Hiding the NFL Logo on 1970s Topps Cards

July 17th, 2011  |  Published in Football Card Oddities  |  5 Comments

C.L. Whittington 1976 Topps football cardYou 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!

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Responses

  1. Ron Smith says:

    July 17th, 2011 at 7:05 PM (#)

    Bob Hayes’ cards look like they got a little too close to the fire. IYKWIMAITYD

  2. Steve Liskey says:

    July 18th, 2011 at 5:33 AM (#)

    What does “WPD” stand for?

    That’s interesting about the Hayes cards you mention. I always thought it was just a bad spot on the negative. The Topps Vault had the color negative used for those items listed on eBay a couple years ago, and the spot appears on it as well.

    Have you ever noticed the NFC Championship Game card (#167) from the 1979 Topps set, and how they forgot to airbrush the Rams helmets?

  3. nearmint says:

    July 18th, 2011 at 5:47 AM (#)

    I doubt if WPD stands for anything, Steve. It’s just NFL with a few added strokes. (I remember changing LORI to EORE in a similar fashion, back in sixth grade.)

    The image that appears on Bob Hayes’s 1970 Super and Super Glossy cards also appears on his 1970 Kellogg’s card, except that on the Kellogg’s card, the logo is covered with brown. I don’t know who printed the Kellogg’s cards, but it appears that they took a different approach than Topps to hide the NFL logo.

    I haven’t seen the 1979 card you mentioned, but I’ll check it out.

  4. Chris Stufflestreet says:

    July 19th, 2011 at 6:57 AM (#)

    I was looking at my 1972 Topps Terry Bradshaw today…and the football on that card has definitely been painted over. I’ve had that card for 20 years and never noticed until I read this article.

  5. nearmint says:

    July 19th, 2011 at 10:35 AM (#)

    Yeah, you’re right, Chris. Here’s a link to the Bradshaw card: http://www.footballcardgallery.com/1972+Topps/150/Terry-Bradshaw/