Merlin Olsen’s Many Football Cards
March 11th, 2010 | Published in Brothers, Player Deaths, Players Who Became Actors | 3 Comments
Most football fans know by now that Merlin Olsen passed away this morning. Lots of people published articles about his career today, so I’ll just show you some of his vintage cards. According to the Beckett blog, Olsen appeared on a total of 338 cards, but most of those were issued after the end of his career.
A couple of these are actually stamps, so I don’t know if Beckett included them in their count. Hold your cursor over any thumbnail image to see what set it’s from, and click on it to see a full-sized scan.
Missing from this group are his 1971 Bazooka card, 1971 Dell card, 1972 NFLPA stamp, and possibly other oddballs I haven’t seen. He also appeared on two or three Topps poster inserts in the late 60s and early 70s. That’s a remarkable number of cards for a defensive player.
I wondered if perhaps Olsen appeared on a Little House on the Prairie card, if there were such cards. So I searched eBay and I found a set that was issued in Argentina. Alas, Jonathan Garvey, Olsen’s character, didn’t have a card in the set.
Two of Olsen’s brothers, Phil and Orrin, also played in the NFL. Phil appeared on a 1972 Sunoco Stamp and on a 1973 Topps card while he was Merlin’s teammate with the Rams.
March 11th, 2010 at 4:19 PM (#)
Merlin was total class. I rememeber him having to pull himself out of a game for fear he’d kill Conrad Dobler. I liked him as an announcer and a player. Argentina made “Little house…” cards? I learn something new everytime you post.
March 12th, 2010 at 7:08 PM (#)
I think his 1970 Topps card is his best one.
March 12th, 2010 at 7:49 PM (#)
I would have a hard time choosing. I don’t usually like game shots, but I do like his Sunoco stamp.