Randy Cross Q&A: Mom Throws Out Childhood Card Collection, Keeping Up with Fan Mail, Rookie Card Memories
Randy Cross spent his entire 13 year NFL career with the San Francisco 49ers. The three time All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection anchored an offensive line that played a large role in San Francisco creating a football dynasty, as the team captured three Super Bowl Championships during his tenure. He was named the 49ers Offensive Lineman of the Year multiple times and was named the 49ers Man of the Year in 1985 for his tireless volunteer and charitable work in the Bay Area.
Cross seamlessly transitioned from the field to the announcer’s booth, working major college football and NFL games for NBC and CBS for many years. He also appeared in many high profile commercials and ad campaigns after his playing days were over.
Among his other commentary work, Cross hosted “The Randy Cross Podcast”, a weekly podcast that covered sports, politics, entertainment, feel good stories and, of course, football.
Tony Reid-You were a standout in high school, at UCLA and then in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers. When was the first time you were asked for your autograph?
Randy Cross-I think it goes back to high school. I had won the state of California shot put title. I competed in a few national meets during my junior and senior years. I think the first time was in Bowling Green at Bowling Green University. It was during my junior year at a national meet. I finished second there. Afterwards somebody asked me for an autograph and I was completely floored. As far as football goes, that didn’t happen until my sophomore year at UCLA.
TR-Now it feels like more and more players have poor autographs. It feels as though players from past eras took a little more pride in their signatures. Do you feel that is the case?
RC-I don’t know. We had a tight end named Eason Ramson out of Washington State. We would sign footballs once a week. We would all sit around the locker room and pass the balls round. We would sign a few laundry baskets full of footballs. We joked that his signature was ‘E line R line’. There are a lot of guys that have devolved into that. I think part of it is what you are getting asked to sign on. More often than not, you are getting asked to sign a scrap of paper, a bar napkin or something like that. If it’s a nice picture that someone has gone to the trouble of making or buying or if it’s one of those cards that are so nice, I think guys take much more care when it comes to something like that. I think a lot of the scribbling goes back to what you are signing and the time you have to sign it.
TR-How much fan mail do you get to this day?
RC- My wife keeps track of all of my cards and fan mail. Somehow, they find your house. I have a laundry room and I have a rack where I put all of the fan mail. I will get twenty five or so a week. The day of the week varies but I will get the comment from my wife, “Sign them and get them out of here.” She just did it this morning. I will have to sign this batch and get them sent out.
TR-What athletes did you look to for inspiration as a young man?
RC- I was a big baseball guy. That’s what I played right up until I started playing football, which was the ninth grade. The only reason I played football was because my dad decided I was going to an all-boys catholic school, which I considered a sentence more than an opportunity, and he told me if I wanted to meet more guys before school to go out for football. So, I went out for football but I was a big baseball fan. I looked up to baseball players. My all-time favorite athlete is Sandy Koufax. I was born in Brooklyn and kind of brought that love for baseball with us to L.A., which kind of coincided when the Dodgers did. My idols as a kid were guys like Duke Snider and Jackie Robinson. I grew up reading about sports heroes. There were grammar school books and books in junior high, biography types of books about the greats-Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Satchell Paige, which was fantastic. It made those players larger than life. It made sports seems almost like a dream world.
TR- You touched on a key component of the history of baseball there. Many players from that early era are considered almost mythical figures at this point. Even holding certain pieces of their memorabilia or cards is like a religious experience today.
RC- I would love to see the reaction on Honus Wagner’s face if somebody could explain to him what his baseball cards was worth today…and what exactly the hell mint condition means. (Laughs)
TR- This begs the obvious question…Did you collect baseball cards of those greats as a kid?
RC-I’m like everyone else. I had a huge card collection. When I left home and my parents moved I’m sure, no doubt, somebody scored a gigantic hit when my mom throw them all out of the garage. I had stuff going back into the early fifties.
TR-Did you collect by players or by team?
RC- I did more by teams. Honestly, every year I would look at the top five or top ten in wins, strikeouts, batting average, home runs, RBIs and things like that. Back in the day when a Triple Crown winner wasn’t referring to horse racing, and wasn’t that unusual, I would always get those Triple Crown cards. I started doing that when I was five years old.
TR-After collecting so much as a young kid, what was the moment like when you first saw yourself on your Topps rookie card in 1978?
RC- My rookie year was 1976. That card, the first one, came out in 1978. It referred to being drafted early and playing my rookie card and all that other fun stuff. It was rare for two reasons, for me. There were two early cards that list me as a center and the rest list me as a guard. I played center my first two and a half years and my last year and a half but the other nine I was a guard. I always made a point to try to get ahold of them, even though they were sent. You would get fan mail and even back then people would have you sign cards. If you qualified for a card back then it usually meant two things A. You were pretty decent and B. You had survived. When you are 2-14 and they print your card you are proud because you are still employed!
TR-Do you have a place where you keep a collection of cards and memorabilia to this day?
RC-Yeah, it’s my terrace level downstairs. I have a framed jersey of every bowl I played in. Whether it was the Hula Bowl, Pro Bowl, Super Bowl, Japan Bowl, whatever. I have a room with a pool table in it that I have all of my pictures and plaques and all that stuff. It’s spread out over a pretty good area. I bought a Leroy Neiman painting. He did a painting after the second Super Bowl that I was in, well, I was at least recognizable in it, and I bought it. That is my centerpiece.
TR-What is your most memorable interaction with a fan during your career?
RC-I’ve had quite a few. I think all of my favorite fan interactions have to do with my 30 year association with the Ronald McDonald House in Stanford, in the Bay Area. Those kids and those families, those memories are some of the most special memoires to me, football or non-football.
Tony Reid spent more than a decade covering combat sports at the highest level. He has written hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of interviews about sports collectibles for such publications as Beckett, Sports Collectors Digest, and Sports Collectors Daily. Reid worked full time at a sports card shop in Central Pennsylvania for a number of years. A lifelong collector, Tony treasures his rookie card collection of star players in baseball, basketball, and football. If you want to discuss the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey Jr., you can reach him at @tonyreidwrites on all social media platforms