While at Northwestern, Aschenbrenner appeared on the 1948 Leaf football card pictured here. The 1948 Leaf set contains cards of both NFL and college players, with most of the college players falling among the scarce high numbers, 50-98. Aschenbrenner’s card is number 93.

Guzik never appeared on a regular issue football card, but he did appear on the 1959 and 1960 Bell Brand Rams cards pictured here. These scarce cards were distributed regionally in bags of Bell Brand potato chips and corn chips; you can read more about them in my article about regional sets. You can see that Guzik switched from number 60 to number 65 in 1960. He apparently gave number 60 to rookie Jerry Stalcup, who had worn number 60 at the University of Wisconsin.

So I did a little digging, and I came up with a guess. My guess is that when he was photographed in number 18, Ryan was wearing Len Dawson’s old jersey. Dawson wore number 18 for the Browns in 1960 and 1961 (see his 1961 National City Bank card), and the Browns released him around June 1, 1962. The Browns then acquired Ryan from the Rams on July 12, 1962. Until he got his own jersey, Ryan wore Dawson’s, at least for pictures.

That would explain the number 18 on Ryan’s 1962 Kahn’s card, but what about his 1963 and 1969 Topps cards? My guess is that Topps just used old images for those cards, as they often did. Another old image that jumps to mind is the one on the Len Dawson puzzle on the backs of 1969 Topps cards. Though by 1969 Dawson had quarterbacked the Chiefs for six seasons and taken them to a Super Bowl, Topps chose an image of him with the Browns–wearing number 18!

• Joe Paterno rookie cards are coming out of the woodwork. Just after he died, there was only one listed on eBay. Now there are seven.
• Here’s an unusual item: a two-card panel of 1952 Bowman Large cards, including Hall of Famer Les Richter’s rookie card. You can see what the whole sheet looked like on my 1952 Bowman Large virtual uncut sheet page.
• Not cards, but a nice item for a Browns fan: a full set of 1959 Carling Black Label Browns photos, with Jim Brown. The photos are about the size of a full sheet of paper.
• This tough 1960 Bell Brand Rams Frank Ryan card has both a facsimile signature and a real one on it. I’m not sure what to make of it, but the signature looks different from those on this array of signed Ryan cards.
• All I know about this card is what it says in the item description, but here’s a 1948 Safe-T-Card Sammy Baugh card. The Safe-T-Cards all picture Washington Redskins, and the description says they were the first police set. The seller has a bunch more of them, too.
• Finally, this one is over, but I thought it was worth pointing out: a PSA 8.5 1961 Lake to Lake Packers Tom Bettis card that sold for $1469!

Enjoy the Super Bowl!

What I like most about this feature is that it highlights some cards that you typically find in the commons bin. Some players with stellar college careers had short or not-as-stellar pro careers, and you wouldn’t know from their cards how good they were in college. The player pictured here is one example: Jim Swink was runner-up to Howard Cassady for the Heisman Trophy in 1955, and he was elected to the College Hall of Fame in 1980. Swink played pro football for just one season–1960 for the AFL’s Dallas Texans–and this 1960 Fleer card is his only football card.

Pictured here are Cook’s rookie card, a 1970 Topps, and his 1969 Tresler Comet Bengals pre-rookie card. Cook also appeared on several other cards in 1970, all of which showed the same image as his regular-issue Topps card. You can see all of Greg Cook’s football cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

• Here’s one for fans of the NFC Champs: a set of 1959 or 1960 Jays Publishing New York Giants photos, with envelope. (The listing says 1959, but Beckett says 1960. I don’t know which is correct, since the 12 players were on the team both seasons.)
• This is amusing: a 1957 Topps Fred Cone card with a history of its locations. Do you know where your cards have been?
• I don’t see many complete 1949 Leaf sets for sale. Here’s a pretty nice mid-grade set.
• Another nice complete mid-grade set: 1952 Bowman Smalls, with lots of pictures.
• And a near-set of 1952 Bowman Large cards, mostly PSA 6 and 7. I’d do the math, but I don’t have $15K lying around!
• Matchbooks of the week: intact 1949 AAFC Baltimore Colts matchbooks of Spiro Dellerba and Sam Vacanti. 1949 was the last season of the AAFC; in 1950 the AAFC Colts, 49ers, and Browns joined the NFL. Very cool.
• Miscuts of the week: two 1955 Bowman Dave Leggett cards, one with part of a Harry Thompson card on top (see my 1955 Bowman virtual uncut sheets), and one with a chunk of the top cut off.
• And, finally, your well-loved cards of the week: 1954 Bowman Pete Pihos and Jerome Williams. Check out the back of the Williams card!

Self appeared on one football card, the 1948 Leaf card pictured here, while still at Wisconsin. It is one of the scarce high-numbered cards in the set. 1948 Leaf cards were printed on two sheets, one holding cards 1-49 and the other holding cards 50-98, and Leaf apparently printed the second sheet in much smaller quantities. The Self card is number 78.

According to the Sports Illustrated page, Paterno’s record as a quarterback was 15-3 over two seasons, 1948 and 1949. He also intercepted 14 passes in his college career, still a school record. (He shares the record with Greg Parker.)

One of Paterno’s teammates at Brown was his brother George, who played fullback. George Paterno led the team in rushing in 1949, with 480 yards. From 1976 to 1999, George was a broadcaster for Penn State football. He passed away in 2002.

You can see all of the 1950 Topps Felt Back cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.