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...]
1955 Was Swan Song for Bowman Football
Bowman put out its largest football set in 1955, with 160 cards. It would be the final year that the Bowman brand would compete with Topps for dominance in the market; Topps would buy out Bowman in 1956 and would not release a football product with the Bowman name on it again until 1991. There were only 12 teams in the NFL in 1955, and the New York Giants have the … [Read more...]
1964 Draft Produced the Biggest Crop of Football Hall of Fame Rookie Cards
The 1964 NFL Draft has gone down in history for producing the most Pro Football Hall of Fame players of any draft to date. Eleven of the 280 players selected for that season’s draft have now been enshrined in Canton. On December 2, 1963, the NFL’s representatives that made up its 14 teams assembled in Chicago to divvy up that season’s prospects. At the same time that the … [Read more...]
1973 Topps Football Started New Era
The 1973 Topps football set was definitely a landmark product. For starters, it was the largest football set Topps ever issued — “Biggest series ever!” touted the wax packs— and with 528 cards, it more than doubled the 1972 product. This also marked the first time that Topps issued cards all at once in one series, a practice that would carry over to the 1974 baseball … [Read more...]
1951 Bowman Football Set Has Great QBs, Future Coaches
One was stoic; the other was volatile. Together, two pro football Hall of Famers share top billing in the 1951 Bowman football set. Tom Landry would make his mark not as a player, but as the rarely perturbed coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Norm Van Brocklin was a feisty quarterback and, later, the Dutchman was an even more intense coach of the Minnesota Vikings. They are … [Read more...]
1964 Philadelphia Football Cards Ushered In New Era
It was a swell product while it lasted. In 1964, the Philadelphia Gum Company obtained the licensing rights to produce National Football League trading cards, ending the stranglehold Topps had held since 1956. Topps executive Sy Berger had gotten an agreement through NFL commissioner Bert Bell to produce cards starting in 1956 and continued through 1963. That pact … [Read more...]
1956 Topps Football Was Beginning Of An Era
Topps is celebrating its 60th season of issuing officially licensed pro football cards this year. While its products today have a more slick look with inserts, autographs and relic cards — its 2015 football set has a 500-card base set — Topps ventured gingerly into the NFL ranks with a 120-card set in 1956. Actually, there also was a checklist, and Topps included an … [Read more...]
1967 Royal Castle Dolphins Set Marks Auer’s Place in History
The opening kickoff of the regular season always brings great anticipation. For the Miami Dolphins and Joe Auer, the first regular-season play in franchise history always will be special. On September 2, 1966, Auer stood in the west end zone of Miami’s Orange Bowl, waiting for the opening kickoff by the Oakland Raiders. “I knew I would do something unusual as the … [Read more...]
1965 Topps Football Set is More Than Just Broadway Joe
Youngsters used to seeing packs in a standard size wax wrapper found something completely different on the shelves of their local drug store in the late summer of 1965. For the second year in a row, the nation’s only baseball card maker had created a set of players from the American Football League players but this time, the packs were huge. The 1965 Topps … [Read more...]
5 Undervalued Vintage Football Sets
As sports card collectors, we love our sets and singles for the memories they evoke and the unique aesthetic of artwork cramped onto small cardboard rectangles. Still, we all want to feel like we’re getting a good value for the time and money we invest in our collections, so we’re always on the lookout for a bargain. When it comes to vintage football card sets, you could … [Read more...]