Every now and then, something happens in the world of sports that truly impacts the world of sports cards.
In my more than 50 years of being in the hobby as a collector, hobby writer, product development and brand manager, VP Marketing, hobby magazine publisher and even a dealer, there is one day that had more impact on the hobby than any day I have ever seen.
It was 25 years ago. On Thanksgiving Day, 1998, the Minnesota Vikings visited the Dallas Cowboys. It was the day that Randy Moss singlehandedly blew up the hobby. He caught three passes for 163 yards and three touchdowns as the Vikings won 46-36.
NFL trading card products with rookie cards in action and in uniform were just starting to hit the market. Moss, in one game, turned the hobby upside down. The Vikings asserted themselves as the best team in the NFL that day, and Moss suddenly became the rookie that would drive the market.
In 1998, the NFL needed a big injection of Randy Moss. Peyton Manning and Ryan Leaf drove NFL football card sales throughout the spring and summer. After a couple of drafts and rookie classes that were not hobby friendly, Manning and Leaf were coming into the NFL with the expectations of being franchise quarterbacks with Hall of Fame potential.
Both had some successes and failures, and both played for bad teams. Manning’s Colts were on the way to a 3-13. He was piling up passing yards, but as he was setting rookie passing records, he was also setting a rookie record for throwing interceptions. Leaf, meanwhile, was in the early stages of imploding his career. Moss’ draft stock had dropped because of supposed character questions. The Cowboys, his favorite team growing up, passed on him. Minnesota snared him at pick 21 in the first round.
The hobby knew and thought Manning would be a special player, but they needed a right now player.
On Thanksgiving Day, 1998, Moss became that player.
I was working for Collector’s Edge at the time. Pinnacle, where I had previously worked, was in the midst of becoming nothing more than some brand names and logos that Playoff would eventually purchase in a bankruptcy sale.
We were in the midst of putting Moss autographs into First Place, one of Collector’s Edge’s more popular products. After that game, First Place pre-orders took off in a big way.
Special Memory
I don’t know how many NFL games I have been to. It’s not a lot – likely a couple dozen or so. Most of the time I went as a photographer. But there has been no better experience at an NFL game than that Thanksgiving Day 25 years ago.
My parents were coming to visit us in Dallas for Thanksgiving. My dad was a huge Cowboys fan. My childhood was filled with sitting with my dad at home on Sunday afternoons to watch the Cowboys play in the 4 PM game on the CBS affiliate in Watertown, NY.
In 1997, my dad suffered an emphysema attack that resulted in a 911 call. He was in his early 60s, but he was in a walker and had an oxygen tank. He drank hard every day, and he had started smoking at the age of 12. His lifestyle was catching up to him. He used to joke that if he donated his organs to Mickey Mantle, it would actually be a downgrade.
I wanted to take him to the Cowboys Thanksgiving game. The previous week, I scoped out which parking lot those with disabled parking passes would park in. Then, I had to figure out which entrance he and my mom would go in. Then, what was the section that was the closest to that section?
Eventually, I had pegged the exact area I wanted tickets in. I called Ticketfinders, or whatever the company was called. They were able to get their hands on tickets on the aisle, which I wanted, within a couple rows of what we were looking for. Sure, they were a couple hundred dollars above face value, but I didn’t care. My dad was going to get to go to a Cowboys game.
Their seats were in the end zone. They looked straight down the sideline. I was at field level with my camera and a Canon 300mm lens. I always got there a couple hours early to take shots in pre-game. Texas Stadium in Dallas was tough to shoot in because of the extreme light and extreme shadows, but pre-game was a great time to take shots that were going to be clipped or isolated for insert cards. About a half hour before kickoff, I looked up and saw my parents getting into their seats.
