TCDB Trading Contest

I've got about 300 cards in my trade box that I'm looking to clear out by the end of the year. If I can find takers for all of them every one I trade with from now until 12/31 will be entered into a drawing for... 

...we'll get to that. If you're on TCDB, take a look at my tradelist and send me an offer if anything interests you. (You can also leave a comment on this post and I'll contact you.) I'd be thrilled to cross off some set fillers from my wantlist but I'll take a look at any tradelists. PC players/teams are always welcome if you want to make it simple. My goal is to get these cards in the hands of collectors who can use them, as quickly and easily as possible.


If I am able to make trades that move out all 300 cards my trade partners will be entered into a random spinning wheel drawing for this card:

2016 Bowman (paper) Vladimir Gurrero Jr. Prospects/1st Bowman card

I'll announce the winner here on my blog and on TCDB but you should follow my blog anyway :)

 

 

Thanks for reading!



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Not my chives, not your chives..

I bought three teams in a two-box break of 2023 Topps Archives hosted by Nachos Grande. After watching the livestream and seeing some of the autographs that were pulled I decided to pick up a few packs at my LCS. 

The shop owner said something about a 'mega pack' - which cost $2 more - and I should have asked him to explain the difference because I walked out with four identical 8-card packs. Scammer.

But... maybe not, because one of the packs yielded an on-card auto. Was it the "mega pack"? Possibly.

Anywho, I can't show you that because it's going out in one of my Chris Kringle gift packs. But I was very happy to pull an auto and now I want to buy a box (::checks Cyber Monday deals:: finds nothing::)

The 1956 Topps design is featured on cards #1-100. They're packed out sequentially so each of the packs I opened and watched on Nachos Grande's stream led with this portion, followed by the 1965 block:

I got the fewest amount of these cards - which is fine with me since '65 is my least favorite design of the three. At least I pulled a Corbin Carroll RC.

Last but not least we have the 2003 section. The blue borders are a nice contrast.

Two Braves named Murphy in the same section. Arozarena actually came from the Nachos Grande break. This is the second (or third?) time I bought the Rays slot at a rock-bottom price. I keep thinking they're a good value because they're the best of the overlooked/under collected teams, and because I've got a theory that a lot of the 'mojo' hits in box breaks are of teams that either don't get claimed or are claimed last.


My theory was correct -- but one of the five autos Chris pulled was on the other Florida fish team :/

As for that break, I did get a complete team set of every one of the three slots I bought, including all seven Rays base cards. No inserts or parallels though. (next time, I'm picking the Pirates.)

The 'mystery' team - which I won't reveal here - yielded an insert to go with the base set. And of course I picked the Red Sox for myself. 16 cards in the base set, $16 for the slot.

Plus a couple of Hit Stars inserts and a Babe Ruth rainbow #d/199. But that's not all!

The first box Chris opened yielded the promised two autographs -- plus a bonus third autograph (actually the second box had three autos also - across two cards.)

Another Hit Star of a Hall of Famer! For a while it looked like I'd pulled the cream of the crop. Someone ended up with an ever better card, but I'm still very satisfied. Hopefully the person who gets my 'mystery team' cards will be, too.


Have you bought any 2023 Topps Archives yet? Any great pulls to report? Are you disappointed by the card backs, especially with the 1956 singles?

 

 Thanks for reading!



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Updates (not 2023 Topps)

Before I take my older daughter to see The Hunger Games prequel, I thought I'd update everyone on some collecting and personal news heading into Black Friday (and Thanksgiving I guess... meh)

 
It's a busy time here at Collector HQ. I've signed up for the Secret Santa exchange on TCDB - where I've already got five trades and a purchase en route - plus a purchase from Sportlots, a couple sales on eBay, and I bought three slots in Nachos Grande's 2023 Topps Archives box break. (Of course I did - did you see what's in this year's set?)

