I had some mail in the past few weeks that I had been wanting to share, but haven't had any time lately. Work is super stressful and it seems when I am home from work I am so mentally exhausted that I just have no intention of looking at a computer screen. Today, however, is my day off and I am finally getting down to putting the cards I have picked up in new plastic holders, screw downs, etc. Well, onto the mail!
Lot of 2 1976 Topps David Clyde RC's # 133
I know what you're thinking...why pick these up? Well, I'll explain the reason. For Christmas, I got one of those Kindle Fire tablets (the cheap $50 one that has a constant run of ads when you turn it on). It was actually a late addition to my Christmas list from my wife. The day after Christmas I fired that thing up and just scoured the internet one night searching for an article to show my wife on Mike Ivie (who is into stories of mental health and sports players because she has a psych degree) and I stumbled on an article on David Clyde. Now I cannot say that I'm the biggest baseball fan in the world. I have loved the Royals, Cubs and Pirates since I was a kid, but don't follow it closely like I did when I was a little kid. This story on Clyde was sad. It was basically about how his career had been ruined because he was rushed into the majors as an 18 year old kid. It was an intriguing article. After I read it, I checked out his stats and read a few other articles about him. I really felt bad for the guy. I found an auction for 2 of his Rookie Cards for less than a buck, so now they are in my collection.
Moving on to the next bunch of mail I received. Do you remember the WR Rod Smith? He used to be one of my favorites back in the late 90's. I had a small collection of his stuff for a while before I sold off my collection in the early 2000's to use that money as part of a down payment for my first house. My favorite card of his was always his Gold Medallion Rookie Card. These things pop up every once in a while on eBay but it's hard to find one at a decent price. In my old Rod Smith collection that is now gone, I had 3 of these cards. In my current collection, all I have are 2 of his regular Fleer Ultra Rookie Cards. I came across one of the Gold Medallion Rookie Cards listed at 99 cents, so I waited until the last few minutes and put in a bid of a few bucks and won! What you may not know is that Rod Smith only has 1 Rookie Card and it was in 1995 in the Fleer Ultra Extra series. So, this is actually Rod Smith's best Rookie Card. I hope you learned something from this mail post now! Here is this beauty..
1995 Fleer Ultra Extra Rod Smith Gold Medallion RC #369
The next piece of mail is of a player that in 1997 I had put together a little collection of. We share the same last name, and just like Terrell Davis I figured maybe there would be a chance that he would become a star. Sadly, this never happened with this player. He was a Heisman candidate when he was playing for Iowa State and was the first NCAA Division I-A running back who had back to back 2,000 yard seasons. He was just a smaller back and was never seen as the player he was in college. I believe he did win a Grey Cup in the CFL though, but I could be wrong. Anyways, this is absolutely his hardest card to find and I can confidently say it's his best card.
1997 Playoff Contenders Troy Davis Gold Rookie Card 1/1
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The next card that I picked up is just one that had intrigued the hell out of me. The entire story of this player with the card companies in 2000 is just pure craziness. Lavar Arrington never signed with the NFLPA in his rookie season in 2000, so card companies could not release cards of him. Most were pulled from production, but a few had made it into packs. His UD MVP card was inserted into packs with his picture cut out of it. That's what I'm going to show you. I finally found one of these at a good price.
2000 Upper Deck MVP Lavar Arrington Cut Out RC #189
The next card I picked up was in a trade. I traded an in person autograph from Ron Hextall for an in person autograph of this player. First off, if you don't know the story of Normand Leveille, please read an article regarding what happened to him. I will give a brief summary of what I know about him. Leveille was 19 in his rookie season with the Boston Bruins and was playing in a game against the Vancouver Canucks. He was checked into the boards by Marc Crawford and he skated back to the bench on his own power with complaints of shoulder pain and feeling dizzy. Normand then was rushed back into the locker room where he had a brain aneurysm. Leveille was in a coma for 3 weeks and this ended his hockey career. A first round pick in 1981, he actually had a bright future ahead of him. It truly is a sad story. As you can imagine, he only has 1 card due to what happened to him. 1982/83 O-Pee-Chee. Here it is:
1982/83 O-Pee-Chee Normand Leveille Rookie Card Autograph (In Person)
What the hell was I thinking? These next 2 pickups I really don't know why I picked them up. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason other than I was bored and just felt like buying them. If anyone stumbles on this blog someday and these 2 cards spark your interest, let me know. I would definitely be open to moving them.
2010/11 UD Ice Mattias Tedenby RC 10/99
2011/12 Panini Contenders Hugh Jessiman Calder Contenders Gold RC 1/1
On the sports card site that I am a member of, I struck a deal with one of the members for this next card. Although this player is not my favorite in the world (because I am a Penguins fan), it's still not a bad card to have...
2005/06 Upper Deck Artifacts Alex Ovechkin Rookie Card 623/750
Now onto the final card of this post. All I can say is, I love my wife. She's awesome. One night I saw this card was listed on eBay and I was freaking out. A few hours later, it was gone. Fast forward to Christmas morning. In my stocking, it was the usual, gum for work, tic tacs for the truck, some Hawaiian Punch packets for work but then there was a large One-Touch Magnetic Holder with a thick card. I pulled the holder out to see what it was and BOOM!.....
2009/10 UD The Cup Tyler Myers Black Rookie Card 1/1
Like I said, I love my wife!
