1981 Donruss #46 Fuzzy Zoeller

The University of Houston golf program is one of the legendary athletic programs in NCAA history. 16 NCAA championships and some of the biggest names in golf are part of the UH legacy.

Frank Urban "Fuzzy" Zoeller Jr is one of those big names. Fuzzy came from Edison Junior College and only played one season for the Cougars, 1973. Unfortunately the 1973 season was not a championship year as UH came in second. Zoeller was not a big player for UH though since he didn't even compete during the championship match. That year Bill Rogers was first team All American and Bruce Lietzke made the All American Second team.

Zoeller did have a big impact on the PGA tour though going pro in 1974. He is one of only three players to win the Masters in his first appearance there (1979). He also won the US open in 1984. In 1985, he won the Bob Jones award.

I'm personally intrigued by a venture he started in 2009, Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka. The vodka is getting rave reviews. Sounds like something I need to try.

Today's card is the 1981 Donruss #46. Early '80s cards in general for all sports appear to have a low quality compared to cards of today, but this increase in competition with Topps and willingness to try new designs improved quality and design in the long run.

Happpy New Year

OK! It's the new year. Time to get serious about posting again.

2009 SP Threads #187, 2009 SPx, SPx Rookies Silver, and SPx Rookies Silver Holofoil #179, and 2009 Upper Deck #254 Sebastian Vollmer

Yeah! Sebastian Vollmer cards are available. I'm a little surprised. Offensive linemen generally don't have the most sought after cards so card manufacturers don't produce many of them. Add that Vollmer isn't from a high profile school and wasn't a high profile player (he wasn't invited to the NFL combine), and it's even more surprising that he has cards. Maybe his fascinating story helped.

Sebastian is from Germany and didn't even play football until he was 14 years old. When he came to UH, he spoke little English and was a tight end. After back surgery, he switched to playing tackle. In his senior year, he was named All Conference USA.

He was then selected in the second round of the 2009 NFL draft by the New England Patriots. He was the first European player to ever be drafted in the NFL. He got some playing time beginning with the first game of the season and has been starting since week 6.

All of the images appear to come from one event. Considering these are all Upper Deck products, I guess that's not too surprising. Very disappointing that there aren't any pictures in a UH uniform.

First we have Upper Deck #254.


Next we have SP Threads #187.


Finally we have SPx #179. This comes in three variations: Base, Silver, and Silver Holofoil (not shown). The Base is numbered to 799, Silver to 399, and Silver Holofoil to 25.

SPx Base


SPx Silver

New Checklist November 18, 2009

OK... The checklist hosting issue has been solved. Please use the links to the left to access the player and card checklists in both PDF or Excel format.

As part of resolving the issue, I have updated the checklist itself. I know it has been 5 months, but fear not, I have been keeping the list updated this entire time. I just need to post it online more often.

We have a new player on the list, Sebastian Vollmer. Look for a post about his cards soon.

Lots of cards were added. In total 400 cards were added to the checklist.

The biggest additions:

• Donnie Avery - 158


• Hakeem Olajuwon - 96


• Clyde Drexler - 87


• Michael Bourn - 18


• Kevin Kolb - 12

Other players with new cards include Fred Couples, Jesse Crain, Elvin Hayes, and Chris Synder. As usual, you can tell the newly added cards by their highlighting.

So get to work Cougar fans. 400 new cards should keep you busy for a while.

And if you know of a card missing from the checklist, please let me know. If you want to send a scan of it too, even better.

Checklist Files

It appears that my checklist host is having some issues or doing some updates. Hopefully all will be well soon.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions about accessing checklists.

2009 Topps #572, 2009 Topps Gold Border #572, and 2009 Topps Black #572 Michael Bourn

Congratulations to Michael Bourn for winning his first Gold Glove Award this year.

In honor of Michael Bourn, today's cards are 2009 Topps cards #572. First is the base card. Next is the Gold Border card numbered to 2009. The final card is the Topps Black numbered to 58. There is also a Topps Platinum which is a 1 of 1. Plus there are four printing plates where are also 1 of 1s.

Base




Gold Border




Black

2009-10 Prestige #123 Elvin Hayes

Hooray! New Elvin Hayes cards are starting to come out for 2009. This is the 2009-10 Prestige #123 from Panini.

It's not the best looking card. Layout? I guess it's OK. The picture? Again OK. Are the edges washed out from the lights or is that a poor Photoshop effect?

One thing I do like is the classic Rockets uniform. I like the red and yellow so much more than the red and white or the red, white, and blue.