Notice I didn't say COMC there. I was not planning to partake in their Black Friday sale at all this year. However they're offering a discount on PSA grading so I will have to consider it. Depends on how those eBay sales go, I suppose.

It should be noted that a significant portion of the purchases I've already made are with fellow collectors in mind. 'Tis the season, you know. Once I've rounded up the whole haul I'll be sending out holiday cards - with cards.

I seem to have hit a wall at TCDB. With ten stamps burning a hole in my pocket I thought I'd send out a few offers and wrap up trading for 2023. It appears that everyone is already on holiday as I haven't heard back from any of them. I might just send all my traders to Dennis. Got to give him something for the big box of cards he sent me recently.

Which leads me to... my current collecting focus. I've made a lot of progress with completing sets this year and so I've added a few more projects. But this will be the last of my set building because, as you can see, my card shelf is at max capacity.

I've updated my set building wantlist tab, which you can view here and at the top of my blog. There's still a good amount of room in those team binders and I've made loads of room in my closet for team PC 'hits' (inserts/ parallels/relics/autos) as well as player collections. I'll be focusing on those in the new year as well.

My updated player PC list is here and also at the top of my blog. 

I might have to add Craig Breslow to that list. The New Haven native and former Red Sox reliever is now the General Manager of the Sawx. I'm excited to see what my neighbor can do with this mediocre roster (bring Ohtani to Bah-stin!!!) but I gotta admit, I would have preferred Kim Ng.

If you haven't voted in Nachos Grande's End of the Year awards I urge you to do so. We all know who's going to win Blog of the Year but it will be interesting to see who gets the other awards. I was tempted to make my case early this year, but then I changed jobs and got distracted by fiction writing.

Lately I've been playing lots of Stardew Valley with my younger daughter and, as a nod to that, my 2023 blogging Grange Display would consist of the 100 Greatest Non-Hall of Famers, All-Time Teams 2.0 (which reminds me - I need to update that blog tab) Sarah's Surf Shop, the 1956 Topps scan dump (tab coming soon) and The Franchise. My Young Guns hockey series is ineligible; it was posted in 2022.

On a personal note, her soccer team was in the Union County recreational league championship game yesterday. Last weekend they had a 6:30 p.m. playoff game in freezing cold weather and our girls won on penalties. The weather was much better yesterday - sunny and warmer (with a chilly wind) for an 11 a.m. start. The game was at Union Catholic's high school field - where world champion track star Sydney McLauglin trained.

My daughter played the entire first half at her usual back line spot on defense and made some good plays, clearing the ball out of danger and connecting on a couple passes to the midfielder. Unfortunately this team (particularly its very loud coach) cracked the code of our entire offensive strategy. You see, all of our team's goals are scored by the striker, #3. She's a mile ahead of every other player on the team.

But this opponent played tough team defense. #3 was a bit sluggish, possibly frustrated by the Jacques Lemaire-like tactics smothering her time and space. She didn't get going until late in the second half,  when she finally had a flurry rush at the goal and it was stopped.. then the goalie bobbled it and reached back for it just before it crossed the goal line. No goal.

Then the referee blew the whistle. Game over.

Good thing our girls goal five minutes before that :)

Champs!!!

I didn't see who scored the only goal, it might have been #3. But it was a total team effort (for once). You can see the girls holding the trophy in the direction of the bleachers, where all the parents stayed. Except for my rebellious family. My wife got some pictures of the team and our daughter trackside. I took this faraway photo so that you can see the team and the trophy without any privacy issues. (though I'm sure there are dozens of parents' pics on Facebook.)

Shortly after each player got to pose for individual pics with the trophy some douche ordered me and the Mrs. to vacate the playing surface and go back to the bleachers. Dude, the game is over, I'm picking up my kid and.. wait... is it because Syndey ran here? You don't want us pleebs to touch the hallowed ground on which the great McLaughlin once ran? Catholic schools are so strict. I should know.


