7/21/26 - Adam Burt

Name: Adam Burt

Team: Hartford Whalers

Position: Defenseman

Card Year: 1995

Card Maker: Topps 

Card Number: 184

So this is an interesting one. I like when I can find out pretty easily what guys are up to in the current day, and that certainly was the case with the player on this week's card, Adam Burt from the 94-95 Hartford Whalers. 

Aesthetically, there's a lot to like in this card series - the beveled transparent team name, the gold foil scratched script font for the athlete name, the Hartford Whalers logo in general.  You'll never convince me anything about the Carolina Hurricanes is better than the Whalers, regardless of Stanley Cups won. The Whaler's logo is just a great sports logo. But that is not my primary focus here. We're here to learn a little bit about the athlete on the card, defenseman Adam Burt.

Burt was born in Detroit (just like me!) and played pee-wee hockey for the Detroit Compuware team (a company I vaguely remember existing growing up!) before eventually being drafted by Hartford in 1987 after playing with the North Bay Centennials in the Ontario Hockey League alongside other future successful NHL players - Kevin Hatcher of the Hatcher Brothers, and Darren Turcotte. He saw a little bit of playing time towards the end of the 1988-89 season but his real rookie season was 1989-1990, playing 63 games with the Whalers. The card states that he was an NHL All Rookie Team selection, however from what I found, this was not the case, but maybe this was referencing a different publication? Who is to say?

Burt had a successful career as a defenseman for Hartford, up through the end of the team's existence before becoming the Hurricanes at the end of the 1998 season. He didn't have any individual seasons that were too statistically significant, but he had good size and wasn't afraid to fight when called upon. A quick youtube search finds videos of Burt scrapping with some of the most likely suspects of 1990s hockey, Rick Tocchet, Darren McCarty, Dale Hunter, and Joey Kocur just to name a few. But more interestingly, Burt also squared up with Wayne Gretzky during a five on five brawl during his rookie year, despite initially backing off and Gretzky hanging on, at least as he's told the story. 

Burt played for the Whalers, and then the Hurricanes through part of the 1998-99 season when he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers for winger Andrei Kovalenko. He only spent one more season with the Flyers, but in that time, he ended up playing in the longest NHL game of the modern era - a playoff game in the 2nd round of the 99-00 playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins that went into 5 overtimes. Fortunately for Burt and the rest of the team, the Flyers prevailed with a 2-1 win, thanks to a Keith Primeau goal in the 5th OT. The Flyers won the series and made it to the conference finals, only to lose to the eventual Stanley Cup Champions, the New Jersey Devils.

After that season with the Flyers, Burt was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers, but suffered a herniated disc that required surgery during the 00-01 season. He officially retired from the NHL in 2002 after a solid 12ish year career as a reliable, occasionally chippy, veteran defenseman. 

But the story doesn't end there. When doing the research on Adam Burt, fairly recent articles popped up among the hockey reference sites and wikipedia page because Adam Burt is now (and has been for some time)...a Christian Minister! After 9/11, Burt was called upon to act as a Pastor at his church's then newest location in Manhattan NYC despite having no formal training. He is now the lead pastor of the Every Nation Church in Morris Plains, New Jersey. But wait there's more!

In 2009, New York Jets defensive tackle Kenyon Coleman attended Burt's church and asked him to 'try out' for a position as the Jets' team chaplain, in which he had to compete against other clergymen to win the position, and he did! From what I could find, he has been the team chaplain ever since (however this position was not listed on the Jets website so do not quote me). While I don't doubt Burt's efforts, if there was a team that God had completely forsaken, I think most folks would agree that it is the New York Jets. 

Finally in 2026, Burt wrote an inspirational book with a title inspired by the lengthy playoff game he played with the Philadelphia Flyers - The Longest Game and claims to draw from Burt's time in the NHL as well as his experience as a pastor. A preview can be viewed at the link provided above on the Every Nation church's website.

All in all, this was a fun rabbit hole to go down. I always like when I can find recent updates on players, and depending on the magnitude of their careers, it's sometimes a lot easier than others. I didn't have the highest expectations when I pulled out a Hartford Whalers' defenseman whose name I didn't recognize, but people will surprise you which has absolutely been the case in learning about Hartford Whaler and New York Jets Team Chaplain, Adam Burt. 

