1986 JOGO CFL. Damon Allen Rookie Card. A print run of 700. PSA has graded 5 Allen's, none higher than PSA 8. I would not be confident enough to say there will never be one graded higher than PSA 8. The chances of a PSA 10 manifesting itself however after nearly 40 years from release date with a low print run are pretty low. But not zero. I do like black bordered cards. Though every flaw seems magnified. The card itself is very basic. Even for 1986, it's bare-bones. We're talking no bells, whistles or frills. But I like it. As for availability upon release, tough. Complete sets only for JOGO in that era. And only 700 total sets. Card stock was slightly thinner than Topps or O-Pee-Chee at the time. Many of the cards were offered to CFL players first. So who really knows how many of these are in the wild.
The player himself, Damon Allen, was outstanding. His brother carved out a decent career also.
That's serious talent. Marcus could do it all. Mr. Davis may, who knows, have went a little too Machiavellian during Marcus' last few years as a Raider. But in a way it may have extended Marcus' career. Far be it for me to question someone elses Machiavellian reasoning and tendencies 😂. Though not maximizing the talents of Marcus from 1987 - 1992 was a huge mistake.
Damon, inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame in 2012, is arguably the Greatest QB in CFL history. Taking everything into account, I think he is. His Rookie Card is easily one of my favorite pickups. While not a hot or in heavy demand card, it's still a very significant card. And it deserves recognition.
Damon, and older brother Marcus are both class guys. Good men. With some staggering stats.
I believe we're starting off with a flashback ... To the mic ...
"Indeed...A quick shout out to one of the all time great masked wrestlers in pro wrestling history. The great Don Jardine. The Spoiler & Super Destroyer himself."
He came off legit and credible. Protected his gimmick very well. Spoke his mind. Knew it was business. Only saw Jardine, as The Spoiler, briefly. In GCW from January 1984 - Black Saturday July 1984. To the WWF in August 1984 - November 1985. Mostly house shows / TV squashes. A short run in World Class in 1987, where he taught the future Undertaker a thing or two, wound up the career. Masked Superstar remains my favorite masked wrestler. The Spoiler is a strong second. 👍
Music break ...
"Vault services for comics and cards? Nope. End Line Collector here. I'm my own vault"
Reverend Ike ...
The Greatest Show on Turf. The Rams from 99-01. Maybe 99-03. Talent on offense was overflowing. Warner, Faulk, Holt. And another WR. Isaac Bruce. Isaac Bruce was a near perfect WR for the Vermeil/Martz Rams teams. He worked hard to make himself into a great player. His route-running was sharp, precise. Near, in my opinion, the level of Jerry Rice's route-running. Great hands. Sudden off the line, sudden on cuts. Send him in motion and get isolation on LB'S or Safety's and he would make the defense pay.
His Career Numbers
1024 Receptions 15,208 Yards 91 Touchdowns
More importantly, the man himself. All class. On and off the field and post retirement.
Becoming the first Memphis Tiger elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020.
Having said that I would still be open to Munchos sponsorship 😁
The Louisville Slugger ...
Jim Cornette. Wrestling Manager, Booker, Promoter, ran his own territory, pro wrestling historian. To say the man loves the business is an understatement. A brilliant mind for the business. Willing to drop a F-Bomb when called for. Big into pop culture also. Comic books, trading cards, posters.
"So, collector like us but with more knowledge and money"
Not really the point ... but ... yeah
Alright back on topic. Vice TV can put on some pretty good programming as it relates to Rasslin'. They do good work. The Vault at Cornette's Castle during one of the episodes really stood out.
Not the greatest pic as I juggle three tasks at once here but you can get the gist of what we're talking about. The sloped V ceiling with event posters. Shelves lined with memorabilia. A random floor fan. White longboxes with programs, magazines and comics.
Intermission. Cue the Sax ...
