TCDB Makes One Card Into Two. Sort Of. 1986 McDonald's Herschel Walker

     Recently, the guys at the Trading Card Database decided to split the 1986 McDonald's card set into two sections.

     Whereas before, each card, with the bottom tab attached, counted as one card.  Now, the card without the tab is counted as the regular issued card, while the card with the tab attached, is now regarded as a parallel issue.

     I'm not sure how I feel about this.  On the one hand, I can see why it was done, as the tab portion has no mention of the particular player, statistics or otherwise.

    On the other hand, I've always felt the cards with the tabs attached are more desirable. The cards themselves are not rare by any means, although some colored tabs are harder to find than others.

    From what I've heard, this McDonald's promotion kicked off in 1985, featuring the Chicago Bears.  The success of it caused the company to continue the promotion in 1986.  It was called Kickoff Payoff.  The National promotion featured 24 different cards for each of the 28 NFL teams at the time.

   In what was a four week promotion, the tabs on each card had scratch off ink, which revealed what food prize could be claimed, based on that week's game results for the two teams shown on a particular tab.

   Each week, the tabs were a different color.  Week 1 was blue, week 2 was black, week 3 was gold and week 4 was green.

  The '86 Dallas Cowboys set has 25 cards, rather than the standard issue 24.  Specifically, Herschel Walker was the reason for this.  He joined the team in 1986 and was not included in the regular set.

  Due to his popularity at the time, McDonald's decided to print a card of Walker for inclusion in the Cowboys set.   The Walker card only comes with a green tab.  There is also no scratch off ink on any of the Herschel cards issued.

     Here is the Herschel Walker card from the set, first with tab, then without:

   

The cards were 3 and 1/8 by  4 and 11/16th inches.  The non tabbed card above is just blown up a bit in the image.

2012 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Mini Cyan Printing Plate #3

   

Another printing plate finds its way into the Herschel Hoard.  This is the Cyan plate from the 2012 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions Mini set.

As can be seen on the reverse, this is a one of one item.

The label on the back is off center, but as the first mini printing plate I've come across, I'm happy to have it in the Hoard.

2013 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Triple Jerseys #UJ3-JWS

   

I was able to pick up another card in the 2013 Ultimate Collection.  This card is from the Triple Jersey series.  It features 3 players, all Heisman Trophy winners, with a jersey swatch from each player.

On this card, which is serial numbered 15 out of a possible 15, Herschel Walker is shown with Bo Jackson, from Auburn and Billy Sims, from the University of Oklahoma.

The card #'s, or letters correspond to the order of the player on the card, from left to right.  In this case, JWS is Jackson, Walker and Sims.

Herschel also shares cards with Barry Sanders and Earl Campbell in this set.

1997 Stadium Club Pro Bowl Ballot #36

   

This is an unusual card for the Herschel Hoard, in that it doesn't feature an image of Herschel Walker, but rather, just mentions him.

What this is, is a ballot in trading card form, in which fans could vote for certain players for the 1998 N.F.L. Pro Bowl (from the just completed 1997 season).  It was an insert set in the Stadium Club Football set that year.

Herschel had a good year returning kicks for Dallas, in what would be his final year in the league.

He returned  50 kickoffs for 1,167 yard, for an average return of 23.3 yards.  His longest return was 49 yards.

Though he is listed as a nominee, he failed to make the Pro Bowl team.

I  think he actually had a better season returning kicks in 1996, his first year back with the Cowboys.  That season, he returned 27 kicks for 779 yards.  That's an average of  28.9.  His longest return that year was 89 yards.

This card is #36 in a 40 card set.

One Pitfall of a Single Player Collector

    As a single player collector, the goal is to obtain as many different cards of the person you collect as possible. 
    With new cards being issued constantly, even for long retired players, it can be a daunting task.  That doesn't even take into account the parallels, inserts and variations which already exist, but which a collector may not be aware of.

    As long as I have been collecting cards of Herschel Walker, I'm not immune to making mistakes, in the hopes of adding a new and different card to the Hoard.

   Here's an example:  Below is a 1993 Pacific Prism card of Herschel

   

I have this card already and was perusing EBay one day when I saw this:

Wow, I thought.  A cool variation of the '93 Prism card, with a way out, spiral design.  I bought the card and when it arrived it looked exactly the same as the top card.  I checked with the guys at the TCDB and to my chagrin, the cars are the same, the only difference is the camera flash.

I should have known better, but my desire for something different lured me in. Luckily, the lesson didn't cost me too much.   Live and learn.

2013 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection Gold Spectrum #57

     I recently nabbed this tough to find parallel of Herschel.   It's a 2013 Upper Deck Ultimate Gold Spectrum card #57.

      I added the base card of the set to the Hoard a long time ago, but the Gold Spectrum version had eluded me until now.   As can be seen on the card front, it is serial numbered to just 10, with this example being # 7.

     It can also be distinguished from the base card by the gold foil logo in the upper right of the card front.

    There is also a Silver Spectrum parallel, which is a one of one card.

2012 SP Authentic Sign of the Times #ST-HW

   

I'm pleased to add to the Herschel Hoard, a 2012 SP Authentic  Sign of the Times  autographed card of Herschel Walker.

The Sign of the Times series is one of the best looking autographed sets out there, in my opinion.  This is the "base" card in the series, if you will.  There is also a gold parallel version, which is serial numbered to 10.

As often happens, I was able to find the parallel version first, and that card has already been shown and discussed on here.

I had a chance to pick up the regular version some time ago, but missed my opportunity.  I had not seen it come up again until recently, and so I was glad to be able to grab it this time around.