TTM This Week: Chat with College Card Maker; It's Raining '73 Topps Football Autographs

TTMCast this Week

With all the lawsuits and changes in the card manufacturing sector it’s interesting to see a new card manufacturer enter the market. ONIT Athlete (onitathlete.com) is a year-old company that produces cards for over 50 D1 universities including Alabama, LSU, Gonzaga, and Ohio State.

Co-Founder Sheridan Hodson joins the show this week to tell us about what they’re doing in the rapidly growing space of collegiate trading cards. In conjunction with his appearance, we’ll be giving away seven packs of the company’s cards. To enter, send your name and mailing address to me (see address at the bottom of this story) for a chance to win one of these packs.

Also, on this month’s edition of More from Les, Les Wolff joins me to discuss Wander Franco, the recent hobby lawsuits and more.

On this Wednesday’s TTMCast 1-on-1 show, Alex Lynn and Don Caruso from Card Dealer Pro provide insight into their company and we talk TTM and vintage card collecting as well.

You can listen to all our podcasts at ttmcast.podbean.com.

Recent TTM Successes

The mailbox was full of returns last week including several 1973 football cards from players who were on Topps’ set 50 years ago this fall. I’m not actually collecting the set, but I picked up a large lot of off-condition cards and thought they were perfect for sending away for autographs. I’ve had pretty good luck with these and also had an opportunity to speak to a lot of the players for my podcast. All have great stories to tell.

Let’s get to those returns:

Bruce Van Dyke

Van Dyke was selected in the 12^th round of the 1966 NFL draft out of Missouri by the Eagles but made the most of his late round opportunity. After a season with Philadelphia, the standout guard spent seven seasons with the Steelers and three more with Green Bay.

He made the Pro Bowl in 1973 as a member of the Steelers and played in128 games from 1966-1976. He is a member of the Steelers Legends team.

Van Dyke signed his 1973 Topps card in about two weeks.

Royce Berry

Royce Berry played defensive end for the Bengals from 1969-1974 and finished his career with the Bears in 1976. He served as defensive captain for six seasons in Cincinnati. In the 1970 Bengals-Browns game he scooped up a fumble and ran it in for a 58 yards touchdown. He only missed one start between 1970 and 1973.

He signed his 1973 Topps card in about two weeks.

Gary Garrison

Garrison played wide receiver for the San Diego Chargers from 1966-1976 and finished his career in Houston in 1977. He was a 4x Pro Bowler and is in the Chargers Hall of Fame. He had a very prolific career, with 405 receptions for 7,538 yards and 58 touchdowns.

He founded a coin-operated video game manufacturer, Cinematronics, with teammate Dennis Partee in 1975.

He signed his 1973 Topps card in less than two weeks.

Jim Skaggs

Skaggs played ten seasons at guard for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1963-1972 after being slected in the 10^th round of the 1962 NFL draft out of Washington. Skaggs played in 100 NFL games and startred 83 of them. He went to work for State Farm Insurance when he retired from football.

He signed his 1973 Topps card in two weeks.

Fred Hoaglin

Hoaglin played center for Cleveland, Baltimore, Houston and Seattle from 1966-1976. He made one Pro Bowl team and won two Super Bowls. He was a member of the Seahawks’ first team in his final NFL season. After playing he went on to coach for the Lions, Giants, Patriots and Jacksonville as assistant coach (OL and TE), serving under Bill Parcells’ coaching tree with the Giants, Pats and Jaguars.

He signed his 1973 Topps card in a few weeks.

Bill Hayhoe

A USC product, Bill Hayhoe played 61 games on the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line in the aftermath of the Lombardi era, playing on the Pack’s 1972 NFC Central championship squad.

Hayhoe signed his 1973 Topps card in about two weeks.

Jim Bailey

Bailey played nine seasons in the NFL winning a Super Bowl while with the Colts. He was a second round pick in the 1970 NFL draft out of Kansas and played 116 games for the Colts, Jets and Falcons from 1970-1978. Bailey intercepted 12 balls during his career.

He signed his 1973 Topps card in less than two weeks.

Wes Chesson

Chesson starred at Duke and was drafted in the seventh round of the 1971 NFL draft by Atlanta. He played wide receiver for two plus seasons with the Falcons and two with the Eagles from 1971-1974. He played in 43 total NFL games, grabbing 40 balls for 598 yards and two touchdowns.

He signed his 1973 Topps card in about two weeks.

John Schmitt

Undrafted out of Hofstra, Schmitt he hooked on with the hometown Jets. He spent ten seasons from 1964-1973 and finished with one year in Green Bay in 1974. He played in 130 games during his career. He was a member of the Super Bowl III winning Jets team. He lost his Super Bowl ring in the ocean, which was found by a lifeguard (who kept it). When the lifeguard passed away someone going through his belongings found it and returned it to Schmitt.

He signed his 1973 Topps card in a few weeks.

Don Hultz

Hultz was a defensive end for the Vikings, Eagles and Bears from 1963-1974. He played nine seasons with the Eagles. He holds the NFL record for most opponents’ fumble recoveries in a season when he recovered nine of them during his 1963 rookie season.

He signed his 1973 Topps card in a few weeks.

Several TTM web sites including, SportsCardForum.com and SportsCollectors.net, offer a variety of athlete addresses. Have a TTM success story you would like to share with me? Please, send it me at [email protected]. If I use it in my column, I’ll send you a prize.