Parker also played two seasons of major league baseball, for the American League’s Philadelphia Athletics. Today’s New York Times has a detailed account of his athletic career.

To my knowledge, Parker appeared on just one vintage football card, the 1955 Topps All-American card pictured here.

For a list of the 500 oldest living pro football players, see oldestlivingprofootball.com.

Four of the new College Hall of Famers appear on cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery. Their rookie cards are pictured here: Hal Bedsole on a 1965 Philadelphia, John Wooten on a 1967 Philadelphia, Otis Armstrong on a 1975 Topps, and Steve Bartkowski on a 1976 Topps.


I have identified all of the past College Football Hall of Fame inductees in the Gallery, as well. To see the College Hall of Famers from your favorite school, use a web address of the form http://www.footballcardgallery.com/honor1/College+Hall+of+Fame/college/Your+College/. (Example: http://www.footballcardgallery.com/honor1/College+Hall+of+Fame/college/Ohio+State/.)

The card pictured here is Walsh’s rookie card, a 1951 Bowman. He also appeared on 1953 Bowman and 1954 Bowman football cards.

As I was scanning the stamps yesterday, I noted one thing I like about them: the images on them aren’t airbrushed. In 1972, Topps was still airbrushing logos off helmets and airbrushing new uniforms onto players–badly–but the Sunoco stamps show the players in the uniforms of their current teams, logos intact. I especially like seeing old helmets, and for most teams there’s at least one stamp with a good picture of the team’s helmet. Below are a few examples.

Now, on to the 82-stamp update set!

• I have seen metal doubloons with New Orleans Saints schedules on them, but not wooden ones. Here are home and away for the Saints’ first season, 1967.
• The back of this autographed Paul Hornung rookie card is miscut enough to show that Sid Youngelman’s card was beneath it on the uncut sheet. It’s another clue for my 1957 Topps uncut sheet page.
• I enjoyed looking through this set of 1981 TCMA football cards. The cards aren’t vintage, but the images on them are, and I don’t believe I’ve seen any of them before. One shows Roger Staubach in his Navy football uniform!
• Here’s a nice 1948 Leaf John Lujack rookie card with his name misspelled “Jonny.” Judging by PSA’s population report, this variation is about ten times scarcer than the variation with his name spelled “Johnny.”
• This is amusing: someone covered the Packers logo on this 1967 Philadelphia Packers Insignia card with a Packers helmet sticker. Personally, I prefer the sticker-free version.
• I don’t see a lot of full sets of 1963 IDL Steelers photos, but here’s one. For a better look at the players included, see my gallery page for the set.
• Here are some cards I haven’t seen before: 1976 Charles Linnet New England Patriots cards, in an unopened pack. The seller has a few other 1976 Linnet cards, as well.

Like my interesting eBay auction articles? See the articles from past weeks.

Doubloons are common souvenirs in New Orleans, and the Saints have been commemorated on other doubloons, as well. One example I found online is a series of doubloons showing the Saints’ 1967-1975 schedules, sponsored by Falstaff beer. Another set of doubloons, sponsored by Jax beer, contains a coin for each 1967 home game. You can see an example of that set on eBay.

• Here’s a nice 1948 Baltimore Colts matchbook of Rex Grossman Sr., the grandfather of current Redskins quarterback Rex Grossman III. The Colts were still in the AAFC in 1948; in 1950 they moved to the NFL.
• Vikings fans, here’s a 1977 Holsum Bread Vikings store display, with a complete set of cards.
• Here’s an example of the rare “blue sock” variation of Bobby Layne’s 1948 Leaf rookie card, one of only two that PSA has graded. Think the seller would come down to $28,999.99?
• Another tough–and expensive–1948 Leaf card: the only Charley Conerly rookie card graded PSA 8.
• I’d like to know the story behind this hacked-up 1952 Bowman Small Russ Craft card. Judging by the widths of the borders, I don’t think it’s a trimmed card. It looks like a kid cut it from a full sheet.
• Here’s a nice listing for browsing: twelve of the thirteen photos in the All-American Football series of 1948 Topps Magic Photos. The seller also has two of the five photos in the Football Thrills series. (For a nice description of the 1948 Topps Magic Photos, see this article in The Topps Archives blog.)
• You can tell from the brown strip along the top of this 1967 Topps Joe Namath card that the card was originally part of a 1969 Milton Bradley Win-A-Card game. See one of my earlier blog posts for details.

Like my interesting eBay auction articles? See the articles from past weeks.

The cards pictured here are Neighbors’s first two cards. The first, a 1961 Nu-Card, shows him still with Alabama, and the second, a 1963 Fleer, is considered his rookie card. (I don’t know why 1961 Nu-Cards are not considered rookie cards.) He appeared on several other cards and stamps, as well.

1. What is the error on R.C. Owens’s 1958 Topps football card, pictured here? Answer
2. Who were the first two players elected to the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame? Answer
3. What USC quarterback, who appeared on a 1955 Topps All-American football card, became a film editor and received an Academy Award for his work in Mary Poppins? Answer
4. What Hall of Fame defensive tackle, who spent his entire 14-year NFL career with the San Franciso 49ers, was born in Lucca, Italy? Answer
5. What Pro Football Hall of Famer was married for 25 years to actress Jane Russell? Answer
6. What member of the College Football Hall of Fame, who spent most of his NFL career with the Minnesota Vikings, played Officer Joe Coffey in the TV series Hill Street Blues? Answer
7. One card in the 1935 National Chicle football card set does not picture an NFL player. Which card is it? Answer

Like these? See my trivia questions from past weeks.

• Here are a couple of nice 1948 Topps Magic Photos: a PSA 7 Doak Walker and a PSA 6 Chuck Bednarik. (Bednarik’s name is misspelled.) Both players’ rookie cards were also issued in 1948.
• Like Alex Karras? Here’s a whole array of his rookie cards.
• Here are two vintage German Jim Thorpe cards, though I don’t think the images look much like Jim Thorpe. The back of one calls him “Jom” Thorpe–twice!
• Quick, can you think of the first year that football card packs included inserts? I believe it was 1960, when both Fleer and Topps included stickers in their packs. (Fleer was a new competitor for Topps in 1960, and I’ll bet the Topps stickers were a reaction to Fleer’s.) Here’s a nice lot of 1960 Fleer AFL Logo and College Pennant stickers, and here’s a lot of 1960 Topps Metallic Stickers.
• Miscut of the week: a wackily chopped 1968 Bart Starr card. That’s a chunk of Joe Namath’s card on the bottom of the Starr. You can see the cards together on my 1968 Topps virtual uncut sheet page.
• This badly miscut 1966 Topps Wray Carlton card gave me an idea: since the wood grain pattern continues from one card to the next, maybe I can reconstruct an uncut sheet by matching up the grains?
• Thanks to Tony O., one of my Facebook fans, for pointing out this wrongback 1955 Bowman Jim Ringo rookie card. The back shows Leo Sanford’s info, but Sanford’s card was actually on an entirely different sheet. If you look at the two sheets on my 1955 Bowman virtual uncut sheet page, you can see that the back must also have been printed upside down.

Like these? See my my interesting auction articles from past weeks.