Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

We have two milestone birthdays today: Rudy Kuechenberg is 70, and Robert Brazile is 60. Kuechenberg played linebacker from 1967 to 1971 for the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns, and Atlanta Falcons. He also played for the Chicago Fire of the World Football League, in 1974. Kuechenberg’s younger brother, Bob, was a guard for fourteen seasons with the Miami Dolphins. Rudy Kuechenberg appeared on one football card, the 1969 Topps card pictured below.

Robert Brazile played linebacker from 1975 to 1984 for the Houston Oilers. He was the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1975, and he made the Pro Bowl seven consecutive seasons after that. (The Corpus Christi Caller-Times web site has a nice summary of his career.) Brazile is pictured below on his 1978 Topps football card, and there are a couple more of his cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Happy birthday, Messrs. Kuechenberg and Brazile!

Former NFL running back Louis Carter is celebrating his 60th birthday today. Carter played from 1975 to 1978 for the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Carter was one of the original Buccaneers: Tampa Bay acquired him from Oakland in the 1976 NFL Expansion Draft. I learned today, from his profile at bucpower.com, that Carter threw the first touchdown pass in Buccaneer history–in the sixth game of the 1976 season!

Carter appeared on one card in the U.S., the 1977 Topps card pictured here. He also appeared on a 1977 Topps Mexican card. The front of the Mexican card looks like this one, except that it says “Bucaneros” rather than “Buccaneers.”

Happy birthday, Mr. Carter!

Craig Morton, who played from 1965 to 1982 for the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Denver Broncos, is 70 today. Morton was the starting quarterback for two Super Bowl teams, the 1970 Cowboys and 1977 Broncos, and he played on the 1971 Cowboys team that won Super Bowl VI. He was inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame in 1988.

Prior to his pro career, Morton starred at the University of California. In 1964, though Cal had just a 3-7 record, he finished seventh in voting for the Heisman Trophy. (See my Football Cards of Heisman Trophy Candidates page.) Morton was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

The card pictured here is Morton’s rookie card, a 1968 Topps. The back of the card is a piece of a puzzle picturing Bart Starr. Morton also appeared on many other cards and stamps during his long career. You can see all of his cards up to 1978 in the Vintage Football Card Gallery. (It’s odd to see someone other than John Elway wearing #7 for the Broncos, isn’t it?)

Happy birthday, Mr. Morton!

Walt Sweeney, a guard from 1963 to 1975 for the San Diego Chargers and Washington Redskins, passed away on February 2. Sweeney was an AFL All-Star or NFL Pro Bowler for nine straight seasons, and he was elected to the Chargers Hall of Fame in 1981. There is a tribute to Sweeney on the Syracuse Post-Standard web site. Also see the Tales From the American League blog for an article comparing Sweeney’s career to the careers of two members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Sweeney is pictured here on his 1969 Glendale Stamp. He appeared on numerous other cards and stamps, as well. You can see all of them in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Chris Bahr, a longtime kicker in the NFL, is celebrating his 60th birthday today. Bahr played from 1976 to 1989 for the Cincinnati Bengals, Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders, and San Diego Chargers. He played on two Super Bowl Championship teams with the Raiders, in 1980 and 1983. Before his NFL career, Bahr played one season for the Philadelphia Atoms of the North American Soccer League, and he played on the U.S. National soccer team in the qualifying rounds for the 1976 Olympics. Bahr’s younger brother, Matt Bahr, also played in the NASL and NFL.

Bahr is pictured here on his 1978 Topps football card. He also appeared on a 1977 Topps card, and on many cards after 1978. I don’t have his newer cards yet, but you can find them on eBay.

Happy birthday, Mr. Bahr!

Yesterday I added a page to the Vintage Football Card Gallery that shows the football card auctions with the most watchers on eBay. The page works for other sports, as well–even wrestling!

I was a little surprised at the current top listings. In football, the results include mostly unopened packs and modern cards. There are vintage cards among the top baseball and hockey card auctions, though, so I expect to see some vintage football cards bubble up, too.

Anyway, take a look!

Happy Thursday! I found a bunch of cool items in eBay’s Stickers category this week, so this week’s interesting auctions are all vintage football stickers.