Sources

Hockey Reference 

Hockey DB

NHL.com Interview 

UPI Archives 

Every Nation Church Bio 

Christian Broadcasting Network 

7/16/26 - Kent Hrbek

 

Name: Kent Hrbek "Herbie"

Team: Minnesota Twins

Position: First Base / Designated Hitter

Card Year: 1993

Card Maker: Topps 

Card Number: 9

I've returned after some time out of town, by picking career Minnesota Twins slugger, Kent Hrbek. It was a lucky pull as I've recently been feeling that the players selected have had far too many vowels in their names. But I digress! This card is from 1993 - almost the very end of Hrbek's career with the Minnesota Twins (He retired after 14 seasons, all with the Twins, in 1994), and while the 1992 season was a bit less productive than the recent previous seasons, he still hit 15 home runs in 112 games. I appreciate the notes on the card that Hrbek 'enjoyed' both 17 and 23 game hitting streaks at points in his career. It's really not enough just to achieve something - you're hoping guys are having a nice time as well.

Hrbek was born and grew up in Bloomington, Minnesota and was drafted by the Twins in the 17th round of the 1978 draft out of Kennedy High School. After a few years in the Twins farm system, Hrbek made 24 game appearances in 1981. In 1982, his true rookie season, Hrbek batted .301 with 23 home runs and 92 RBIs earning his only All Star game appearance and finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting, losing to Cal Ripken Jr. but finishing one place ahead of Wade Boggs.

Hrbek was productive throughout the 80s despite only playing more than 150 games in a season once in his career. In 1984 he was runner up in the American League MVP voting behind World Series Champion Pitcher Willie Hernandez of the Detroit Tigers. While he never again made an All Star game, nor finished high in MVP voting, Hrbek was on both the 1987 and 1991 World Series championship teams, with 1987 being his best home run hitting year with 34 in the regular season as well as this being the year he hit his iconic World Series game six grand slam. Whereas he is known for this play during the 1991 World Series against Atlanta, which if you read the comments is infuriating Braves fans to this day. 

Hrbek was often injured throughout his career and retired in the 1994 lockout season at the fairly young age of 34. His number was retired by the Twins in 1995, only the 3rd number retired by the team at the time. As of 2021 he was still employed by the Twins organization in a mostly representative role, and still has his namesake restaurant at Target Field. In April 2025 he suffered a stroke just days after another Twins hero, Tony Oliva also had a stroke. Both Hrbek and Oliva have recovered.

Despite that frightening setback, Kent Hrbek continues to enjoy his retirement from baseball while still being very much a part of the Twins organization. Having learned this much about him, I believe he did really enjoy those 17 and 23 game hitting streaks, among so much else he accomplished in his time with the Twins.

Sources:

Baseball Reference

Twins Trivia 

ESPN Classic 

Minnesota Twins Retired Numbers 

Minnesota Good Age Profile 

CBS News 

Fox 9 Interview

6/30/26 - Pooh Richardson

Name: Jerome 'Pooh' Richardson

Team: Indiana Pacers

Position: Point Guard

Card Year: 1993

Card Maker: Topps Stadium Club

Card Number: 106

For the second card pull of 2026, I drew Jermoe "Pooh" (A nickname given to him by his grandmother due to his resemblance to Winnie the Pooh as a baby) Richardson from his first (1992-93) season with the Indiana Pacers.

I like this card for a few reasons - the first of which is that it features not only Richardson, but also Detlef Schrempf setting a pick for Richardson AND the card does not provide full season stats, but commemorates Richardson's first triple double in the NBA after three seasons with the Timberwolves before being traded to the Pacers. Given the emphasis on this accomplishment, I had to see - how many triple doubles did Richardson have in his career? The answer to this question is 2 - he had one more in the 94-95 season at which point he had been traded for a final time to the LA Clippers. I do not believe that performance also warranted its own card.

