TTM This Week: Card Life Talk, Football Autographs in the Mailbox

TTMCast this Week

Brandon Verzal, the creator and producer of the cable TV show The Card Life, drops by to talk about his hobby related TV show. We chat about show host and collector Matt Strahm’s playoff run with the Phillies, some of his favorite stories from the show and what’s planned for the rest of the year.

We gave regular show contributor Les Wolff the week off, but we will be appraising listener submissions next week. If you have an item that you would like to get Les’ opinion on, please send a picture and brief description and Les will review it on our November 11^th show.

On this, Wednesday’s TTMCast 1-on-1, collector Mark Del Franco will be joining us to talk about set collecting.

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

TTM This Week

I had one fantastic return from a former Pro Bowl quarterback and received a few more football returns from requests that had been out for a while. I sent out 15 letters to former New England Patriots at the beginning of the weeks so hopefully my mailbox will be full this coming week.

Player addresses are available via TTM collecting websites including, SportsCardForum.com and SportsCollectors.net.

Here are my successes this week:

Randall Cunningham

Cunningham played 16 seasons as quarterback for the Eagles, Vikings, Cowboys, and Ravens from 1985-2001. He was a four-time Pro Bowler and lead the NFL in passing in 1998. He threw for 207 TDs and 29,979 yards during his career. After retiring he went back to UNLV, got his degree, became a high school coach and became an ordained Protestant minister.

He signs autographs through his Las Vegas ministry and requests a $25 donation per autograph. He signed his 1992 GameDay card for me in about three weeks.

Steve Fuller

Fuller spent ten seasons as quarterback for the Chiefs, Rams, Bears, and Chargers from 1979-1988. He was selected by Kansas City with the 23^rd overall pick in the 1979 NFL Draft out of Clemson. He was a member of the Super Bowl XX champion Chicago Bears where he spent four seasons as backup. He threw 28 touchdowns and passed for 7,156 yards during his career. He was one of ten Bears players who earned a gold record for “The Super Bowl Shuffle.” After retiring he went into coaching at the high school level in South Carolina.

He signed his 1981 Topps card in a few weeks.

George Martin

Martin was the 262^nd player selected in the 1975 NFL draft when the Giants took him in the 11^th round out of Oregon but he wound up playing 14 seasons as defensive end from 1975-1988. He tallied 46 sacks and scored seven touchdowns during his career. He was one of the team captains on the Super Bowl champion Giants in 1986. He sacked John Elway for a safety in Super Bowl XXI. Martin raised over $2 million for 9/11 first responders medical care after walking from NY to San Diego a total of more than 3,000 miles.

He signed his 1986 Topps card in a few weeks.

Phil Olsen

The brother of Hall of Fame defensive ned Merlin Olsen, Phil Olsen played for the Rams and Broncos from 1971-1976. He started next to his brother in LA in 1971 and 1972 and was captain of the Broncos special teams in 1975 and 1976.

Olsen signed his 1973 Topps card in about four weeks.

Bill Krueger

Krueger won 68 games pitching for 8 different teams from 1983-1995. In 1991 he won 11 games for the Mariners with a3.60 ERA. He was a pretty good hitter finishing with a.400 career batting average.

He signed his 1987 Topps card in about four weeks.

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.