Dan McGwire

• Sent: 7/1/10
• Received: 7/9/10
• Time: 8 days
• Autographed Items Received: 1991 Star Pics, 1991 Score

Oh, Dan McGwire! Unfortunately, he is widely regarded as one of the bigger "busts" of the NFL draft. I, however, have a soft spot for a lot of these so-called busts. It wasn't their fault that expectations got so high, and at the end of the day....these guys got to spend a year or two playing in the NFL. Every kid's dream and they got to live it. Sure, things may not have turned out the way they had planned or hope, but they still had their time. Dan McGwire was the 15th overall pick of the 1991 draft and was tabbed the Seahawks "QB of the future". A towering 6'8", he was one of the tallest quarterbacks ever and he enjoyed a great college career at San Diego State (with some guy named Marshall Faulk in the backfield). The college success did not translate, and McGwire only started a handful of games in his four seasons with the Seahawks and by his second year he was number three on the depth chart (behind those stellar NFL QB's Stan Gelbaugh and Kelly Stouffer). A final season as a reserve for the Miami Dolphins in 1995, and his career was over. Nowadays, he works for a vitamin water company and lives in Reno, NV.

Oh, and he had a brother that played a little baseball.

The 1991 Star Pics cards are favorites of mine and I think I might start hitting that set pretty hard soon. Back in 1993 or 1994, I picked up the complete set at the local card shop for $5. It has a whole lot of players who never really panned out, but it's also got some fun "pre-rookie" cards. I've got a handful already signed and they usually look great.

Lewis Tillman

• Sent: 7/3/10
• Received: 7/9/10
• Time: 6 days
• Autographed Items Received: 1989 Topps Traded, 1992 Pacific

Lewis Tillman was a change-of-pace back for 7 seasons in the NFL. Starting his career as a 4th round draft pick out of Jackson State (the same college that produced the great Walter Payton), Tillman spent his first five seasons with the Giants. Tillman earned a Super Bowl ring with the New York Giants Super Bowl XXV Championship team. Despite never getting over 600 yards rushing in a season, he was a sought-after free agent in 1994, and the Bears wound up signing him. He then enjoyed his best pro season, rushing for almost 900 yards and becoming a receiving threat out of the backfield. Losing his starting job, 1995 was his last professional year. By all accounts a great guy off the field, Tillman is currently heavily involved in charity and volunteers as an assistant coach for a local high school in Mississippi.

Not sure what happened on the Pacific card. Looks like he signed it with a dying blue sharpie, although the personalization came out fine. The Topps Traded card, however, looks fantastic. Great addition to my collection (and that 1992 Pacific set grows every day!).

Rob Moore

• Sent: 6/23/10
• Received: 7/8/10
• Time: 15 days
• Autographed Items Received: 1992 Pacific, 1992 Ultra, 1995 Upper Deck Collectors Choice

Rob Moore was one of those upper-mid-level receivers of the 1990's. He was very, very good but never quite in the category of the Jerry Rice's and Andre Reed's. Part of that was that he spent his career in the NFL netherworlds that were the Jets and Cardinals of that decade. Without a steady QB to throw to him, he still managed to rack up some impressive numbers. He went to the Pro Bowl twice in his career, once with each team. In 1997, he caught 97 passes for 1,584 yards for the Cardinals for the best season of his career. In 2009, Moore returned to his alma mater of Syracuse as a Wide Receivers coach. I sent this request in c/o of the Orange athletic department.

Mr. Moore is a prime example of the benefit of studying trends in the TTM collecting hobby. I don't profess to have a lot of knowledge in this hobby, and I get out of the hobby quite often for months. However, one thing that I do when I'm involved in it is religiously follow who is receiving who through the great website http://www.sportscollectors.net/. The last time that I was involved in the hobby on a regular basis, Rob Moore was a total non-signer TTM. Even back in his playing days, he was hit or miss. I was checking out his trends and noticed that he had been signing for a few people recently. I quickly grabbed my cards, wrote my letter, and sent it out. 15 days later, I have 3 BEAUTIFULLY signed Rob Moore cards for my collection that I never really expected to have! I love this hobby.