Richardson had an extremely successful college career at UCLA, and is 4th on the UCLA record list for most assists, and is the UCLA record holder for assists per game at 7.6, while earning All PAC-10 honors in three of his four college seasons. Despite his first two seasons overlapping with eventual Pacers teammate Reggie Miller's last two at UCLA, Richardson's passing abilities and Miller's scoring abilities were only able to win a PAC-10 tournament championship during Miller's last season in 1987 and were out in the second round of the NCAA tournament that same year. Richardson played in one more NCAA tournament in 1989, his senior season before being drafted by Minnesota Timberwolves in their first season as an NBA expansion team. 

Richardson led the Timberwolves in assists, and made the NBA All Rookie team, but the Wolves finished 22-60 in their first season, with things not improving in the following two seasons, Richardson was traded along with Sam Mitchell to the Pacers for Michael Williams and one of my all time favorite athlete names - Chuck Person. 

Upon being reunited with Reggie Miller in Indiana, Richardson and the Pacers made the NBA playoffs in the 92-93 season - that of this card - losing to the Knicks in the first round. They returned to the playoffs in the 93-94 season, making it all the way to the eastern conference finals, only to ultimately lose to the Knicks once again. In the February 1993 issue of SPORT Magazine, Richardson is quoted regarding his trade to the Pacers: 

“Now that I’m in Indiana, when you go to a new organization and find out how classy it is compared to another, how one organization reeks of basketball direction, basketball executives, and the other one has none—one, two basketball people at the most—it’s [easy] to understand. If you ask me what’s the difference between Minnesota’s team and Indiana’s team, I’d say the commitment to winning.”

However, Richardson's time in Indiana ended with that second season as he was traded along with Malik Sealy and Erik Piatkowski to the LA Clippers for Greg Minor and previous card draw point guard, Mark Jackson. He remained in Los Angeles for the remainder of his career until his being waived by the Clippers in 1999. 

Richardson's professional career was underwhelming relative to his college success. It seems that expectations for him were high upon being drafted by Minnesota, but was placed in an environment that was not conducive to getting the best out of him. Despite this, Richardson is still involved in basketball, assistant coaching at the California junior college, College of the Desert since 2017. 

Sources

From Way Downtown Blog

UCLA Hall of Fame  

Desert Sun News 

Pro Basketball Reference 

Sports Reference - College Basketball

8/11 - Rich King

 Name: Rich King

Team: Seattle Supersonics

Position: Center (Basketball)

Card Year: 1993

Card Maker: Topps

Card Number: 275

I have an early post for you all this week due to some upcoming responsibilities that'll keep me from looking up my silly stats. So not only do you get an early post, I've also pulled the first basketball card of the blog, that of 1991-92 Seattle Supersonics very large rookie center, and University of Nebraska star, Rich King. 

Rich King was taken by the Seattle Supersonics as the 14th overall pick of the 1991 NBA draft - a draft that included Larry Johnson going first overall to the still very new Charlotte Hornets, and Dikembe Mutombo going fourth to the Denver Nuggets. This was after a successful four years at Nebraska where at the time of this card's printing - King had the Nebraska single game, season, and career blocks records, as well as ranking third overall for all time rebounds. As of the current day he is still number 3 overall for career blocks with 183 and number 5 overall for total career rebounds with 761, fitting numbers given his huge 7 foot 2 frame. This card indicates that he had the single game block record with 7, however his name isn't shown in the Nebraska team reference page under that stat.

This is also the second Topps Stadium Club card I've picked out, Byron Evans being the first, if you're into that sort of thing. The reason I bring this up is The Sporting News skills rating system is also used here as it was on the Byron Evans card only with basketball skills instead. King gets 3.9's on both mobility and shooting range which to me translates to slightly above average (still assuming out of 5) - which feels generous but perhaps the card writer was grading on a curve given his size. However, that doesn't seem to be factored in at all to his 'intimidation' rating of 3.4 which is likely based on his poor 'defense' at 3.3. 

So while this card also alludes to his ability to both "pass the rock" and shoot the proverbial "J", his opportunities to do either of these things, let alone anything else basketball-related, was greatly limited in his time with Seattle. He was only healthy during his rookie season, playing 40 games and averaging 5.3 minutes per game. After that he fell victim to a slew of injuries resulting in 6 total surgeries between his thumb, back, knees, and feet. 