So... that's why I've been up to lately. I might post some quick trade recaps or something as new cards come in, and if I do they will be shorter posts. Chris Kringle has a list to check 😉

Do you have any sports card-related purchases planned - for yourself or others - this holiday season?


Thanks for reading!



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Vintage Pickups Through Time Travel

By now you're surely aware of Matt's Time Travel Trading project. He's been running it for at least five years and built an impressive collection of cards - all of which are available for any older card. 

There was one card in particular that I'd had my eye on for a long while, and I was somewhat surprised that it had not been claimed. Somewhat, because it can be difficult for collectors to part with vintage - even for vintage that is just slightly newer. Eventually I got tired of seeing this card of a popular sixties star sitting there unclaimed, and so I scrounged up something older to offer. 

That's how I was finally able to add this to my All-Time Teams binder:

This 1966 Topps Bill Freehan bumps out a Pacific placeholder. It's not the oldest card I acquired.

Grabbed this snowy Jerry Adair, too. It doesn't fit my collection but he was a name that sounded familiar to me and I don't have many '64 singles. You may have noticed a similarity with these two cards. That isn't why I picked them out but it was kind of inevitable with vintage Topps singles.

The rest of my baseball pickups, including a sharp '69 Steve Blass that had just been added to Matt's offerings. Couldn't pass up that Sean Murphy RC - all I had to do was offer a 4+ year old card!

Now for the non-baseball portion:

A pair of 1970s football greats with Bob Lilly and Franco Harris. Lilly was another one I had my eye on. There's a small thumbnail crease in the bottom right corner but the rest of the card is clean. I didn't have a single Harris card in my collection and had to get him in somehow. Watson is.. not someone I'd go out of my way to add, but the marble borders on the Elite inserts are really nice.

Majerle and Howard will help me fill my basketball monster box (I actually had to make room by removing a couple PC players) and a Chico Resch insert rounds out the PWE. I'd seen that on Matt's list so many times that I thought I'd already traded for it lol.


If you are somehow unaware of Time Travel Trading take a look at his very long list of available cards. He usually posts fresh stock the last Monday of every month. I'm excited to see what he has to offer next.


Matt, thanks for another great Time Travel Trade!

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Promotions, Monopolies, and a Trading Card Draft

Let's imagine for a moment that all of the major sports trading card companies decided to collaborate for one unique product. This product would have equal contributions from every license holder; instead of one uniform card design the set would look like a quilt of contributions from all parties.
 

If such a collaboration occurred in 2023-24, it would look like this:

Hooray for monopolies! Thank your corporate overlords, kids. 

 

Okay, that's not entirely true. For many collectors Fanatics owns every card company they care about. But, as spotlighted in a four-part series here on this blog, Upper Deck is still alive and well.

The Upper Deck company was active in all four major North American pro sports when multiple card companies collaborated on a single semi-major release in the 1990s - yet UD did not participate.

Upper Deck did take part in a promotional product called National Packtime in 1995. Designed to get kids(and adults) back into card collecting after the devastating players' strike of 1994-95, this 18-card set features a 3-card contribution from each of the license holders at the time. It's easy to picture representatives from Donruss, Fleer, Pacific, Pinnacle, Topps, and Upper Deck sitting at a table and 'drafting' which players they would produce for the promotion.

Regardless of how the players were divvied up among the six companies, the set checklist is alphabetical:

Donruss

1 - Frank Thomas
7 - Barry Bonds
13 - Will Clark

Fleer

2 - Matt Williams
8 - Tim Salmon
14 - Fred McGriff

Pacific

3 - Juan Gonzalez
9 - Jose Canseco
15 - Tony Gwynn

Pinnacle

4 - Bob Hamelin
10 - Cal Ripken
16 - Kenny Lofton

Topps

5 - Mike Piazza
11 - Raul Mondesi
17 - Deion Sanders

Upper Deck

6 - Ken Griffey, Jr.
12 - Alex Rodriguez
18 - Jeff Bagwell

 

 UD definitely didn't pick last with that trifecta

 

This is a fascinating concept to me. Yet, for all the recycled ideas and designs, the cross-company collab has rarely happened since and has never truly reached its full potential. Obviously the brands we grew up with were too busy devouring each other to work together, but there have been a couple other attempts.

