Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

Richard Harris, the assistant head coach and defensive line coach of the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, passed away this afternoon. The Winnipeg Free Press web site has a report and a recent photo. Harris was a defensive lineman in the NFL from 1971 to 1977, playing for the Philadelphia Eagles, Chicago Bears, and Seattle Seahawks.

Harris appeared on one football card during his playing days, the 1974 Topps card pictured here. He also appeared on a 1972 Sunoco Stamp.

Happy Tuesday! Here are this week’s interesting eBay auctions for vintage football cards and related collectibles.

• You don’t see these too often: a PSA 8 1952 Bowman Large Jim Lansford!
• This is cool, but I’d sure ask a lot of questions first:
  a full wax box of 1962 Topps football cards.
• Boxes are a lot cheaper when they’re empty. Here are some nice 1965 Philadelphia and 1966 Philadelphia display boxes, with lots of pictures.
• Yet another interesting box: a generic Topps vending box–the seller says from 1959–with “FOOTBALL” stamped on it.
• I believe this is the earliest team issue I have seen with colored photos, and they’re very sharp: 1965 Houston Oilers team issue photos.
• I’ve seen quite a few of these, but never a full set: 1960 Fleer yellow proof cards.
• Where’s Ollie?!
• A rare 1968 Topps Craig Morton error card? Well, no, they’re all like that. Here’s the whole assembled Bart Starr puzzle.
• It took me a minute to figure out that these are pieces of 1962 Post Cereal cards. (For reference, here’s a whole one.)
• This one has ended, but it’s good for a smile: a lot of 1952 Bowman Extra-Smalls!

Like these? Check out past week’s interesting auctions!

A few weeks ago, in a previous blog article, I asked readers to send me any images they had of miscut vintage football cards. In response, Steve Liskey of TheCowboysGuide.com sent me this image of a 1967 Topps Steve Tensi card. You can see that it has a sliver of a Buffalo Bills card showing; the card happens to be Jack Kemp. Steve’s contribution prompted me to create a page of virtual sheets in progress. It’s short for now, but hopefully you can help me make it grow.

Thanks, Steve!

Forrest Blue, who played center from 1968 to 1978 for the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts, passed away on July 16. Blue was a four-time Pro Bowler for the 49ers, twice on the first team. There is a report of Blue’s death on the San Francisco Chronicle web site–and a photo of him scoring his only NFL touchdown.

The card pictured here is Blue’s rookie card, a 1972 Topps. Another card of note is his 1974 Parker Brothers card. As I showed in a previous blog article, it is one of the few Parker Brothers cards that has a different image than its counterpart in the 1974 Topps set.

You can see all of Forrest Blue’s cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Happy Tuesday! Here are this week’s interesting eBay auctions for vintage football cards and related collectibles.

• Nineteen 1970 Green Bay Packers team issue photos, including Bart Starr and Ray Nitschke, starting at 99 cents!
• It was fun browsing through this set of rookie cards of Heisman trophy winners.
• For the Nebraska Cornhusker fan, a set of nine 1936 Cornhusker Football Advertising Postcards, one for each game. (The ‘Huskers won 7 of the 9 games and were champs of the “Big 6.”)
• These “Bangles” cards were a huge disappointment. I was hoping for Susanna Hoffs!
• This lot of 1960 Fleer oddities is interesting, but I think they’re proofs and printing trials, not errors. (I like the effect of the player images superimposed on the backs of the cards.)
• I love 1964 Kahn’s cards! Here’s a PSA 8 1964 Kahn’s Jim Brown.
• Speaking of Kahn’s cards, here’s a PSA 7 1963 Kahn’s John Unitas at a low starting price. (The seller has a bunch more 1963 Kahn’s cards up for auction, too.)
• This Marion Motley Exhibit card is one of my all-time favorites. You can read more about this and other 1948-1952 Exhibit cards in one of my previous blog articles.
• For the football card collector who must have everything: there are three odd football cards on these 1946 Kellogg’s All-Wheat panels. (If you look closely at the backs, you can see that the football cards are part of a 30-card “sport tips” subset.)
• Finally, the #3 set of 1965 Topps cards in the PSA set registry is for sale. Wow!

For prior weeks’ interesting football card auctions, click here.

You have probably seen 1970s Topps football cards on which the team logos have been airbrushed from the players’ helmets. (For a couple of examples, see my article about airbrushing on 1972 Topps San Diego Chargers cards.) Well, apparently Topps couldn’t show the NFL logo on football cards, either. Last week, while scanning this 1976 Topps C.L. Whittington card, I noticed that someone had traced over the NFL on Whittington’s football and changed it to WPD. At first I thought it was only on my card, but the C.L. Whittington cards on eBay all have WPD on the football, too.

It seems like it would have been preferable to cover the logo with a dab of brown, but changing the letters was definitely better than how they handled Bob Hayes’s 1970 Topps Super and 1970 Topps Super Glossy cards. On those cards it looks like they burned the logo off the ball!

Happy Tuesday! This week’s interesting eBay auctions are all complete sets.

• A complete set of 1963 Post CFL cards, mounted in the album.
• One of my favorite regional sets: 1968 KDKA Pittsburgh Steelers.
• Another regional set, which celebrated the Cardinals’ move to St. Louis: 1960 Mayrose Cardinals. (I love the team logo on these!)
• A full set of 1967 Johnny Pro Baltimore Colts die-cut cards, still in the album.
• A full deck of 1963 Stancraft playing cards. According to Beckett, these were issued in conjunction with the opening of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
• 1961 Carling Black Label Cleveland Browns photos, including Jim Brown.
• Sorry if I posted this before, but I think it’s an awesome set: a complete set of 1961 National City Browns cards, uncut from the panels.
• Finally, a multi-sport set that includes 132 NFL players: 1955 All American Sports Club photos. The description says that one of the photos is Don Shula in his playing days. I think I picked him out–can you?