• Here’s a sticker from the AFL vs NFL Third World Championship Game, later known as Super Bowl III.
• For CFL fans, here’s one from the 1963 Grey Cup.
• This one’s very cool: a 1930s East-West Shrine Game sticker.
• I usually find 1961 Topps Flocked Sticker inserts listed in the football card category, but this week I found this lot and this lot under Stickers. The seller has a few proofs of the stickers for sale, as well. (A bit of trivia: Topps called these inserts “cloth emblems,” not “flocked stickers.” You can see that on the 1961 Topps football card 5 cent wrapper.)
• 1972 NFLPA Vinyl Stickers usually appear under football cards, also. This lot is listed under Stickers, plus the auction has an odd title, so maybe you can get a bargain on them. The Butkus sticker in the lot is the variation with his head reversed. See my reversed images page for details.
• Does anyone out there–anyone at all–prefer the current Patriots logo to Pat Patriot?
• I love these 1950s Baltimore Colts and early 1970s Buffalo Bills logos, too.
• Here’s a full set of 1970 Chiquita Banana NFL logo stickers. The set was available via mail order, according to the listing. I don’t remember: did these come stuck to bananas, too?
• Finally, a couple of fun items from defunct teams: a Houston Oilers “Luv Ya Blue” sticker and bumper sticker from the WFL’s Philadelphia Bell.

Like these?

• Browse eBay’s football card sticker category for more.
• See my Interesting eBay Auction articles from past weeks.

Bill Budness, who played linebacker for the Oakland Raiders from 1964 to 1970, is 70 years old today. Budness was a member of the Raiders team that won the 1967 AFL Championship and played in Super Bowl II against the Packers. He played college football at Boston University, and he is a member of the BU Athletics Hall of Fame.

Budness appeared on one football card with the Raiders, the 1966 Topps card pictured here.

Happy birthday, Mr. Budness!

One thing I enjoy about working on the Vintage Football Card Gallery is discovering trivia about the people on the cards. Sometimes the trivia comes in an email. Yesterday, for example, I learned that Lady Gaga’s mother appears on a card in the Gallery. Here is the note that clued me in:

Just an FYI regarding the 1974 pack of playing cards from West Virginia University. Card 12H shows the WVU cheerleaders for 1974. The top cheerleader on the right (Cindy Bissett) is now Cindy Germanti (sp) better known as Lady GaGa’s Mother. I was student manager for the team that year and remember the excitement of having our picture taken and having to sign the release for the University to use our photos, then the complete letdown of getting aced out (pun intended) by the cheerleaders and the AD………..jim wells

I did a quick search, and sure enough, I found Cindy Bissett Germanotta on Rolling Stone’s web site. I had no idea!

Here is the card that Jim was talking about: the cheerleader card in the deck of 1974 West Virginia University playing cards. You can click on the card for a larger image.

Anyone else have surprises to share about the people on the cards?

Last week, while adding 1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery, I was amused by some of the images. Many of the photos appear to have been taken at night, with a flash. The photos weren’t bad if the player filled the frame, such as on Danny Nykoluk’s card. The effect didn’t work so well with action shots, however. Check out Jerry Campbell, who looks as if he was caught by a nighttime wildlife camera. And Ron Stewart and Wayne Giardino, who appear to have tripped the camera a little early!

(Photo of deer courtesy of Chert Hollow Farm, LLC. Thanks, Eric and Joanna!)

Yesterday I added 1953 University of Oregon cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. I have just eight of the twenty cards in the set, but since I don’t see them for sale very often, I thought I would display the ones I have. The cards are 2.25 by 3.5 inches, and the backs of the cards are all the same.

Four of the players in the 1953 Oregon set went on to play professionally. One of those players is pictured here: Jack Patera played seven years with the NFL’s Baltimore Colts, Chicago Cardinals, and Dallas Cowboys. In 1976, he became the first head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, and he coached the Seahawks for seven seasons. Patera was named the NFL Coach of the Year in 1979.

I filed the 1953 Oregon cards under Food and Regional Issues.