Each of the surviving card companies has had their own Trading Card Day promotions in recent years. Some are multi-sport, some are single sport, all are individually released. The only one I could find that was a true collaborative effort was 2004 - when Donruss/Playoff, Fleer, Topps, and Upper Deck joined forces.

Now we're cookin! A multi-sport, multi-company set with no uniform design. Donruss/Playoff actually contributed two different types of cards - Donruss style baseball cards and Playoff-style football cards.

Six different sports are included in this 54 card set: baseball, football, basketball, hockey, auto racing, and golf. While I certainly wouldn't expect equal representation among those sports (to UD's credit they included four golfers - not just Eldrick) the unequal contributions bother me more. Instead of each company releasing 9 cards + 1 header, Donruss/Playoff got just 6 cards while Upper Deck had 15.

This was the last year that Topps had an NHL trading card license. Fleer soon dissolved into Upper Deck's portfolio. Donruss/Playoff would get bought out by Panini a few years later.

There are pieces of a great idea here: National Packtime got the player distribution part right. 2004 NTCD added more sports and a bigger checklist. But it wasn't a large enough checklist to be packed out and completed as a regulation-sized set.

Matt at Cards Over Coffee often asks questions using the red pill/blue pill so I won't steal his idea here.... but..

If you could choose a theme for this multi-brand collaboration, would you go with a multi-sport checklist -- Goodwin Champions with licensing -- or a one-sport focused set? 

If your chose option 'b' then I have a set for you: 1996-97 Fleer/Topps Picks, the inspiration for this post.

These look like separate releases, and they are -- kind of. The Fleer packs have base cards and inserts unique to them, while the Topps box has the same. But the checklist is the collaboration here: a single 180 card set. Topps got the odd numbers, Fleer got the even numbers. How did they decide which players would be on which side? It's in the name -- each card company made their Picks draft style.

Topps ended up with stars like Mario Lemieux, Martin Brodeur, and Patrick Roy while Fleer selected Wayne Gretzky, Joe Sakic, and Eric Lindros. It got me thinking about how such a set could work if the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB still allowed competition for trading card licenses. A sample checklist: 

Panini	Topps	Upper Deck
Bryce Harper	Shohei Ohtani	Aaron Judge
Ronald Acuna Jr.	Mookie Betts	Juan Soto
Mike Trout	Pete Alonso	Julio Rodriguez
Corbin Carroll	Clayton Kershaw	Nolan Arenado
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	Alex Bregman	Gerrit Cole
Joe Burrow	Jalen Hurts	Patrick Mahomes
Christian McCaffrey	Aaron Rodgers	Justin Jefferson
Justin Herbert	Lamar Jackson	Trevor Lawrence
Tua Tagovailoa	Saquon Barkley	Derrick Henry
Micah Parsons	T.J. Watt	Aaron Donald
Giannis Antetokounmpo	LeBron James	Nikola Jokic
Luka Doncic	Kevin Durant	Stephen Curry
Damian Lillard	Joel Embiid	Victor Wembanyama
Jasyon Tatum	Klay Thompson	James Harden
Kawhi Leonard	Trae Young	Zion Williamson
Sidney Crosby	Auston Matthews	Connor McDavid
Alex Ovechkin	Leon Draisaitl	Connor Bedard
Jack Hughes	Kirill Kaprizov	David Pastrnak
Nathan MacKinnon	Nikita Kucherov	Matthew Tkachuk
Erik Karlsson	Quinn Hughes	Igor Shesterkin

Collectors are increasingly interested in superstars from other sports, so here's another five rounds:

Panini	Topps	Upper Deck
Erling Haaland	Kylian Mbappe	Lionel Messi
Sabrina Ionescu	Breanna Stewart	A'Ja Wilson
Naomi Osaka	Novak Djokovic	Coco Gauff
Sydney McLaughlin	Katie Ledecky	Simone Biles
Hillary Knight	Chloe Kim	Mikaela Shiffrin

What are your thoughts on the concept of a multi-brand (and/or multi-sport) collaborative set?


