Tag Archives: upper deck foundations 2003

CFL, NFL, University of Texas

Williams, Ricky (6)

CARDS: Fleer Authentix 2004, Donruss Elite 2006, Topps Total 2001, Bowman Chrome 2001, Topps Heritage 2000, Upper Deck Foundations 2003, Panini Contenders Draft Picks 2017 Collegiate Connections, Leaf Limited 1999, Upper Deck XL 2001, Score 2010, Playoff Absolute Memorabilia 2000, Topps Magic 2001, SP Authentic 2001, Leaf Honor Guard 1999, Topps Stadium Club 1999, Leaf Rookies & Stars 2001, SP Authentic 2002, Topps 1999, Panini 2015 Legend

ACQUIRED: IP, 2020

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

NOTES:

The first question I should answer is that there are over 4,100 cards of Ricky Williams -as of 2022. I have less than 1% autographed. Also I very much enjoy talking to him, and he knows that I do not sell any of them. I will continue to graph him until I otherwise don’t get the rush from doing so, but in general I enjoy his company and despite people maligning him and his career based on his drug use- I just don’t get it- especially now in this day and age.

I had hoped to post this set of autographs after the pandemic ended. – That was sometime in 2020. Now here I am in 2022, writing the post for this event, and it appears that the pandemic might be starting to wind down. <Knocks on wood.> It’s crazy how much everything has changed…

This event took place the weekend before Spring Break if my memory serves me correctly. I met up with my regular graph hobbyists… Mark and Jeff at the event, and chatted with a few of the usual resellers. The radio station was there with Rod, and we did our once a year catch up. When Ricky arrived he brought his whole family. D’Onta showed up eventually as well, but I prize the times when I can just chill with Ricky. I appreciate the fact that he doesn’t try… but he just… gets me.. as a person. We chatted for about 5 minutes, and he just went through every card I had signing everything I brought. I was absolutely floored, but thankful he’d do that for me. I think in the end it was… 20 cards or so? We caught up, and it made me so happy to know that he was doing well.

Mark, Jeff and I went outside and had free BBQ and sliders, then tossed a football to some kids before we left. Little did we all know it’d be the last in person event we’d attend for sometime, as the world was about to change…

I went into work that week. The rumblings about COVID were growing larger. Work decided on the Friday before Spring Break that the best option was to send us all home and to have us work from home for the next two weeks.

I had been studying the growing COVID pandemic with morbid curiosity and a fair amount of alarm. As the city was began to be gripped by fear about it, and more companies and government offices began to mandate WFH orders, I was able to get my release early from work so that I could go collect my kid and then head out to the grocery store.

I shrewdly believed that the pandemic would last THREE months, and based on my research, I withdrew my child from daycare as I was picking her up. We rushed out to the store, but many of the aisles had been picked clean. We hit up at least three supermarkets, and eventually landed at a local natural grocer. The lines were long, and many people’s faces were embattled… something between confusion and fear. I was proud that I was resourceful enough to get it done in 3 stops.

At first, we all really enjoyed working from home. It was good to us.

My wife and I got back the hours we’d use to commute, we were communicating better, we got to spend all day with our kid, and we didn’t have to pay for daycare. There was this sense, even with our tiny income we had been given a pay raise to WFH since we didn’t have gas to deal with and we got the got the COVID check.

I got designated as the person who had to go out of the house to get supplies when it was absolutely necessary. Those first few days or weeks… I even put on surgical gloves, sprayed down with sanitizer when I got home, put my clothes into garbage bags immediately to be washed, and checked my temperature. -We even left the mail out in the sun, and washed our hands after checking the mail.

Yes. It was extreme but nobody truly knew what we were dealing with. I wasn’t scared at all. I just did this all with an abundance of caution understanding how viruses work, and treating it like radiation.

The in person autograph market cratered. Everything was cancelled or put on hold indefinitely. I had been prepping for the next event in a few weeks for Dez Bryant. That was cancelled and has never been rescheduled. In person events just… ended. Parties, meet and greets, that’d be a no-no during the world of COVID. I ramped up my TTM efforts to offset my lack of IP events but things have changed- maybe forever- altered in the pandemic’s wake.

