DeadHorse Topps Magic Storytellers (Help Wanted!)

[DeadHorse]

....And we're down to needing 9.

Today, a success from Maryland Terrapin Track Star and former San Francisco 49er Renaldo Nehemiah:



The way I figured it, the 2009 Topps Magic set had Antonio Gates in basketball gear on his card. Therefore, I could bend the rules. I had one bit of remorse....I should not have listed him as a Wide Receiver at Maryland, since he did not play college football. However, I do go back to Topps again in 2009 who listed Antwaan Randle El as a Wide Receiver at Indiana....I was outraged....He was an amazing QB and everyone who follows the Big Ten remembers it! I was really glad to get Renaldo. I saw someone's signed Sports Illustrated collection awhile back and it showed Renaldo in a 49ers jersey doing hurdles. I was curious about the cover story and researched him. He was epic. I enjoyed his story and never forgot him. On a trip to the card shop last month I found his '85 Topps card and decided he was a good candidate for my Magic project.

Thanks for stopping by. Anyone else have any ideas? I have officially one spot left to fill but at least 4 others were sent to 'iffy' signers.

[DeadHorse]

Success number 92.....



Joe Dudek was featured on a Sports Illustrated Cover Story in 1985 in a story by then "new to the scene" Rick Reilly who toted Joe as a Heisman frontrunner along with Chuck Long and Bo Jackson. He was a Division III standout and broke Walter Payton's NCAA touchdown record. What made his story amazing was that he held a job while playing. I could not find a good color photo to use. I ended up colorizing a photo and don't know how I feel about the finished work. I sent 2 and offered for him to keep one, which he did not...he signed them both and sent them back. Maybe he thought they were rough? I'm a perfectionist and struggle sometimes to find perfection. Nonetheless, I am thankful for the return.

Of note today, I had my longest FAIL of all time. Wilbur Wood sent in August of 2010 came back today unsigned. It was a 1977 Topps which has a preprinted signature...maybe he was confused? No idea. You win some, you lose some.

Thanks for looking. Need an address? PM me.

[Riggs]

nice Joe Dudek success. I got one back from him today also but looks terrible. sig didnt show up very well. %100 my fault for photo choice. going to re send.

[DeadHorse]

nice Joe Dudek success. I got one back from him today also but looks terrible. sig didnt show up very well. %100 my fault for photo choice. going to re send.

I laughed when I saw you had sent to him at the same time I did. Great minds think alike. That's all.

One success today....I've been sending, sending, sending. So far, mailbox has been slow. I had a return on Monday from Dennis McKinnon on a '88 Topps which brings my '88T Bears set to now just needing the team card signed by Willie Gault and regular cards signed of Singletary (not ghostsigned TTM versions), Dent, McMichael and Hilgenberg. I don't count Payton (who I also need) as part of that group....he was a Record Breaker card and was not part of the regular team set.

Without further ado, one of the NFL's great Punters Sean Landeta:



Now, up to 93/100. I sent Sean 2 custom Magic cards, 1 88T, 1 89PS. I received back a very nice typed thank-you letter signed, a 88T, Custom Magic card, a 1995(?) Topps Finest (This would have been beautiful if he would have peeled the protective coating and let the ink dry- it's a neat card) and a card that I believe he sends out. I get aggravated with the Hall of Fame. If Special Teams players are part of the game, stop excluding them from the Hall. This guy was the Punter of the decade. Twice. Nice return! I still have 6 out and only two of those requests are to reliable signers. I still need about 5 names to add to my set...obviously, all 5 may not get used, but I definitely have one spot open.

Thanks for stopping by. Drop a comment if you can think of any interesting additions.

[DeadHorse]

Here's success 94/100, former Heisman Winner Steve Owens. I think it is admirable when former Heisman Winners sign TTM and for no fee. There are roughly 12 that are reliable and free. This is my time to rag on my Alma Mater, who's living Heisman Trophy Winners either don't sign or sign for a donation of $25 or more. Yuck. I am thankful to Steve who joins Billy Sims as another Oklahoma Heisman Winner in the set. He even had my envelope stamped "Please do not bend"....nice touch from a classy person. I can't remember exact count, but I think Steve is the fifth Heisman winner in my set along with Billy Sims, Johnny Lattner, John Cappelletti and Desmond Howard. I did not ask for the Heisman inscription but am appreciative he added it. It looks nice.


I had two other successes today that were outside of the Magic collection. I added 2 more successes to my '85 Bears collection, numbers 37 and 38......

Both were members of the roster that missed the season due to being on IR. I still wanted to add them.....they were on the inside of the magic.

First, a custom 1985 Topps Mitch Krenk:



Overall, the cards look better in person. In true 1985 Topps fashion, the edges get nasty in a hurry :). This card is a funny story. It was a black-and-white photo that I colorized but lost some definition in the look. So I used a photo program to fade the color photo over top of the black-and-white to keep some definition but also to give the photo color. The background was fake, although still Soldier Field. It came from a photo of Jim McMahon. Mitch nicely wrote back that he enjoyed my work. Nice success.