Thanks for reading!



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The Franchise (NFC stars)

Last week I listed the AFC's Franchise players from Score's 1993 and 2023 insert sets. Today we'll compare Score's picks for NFC teams then and now, starting in the North (because I can't put the Cowboys first, ever.)

Chicago Bears

I had thought that Richard Dent was at the end of his Hall of Fame career in 1993. Turns out I was half-right; Dent made his fourth and final Pro Bowl that season - his last as a starter - then signed with San Francisco for 1994. The jury is still out on Justin Fields as a viable starter, much less franchise player. However the rebuilding Bears don't have any All-Pro caliber players on their current roster.

 

Detroit Lions

Barry Sanders was the obvious choice for Detroit in 1993; I'm not even going to look at who else they had (shout-out Chris Spielman). Jared Goff might be the most underrated quarterback in football. He doesn't throw a ton of TD passes but he's a highly accurate passer and leader of the first-place Lions.

Green Bay Packers

We were one year away from the Packers having two non-quarterbacks on this list. Sterling Sharpe (who should be in the Hall of Fame) was an All-Pro in both 1992 and 1993, setting records for receptions in both seasons. Aaron Rodgers is one of two Franchise players in the 2023 Score set who are no longer with the depicted team. Aaron Jones and Christian Watson would have been my picks to succeed Pat McAfee's BFF, but they've been in and out of the lineup with injuries(Watson is currently sixth on the team in receptions.) I dunno... maybe GB's Franchise guy is Rashan Gary?

Minnesota Vikings

Did you guys watch the Secret Base series on the history of the Vikings? No one breaks down a long-suffering franchise's misery like Jon Bois & the boys (I do wish he'd finish up the 20020 story though.)

Anyway, Chris Doleman doesn't get talked about often enough for a guy with 150+ career sacks (5th all time since the stat was official). As someone who is supposed to hate this team, I'm envious of the Vikes' high-end talent over my 30+ years of watching football - from Doleman and John Randle to Randall Cunningham, Cris Carter and Randy Moss, to Jared Allen (who Secret Base didn't mention at all) to Adrian Peterson and Justin Jefferson - who was off to a stratospheric start to his career before a hamstring injury slowed him this season. I'm excited/scared to see him catch passes from someone who isn't Kirk Cousins in the near future.

I wrote way too much about the Vikings and not enough about the Lions. Maybe if the rest of the NFL would stop passing up all-time great talent in the draft and letting legends fall to Minnesota they wouldn't have so many Franchise caliber players. Which (if you click on the links) brings us to the...

 Dallas Cowboys

I couldn't stand Emmitt Smith but there's no denying he was the MVP of the Dallas dynasty. The NFL's leading rusher in 1992 and 1993, Emmitt was NFL MVP the year this card was released despite scoring just 9 touchdowns. (He'd get his stat-padding 1-yard scores in bulk over the next two seasons.) Dak Prescott was certainly worthy of the Franchise tag in 2021 but seems to have hit his ceiling(he led the NFL in interceptions thrown last season). I might lean toward All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons as the Star of the current Cowboys.