The card market itself really went off the rails, reminiscent of the big boom and implosion of the early 90s. There are so many speculators out there now collecting autographs and cards, it just cuts guys like me out of the game.

Trading cards themselves became scarce and unable to find thanks to the middle man selling the boxes to box breakers who charged exorbitant prices. Even junk wax has climbed out of the doldrums of cheap pricing. At one point people were pulling guns on each other in parking lots and lining up outside of stores at 6am. Now, they’re back, but the fun is gone. Most retailers like Target and Walmart keep the card behind a counter, reminiscent of cigarette displays. It’s odd, and I’m not sure if this is a hobby I’ll be able to share with my children- thanks to other adults. I haven’t bought a box of cards in well over a year now and I was a regular. I’m not sure if I have any intention of going back.

Over time, things didn’t work out with my job. It was the first job I’d held since college… And one day I found myself on the other end of a Zoom call with a surprise guest star- an HR rep. In retrospect, I probably should’ve seen it coming, and like many people I’ve spent time compartmentalizing what happened- but I accept it, as much as I didn’t want to at the time. It was time to move on, and I was tired of fighting to justify my job. There was a lot to unpack professionally… A lot of sorrow and introspection that I needed to do.

It’s hard working in the ‘art world’. Don’t be fooled. Criticism is so subjective. You can work all day on a project, but the response you can get can just break you so quickly, especially if all you really receive is negative feedback. It also doesn’t help if you are never sure where your strengths lie or your manager just never truthfully tells you where you stand, when you ask them. It leaves you so uncertain. Uncentered.

Do I blame him? No. I made the decisions I made. It is what it is. I wrapped up everything in a nice bow to make it easy on them.
I was burnt out.

I didn’t exactly land on my feet, but by the end of the year, I was on my 3rd job of 2021 alone.

I had been looking at cards, and realized that D’Onta and Ricky shared a Collegiate Connections card that I owned. This card looks beautiful with as a dual signature and I was extremely excited to get this one signed by them.

My friend Bryan G really wanted this Topps Heritage card of Ricky signed. I was able to get him on that and also the Topps Magic he was after. Since that time multiple people have asked me to try to get Ricky on the Topps Magic card as well as his Panini Classics.

I was also happy to help out another friend get the Topps Total signed, for future considerations, but I was dismayed when a few months later he exited the hobby liquidating all his autographs on a Facebook page. As a consolation he sent me a Bo Scaife autograph, but in general it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Because of what happened I now stipulate to any other collector that if they decide to quit, they must repatriate the autograph I provide them for my trouble.

After the success of this event, I was flooded with extra cards to try to get signed by Ricky. Unfortunately nothing local has popped up since the pandemic well over a year ago, so I’m just sitting on all those cards.

Barely a blip of events have happened. I’ve done just two in over the last 2 and 1/2 years and although I was grateful for what I got, I didn’t get a massive haul like this. Ricky just signed everything because he was already paid to be there, so why not? I hope he still trusted that I had no interest in selling his autographs.

To the fan and collector like myself these interactions mean so much.

NFL

McCardell, Keenan “Thunder”

ud02 mccardellCards: Upper Deck MVP 2002, Upper Deck Black Diamond 2000 (2003/3000), Bowman 2007, Upper Deck Foundations 2003
Acquired: In Person 5/19, 610 Houston Fan Fest 2013

McCardell is one of the most successful 12th round draft choices in the history of the NFL (with apologies to Karl Mecklenburg). McCardell played for UNLV through 1990, a place that is not exactly a powerhouse school when it comes to football; However, Keenan has gone on to be probably the most prolific football player outside of Randall Cunningham to play for them.

