Tag Archives: upper deck legends 1997

NFL, Pro Football HoF, wfl

Warfield, Paul

Cards: Topps 1970, Upper Deck Legends 1997, Crown Royale 2010
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home*
Sent: 3/23 Received: 4/2 (10 days)
Failure: TTM 2018, C/o Home
* donation required/ Do not use this address

Hall of Fame WR Paul Warfield has been on my radar for sometime. I finally got these great cards together with the required donation sent his way in 2018- but was dismayed to find out that he was no longer signing TTM. I got a form letter informing me that I had to contact his agent who then had a fee schedule. After the agent never responded to me- I gave up on Paul until I saw a few responses come back from his home address again in early 2019. Annoyed, I went ahead and penned a new letter, enclosed the cards, and the signing fee/donation.

Roughly a month later I got a note from Paul with all my cards autographed, and a check reimbursement for the money order. In the note he indicated that he was between signing schedules with his agent, and he would honor my request, and refund my donation. I was pretty floored. It was very nice of him and I felt a bit odd having a check in my hand from a HoFer but there it was. Not only is his signature unique, Paul’s handwriting is wispy elegance.

By late April of 2019, Paul had gone ahead and signed with an agent again. I had gotten very lucky hitting him in that window as his fee/donation schedule had more than doubled. Warfield no longer accepts fan mail at his home address anymore. -Save your postage and contact his agent instead.

Paul Warfield played college ball at Ohio State from 1961 through 1963. He carried the ball 196 times for 1047 yards and 8 TDs, and contributed 39 receptions for 525 yards and 3 TDs over his time at Columbus.

Selected in the 1st round by the Cleveland Browns in 1964- Cleveland saw potential in Warfield initially as a defensive back, but later in camp converted him to wide receiver instead. Paul went on to put up some truly amazing numbers over his career with the Browns. In his first 6 seasons with the team, he finished 3 of those seasons averaging more than 21 yards a catch, lead the NFL in receiving TDs in 1968 (12), and was named to 3 Pro Bowls.
In a shocker Paul was traded on draft day 1970 to the Miami Dolphins for a first round pick.

Paul played the next 5 seasons for the ‘Fins. Undeterred Warfield was named the Pro Bowl every year he was with the team, and All-Pro in both 1971 and 1973. He’d average a career high 25.1 yards per catch in 1970, and then in 71 lead the NFL with 11 TDs. After the 1974 season concluded, Paul signed with the upstart WFL Memphis Southmen.

After limping through the 1975 season, the WFL folded, and Paul heard the siren’s call and returned to Cleveland. He played two final seasons there, retiring in 1978.

Paul was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. He is also a member of the Dolphins Honor Roll and the Cleveland Browns Ring of Honor. He’s done a variety of things since then including sportscasting and working for the Browns in the front office, but is currently retired and enjoying life living in California.

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College Football HoF, NFL, Pro Football HoF

Dickerson, Eric (3)

Cards: ProSet 1990 Pro Bowl, Upper Deck Legends 1997
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 7/13 Received: 8/24 (40 days)*
See Also: Eric Dickerson, Eric Dickerson (2)
*Fee Enclosed

The Holy Grail of ProSet cards was Eric Dickerson Pro Bowl #338 ProSet 1990. They were like $500.00+ on Beckett at one point! We’d open pack after pack of those Series One boxes hoping that a single Dickerson Pro Bowl would grace our presence- but it never did.

As the legend is told… Dickerson was not a part of the NFLPA so ProSet did not have his permission to print this card. You see players are given an all or none option by the NFL- so Dickerson opted out because he wanted the freedom of exclusivity. It was too late in the printing process so ProSet had to manually yank it from the production line- yet it was estimated a scant 40 of these cards made it out into the wild.

‘I don`t think there`ll be a market for this (Dickerson) card,” Denny said. ”It`s not a short print, under print, error or anything like that. When and if the NFLPA says it`s OK, we`ll offer the cards to collectors free by mail.”

-PROSET PRESIDENT LUD DENNY

Unlike the William Perry card in the 1989 set, ProSet did not replace or eventually get this card out. It was a gaping hole in the set that perturbed completionists such as myself. Eventually ProSet just gave up and issued a Lud Denny card in its place, but it was a promo card- certainly not available to the general public either.

After ProSet went out of business- well many years afterwards, everything went up for liquidation including these ‘rare’ cards that flooded the market. Apparently the company had just been sitting on them in their Dallas warehouse. (Since these cards existed before counterfeiting technology was developed- there’s no telling if these are fakes.) You can now find them on EBay for a relatively cheap price, hovering around $5.00, which in retrospect is probably still too expensive.

Still there’s a certain feeling of excitement looking at this card knowing it’s a part of the collection and the legacy involved- so I had to get it signed.

I loved Dickerson’s unique upright running style. While he absorbed a lot of punishing hits over the years and dropped the rock from time to time, there’s no denying his place in NFL history.

I had also wanted to get this Upper Deck Legends 97 card signed as well. It’s a beautiful canvas, and features a slightly elevated camera angle that makes it even more unique- and it is a great fill on a set need to boot!

NFL

Dickey, Lynn

Cards: Topps 1975, Topps 1983,  Upper Deck Legends 1997
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent: 11/2   Received: 11/14     (12 days)

Lynn Dickey played college ball for his home state Kansas State Wildcats from 1968 to 1970.  In 1969 he posted 2476 yards on 196 of 372 passing, throwing for 14 TDs to 19 interceptions.  Although he had what many consider a down season in 1970, Dickey placed 10th in Heisman voting. He finished his career with the Wildcats going 501 of 994 in passing for 6208 yards, 29 TDs to 64 interceptions.  Dickey was selected in the 3rd round of the 1971 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers. 

Under head coach Ed Hughes, the Oilers expected Dickey to compete for the starting QB job against first round pick Dan Pastorini. Over the next 5 injury plagued seasons, Dickey frustratingly started 10 games going 2-7-1 as starter for the moribund Oilers, throwing for 8 TDs to 28 interceptions- during the heyday of the Dead Ball Era.  He’d be traded by Houston to Green Bay in exchange for John Hadl.

Although snakebitten by injuries, Lynn managed to start 101 games over the next 10 seasons for the Packers. His best season came in 1983 when he posted an 8-8 record for Green Bay, and led the NFL with 4458 passing yards and 32 TDs.   He’d also manage to eclipse 3,000 yards passing 2 other times in his career in 1980 (3529 yards) and in 1984 (3195 yards).  Dickey during his underrated career in Green Bay set numerous single game and season passing records (that have been eclipsed by the likes primarily of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers-) earning him a card in the Upper Deck Legends 1997 set and prompting a, “Really?”, From me.

After retiring Lynn has had his number retired by the Wildcats, and is a member of the Packers Hall of Fame. A prolific TTM signer, Lynn autographed these 3 cards for me in no time flat. 

Both the 1983 Topps and the Upper Deck Legends card are epic cards of Dickey in his prime, but the Topps 75 card was sort of a throw in since I love my Houston Oilers. Lynn has a strong autograph that really matches the canvas well.

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