Cortez Kennedy was a mainstay for the Seattle Seahawks for 11 seasons, starting 153 of 167 games every year beginning in 1990.
Along the way, Kennedy signed just two certified autograph cards for a trading card company and did just one more signing after he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012.
The 48-year-old died on Tuesday, according to the Orlando Police Department.
“Arnie’s Army” is in mourning this evening.
Golf icon Arnold Palmer has died at age 87, leaving behind a legendary career and countless fans along with decades of memorabilia and memories. He’s heavily credited with helping the 
sport grow on television, for his personable demeanor, his countless businesses and, of course, his performances against rivals.
“We loved him with a mythic American joy,” his biographer, James Dodson, told GolfWeek. “He represented everything that is great about golf. The friendship, the fellowship, the laughter, the impossibility of golf, the sudden rapture moment that brings you back, a moment that you never forget, that’s Arnold Palmer in spades. He’s the defining figure in golf.”
He won seven majors and 62 tournaments in his career and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 — and even that can be found among his trading cards.
Pearl Jam has three dates to come lined up in some notable baseball stadiums this month and that combination of concerts and landmark MLB parks means one thing.
Baseball cards.
It also means some pretty sweet concert posters like the one above by artist Steve Thomas, but it’s the band’s 60-card set of “baseball cards” with a distinct 1991 Topps style complete with wax-paper packaging that are sparking interest online.
He was a coach for two of the greatest teams in NFL history, a defensive mastermind and a coach that his players revered.
He’s Buddy Ryan, a 26-year veteran of the coaching ranks and an innovator in the game. He was a young defensive coach for the New York Jets that won Super Bowl III. He was the brains behind the 46 defense and the dominating Chicago Bears that steamrolled their way to a victory in Super Bowl XX.
“Buddy was such an integral part of the Chicago Bears and the ’85 Bears, it was unbelievable,” former Bears coach Mike Ditka told NFL.com. “There’s no way we win anything without that defense, without his coaching and I think everybody understands that. We won because of our defense, we can never forget that. That’s just the way it was.”
He died on Tuesday at age 82 — and he’s also a legend you won’t find often on cardboard.
Like many collectors, Buzz is a fan of grading and knows that there are many reasons that collectors choose to slab cards. Sometimes it’s to enhance the appeal and protect them when selling. Other times it’s to protect an investment for the long-term or to protect for sentimental reasons. Or, it might be just for fun or curiosity about a potential grade.
Here’s the second Grading Diary here on The Buzz …
With the holiday season here, cardboard is probably on the minds of many Buzz readers as they wonder what might await them soon.
Others, like Buzz, might be thinking of Cardboard of Christmas Past — you know, some of the Santa Claus trading cards we’ve seen throughout the years. Most of it’s trivial and not all that collectable — but they all stand out in a way compared to our traditional sports cards.
1989 Pro Set Promos #1989
When Dallas-based Pro Set created this card during its first season of making football cards in 1989, it sparked a trend that we saw in not just football cards but other areas in the years that followed. (Boy are there some bad Photoshop jobs there in the 1990s.) For all intents and purposes, though, Buzz would call this one a “Rookie Card.” Yes, there were previous non-sports cards — but this was the one that put cards like this on the minds of the sports-collecting masses after it was mailed out to dealers and selected NFL-related people.
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