Ron Drzewiecki turned 80 years old yesterday; he was a running back and kick returner for the Chicago Bears in 1955 and 1957. As far as I know, Drzewiecki did not appear on a football card with the Bears, but he later appeared on a 1960 Fleer card with the Oakland Raiders. Drzewiecki signed to play with the Raiders in April, 1960, but I could not find any 1960 stats for him, so apparently he did not play in the regular season.

Drzewiecki played college football at Marquette University, and he was inducted into the Marquette M Club Hall of Fame in 1985. The Marquette library has several photos of Drzewiecki in action. (Marquette ended its football program in 1960.)

Drzewiecki is the 491st oldest living pro football player, according to oldestlivingprofootball.com.

Happy birthday, Mr. Drzewiecki!

Happy Friday! I found a few more interesting eBay auctions since Tuesday’s article, so here is Part 2. Can you tell that I like miscut cards?

• This oddly cut 1957 Topps Duane Putnam card appears to have been part of a salesman’s sample. (See the back of the card.) There is an example of a full three-card sample on the Legendary Auctions web site.
• On Tuesday I featured a group of wacky 1963 Topps miscuts. Today it’s a group of wacky 1969 Topps miscuts. Note that part of Ernie Koy’s card appears upside-down on the bottom of Doug Atkins’s card. That’s because every other row of cards was inverted on 1969 Topps uncut sheets.
• After seeing the cards above, this diamond-cut 1967 Philadelphia Junior Coffey card doesn’t look so bad. Still, that’s quite a diamond cut.
• A grading company called Certified Express apparently assigns grades to a tenth of a point. Here’s a 1964 Topps Tommy Addison card that the company graded 7.7. I wish I could make out the gold card to the left. Is that an explanation of the grade? If it is, that’s a nice feature.
• Finally, sometimes I do a search for “poor”, just to see what gems come up. “Poor” can mean anything from a pinhole to pieces missing. Today there’s a 1935 National Chicle Mike Mikulak card that doesn’t look too bad. There are a couple of 1894 Mayos available this week, too: Langdon Lea and Bert Waters.

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

To make them easier to find, I am converting some of my more popular blog articles into proper web pages and moving them to my Gallery site. Today I converted my article about Mr. Irrelevant and added it to Fun Pages section of the Gallery home page. I recently also converted my Cups of Coffee and Olympic Athletes articles. My experience is that the blog works best for newsy items, and static pages work better for information that doesn’t change much. If you are a site owner and happen to have linked to my blog articles, no worries, the links will be forwarded automatically.

Anyway, if you haven’t a clue who Mr. Irrelevant is, avoid embarrassment and check out the new Gallery page. Mr. Irrelevant 1961, Jacque MacKinnon, is pictured here.

Happy Tuesday! I already have a bunch of interesting eBay auctions bookmarked, so I thought I would get them out early this week.

• I haven’t seen one of these before: a 1961 Topps football card file copy page. This one contains cards 25-27, so I’m guessing that every card in the set appeared on a page like this.
• Here’s an undeveloped 1956 Parkhurst CFL card of Bud Grant, a member of both the U.S. Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. You can see a developed example of the card at classicauctions.net.
• I have never seen red 1969 Drenks Potato Chip Green Bay Packer pins before. Most of the Drenks pins listed on eBay are green.
• Clever marketing idea of the week: find some miscut cards that fit together and call them a “cut panel.”
• Here’s a nice lot of 1961 Lake to Lake Packers cards. These are the easy ones, though: 20 of the other 24 cards in the set are severely short-printed.
• Miscuts of the week: six crazily cut 1963 Topps cards. They remind me of when our old movie projector would get out of whack.
• Here’s a pretty nice near-set of 1956 New York Giants team issue photos. I didn’t know that Sam Huff’s legal name is Robert Lee Huff–did you?
• Decisions, decisions. Which well-loved 1971 Topps Larry Csonka card would you take, this one, or this one?
• I don’t know much about matchbooks, but this complete 1949 Baltimore Colts Y.A. Tittle matchbook has to be a prize. The seller has a few more AAFC matchbooks for sale, as well.
• I asked the seller how many of these “NM” 1973 Topps team checklists are checked. The response: 20.
• Finally, this huge lot of 1969 Topps cards looks like a bargain so far. And if you don’t mind low-grade cards, here’s a lot of 1000+ 1968 Topps cards.

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