A PWE from P-Town Tom ... and I'll Join in the #WalletCard Hashtagging

A couple of weeks ago, I received a single card in the mail from P-Town Tom from Waiting 'til Next Year. It was a Christmas Card with a Christmas gift in it -- and it was an excellent addition to my Robin Yount collection:

Tom expressed joy in finding a Robin Yount card that I don't have. I definitely like it when people send me cards like that -- I know it's tough for me to find cards to send other people in trades a lot of times because either I don't know what they want/need or they have such large collections that they have everything I can contribute.

I definitely appreciated the Christmas joy from Peoria.  Thanks Tom!

#WalletCard

The other part of this post is joining in the pack. In various iterations, the idea of carrying cards around with you everywhere you go is one that I think is kind of fun. Defgav from Baseball Card Breakdown posted his idea to put a card in your wallet -- one that makes you smile when you see it, of course -- and to take photos of it when you go various places and do things.  

The idea caught fire rapidly among all of us bloggers and on Twitter -- so much so that even Cardboard Connection wrote up a story about it two days ago. Admittedly, I tend not to be a follower of trends. If I were, I wouldn't be a Brewers fan. But, this is a trend that I can get on board with.

So, I decided to choose a card that will be featured in an upcoming post as one received from the ever prolific JayBarkerFan. The strange thing is that it is not a baseball card at all. It doesn't even carry the picture of a professional athlete. And, it comes from a card issuer that just announced it is going out of business.  

Still, this card makes me smile:

This is a card of former Georgia Bulldogs and New England Patriots running back Robert Edwards. Edwards was injury prone -- never playing a complete season in Athens -- and then had his career basically destroyed when he completely annihilated one of his legs and knees in a rookie sand flag football game as part of the Pro Bowl festivities. I mean, the guy almost lost his leg in the incident...the damage was that bad.

I remember Robert Edwards for something else though. In my first game as a University of Georgia student (in law school), Georgia played against South Carolina. Because I was a member of the Vanderbilt Marching Band, I never experienced a college football game as purely a spectator before that day. Ray Goff was still coaching Georgia that day.

Lining up at quarterback for the Dawgs was sophomore quarterback -- and now Colorado State University head coach -- Mike Bobo. The Dawgs third leading receiver -- and also the quarterback with the most yards passing that season -- was future Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward. In the defensive backfield and the leading kickoff returner for the Dawgs that year was a freshman from Bainbridge, Georgia -- current Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart.

But the star of the show that game against South Carolina was Robert Edwards. He set a Georgia record by scoring 5 touchdowns in the game -- 4 rushing, 1 receiving -- and the Dawgs destroyed the Gamecocks 42-23. Edwards had been moved from defensive back to running back in spring practice, and his performance made Ray Goff look like a genius. If you remember those days of Georgia football, well, it was tough to make Goff look smart.

The next game Georgia played was at Tennessee, and the Dawgs lost 30-27. In that game, Edwards tore his ACL and missed the rest of the season. He just wasn't built to last through all that hitting.

This card, though, makes me recall my days as a 23-year-old law student. It was 20 years ago this year, so this card is the perfect card to bring a smile to my face.

And it's my wallet card.