New York Giants

The Giants and Browns are the only two teams with running backs as franchise players in both '93 and '23. Rodney Hampton represented Big Blue in the 1992 Pro Bowl after scoring a career high 14 touchdowns and rushing for 1,141 yards. Lawrence Taylor was winding down his legendary career in 1993 and Score understandably saw Hampton as the Giants' star going forward. Saquon Barkley remains the lone bright spot of the NFL's most inept offense. Remember when Daniel Jones got that huge contract and Barkley didn't because the G-men thought he was the injury risk? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles' defense had a formidable front line with Reggie White, Jerome Brown, and Clyde Simmons - all of whom were All-Pros in 1991 - before Brown passed away in 1992 and White left for Green Bay in '93. Simmons had led the NFL with 19 sacks in 1992 but was far less effective without White drawing double-teams. He departed for Arizona after the '93 campaign along with linebacker Seth Joyner - who would have also been a fine choice. Jalen Hurts nearly won a Super Bowl by himself and could lead the Iggles back to the big game this season. But that "tush push" bullshit is getting tired.

Washington Red Commanders Football Team

Here's the other team that traded their "franchise" player. Chase Young was shipped to San Francisco at the trade deadline (why is everyone trading high-ceiling stars to the fecking 49ers?) Due to injuries, Young had played just 11 games and registered 1.5 sacks in 2021-22 so I would have tabbed Terry McLaurin as the Commanders' Franchise player anyhow. Mark Rypien became the third different Washington QB to win a Super Bowl and earned MVP honors in their victory over the Bills. The 1992 season was a bit of a letdown for him and the Skins; 1993 was his last as a starter. Score could have gone with Darrell Green in hindsight, but Rypien was still seen as the leader of a contending team when 1993 Score hit shelves.

Fun fact, this card has been in my collection since pulling it from a pack 30 years ago. It's the only Score Franchise football card I managed to hold on to this whole time (I've also got a pack-pulled Al MacInnis insert from '93-94 Score Franchise hockey)

The South is next.... ugh...

 Atlanta Falcons

Andre Rison began the 1990s with four consecutive Pro Bowl seasons - a streak that would end the year this card was released. The flamboyant star spent the second half of the decade bouncing between five different teams - though he did catch a 54-yard bomb from Brett Favre in Super Bowl XXXI. (Also, "Left Eye" Lopez from TLC burned his house down.)

Score's choice of Desmond Ridder as the Falcons' current Franchise player is... optimistic. Ridder and the Falcons' offense are in a similar position to Green Bay - they've got young, unproven playmakers in an offense led by a project quarterback who has yet to prove he can do the job. Atlanta is actually better positioned than the Pack because they've got a stud running back in Bijan Robinson and a stalwart offensive tackle who doesn't get hurt. Maybe Jake Matthews should be the Falcons' Franchise player?

Carolina Panthers---kind of?

The Panthers did not play until 1995, so they obviously didn't have a Franchise player in 1993. Technically they're not represented in the 2023 set, either.

Carolina traded DJ Moore to the Bears to acquire the 1st overall pick in the 2023 Draft. Chicago gets the Cats' 1st-rounder in 2024 meaning they could have back-to-back picks at or near the top of the draft. It also means they technically have back-to-back cards in the 2023 Score Franchise insert set - which is equally as important :P

New Orleans Saints

The 1992-93 Saints had a killer linebacking crew with Hall of Famers Rickey Jackson and Sam Mills, along with 1991 and '92 All-Pro Pat Swilling. Jackson was never an All-Pro but he had suited up for the Saints since 1981 and set a career high in sacks with 13.5 in '92. He would leave the Big Easy for the 49ers in '94. NOLA also had a HOFer on offense - but Score would never name a kicker The Franchise. That's absurd.

