2009-10 Playoff National Treasures Century Materials NBA Tags Signatures #155 Clyde Drexler

Today's card, the 2009-10 Playoff National Treasures Century Materials NBA Tags Signatures featuring Clyde Drexler, fascinates me. The card itself doesn't fascinate me. I'm curious about the person who collects this type of card. And I'm especially curious what the Cougar fans who visit this blog but don't necessarily collect cards think.

For those Cougar fans, here's a little card collecting history. With the card industry struggling, the manufacturers needed to come up with something that would not only increase sales to current collectors, but would also draw in new collectors. They came up with the jersey card that featured a small piece of the player's uniform in the card.

Some say this saved the industry. I don't know enough about the industry to say that, but I can see how it could pull in new collectors.

Prior to this, the only way to get a player worn jersey was to pay hundreds, perhaps thousands, for a full jersey. Even then, much of the time, you may not be 100% confident of the authenticity of the uniform. Often, it was a matter of how much you trusted the dealer and who the dealer's supplier is. While not as cool as a full player worn jersey, the average collector could get a jersey card at a much more reasonable price.

But as with most good ideas, there are imitators, some good, some bad, and overuse of the idea. Soon every manufacturer and set had jersey cards. Event worn jerseys (including events specifically designed just to have multiple jerseys worn to supply cards) started being used instead of just game worn jerseys. That definitely doesn't have the same appeal.

With the flood of jersey cards, collectors also became more picky. A one inch square of solid white (or other color) material stopped exciting people. Collectors wanted material with multiple colors. I guess that makes the card more attractive. Doesn't add much for me.

Then it went to the next level with patches. Collectors wanted a piece of the jersey number, name plate, etc. The highest demand then came for items like part of the team logo or the NFL/NBA logo. I can see the appeal of those cards although they've also been among the items most often faked by fraudulent eBay sellers.

Then you have items like today's card. What is the appeal of a laundry tag on a uniform? Do I care that the uniform should be washed on low?

OK. The cards are 1 of 1 so no other person in the world will have the card. That's pretty cool, but it would be better to have a one of a kind that people wanted because it looks good instead of just because there is only one.

So what do you think? If you are one of the people who likes this type of card (to each their own), it's on eBay right now for about $400.

2010 Sweet Spot Sweet Swatches #SSW22 Donnie Avery

Since we've spent so much time looking at cards from the past, it's time to catch up on some of the newer cards coming out.

Today's card is the 2010 Sweet Spot Sweet Swatches #SSW22 featuring Donnie Avery. Donnie may be hurt but hopefully we'll get some more nice cards for him this season.

Since Upper Deck lost its NFL license and received a license to do college cards, we're lucky enough to see more cards of Avery in his college uniform. I love that.

But then you have the memorabilia portion of the card. I find that part extremely disappointing. First of all, I generally don't like odd cut outs and the "SS" cut out for Sweet Swatch looks odd. To make it worse, the swatch is blue. I assume that is from a Rams uniform. If you have a card featuring a player in a college uniform listing the college team, and not a pro team, the swatch should be from a college uniform.

But most cards featuring a Cougar in his Houston uniform gets a thumbs up for me.

We did it!

Wow! I can't believe we did it. I don't know that I've ever posted more than 3 times in one week. But 56 consecutive days are done.

What's next?

I'll be cutting back on posting, hopefully posting a couple of days a week. I need to catch up on the checklists and other background blog work.

More important: Football season is starting. Time to watch some games; talk some football; see new achievements instead of just looking back at the past.

GO COOGS!

1954 Red Sox Team Issue #12 Bill Henry

Today's card is the 1954 Red Sox Team Issue #12 featuring Bill Henry. This is the first card in any sport showing a Cougar.

The last post of the countdown and I don't have an image for you. How anti-climactic. But here's a description so you can keep your eye out for it...

The cards are 6 1/2" x 9" and feature a photograph and a facsimile autograph. They are unnumbered and blank backed. Sounds more like just a photograph than a card, but I'd love to have one since it is the first Cougar card.

1955 49ers Team Issue #10 Paul Carr

Paul Carr played linebacker for the University of Houston from 1951 to 1953. He was co-captain of the 1953 team.

Carr was a teammate of Bobby Clatterbuck and shared many of the same firsts such as the first bowl game and victory and first ranking.

He was named All American Honorable Mention in 1951 and 1952 as well as 1st Team All Gulf Coast Conference in 1951 and 1st Team Missouri Valley All Conference in 1952.

Paul was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the 7th round of the 1954 NFL Draft. He played 3 seasons from 1995 to 1957 for the 49ers.

Today's card is the 1955 49ers Team Issue #10, another sharp team issue set measuring 4 1/4" x 6 1/4". As usual, I love the 1950s posed photograph. Did they tell players not to look at the camera? Maybe they did that to make it look more like an action shot, but if that's the case, he really shouldn't be smiling.

1956 Giants Team Issue #6 Bobby Clatterbuck

Bobby Clatterbuck played quarterback at the University of Houston from 1951 to 1953.

Some of his statistics are still in the UH record books:

• Tied for 1st in fewest interceptions thrown in a season (3 in 1953)


• Tied for 9th for longest touchdown pass (84 yards to Vic Hampel against Detroit 9/28/51)


• Led team in passing all 3 years (1951 966 yards, 1952 736 yards, 1953 276 yards).


• Led team in total yards in 1952 (702)

More important than his statistics are the many firsts involving Clatterbuck:

• Played in the Cougars 1st bowl game, a 26-21 victory over Dayton in the 1952 Salad Bowl to cap the 1951 season.


• Played on the Cougars first ranked team, #19 on 11/17/1952. UH dropped out of the polls the next week and finished the season unranked despite winning every game after that 1 week they were ranked and winning the Missouri Valley Conference.


• First Cougar to play in the NFL (1954).


• First Cougar on a major manufacturer card (1955 Bowman #141).

Bobby was selected by the New York Giants in the 27th round of the 1954 NFL Draft. He played professional football for 5 years for the Giants and the Los Angeles Chargers.

Today's card is the 1956 Giants Team Issue #6. These cards are 4 7/8" by 6 7/8". The front has a black and white photo of the player with a facsimile autograph. The back has a brief bio and lists career highlights.

These team issue cards are growing on me. I don't think they'd be a perfect fit for a traditional card collection. But because of their larger postcard or photograph size and photograph layout vs card layout, I think they would be great for framing and display purposes.