush for over 3,000 in their career. After graduating from college, he was drafted in the 5th round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. The Redskins were deep at quarterback so the team decided they’d throw him back there as a return specialist, runningback, and as emergency quarterback. Brian would rack up the return yardage playing for the Redskins through 1999. An electric returner, Mitchell led the league in punt return yards with 600 in 1991,  and was a ProBowl selection in 1995 for the team. In 10 seasons with the Redskins Brian left holding virtually all the Redskins special teams records, racking up over 16,000 yards from scrimmage and 7 punt returns for touchdowns.  After leaving the team, he’d play for the Eagles from 2000-2002 and continued his assault on the record books, setting a league record at the time with 206 kick return yards in a single game.  Brian would play one final season for the New York Giants in 2003, before retiring as a member of the Redskins.

When I initially started this project, Brian was one of the players that I really wanted to honor. Incredibly upon retirement, Mitchell was ranked 2nd all time in yards from scrimmage, had 4 seasons of over 2000 yards, and holds the NFL records for kick returns (607), combined return yards (19013), punt return yards (4999), career kickoff return yards (14014), career fair catches (231), fair catches in a season (33), and punt returns (463). Still most people are unaware of the legacy Mitchell left upon the game and he probably won’t see the Hall of Fame, because of the lack of respect for special teamers. In the meantime, he was inducted into the Redskins Hall of Honor in 2009, works on his foundation (Brian Mitchell Foundation), and has been involved in broadcasting. I was pleased to get Brian’s autograph in 10 days flat from his home in Louisiana.

Great cards of Brian here. ProSet really did their homework and had a card of him before the end of his rookie season in their 1990 update set which was far and ahead of anything anybody produced by at least a year.  Oddly he’d appear in both of Pro Set’s 1990 and 1991 update as the last card in each set. (Sure there were additional inserts after him, but he was the last actual player card.) Mitchell was pretty decent in the first Tecmo Super Bowl, but by Final Edition, he was a dangerous threat in the game. Much like Mel Gray, Brian was a threat to return the kickoff every time he touched the ball and the secret to utilizing him correctly was basically to put him in the starting lineup.

G/Gs 223/16      Rush 388     Yds  1967      Avg  5.1     Td  12     Lg 85t   |
Rec  255      Yds  2336       Avg 9.2      Td  4       Lg 69  |
Kr  607   Yds   14014    Avg  23.1     Td   4       Lg   101t  |
Pr  463     Yds   4999     Avg  10.8     Td   9       Lg  84t