Card: 1989 Score Football, Card #72

Team/Position: Philly Eagles, Minnesota Vikings / Wide Receiver

Cost:

If Cris Carter isn’t a first-ballot Hall of Famer, I don’t know who is.  Jerry Rice is obviously going to be a first-ballot guy; but realistically, do you have to be the greatest player at your position to be deemed worthy of first-ballot status by the grumpy, old, balding men known as the HOF Selection Committee?

Cris Carter finished up his career as the second best wide-receiver ever, if you’re just going on statistics.  Before becoming a mentor to young players everywhere he went, Carter had early off-field issues.  Rather than rewarding such a turnaround, the Hall of Fame committee decided to punish Carter in 2009.

Cris Carter’s yet another Ohio State Alum, adding to the already gigantically prejudicial list of Paul Warfield, Jack Tatum, Jim Parker,  John Stallworth, and  Orlando Pace.

In his third season (1989,)  Carter caught 11 touchdown passes but in a shocking move, was cut by Buddy Ryan before the 1990 season.  Carter’s life was falling apart and behind the scene, Carter’s addiction to cocaine and booze, was well known.  Carter later credited Buddy Ryan for changing his life (I’m sure Eagles fans took solace in that as Carter went onto have a HOF-career).

Carter’s career slowly built up steam with the Vikings until it exploded with the acquisition of Warren Moon.  In 1994, Cris Carter set a then-record for receptions in a season with 122.  Carter continued to dominate until the Vikings drafted Randy Moss in 1998, at which point he entered the stratosphere.

With Moss opposite him, Carter was free to put up career-best numbers and continued to find the end-zone  at a torrid pace.

Carter finished up his career with the Dolphins in 2002.  When all was said and done, only Jerry Rice had better numbers than Carter’s 1,101 receptions and 130 touchdowns.  Marvin Harrison has since surpassed Carter for receptions, but his recent nightclub incident will probably reduce him to a second-ballot HOF inductee as well.  Ugh.

Carter’s the only player to ever post two seasons with 120+ receptions and hopefully he’ll find a way to sneak into the HOF in 2010, a year in which Jerry Rice and Tim Brown both become eligible.

If you were third-and-goal from anywhere on the field, Cris Carter is the wide-receiver you’d look to.  In that regard, even Jerry Rice couldn’t compare to Cris Carter’s hands and body control.

Two final things in closing:

1. It’s awful that so many of the greatest rookie cards of all time were over-produced to the point that they’re worthless.
2. Cris Carter definitely looks stoned as hell on the rear of his 1989 Score Card.

Card: 1970 Topps Football Card #59

Team/Position: Minnesota Vikings / Defensive Tackle

Cost: $9.00

Alan Page might be the most interesting man to ever play the game of football.  As a member of the Vikings, Page was a key part of the Purple People Eaters that lead the Vikes to 4 Superbowl Appearances.

Page’s rookie card was released shortly after the Minnesota Vikings met the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl IV.  Topps put forth a solid effort in 1970, while the card wasn’t anything special, it was catchy and featured very beautiful close up photos.  Along with Alan Page, O.J. Simpson (haven’t bought it yet) and Lem Barney (on it’s way) were featured as rookies in this set.

If you’re hungry for an Alan Page RC, you can probably grab one off of ebay for 3 bucks or there are a couple over at CheckOutMyCards.com for under 6 bucks.

Page, my friends, is a very smart man.  In addition to playing football at Notre Dame, Page also went to class and if you’re observant you’ll realize Topps told us that Page was an outstanding student at Notre Dame.

“I’m Out…Standing!”

While playing for the Vikings, Page attended classes at the University of Minnesota where he eventually went on to get his J.D.

In 1992, Page was elected as an Associate Justice on the Minnesota State Supreme Court.  Page continues to sit, after being re-elected on two occasions (1998 & 2004)

As a member of the Vikings, Page was a dominant interior lineman.  In 1970, Page was named the NFL defensive player of the year, a feat he repeated in 1971 along with garnering the NFL MVP (the first time the award was given to a defensive player).

Other notable accomplishments include six first-team and three second-team All Pros, nine Pro Bowls, and induction into both the Pro and College Football Hall of Fames.

On his career, Page had 148.5 sacks split between the Vikings on the Bears. In 1976, Page notched 18 sacks and has been credited with 5 other seasons of at least 10 sacks.  Page also had 22 fumbles recovered and three safeties.

By the end of Page’s career, his weight had dropped from 260lbs in 1970 to 220lbs in 1979.  Page’s weight loss was attributed to his running routine of over 30 miles per week during the playing season.  Alan Page became the first professional football player to complete a marathon during his playing career.

Page did dabble in the typical career path for a retired player, working for TBS’ College Football broadcast, but for the most part, Alan Page has taken the road less traveled.