Now that's a great alternate mix. What a talented foursome 😎 😍
Levi Stubbs. Helluva voice though. Alright, jumping back in
From complete sets of programs over the years from territories such as Paul Boesch's legendary Houston promotion to Georgia Championship Wrestling and programs owned by the great Gordon Solie. Jim's collection is stout. Impressive. When discussing his collection, be it on tv or his podcast, it's quite easy to recognize the pride he has with what has been accumulated over the years.
He also understands from a practical point of view it's simply impossible to accumulate it all. It can't be done. What you can do, however, is pick up a program from say Los Angeles when pro wrestling was at the Olympic Auditorium. An autographed event poster from Don Owens' Pacific Northwest territory. You can get a piece, or two or three pieces, from every old territory.
I can appreciate that strategy. I employ it with sportscards. As much as I would like to have every 1999 Topps Finest Die Cut Gold Refractor of every player in my collection. It's not feasible. So, you pick and choose...
No Trevor is not for sale. 😁
Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, yeah I borrow heavily from Jim Cornette. The occasional full set of something, or a piece of this, that or the other.
"Wonder how many folks remember The Book Exchange and Book Bag at Evanston Plaza on Dorchester Rd. Circa 1977-80? Peruse the old comic books at the Exchange, grab a Wrestling Mag at Book Bag. Cool, innocent times."
Can't beat living in the good ol' USA 😎
Indeed. 1977 & 1978 were in particular quite fun. I'll revisit The Book Exchange and it's underrated brilliance in the future.
Scott Stevens
In late 2012 when I made the calculated decision to take up an old hobby. I knew I needed a Hall of Famer in one of the Big 4 sports to focus on for a PSA Registry. Being under something resembling, though obviously smaller scale, the SMU Probation/Death Penalty days, within the budget. 😂. Learning experience, trust me 😆 Never try to be Robin Hood.
NHL Hall of Famers is where I gave a eye to. Chris Chelios, Patrick Roy, Pat LaFontaine, Dale Hawerchuk and Luc Robitaille intrigued me. But didn't excite me. Just a couple years removed from my buy and flip experience knowing I had bought and sold all the rookies of those greats. Too much been there, deja vu etc.
One player not on my list of five was Scott Stevens. The Caps - Blues - Devils great. No Registry sets of Stevens existed. I could ground floor it. That did interest me. So did the player.
Scott was the quintessential if he's on your team you love him player. If he ain't, you may heavily dislike him at best, rage hate him at worst 😂 My boys, the Habs, didn't meet up with any of the Stevens led teams in money(playoffs) games all that often. Devils killed Montreal in the '97 Playoffs is one example I recall. But Stevens himself, well, the highlights are out there. A serious presence during The Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Easy call. The chance for a Registry start up 😁 and I loved the way Stevens played. He played to win. He could be ruthless.
Scott Stevens was added to my collection in February 2013
As an all time great, these needed creating. My adds to the sets have slowed. Tweaked my collecting doctrine a tiny bit since 2018. I'll deep dive again eventually.
Great folks with honesty, integrity and work ethic 👍
June 18....Memory trigger! 😁
On this date in 1977, on Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling
Taped June 15, broadcast June 18. The vid is clipped, sadly. In our area that was 11:15 Saturday Nights. Our first couple of years after moving from N.C. to the lowcountry the shifts my Dad worked at the old Standard Warehouse always allowed us to watch that program every Saturday night. The Cheerwine, Mr.Pibb and Sun Drop flowed like a river 😂.
Not sponsored by Mr.Pibb. But, we're open to the idea.
"Bro it's called Pibb Xtra these days..."
Alright back on topic.
The complete card for that MACW episode:
Dino Bravo & Tiger Conway Jr. defeated The Hollywood Blondes
Masked Superstar defeated Big Bill Dromo
Steamboat defeated Flair, wins the TV Title
Jerry Blackwell & Kim Duk defeated Frankie Lane & Sonny Rogers
Rick McGraw got a DQ win over Greg Valentine
Historical episode, with Steamboat getting his first MACW singles title. The good old days, and those memories are cherished.