In a 2008 interview he describes the situation:

"Instead of being on the court, my memories of the Sonics are of being at Swedish Hospital, being in rehab, being with trainer Bob Medina. I'd never been hurt before that."

Following his rookie year, he only played 3 games in 1992-93, 27 games in 1993-94, and 2 games in 1994-95. After being dropped by Seattle, he went to training camp for Denver, Minnesota, and Vancouver, but did not make any rosters. He called it quits after his sixth and final surgery but remained in Washington, getting married and raising two sons, Christian and Beckham. Christian played the 2024-25 season for Washington as a 6'8 redshirt freshman forward and transferred to Montana State for the 25-26 season. 

King's professional life has involved real estate, a current 14-year stint at Amazon, and most interestingly - starting an investment firm with former teammate, Detlef Schrempf a few years after his career ended. 

Given all of this, I think it feels safe to say that while his NBA experience was a disappointment, Rich King is living a life like well, just that. 

Sources:

Sports Reference 

Kent Pavelka UW Interview

Basketball Reference

Seattle PI Interview

8/7 - Doug Jones

Name: Doug Jones

Team: Houston Astros

Position: Relief Pitcher 

Card Year: 1993

Card Maker: Topps

Card Number: 171

The thing I've enjoyed most about starting this blog, even in the few posts I've written, is getting
to learn about and piece together the stories of the athletes whose cards I've drawn. So far, I've encountered several common sports narratives (the draft busts, the career-ending injuries, the steady success of a hall-of-fame career) but in this week's card - 1992 Houston Astro, Doug Jones, a new type of story emerges - that of the late bloomer who played to his limited strengths and was able to have a long and successful professional career. 

Jones was drafted by the Brewers in 1978 at the age of 20 as a starting pitcher and bounced around their farm system before being very briefly called up in 1982. He returned to the minor leagues until 1986 where Cleveland picked him up late in the season as a reliever and he was able to notch his first major league save, maintaining a 2.50 ERA over 11 games. He threw two pitches - a sub-90 MPH fastball and a change-up and had to rely on batters making contact to get most of his outs. He is quoted as saying "My game is to get batters to hit the ball to someone. If I walk people or give up home runs, I’d be gone in a minute because I don’t have anything else going for me.”

Jones was able to make the opening day lineup for Cleveland in 1987 and despite some hiccups early in the season, maintained his spot on the roster and ended up an All-Star for the first time in 1988, at the age of 31, and the first of three straight All-Star nods with Cleveland. The last of those All-star seasons was in 1990 where Jones tallied 43 saves - good for third overall in the MLB. Despite this, he never made the postseason with the Indians and in 1991 he was giving too many hitters too many good looks, causing Cleveland to not renew his contract, and making him a free agent going into 1992. He was then signed by the Houston Astros.

Jones ended the 1992 season with 36 total saves, a Houston team record at the time of this card's printing. He earned his 4th All Star nod and is still in the Astros record books with the 7th highest overall number of single season saves. He spent one more season with Houston until being traded to Philadelphia for "Wild Thing" pitcher Mitch Williams. Given his steady personality and low velocity, he earned the moniker "Mild Thing" while reaching the All Star game for the Phillies for his 5th and final time. 

After Philadelphia, Jones moved pretty consistently for the rest of his career from Philadelphia to Baltimore, the Cubs, back to Milwaukee in 1996 where he put together in 1997 playing in 76 games and earning 36 saves, then on to Cleveland in 1998 where he was part of a playoff squad for the first time in his career at 41 years old. That Cleveland team made it to the 1998 ALCS but lost to the eventual World Series champion New York Yankees. He finished his career in 2000 after two seasons with the Oakland A's - keeping his ERA below 4.00 at the ages of 42 and 43.

Jones finished his career with 303 saves and all but one of them after the age of 30. He sadly died in 2021 due to complications from COVID. He had a career that seemed perpetually on edge, but he was grounded enough to keep doing what was needed to keep it going for as long as possible.   

Sources

RIP Baseball

Pro Baseball Reference

Society for American Baseball Reference

MLB Obituary

7/31 - Byron Evans

 

Name: Byron Evans

Team: Philadelphia Eagles

Position: Linebacker

Card Year: 1991

Card Maker: Topps - Stadium Club

Card Number: 151

This week's card features Byron Evans of the 1991 Philadelphia Eagles - a defensive co-captain with Reggie White on what was a very, very good defense.

