It took several years before the National Football League would acknowledge the upstart American Football League, but Topps saw an immediate chance to cash in. Fleer produced an AFL set in 1960, but in ’61 Topps marketed a 198-card set with players from both leagues. Fleer followed suit, and 1961 was the only season where two companies produced cards from both leagues. The … [Read more...]
1963 Was a Watershed Year for Topps Football
They didn’t know it at the time, but the 1963 Topps football set would be the company’s last depicting NFL players until 1968. The Philadelphia Gum company would swoop in for the 1964 season and grab exclusive licensing through 1967. Like the 1962 Topps set, the ’63 version included only NFL players while Fleer enjoyed an AFL exclusive. At 170 cards, the 1963 set was six … [Read more...]
LeDonne Auction Features Eclectic Mix of Memorabilia
Posters, broadsides, figurines, game-used uniforms, schedules and cards. Gus LeDonne collected them all. LeDonne, an accountant who lived in Chicago died in August 2013. Now, his memorabilia collection is about to be broken up and sold. More than 1,000 eclectic items — with a big emphasis on football — go on the block during a live two-day auction beginning July 23 in … [Read more...]
Donruss Elite Football Returns To Panini Lineup
After a year’s absence, Donruss Elite football returns in 2016 with a new emphasis that will please collectors — more on-card autographs, for example. That certainly is good news. 2016 Donruss Elite Basics Panini America is promising two autographs per hobby box of Donruss Elite, with at least one being a hard-signed Pen Pals card. There also will be one relic card per hobby … [Read more...]
2015 Topps Supreme Football Info, Checklist, Boxes for Sale
Their NFL trading card contract continues to wind to a close but not before the release of 2015 Topps Supreme Football, a high-end product released Monday, February 29. Supreme has one pack per box, with four cards in each pack. Topps promises one low-number hit in each box, which could be an autograph, a relic card or an autographed relic card. Box prices online are … [Read more...]
1968 Topps Football Set Marked Company’s NFL Return
Topps returned to the forefront of football cards in 1968, as it reclaimed rights to print cards of not only NFL players and retained its AFL players too. Football collectors would be treated to a Hall of Fame lineup. For the first time since 1961, one Topps set contained players from each league. Topps had lost its right to issue cards of NFL players in 1964 when the … [Read more...]
1954 Bowman Football Set Offered Unique Design
While the 1954 Bowman football set may not have had the eye appeal of the ’53 set, the design was still catchy enough to entice collectors. Bowman had trimmed its football set from 144 cards in 1952 to 96 in ’53. For 1954, Bowman introduced a 128-card set. The Design The ’54 set displayed more action shots, albeit posed ones, and there were a few posed head shots. In … [Read more...]
Vintage Tabletop Football Games Celebrated in New Book
Electric football games from the 1960s were a study in frustration. You’d take the time to line up your teams in formation, then flip a switch and watch players head in every direction but forward as the table buzzed loudly. To throw a pass, a player had to turn off the switch and call “pass,” pulling back the quarterback’s arm and letting go, trying to get the little felt … [Read more...]
Lots Of Sole: Auction Includes LT’s Cleats From Super Bowl XXV
Collectors now have a chance to own some really big shoes, whose soles once belonged to a player who was the heart and soul of the New York Giants. The white, size 13 Nike/Pro cleats worn by Hall of Fame linebacker Lawrence Taylor during Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium is part of SCP Auctions’ Mid-Summer Classic online auction, which runs through August 22. Bidding for … [Read more...]
Photo of the Day: Dawn of the Lombardi Era
Fans may not have known exactly what the ‘new’ Green Bay Packers were all about in the summer of 1959 but the players who returned for training camp definitely knew there was a new sheriff in town. Vince Lombardi was given the task of not only building a winner but changing the culture of a once proud franchise that had fallen on hard times. His impact was immediate. After … [Read more...]