For prior weeks’ interesting football card auctions, click here.

Last week I added virtual uncut sheets of 1955 Bowman cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. I have not seen an actual sheet of 1955 Bowmans, but I presume they followed the same numbering pattern as sheets of older Bowman cards. I believe that the 160-card set was printed on 5 sheets of 32.

Bowman apparently printed the fifth 1955 sheet in smaller quantities than the other four, because most of the scarce cards in the set are from the fifth sheet.

(Click on the image to see all five sheets.)

Pete Duranko, a defensive lineman for the Denver Broncos from 1967 to 1974, passed away on July 8. Today’s Denver Post has a report. Duranko played college football at Notre Dame, and he was a member of the Irish’s 1966 National Championship team.

The cards pictured here are Duranko’s rookie card, a 1969 Topps, and his last card, a 1975 Topps. His last card was issued the year after his last season–a common occurrence in the 1970s.

You can see all of Pete Duranko’s football cards and stamps in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

John Mackey, the Hall of Fame tight end, passed away on July 6th. Mackey played for the Baltimore Colts from 1963 to 1971 and for the San Diego Chargers in 1972. He was a five-time Pro Bowler for the Colts–three times on the first team–and he played in two Super Bowls: the Colts’ loss to the Jets in Super Bowl III and their win agains the Cowboys in Super Bowl V. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

The cards pictured here are Mackey’s rookie card, a 1964 Philadelphia, and his last card, a 1973 Topps. The 1973 card was actually issued after Mackey’s last season. You can see all of John Mackey’s football cards and stamps in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Happy Tuesday! Here are the eBay auctions of the week.

• Here’s a rare 1950s Schilling Coffee card of Joe Arenas. As far as I can tell, this is a set of one: I couldn’t find more Schilling Coffee cards on the web, and Arenas’s Wikipedia page says he was a salesman and public relations man for the company. If anyone knows of more of these, I would really like to know about them.
• Some cool autographed postcards of SMU teammates Doak Walker and Kyle Rote–especially if your name happens to be Dale!
• A complete set of 1972 Sunoco Stamps, still in the album and at a low starting bid. Nice!
• A must-have for the Edmonton Eskimos fan: a group of 1958 McDermid Studios photos.
• Smile of the week: a hand-cut 1952 Bowman Small Russ Craft card.
• A complete set of 1976 Town Talk Bread cards. These look just like 1976 Wonder Bread cards, except that, if you look closely at the top line on the back of a card, you can see that it says “Town Talk” instead of “Wonder Bread.” I wrote about these last year in an article about food issues.
• A partial sheet of 1948 Leaf cards, including rookie cards of Sammy Baugh, Bobby Layne, John Lujack, and Bob Waterfield.
• And, finally, a cute kiddie on an early Sun Life Insurance trading card. Awwww.

For past weeks’ interesting auctions, click here.

The holiday made me think of the movie, and thinking of the movie made me wonder what NFL players were born on the Fourth of July. I found the full list at pro-football-reference.com; the eight who appear in the Vintage Football Card Gallery are shown below. Wish them a happy birthday!

Six-time Pro Bowler Erich Barnes was born on July 4, 1935. Barnes’s rookie card, shown here, is a 1960 Topps. Two-time Pro-Bowler Emerson Boozer was born on July 4, 1943; he is shown here on his 1971 Topps card. (Boozer also appeared on my all-party team.)

Two-time Pro Bowler Rosey Taylor was born on July 4, 1937; he is pictured here on his 1965 Philadelphia card. 1963 Pro-Bowler Lee Folkins was born on July 4, 1939; his rookie card, a 1964 Philadelphia, is shown here. (I heard from Mr. Folkins once. He told me that the signature on his 1964 Wheaties Stamp is not in his handwriting.)

Five-time Pro-Bowler Rick Casares was born on July 4, 1931. His rookie card, shown here, is a 1955 Bowman. Hall of Famer Floyd Little was born on July 4, 1942; he is shown here on his 1968 Topps Stand Up insert card.

1981 Pro Bowler Frank Lewis was born on July 4, 1947; his rookie card, a 1973 Topps, is shown here. And, finally, Fred Forsberg was born on July 4, 1944. I don’t believe Forsberg appeared on a card, but I do have his 1972 Sunoco Stamp.

Enjoy your picnics!

Preston Carpenter, who played twelve seasons for the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Washington Redskins, Minnesota Vikings, and Miami Dolphins, passed away on June 30. Carpenter played halfback for the Browns in his rookie season, 1956, then spent the rest of his career as a receiver. He made the Pro Bowl in 1962 as a tight end with the Steelers.

Carpenter’s older brother, Lew, who also had a long NFL career, passed away last fall.

The card pictured here is Carpenter’s rookie card, a 1957 Topps. He appeared on numerous other cards during his career, as well.

• See all of Preston Carpenter’s cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.
• See Preston Carpenter’s career stats at pro-football-reference.com.

Yesterday I added virtual uncut sheets of 1954 Bowman cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. I have not seen an actual sheet of 1954 Bowmans, but I followed the numbering patterns on sheets of older Bowman cards and made an educated guess as to what the 1954 sheets looked like.

Bowman apparently printed the third 1954 sheet in smaller quantities than the others, because most of the scarcer cards are from that sheet.

(Click on the image to see all four sheets.)