Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

Yesterday I put a nice group of PSA-graded 1970 Topps Super Glossy, 1971 Topps, and 1972 Topps cards up for sale. Included is this Terry Hanratty rookie card. Unfortunately for Hanratty, by the time his rookie card was printed, his career as a starter was already over. In 1971, Terry Bradshaw–whose rookie card is also in this set–took over the team. Hanratty backed up Bradshaw for a few years, then joined the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and finished his career backing up Steve Spurrier in Tampa’s 0-14 season.

I did a little search for Hanratty, and I turned up a couple of pages that are worth a peek: Hanratty in his Notre Dame days, on a Sports Illustrated cover and after his playing days, paying tribute to Ara Parseghian.

According to Wikipedia, 0 and 00 are no longer legal uniform numbers in the NFL. That means that the players who wore them effectively have had their numbers retired. Pictured here are cards of five players who wore number 0 or 00: a 1963 Fleer Jim Otto, a 1972 Topps Ken Burrough, a 1961 Fleer Wallet Picture of John Olszewski, a 1968 Topps Obert Logan, and a 1948 Bowman John Clement.

I learned from the Wikipedia article that Jim Otto wore 00 because you could pronounce it like his name: aught-oh. Otto wore number 50 in his first season, 1960, and he switched to 00 for the remainder of his career. Otto’s 1964 Topps card shows a four-year-old image of him wearing number 50.

John Olszewski and Obert Logan also wore numbers other than 0 early in their careers. Olszewski’s cards with the Chicago Cardinals picture him in numbers 33 and 36. Logan’s 1967 Philadelphia card shows him in number 25 for the Cowboys.

Yesterday I added a stack of sharp 1950′s football cards to my football card sales site. Included is this gorgeous 1956 Topps Em Tunnell card. Though the card says he was a halfback, Tunnell was actually a hall-of-fame defensive back. Until 1959 the card companies did not distinguish between offensive halfbacks and defensive backs, nor between offensive and defensive tackles, nor between offensive and defensive ends. A player was simply a halfback, tackle, or end.

Until I looked at Tunnell’s page on the pro football hall-of-fame site, I had not realized that he played with the Packers for three years. I knew he was with the Packers in 1961, since he appears on a 1961 Lake to Lake card. But he also was on the team in 1959 and 1960. Oddly, though he had appeared on Bowman and Topps cards every year from 1951 to 1958, Topps did not print a card of Tunnell in his three years with the Packers.

Today I put a big stack of graded 1960′s cards up for sale. Included is this Chuck Howley rookie card. Like many defensive players’ rookie cards, Howley’s came well into his career: his first season in the NFL was with the Bears in 1958, but he didn’t appear on a card until 1966.

Howley could be the next player elected to the Hall of Fame whose rookie card is in the 1966 Philadelphia football card set. After two years with the Bears and a year of retirement, Howley un-retired and joined the Cowboys in their second year, 1961. He played thirteen seasons for the Cowboys, and he was an All-Pro in six of them. In Super Bowl V he had two interceptions and a fumble recovery, and he was named the game’s MVP. The Cowboys lost the game to the Colts, however, and Howley remains the only Super Bowl MVP who played for the losing team.

You can see all of Chuck Howley’s cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Today I put a nice group of ungraded 1966 Philadelphia cards up for sale. This set is a challenge to collect: a lot of cards have centering problems, and some of the cards are a challenge to find in any condition.

A person who bought this set in 2003, put it in storage, and took it out this year would have gained three hall-of-famer rookie cards. Bob Brown’s rookie card is in this set, and he was elected to the hall of fame in 2004. Gene Hickerson’s rookie card is also here, and he was elected in 2007. And finally, the set includes the rookie card of Bob Hayes, who will be inducted into the hall of fame later this year.