Even though the game was 25 years ago, there are some memorable moments. Moss was incredible. I remember interviewing for a job at EA Sports before I decided on going to Collector’s Edge. The head of the department was an ex-Topps executive, and we had dinner while I was in California interviewing. He asked what I thought of the rookie crop, and I raved about Randy Moss. I told him that by the time his career was done, it would be Jerry Rice and Randy Moss, and than everyone else. I have been wrong a lot of times, but I felt pretty good about spitting out that hot sports opinion.
But Moss was even better than I imagined. He ran so fluently. He had a sprinter’s get-off. I watched him in pre-game and saw how soft his hands were.
All three of his touchdowns were spectacular. On two of them, he was running right toward my parents.
Moss’ cards became the talk of the few Thanksgiving weekend card shows around the country– and stayed hot. His Upper Deck rookie card was sizzling, with prices as high as $75 (ungraded, of course). His Topps Chrome rookie card was selling for $50 with his Fleer Ultra rookie not far behind. “Moss has been the hottest football card of the season,” wrote Paul Dottino of The Record, a Hackensack, NJ newspaper on that Thanksgiving weekend. At Christmas, kids were writing Santa, asking for Moss cards.
When I connected with my parents after the game that Thanksgiving evening, my dad couldn’t stop talking about it. When people found out they were Canadian, they would have a chat. One Cowboys fan got my dad’s contact info and even gave him a barbecued turkey drumstrick, which looked like something Fred Flintstone would eat. By the end of the game, my dad knew everyone near him in his section.
“And the best part,” he said excitedly. “The TV crew and John Madden were right below us. They walked right by us with the big turkey!”
Purple Friday
We had a big day on Black Friday, as we were doing a JFK museum and grassy knoll tour. But before that happened, I had to take a phone call in the morning.
It was Don West form Shop at Home.
“What Collector’s Edge products have Randy Moss in them?” he asked.
“All of them,” I said.
“That’s awesome!” he said.
Don was going to be selling some Collector’s Edge products on Shop at Home that night. Because Shop at Home owned Collector’s Edge, many of the products I developed and many of the selling points were geared toward TV sales as much as they were for the hobby.
Our previous sales pitches were all about Manning and Leaf in our products. Suddenly, every collector in America wanted a Randy Moss rookie card. Don West, as only Don West could, convinced them that they needed a Randy Moss rookie card.
He was right.
I made my dad stay up late to watch Don West pitch our products. Shop at Home is not on the air in Canada, so my dad was fascinated watching Don West.
“Is that the guy Saturday Night Live makes fun of?” he asked.
“That’s harsh, Dad. They parody him. Don will tell you that you have to be a big deal for Saturday Night Live to do a skit about you.”
The next day, we went to do the Kennedy sightseeing thing. We retraced the rout and saw the grassy knoll and went to the museum. I hadn’t been downtown since leaving Pinnacle. I showed him our building. The Pinnacle logo had been taken down and Broadcast.com’s logo had replaced it. That was Mark Cuban’s company.
My dad was a journalist, and was even in Cuba covering the revolution in December, 1958. On the day Kennedy was assassinated, he drove out to the country and cried his eyes out. It was about four weeks before I was born. He says it was the first and only time he had ever cried.
When my dad died in 2004 – he lived way longer than he was supposed to – I always wondered if he got to find out who was behind the assassination. I also wonder if he ever got to have a beer with Tom Landry, or his idol Ernest Hemmingway, or maybe even John Madden.
I don’t know what heaven is like, but I could certainly see him sitting at a road house with a plate of wings and a pitcher of beer with Don West.
Regardless, I will never forget Thanksgiving Day, 1998, the day the football card market took off.
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Recalling Kurt Warner’s Sudden Stardom and a Card Company’s Efforts to Chronicle It
How Leaf vs Manning Draft Debate Fueled Sports Card Hobby in 1998
Remembering Don West: The Ultimate Hobby Pitch Man
25 Years Later, Peyton Manning Is Still The Hobby’s King Of QBs Selected First Overall
The Music City Miracle Made Frank Wycheck A Hobby Legend
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