The Man Who Was Once The Future Of The Saints

I recently received this card as part of a package from Thorzul for winning the Nightmares on Cardboard IV contest (Thank you to all who voted for me) and for some reason I held this card aside, I was just drawn to it so I decided to do a search for some Ricky Williams fun facts.

 

This card is from Upper Deck’s 1999 SP Top Prospects Minor League Baseball release. The set included some true prospects like Roy Halladay, Pat Burrell and Josh Hamilton. Williams was drafted out of high school by the Phillies and only played 4 years of Minor League baseball while he was playing football at the University of Texas. As a baseball player he was not even “average”, in his 4 seasons in the Minor Leagues he had a.211 batting average with 4 home runs, 120 hits and 159 strikeouts. I am guessing the only reason that Upper Deck included him in the checklist was because he had just won the Heisman Trophy and was drafted by the New Orleans Saints.

 

As far as his football career goes he will probably be best remembered as the guy Mike Ditka traded away the Saints (immediate) future just for the chance to draft him and of course his marijuana smoking, early retirement and his failed time in the CFL (and broken arm). What many people do not realize is that during his 11 year NFL career Williams was quietly piling on the yards, eventually topping 10,000 rushing yards. This is a feat that only 25 other players reached, though Steven Jackson is only 135 yards away from 10k rushing yards with 4 games still to play.

 

Of those 25 players ahead of him; 13 are in the Hall of Fame, 5 are not eligible for the ballot yet (have not reached the required time since retirement), 6 have not been inducted yet and 1 is currently an unsigned free agent. Though I would expect that Jerome Bettis, who is #6 on rushing list and is on the current ballot, will eventually be voted in to the Hall of Fame. Even with hitting the magically 10k rushing yard mark I do not believe that Ricky Williams will ever see the inside of the NFL Hall of Fame unless he buys a ticket but he did give us something exciting to watch, Americans sure do love a train wreck.

Who Dat?

The New Orleans Saints are 11-0 this season, Drew Brees is on track to throw for over 4,500 yards and has a 3-1 TD to INT ratio and Marques Colston should top 1,000 yards received for the season. The Saints even topped the New England Patriots Monday night to show that they are a team to consider for the long run.

You have to wonder then, why are the Saints player’s cards selling for pennies compared to some of the other top players in the league? You can get a Drew Brees 2009 Limited Auto/Jersey card for under $2 with 4 days left. His rookie cards are selling for literally cents. A Marques Colston 2008 Limited Jersey/Auto #/25 is going for .99 cents with no bids. Even Reggie Bush, once the darling of the 2006 NFL Draft, has autos and jersey cards under $10 each. These same cards were selling for hundreds of dollars a few years ago but are now being used as kindling.

I understand that Bush has been producing less and less each year but the rest of the team has been putting up significant numbers. There is so much production from this team, WRs Colston, Devrey Henderson and Robert Meachem are all there willing to take a pass from Brees and don’t forget TE Jeremy Shockey. Running the ball are RBs Mike Bell and Pierre Thomas, who are sharing the load equally. This team should be a collector’s dream but there does not seem to be much love outside of Louisiana.

I have been a Saints fan for quite a few years; Bobby Hebert and Sam Mills were two of my favorites. Mario Bates, who played with the Saints from ‘94-97, was a personal friend of mine (even though he ended up choosing ASU over U of A)and I have always been a huge fan of the underdog Drew Brees and Univ. of Arizona product Mike Bell. I am a Saints collector but I seem to be alone in this endeavor.