Felix Wright

• Sent: 7/3/10
• Received: 7/8/10
• Time: 5 days
• Autographed Items Received: 1989 Pro Set, 1991 Fleer, 1992 Pacific, 1992 Pro Set, 1992 Stadium Club

Felix Wright was a ball-hawking safety best known for his time with the Browns and the Vikings. He spent 6 seasons with the Browns where he enjoyed his best seasons. In 1989, he was the led the NFL in interceptions with 9. He came from a small-school, Drake University, and went undrafted in the NFL. Undaunted, he spent 3 seasons starring for the Hamilton TigerCats in the CFL. That led him to the NFL. After his stint with the Browns, he went on to have two productive seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. He ended his career with a season with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Again, I always feel kinda uncomfortable sending 5 cards. Felix Wright, however, has a history as a VERY willing signer. Also, I've never sent to him before and now I've gotten every card of his that I could dig out of my commons box signed. I won't bother him again for a while. Even though he has a long history of signing in pen, some of these cards still come out looking pretty good.

Curtis Duncan

• Sent: 6/14/10
• Received: 7/3/10
• Time: 19 days
• Autographed Items Received: 1991 Score, 1992 Ultra, 1992 Score, 1993 Pro Set, Index Card

Curtis Duncan was a part of one of the golden eras of my football watching....the old Oilers Run n' Shoot offense. He was part of the receiving corps that also consisted of Haywood Jeffries, Ernest Givins, and Drew Hill. Duncan was immensely talented and put up great numbers despite being not exactly the prototypical wide receiver. Around 1992, he actually became one of Warren Moon's favorite targets and racked up almost 1000 yards receiving that season.

Mr. Duncan was one of my favorites and I actually got to meet him way back in the day. In the late 80's, the Oilers had their training camp in San Marcos, TX which was near my house. I spent a LOT of time there (thanks, Mom!). I met him there and he was EXTREMELY pleasant and gracious to everyone he came across. Just a great, great guy. This definitely continued with this autograph request. He signed all 4 of my cards (and they look great, by the way) and included his own index card with a quick note thanking me for writing and he signed that also. 17 years after his career ended, he's still one of my favorites.

Walter Abercrombie

• Sent: 6/28/10
• Received: 7/3/10
• Time: 5 days
• Autographed Items Received: 1985 Topps

Walter Abercrombie was an early-80's Pittsburgh Steelers mainstay in the backfield. He also had great hands and usually caught a fair number of passes out of the backfield in the old Mark Malone days. He finished off his career in 1988, moving across the state to play 5 games with the Philadelphia Eagles. Prior to his NFL career, he was a standout at Baylor University. Today, he is back at Baylor serving in an admin role in the alumni department.

Way back in 1988, during his stint with the Eagles, a little 7 year old me wrote one of my very first "fan letters" to Mr. Abercrombie. With no idea of the etiquette of autograph seeking or anything of that ilk, I just straight-up wrote him a letter and my mom mailed it off. A couple of weeks later, there was an envelope in my mailbox with an Eagles letterhead. Opened it up and inside was a full-page letter. Mr. Abercrombie simply wrote me back. It was a great letter, not talking down to me at all (i was pretty smart for a 7 year old, lol). One of the classiest moves ever and I STILL have that letter and cherish it. I really wanted to get a signed card of him to add to that collection since he became one of my football heroes. Glad to get this one back and in only 5 days, too.

Jim Morrissey

• Sent: 6/24/10
• Received: 7/1/10
• Time: 7 days
• Autographed Items Received: 1991 Score, 1992 Topps

Jim Morrissey was a solid starting inside linebacker for the Chicago Bears for 9 seasons. He finished up his career with a few games in Green Bay. When Morrissey first entered the league, he got to spend his rookie season with that awesome Bears team that dominated the entire season and easily won Super Bowl XX. In fact, he was part of the "Shuffling Crew" in the wildly popular Super Bowl Shuffle video. I was 4 years old that year, and that's the first Super Bowl I have a memory of watching. I even remember the hoopla that accompanied the Bears. They were brash, they were arrogant, and they backed it up. I really feel the need to find that video and watch it again. The 80's were awesome.

As for the cards, the 1991 Score cards was the first "box" of cards I ever got. 36 packs. My mom bought them for me for my birthday. I spent hours opening and savoring all those packs. Then, I tried putting together a complete set but never quite made it. I sent a lot of my doubles off for TTM autographs back in the 1992-1994 time frame during my first round of TTM collecting. I would never send out a non-double though because I always thought I was going to finish the set. Well, I never did and now I'm sending 'em all out. Glad to have the Morrissey card in my collection.