The Redskins took a shot at McCardell in the 12th round of the 1991 draft. This draft was interesting as with the exception of Herman Moore, there were no clear cut starting caliber receivers. Many of these players were projects or one trick ponies. Among the other talent at the position to come off the board before Keenan included: Alvin Harper, Jeff Graham, Ernie Mills, Ed McCaffrey, Mike Pritchard, Randall Hill,Wesley Carroll, Jake Reed, and Johnny Walker. Really pretty much, any receiver was taken before pick 326, when Keenan got the call. McCardell spent the entire season on IR, but he was also buried on the depth chart behind Art Monk, Gary Clark, and Ricky Sanders. He didn’t play a down for the team and was cut after the season.

udblk00 mccardellKeenan was intent to start over, and the Browns made it happen. Back then the Browns weren’t so horrible, and with the transition from Bernie Kosar to Vinny Testaverde underway, McCardell saw his production under a slow but steady increase. Although he could not crack the starting lineup, Keenan’s numbers were not overlooked by other clubs, and after the 1995 season concluded, he signed a free agent contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

It’s with the Jaguars that Keenan is best remembered by fans, paired up with fellow receiver Jimmy Smith. It was also where he piled up numbers, and helped the franchise reach the pinnacle of its current history, culminating in the AFC Championship game in 1999. During Keenan’s time with the franchise catching passes primarily from Mark Brunell he racked up 499 receptions, 6393 yards, and 30 touchdowns.  In the meantime however the Jaguars had begun to slide and they fell into salary cap hell where Keenan was now viewed as expendable.

 

ud04 mccardellGoing down the road, he signed with the Buccaneers in 2002, just in time to help the team win its only Super Bowl. In the big game he snagged 2 touchdowns en route to a 47-21 victory over the Oakland Raiders. Returning in 2003, he had his final 1000+ yard season of his career, but bogged down in a contract dispute with the team after the season, he’d walk and sign with the San Diego Chargers in 2004. Off to a slow start not really worth mentioning, he’d post his best season with the Chargers the next year with 917 yards on 70 receptions and 9 touchdowns.

After another subpar 2006, McCardell was off to free agency again, signing with the Houston Texans in 2007. The Texans were hoping to capture some of that former magic that he had, and McCardell was looking to come back to his home city, but he’d be cut before the season began. Keenan ended up playing his final season where he started, with the Washington Redskins, retiring after the season.

 

bow07 mccardellI had targeted McCardell early when I heard he was going to be at Fan Fest this year. I gambled that he wouldn’t have that much of a demand because he was always sort of under the radar, – even though his statistics said otherwise. When I asked him about the tragic situation that is Jimmy Smith, he told me, “I don’t know. I don’t know. Things have to get better. Things have to get better.” Hopefully, both he and Jimmy will appear next year. After briefly dabbling in coaching, Keenan moved back to the Houston area, and has gotten into sports radio with 610.

I packed 4 cards of Keenan, but should have brought more, as I got them all signed in one shot when I met him. He loved the Black Diamond Upper Deck and Upper Deck card of him in his Tampa uniform, remarking that he’s only seen the Tampa card once before and keeps many of his own football cards at home. The Black Diamond and the Tampa Upper Deck cards were chosen because I wanted ones that looked good and had great design. The other 2 cards (Upper Deck MVP and the Bowman Houston Texans) were chosen because I felt that his best years were represented inmccardell Jacksonville, and also because I had to get one of him in his brief stay as a member of the Houston Texans, since it was his only one. Sure both of these cards are butt ugly, and I never will consider collecting these sets for the purpose of autographing, but for the sake of posterity it seemed fitting to frame those years of his career.

It’s probably just a matter of time now for Keenan before the Jaguars induct him into their “Ring of Honor”, as he remains a popular player among the Jaguar faithful. He may also be a decent seniors candidate for the Hall and outside of Fred Taylor has the most solid resume for it representing the Jags, but with such a logger jam at receiver being created by the ‘New Modern Era’ passing game, it may only be wishful thinking on my part. Still McCardell’s numbers are pretty good for a guy who was only a 12th round draft choice.

G/Gs  209/169    Rec 883    Yds  11373   Avg 12.9  Td 63   Lg 76t