My second success was from Pat Dunsmore:



Instead of me telling who I have, let's tell who I do not have from the '85 team.....Walter Payton, James Manness, Ken Margerum, Brad Anderson, Keith Ortego, Mark Bortz, Tom Thayer, Keith Van Horne, Stefan Humphries, Mike Singletary (I do have a ghostsigned 'TTM', but that's no fun), Wilber Marshall, Dan Rains, Brian Cabral, L.A. Mike Richardson, Reggie Phillips, Ken Taylor and Dave Duerson. First and foremost, I will not pay Wilber $90.00 for an autograph although I do sympathize with his injuries and health care costs, I just could not afford it. If I could afford it, I would throw together some other funds and consider investing in a Walter Payton card. Dave Duerson was a 2-time fail for me before his sad death. I remember his winning "Man of the Year" in the late 1980s. I'm just having fun trying to get what I can when I can. It's been a labor of over 3 years.

Thanks for stopping by. Here's hoping for some more successes!

DH

[DeadHorse]

Today's mail brought successes from Bob Crable ('88T and Notre Dame Collegiate Collection) and my 95th success for my custom Magic set. In care of his home address (if you need it, just ask....I'll gladly share :) ), former Colt and current Broncos WR Brandon Stokley.



Stokley was awesome in college....he teamed with Jake Delhomme to put UL at Lafayette on the DII map. I enjoyed him in his time with the Colts. I look at Peyton Manning the way my dad used to look at Johnny Unitas....While Johnny U is the best ever (IMO), I think Peyton is definitely 2nd. I've been on a tear lately working on customs. I went to a Ohio State Buckeye football alumni basketball game and got some customs signed and then have been working on a few extras to send out to the guys that liked my work.

Thanks for stopping by!

DH

[DeadHorse]

Success 96/100 came today from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I cannot think of Milwaukee and think of anything else other than this classic movie exchange:

Wayne Campbell: So, do you... come to Milwaukee often?Alice Cooper: Well, I'm a regular visitor here, but Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers began visiting here in the late 16th century.Pete: Hey, isn't "Milwaukee" an Indian name?Alice Cooper: Yes, Pete, it is. In fact , it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land."Wayne Campbell: I was not aware of that.

OK. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, my success from Wisconsin and NFL Great JJ Watt:



With everyone else getting success from this young great, I knew he had to be an addition to my set. I never heard back from my connection on getting DeAndre Levy so when I had a chance to make a card of JJ, I took the chance. he makes a great addition. I know my set is Big Ten bias. I can't help it. One, Big Ten schools produce a LOT of good signers. Secondly, I know all of them from playing my Alma Mater. :) I'm thankful for this success. Just four more spots left to fill. Have a good idea for a addition to my set? Let me know....I have 1 spot left to fill for sure, and 2 that are pending to 'long shot' and 'longer shot'.

Overall today I had 5 successes. This was one of my favorites. Simon Fraser was a member of OSU's '02 National Championship team. I like meeting guys like him....he's down to earth, and genuinely neat. He had a life changing moment when his premie twins were fighting for their lives after birth. He admired the doctors and decided to go back to Med School. What a hero! I saw him a few weeks at a Buckeye Football Alumni basketball game in my hometown and asked him if I could send him some cards. He told me "sure", so I made him a Buckeyes card for himself, and two Browns '05 ('06?) Topps Heritage cards, one for him to keep and one for him to sign. I was geeked about the way the Heritage card turned out. The autograph in the little box at the bottom of the card? I scanned his in-person auto from the game and photoshopped it onto the card. I thought that was neat. I definitely wanted a Browns card for my Browns collection but enjoy also having another '02 Buckeye.



Thankful for great successes and signers!

DH

[Riggs]

sick JJ! amazing a guy of his caliber signs TTM still. very nice addition.

[DeadHorse]

sick JJ! amazing a guy of his caliber signs TTM still. very nice addition.

Thanks Riggs. I owe you. When I finish this set, let me know 5-6 cards you would like copies of and I'll send them your way.

Today I had success 97/100: Former New York Yankees Catcher and Ole Miss National Champion and All-American QB Jake Gibbs.



Thanks to Cory Clarkson for the idea to send to Jake. He made a great recommendation and obviously, could tell from my set's makeup what kind of players I was looking for....The challenge on this card was colorizing the picture....finding old pictures of Ole Miss on the internet in color proved impossible. From best I could tell, they wore similar jerseys to that of Archie Manning's Ole Miss era. So, I guessed. I have 3 spots left to fill. One is enough of a longshot that I'm open to mailing to someone else because I don't think it's coming back. Another is a tough 'TTM' signer with the toughest part being nailing down a definitive address (which I know) and the last one, I just made last week after watching an old ESPN 30 for 30. The next three successes should prove interesting.

In other news, I had 3 other successes today. One from a Bench Reserve member of the '90-'91 and '91-'92 Buckeyes Big Ten Title teams (I'm up to 4 successes from the early 90s OSU issued team sets). One from Dallas Green on a 1981 Topps that I sent out a year ago. And the last one was from Brad Anderson, who was a reserve for the 1985 Chicago Bears. That now makes 39 successes from that team.

I've had some PM's asking for addresses. All have been responded to with the addresses I used. What I'm trying to say is that I do not have time for the TTM manager but want to help. If you need an address, message me. I'm happy to help.

Thankful for great success,

DH

[Riggs]

love the CFHOF inscription. I have some Jake Gibbs cards on order myself. Cant wait to send to him. Both turned out great