Regularly scheduled programming returns with the next installment. Scott Stevens, Reverend Ike, Rickey Henderson and more!
Boz leads us out...
No dancing with the Super Heroes man c'mon. Rules.
"Randomness and chaos make Lance's world a little more balanced"
First up, endorsement time. Mega Pawn in North Charleston S.C. Family owned and operated. Solid, good, honest, hard working folks with integrity. In business for years. Link below pic.
Big Frank. The Big Hurt. 1990. Intriguing year personally. "We learnt a few things". Card collecting by the Summer of '90 featured three prospects everyone wanted. Frank Thomas, David Justice, Kevin Maas. Frank I had been aware of for a couple of years, same for Justice. Maas was a touch older, wasn't as highly thought of. One card maker, after a year of producing no cards, Leaf, was back. With a great design, a rolodex of stars and prospects, and an overall premium product. It was better than Upper Decks original 1989 offering. A beautiful set:
I still say Griff and Prime have never had better looking cards than their 90 Leaf examples. Frank's 90 Leaf rather quickly became the card to have. Had a few in Act I. Have 3 now. 2 ungraded, which are nice. But my favorite of the 3 I have is a PSA 5 (Yeah I know 😂) that I plucked off eBay:
It is a gorgeous PSA 5. For longtime 1990 Leaf collectors, you can guess what the issue is on the reverse of the card that drops it from a 10 to a 5 😏 Beautiful display card, is it not 😍
Frank would go on to a Hall of Fame career. From his call-up in August 1990 through the 1997 season he was the best hitter I've ever seen play. Seven and a half seasons of pure offensive excellence.
Frank would have one more "Vintage Frank" season in 2000:
.328BA .436OB .625SLG 43HR 143RBI 115R
Bonkers stats.
Injuries, off field interests and age related decline brought an end to Frank's historic seasons and stats. Though he did fashion a couple of really good slugger-esque, gonna pull the ball more, seasons in Oakland and Toronto. My guess is Frank knew the best way he could be productive as a DH at that point for Oakland and Toronto was less walks, willing to swing at pitches out of his zone more, and he certainly became more of a pull hitter. There's an argument to be made that Thomas was deserving of the 2006 AL MVP (he placed 3rd). In some ways he had two careers. The best Right Handed batter I've seen play, Frank was a generational player.
Frank found his way into my current collection in October 2014.
Here's Faith No More with their Top 10 hit, Epic, from the Summer of '90
"Boxing opinions? Well, I suppose"
Message from someone interested in Boxing - Mike Tyson - My opinion on how he would fare vs. some other top heavyweights. With everyone in their prime. I would say my 8 - 18 year old self knew more about boxing than my current 54 year old self. 😂 Watching boxing with Dad & Mom was a staple. Fun times indeed. So, here's my best guesses vs. boxers from the 70's - early 80's. I know Tyson defeated Larry Holmes. But that was not prime Larry Holmes in 1988.
Would beat Mike:
Ali
George Foreman
Larry Holmes
Prime Ali is simply too good. George is a bigger, and better in my opinion, version of Tyson. Larry's jab, and complete skill set would have been too much.
Toss Up:
Earnie Shavers
Joe Frazier
Greg Page
Earnie's punching power made him a threat vs. anybody. Joe's heart makes him a legit threat as well. Page had everything talent wise but he just didn't have the full drive.
Mike Beats:
Ken Norton, Mike Weaver, John Tate, Pinklon Thomas, Renaldo Snipes, Tim Witherspoon, Gerrie Coetzee, Gerry Cooney, Trevor Berbick, Ron Lyle, Michael Dokes.
Tyson beat an older Berbick and Pinklon. Out of this list, prime Berbick is still the only one I think that could have given Mike Problems.
Not sponsored by Jack Daniels. But we're open to the idea. 😎
..."Nah man. Al Davis was spot on. CEO or Owner is bland"...
I live in a country that allows me to be this nutty and absurd. It's like winning the Lottery of Life being born in the USA. 👍😎
..."Sports, movies, music. It's entertainment. I like who I like because they entertain me. But they are not my heroes"...