Chris Olave had a nice rookie season and he's currently leading the team in receptions and yards - but he doesn't get into the end zone enough for a "franchise" wideout (just six times in 1.5 seasons so far.) Cam Jordan would be my pick; he has never missed a game in his 12+ seasons with the Saints, was named a Pro Bowler in each of the last six seasons, and has compiled 117.5 career sacks - not counting his latest takedown of Matt Ryan.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Bring back the creamsicles! The Bucs were still getting thrashed in the NFC "Norris" division in '93, when Reggie Cobb was named the team's Franchise player. Cobb was coming off a season in which he set career highs with 1,171 rushing yards and 9 scores. Vinny Testaverde was finally cut loose in the 1993 off-season and All-Pro Hardy Nickerson had just joined the team so Cobb was the only logical choice. Mike Evans hasn't been a Buccaneer as long as linebacker Lavonte David, but the four-time Pro Bowl wide receiver ranks top-3 among active pass catchers in yards and touchdowns.


We'll wrap this up out West.

Arizona Cardinals

I never said Score wouldn't name a punter as a Franchise player. To understand how Rich Camarillo could possibly be considered the then-Phoenix Cardinals' most indispensable player we must glance at their 1992 roster, and... yikes. Safety Tim McDonald was named to his third Pro Bowl - then he signed with San Francisco as a free agent. Johnny Bailey made the Pro Bowl as a return man. But Camarillo was an All Pro, which really seems to be how Score decided these things at the time.

Kyler Murray is still a Cardinal and may return to the active roster as soon as Sunday- but he's just keeping the seat warm for his successor at this point. Arizona appears ready to give him the Josh Rosen treatment in favor of their shiny new toy Caleb Williams - unless Murray can earn enough victories in the season's second half to lower their draft slot and they miss out on a franchise QB. What a bizarre situation this Franchise finds itself in. 

Los Angeles Rams

Score had some options as the Rams' Franchise for '93 including Hall of Fame tackle Jackie Slater, veteran wide receiver Henry Ellard, and defensive lineman Sean Gilbert - who the Rams selected 3rd overall a year prior. They chose Cleveland Gary, who led the Rams in rushing yards and total touchdowns. L.A. valued him so much that they... chose a running back 10th overall in the '93 draft. Some guy named Bettis.

Seven time All-Pro Aaron Donald is one of the last remaining Rams from their St. Louis years. He's also a future first-ballot Hall of Famer and the rare defensive player who card companies can't ignore. Cooper Kupp might have had this title briefly but otherwise the Rams have been Donald's team for a decade.

San Francisco 49ers

Hey, it's that team that all the stars of 1993 signed with in 1994 - and all the recent franchise players were traded to. Case in point - Christian McCaffrey, who the Niners acquired from Carolina midway through the 2022 season. CMC currently leads the NFL in rushing yards and is tied with former 49er Raheem Mostert for the league lead in total touchdowns. Like the Bears - who also traded with Carolina (stop trading your star players, Panthers!) - San Fran now has two players in the 2023 Franchise set: McCaffrey and Chase Young.

Steve Young was undoubtedly the 49ers' franchise star in the early-mid 1990s. The 1992 NFL MVP led the league in completion percentage, touchdown passes, and (lowest) interception rate in his first full year as the man in San Fran - and the first of three All-Pro seasons for the Hall of Famer.

Seattle Seahawks

We'll wrap up this two-part series with another no-brainer for the folks at Score. Seattle (still in the AFC at the time) tied with New England for the league's worst record at 2-14 in 1992 but missed out on selecting local product Drew Bledsoe, as one of their two wins was against the Pats. The Rick Mirer era began in '93 with two Pro Bowlers on defense - safety Eugene Robinson and (say it with me)All-Pro Cortez Kennedy, NFL Defensive Player of the Year in '92. 

Seattle was supposed to be in a similar situation last year after trading franchise icon Russell Wilson to the Broncos. However Geno Smith and the 12s played well above expectations. Dependable pass catcher D.K. Metcalf didn't make the All-Pro roster or even the Pro Bowl (Panini-Score doesn't seem to care about such things anymore) but he's the arguably the biggest name and playmaker on the Seahawks roster.

Who is the Franchise player on your favorite team? Do you disagree with any of these selections? Are there any "blast from the past" players you'd forgotten about?



Thanks for reading!



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