Any Mark Kelso Memories?

[Dibs]

......Once a player reaches a certain status, it is much harder.  Surprisingly Jim Kelly, Andre Reed and Thurman were all ultra generous, sending me back lots of stuff, autographed, that I did not ask for.  Some of the stuff Kelly sent was stamped, but the card I sent him, I am fairly certain (small thumb print in the ink where he was holding it to sign) is the real deal...

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Wow. That is all Ultra-cool. I would never have guessed that all bar 1 would send back the cards-signed.

 

Do you still do it?

Do you know if Ebay changed the way some of the players view autographing cards now?

 

I remember at the height of the mid-90s cards craze we had a few Eagles out here to Australia on a promo for the NFL.(Seth Joiner & ..um...I forget).

I was told they wouldn't sign stuff due to them having exclusive deals with a particular card company. Not fun.

 

I'm still amazed at your responses though Buftex. If you were a kid when you started that, it must have been an absolute buzz.

[Dibs]

OK I'm going to get badly flamed for this, but:

Vastly overrated IMO.  The guy always lined up 40 yards behind the line of scrimmage - maybe that was just part of the scheme, but I think it was partially due to his limitations.  The other Raider game I remember was the 1993 freezing playoff game when Tim Brown took a ~60 yard pass and just left Kelso out of his jock (Paul McGuire said "Kelso had no chance to make the play" even though he was RIGHT THERE).  Fortunately Kelly hooked up with Billy Brooks for a 2nd time to win the game. 

Anyway, sorry to be an ass - I'm sure he's a great guy.

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Unfortunately my one & only memory of Kelso(apart from the knob helmet) was....

Now I don't remember the team nor the year(probably 91 or 92) & keeping in mind I only got to see about 3 Bills matches a year(due to living in Australia) but....

Kelso was alone, 40 yards down field.

Receiver(with ball) running towards him.

Only open field & Kelso.

Receiver seems to slowly tilt left....

Then passes Kelso easily on the right...

30 yards(or so) later.

Touch Down.

[JLO]

Hate to say it but the one that stands out for me is Kelso bouncing off of Ottis Andersons' thigh in on that marathon 3rd quater drive in SBXXV

[Buftex]

Wow.  That is all Ultra-cool.  I would never have guessed that all bar 1 would send back the cards-signed.

 

Do you still do it? 

Do you know if Ebay changed the way some of the players view autographing cards now?

 

I remember at the height of the mid-90s cards craze we had a few Eagles out here to Australia on a promo for the NFL.(Seth Joiner & ..um...I forget). 

I was told they wouldn't sign stuff due to them having exclusive deals with a particular card company.  Not fun. 

 

I'm still amazed at your responses though Buftex.  If you were a kid when you started that, it must have been an absolute buzz. 

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Yeah, I still do it, but only Bills players now. I am awaiting responses now, from Craig Nall and Andre Davis. I have yet to be able to find cards of Royal, Fowler, and some of the other free agent signings. Sometimes, finding the cards is tougher than the autographs.

 

Ebay, and exclusive contracts, did change things. That is why it is much easier to get early round rookies, early on, than later in their careers. I think most guys are cool about it, because the exclusive cards that most sign through the card companies, normally come stamped with a seal of authenticity. A card without this is not really valuable to hard core sports collectors. I really just do it for me. There are no companies who paid Jeremy Irons to an exclusive deal, I can assure you.

 

I think my tact of including an extra card for the player to keep for himself pays off. A lot of these guys have big egos that need stroking, and many collect their own cards. Some guys, like Drew Bledsoe, collect them so they can autograph them ahead of time, and give them out to kids when they don't have a ton of time to sign for crowds, but don't want to let folks down. At least that is what I told.

 

One small problem with the newer cards, they make them on very glossy, slick stock, and lesser experienced auto signers sometimes use ink that doesn't keep on the surface very well...

 

Incidently, of our current Bills, JP and Holcomb are very good signers....Willis McGahee is approaching the "too big for that stuff" level. I got him through the mail. My nephew hung out at training camp, for almost an entire week, last summer, and said he wouldn't sign anything for anyone...Eric Moulds was great. I sent him a card, and he sent me back multiple signed cards. Sometimes, it is all in the timing.....