But heroes do exist...
Outside of my Mom & Dad, I've had three other heroes in my life. My siblings. All obviously much older as the pic shows. That's me in early Uptown Funk headwear. 😂😂
God blessed me with great parents and great siblings. I could not have chosen better had I been given the opportuniy to do so. No one's life is perfect, mine certainly isn't. I've made my fair share of mistakes. The good however, dwarfs the bad. I'm lucky, and I don't take it for granted. 💓
Nothing but tremendous respect for Mr. Davis. The OG President of the General Partner.
Regularly scheduled programming returns with the next installment.
Not Sponsored by Welch's. But we're open to the idea. 😊
Honesty and integrity are very important in the real estate world. You'll be hard pressed to find one with more than Karen
..."I think they were the Rainbows in 1985"...
My card collecting of 2024 bears little resemblance to what I was doing from 1983 - 2000. Also known as Act 1. There's no obvious leader of the pack. For Act 1 that started with Steve Garvey, then Lance Parrish and finally Don Mattingly occupied the lead dog role from 1987 - 2000. Short lived flippin' and sellin' Act II 2008 - 2011 is best forgotten. Act III, 2012 - present, is more of a committee. Though I do have six players from four of the major sports (NFL,NHL,NBA,MLB) who stick out from the other 54.
Here is number six....
Roberto Alomar is one of the great baseball talents of the last 50 years. A legitimate 5 Tool player. Cerebral, smooth. Calm & cool. Clutch.
Roberto hit the majors and stuck for good at age 20 just after the start of the 1988 season. Roughly three years after seeing him play locally in the minors here. Back to 1988, the year I graduated high school. So we're both solidly AARP eligible 😂 . He debuted in late April. Robbie was a guy who had "it", from the get. Born into the sport with his father Sandy Sr. a former MLB'er and brother Sandy Jr. a year or so away from the majors himself. It wasn't wrong think to see a big future for Robbie. Though it took a couple years to get there.
Had a few Alomar cards back in Act I. Nothing major. He wasn't a huge focus here. By 1992, his true breakout season, in my collecting world he was behind Ryne Sandberg and Craig Biggio. A solid #3. I had high hopes for Carlos Baerga. Chuck Knoblauch was on the scene. Two prospects, Ray Durham and Michael Tucker, showed promise as well. Damion Easley was on the radar also. A numbers game, monetarily and card wise. The Alomar items I had were sold prior to the 1993 season.
What can I say, collecting is an inexact science. I did what Alomar rarely did on the field. I made an error. His years in Toronto were legendary. Helping the Blue Jays win the World Series back to back in 92 & 93. During the 1992 - 1995 seasons he was in the discussion, the short list, as the best all around player in the majors.
Intermission....
Here's Aerosmith with an absolute monstrous performance of Dream On....
1996...
Robbie signed with the Orioles as a free agent following the 1995 season. Still only 28. He would put up two elite seasons in 96 & 97 with the O's. Which included two ALCS appearances. Overshadowing everything else during his 3 seasons in Baltimore was the spitting incident in September 1996 involving umpire John Hirschbeck. A reprehensible act for which no excuses or explanations can be made. It's something that will follow Alomar forever. It may have cost him first ballot induction into the Hall of Fame. There's nothing more one can say about it. I do however have beef with anyone who brings the spitting incident up without going into the follow up. Both Alomar and Hirschbeck put the nasty incident to bed. Amazingly becoming closer over the years. That story is out there also.
Monster years in Cleveland...
As an Indian for the 1999 - 2001 seasons, Robbie again was on playoff teams. In 1999 and 2001 he would post elite offensive numbers.
Added to the AcesN8s Collection in December 2013. Chosen over Ryne Sandberg, Craig Biggio and Barry Larkin.
I believe he is the best Second Baseman since Joe Morgan. Solidly among the best 7 or 8 2B's in MLB History. One of the Top 100 players in history. A true great.