Evans is described on the card as a "hard nosed middle linebacker" who "specializes in stuffing the run" which is backed up by the numbers from that season. 

The 1991 Eagles only gave up 4 rushing touchdowns during the regular season tied for 1st in the league. They also led the league in team defense for both rushing yards and yards per attempt with 1136 total yards and 3.0 yards / carry, respectively.

Evans had a solid season with 111 total tackles that year as well as 2 interceptions and 2 fumble recoveries, but he was one part of just a monster defense featuring three 1st team All Pro players in Defensive Tackle Jerome Brown, the aforementioned Reggie White - who had a 15.0 sack season, and Defensive Tackle Clyde Simmons. 

Despite this brutal defensive front and a 10-6 record, the '91 Eagles did not make it to the playoffs as the NFC east was won by the eventual Super Bowl Champion Washington Redskins, with the Dallas Cowboys taking a wildcard spot from 2nd place. 

While never receiving the accolades of his storied teammates, Evans was an integral part to the Eagles defense for the duration of his career from his rookie year in 1987 to his last season in 1994. His career was cut short due to a severe injury - a broken tibia and torn MCL on the same play against the Cleveland Browns in 1994. 

What's interesting albeit a bit frustrating about this card is The Sporting News' skills rating system which despite my best efforts, I could not find the criteria used to come up with the given numbers. Given Evans' strengths, it makes sense that he'd have his highest rating against the run, which 4.4 out of 5(?) feels accurate - I guess? According to oldsportscards.com, these Topps cards were in response to Upper Deck greatly improving the photography featured on their cards. This could provide some explanation for the limited content provided, as the high quality photography was the focus for this set.

While disappointing that his career ended far earlier than it likely needed to, Byron Evans was a reliable run-stuffing linebacker, for some superior Eagles defenses. He may not have the name recognition of some of his teammates, but one thing he will always have and we will always have - is this.

Sources

Philadelphia Eagles - where are they now

Pro Football Reference

7/10 - Quentin Coryatt

Name: Quentin Coryatt

Team: Indianapolis Colts

Position: Linebacker

Card Year: 1997

Card Maker: Topps

Card Number: 359

I don't have particularly strong memories of the 1990s Colts besides them being very bad right before drafting Peyton Manning which, well, was the reason they were able to draft Peyton Manning.

The biggest reason I can't recall a whole lot about these Colts teams was that I was a very young child during this time - but the second biggest reason is that they were aggressively average. If you go through the seasons listed on Coryatt's card - the Colts finished with the following records:

1992: 9-7 - No Playoffs

1993: 4-12 - No Playoffs

1994: 8-8 - No Playoffs

1995: 9-7 - made it to the AFC championship game and lost to the Steelers

1996: 9-7 - lost in the wild card to the Steelers

Additionally, the 1991 Colts went 1-15 with the 26th ranked team defense according to Pro Football Reference so it only makes sense that they drafted Coryatt second overall after his impressive while brief time at Texas A&M. He was best known there for "The Hit" which broke TCU receiver Tyler McPherson's jaw in three places while knocking him unconscious.

Coryatt appeared to be a bright spot on what was a generally middle-of-the road defense throughout much of this time. The 1995 Colts were far and away the top defensive unit during this span ranking 5th in the NFL in terms of points against (316) and only giving away 8 rushing touchdowns. Coryatt led the team in solo tackles that season with 86 only to be very limited the following season due to a pectoral injury - one of what is alluded to many on the back of the card. He played the next two seasons for the Colts at a much lower level of production and finished his career seeing limited time with the Cowboys in 1999. 

One thing that intrigued me about Coryatt was his birthplace of St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. He is only one of eleven players ever to have been born in the Virgin Islands and only one (and the first) of five to have been born on St. Croix. 

Quentin Coryatt's career while not completely, was effectively summarized on this card due to the many injuries he ended up sustaining - a disappointing outcome for such a high draft pick. Luckily for the Colts, they did not pick Ryan Leaf in the 1998 draft, and the rest is history. 

Sources:

Horseshoe Heroes

Pro Football Reference