Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

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.

Today is a milestone birthday for two players in the Vintage Football Card Gallery: Jim Kearney is 70 years old, and Tony Davis is 60.

Kearney played defensive back from 1965 to 1976 for the Detroit Lions, Kansas City Chiefs, and New Orleans Saints. He was a member of the Chiefs team that won Super Bowl IV against the Vikings. In 1972, Kearney returned four interceptions for touchdowns, tying an NFL record. He still shares that record with Ken Houston and Eric Allen.

Kearney is pictured here on his rookie card, a 1973 Topps. He also appeared on a few other cards and stamps.

Tony Davis was a running back from 1976 to 1981 for the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He also returned punts for two seasons with the Bengals. As far as I know, Davis did not appear on any regular issue football cards, but he did appear on University of Nebraska Playing Cards in 1973 and 1974. His 1973 card is pictured here, and you can see his 1974 card in the Gallery.

Happy birthday, Messrs. Kearney and Davis!

This week I added 1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. There are 115 cards in the set, and they closely resemble second series 1969 Topps NFL/AFL cards.

One of the 1970 O-Pee-Chee cards, Ed McQuarters, is pictured here. McQuarters played in exactly one NFL game before moving to Canada, so I added his card to my Cups of Coffee page. McQuarters starred for the Saskatchewan Roughriders for nine seasons, and he was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1988.

You can read more about the 1970 O-Pee-Chee set in the Vintage Football Card Gallery. For more CFL sets, see my page of Canadian football cards.

This week I picked up two more miscut cards that will help me figure out how 1962 Topps football cards were arranged on the uncut sheets. The Boyd Dowler card shown here has a sliver of Roger LeClerc’s card on the right, and the Steve Myhra card has a bit of Joe Walton’s card on the right. Both of these clues let me add on to pieces of the puzzle I already had. You can see my progress on the 1962 Topps virtual uncut sheet page of the Vintage Football Card Gallery. Scroll toward the bottom to see where the new pieces fit.

Why are uncut sheets interesting? See a previous article, U is for Uncut Sheets.

Former NFL linebacker Dale Lindsey turned 70 today; he played from 1965 to 1973 for the Cleveland Browns and New Orleans Saints. After his playing career, Lindsey became a coach, and he has had many coaching positions in colleges and the pros. (See the full list on the right side of his Wikipedia page.) Just three weeks ago, he was named head coach at the University of San Diego, a position recently held by 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh.

Lindsey appeared on one football card as a player, a 1973 Topps card, issued in his last NFL season. Though the card shows him with the Browns, Lindsey played for the Saints in 1973. Lindsey also appeared on a couple of NFL stamps while still with the Browns. You can see those on his page in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

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

• Last week I showed you a large lot of 1968 American Oil Mr. and Mrs. game cards, all of them losing halves. This week there’s a winning half available, Mr. Wayne Walker.
• Seller barnettscards has a group of 1959 Bazooka cards for sale, all neatly cut from the box. I really like these cards!
• The seller of this 1964 Topps Dan Birdwell card says the PSA holder is airtight. I wonder if that’s true? If it’s airtight, it’s watertight, too. Anyone ever dunk a graded card?
• Seller probstein123 has a few 1971 Topps rack packs up for auction.
• If “poor” is a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10, what is “very poor“?
• The creepy Chemtoy Superballs are back!
• Here’s a nice array of first series 1961 Fleer wrappers, all with different ads on them. When I bookmarked them, the seller also had some second series wrappers for sale, but those have sold.
• Seller cocicoco has a bunch of scarce 1959 Kahn’s Wieners cards for sale. You can still wiener stains on some of them, especially on the back.
• The original owner of this 1948 Leaf Ken Kavanaugh card apparently needed to remember the Alamo.
• Last but not least, it’s the last day to bid on my scarce-but-trimmed 1961 Lake to Lake Ray Nitschke pre-rookie card!

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

J.C. Caroline, who played defensive back for ten seasons with the Chicago Bears, is 80 years old today. Caroline made the Pro Bowl in his rookie season, 1956, and he collected 24 interceptions in his career with the Bears. He also played running back and returned kicks his first three seasons. He was a member of Chicago’s 1963 NFL Championship team.

In 1953, his sophomore year at Illinois, Caroline led the nation in rushing, and he finished seventh in voting for the Heisman Trophy. (See my page of football cards of Heisman candidates.) He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1980.

The card shown here is Caroline’s 1961 Topps football card. He also appeared on several other cards, which you can see on his page in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

According to the Oldest Living Pro Football Players web site, Caroline is the 491st oldest living pro football player.

Happy birthday, Mr. Caroline!

Whenever I see a copy of Bob DeMarco’s 1964 Philadelphia football card, I am puzzled. The image on the card was obviously airbrushed, but I don’t know why the card company would have airbrushed it. DeMarco had been with the Cardinals since his rookie season, 1961, so they wouldn’t have needed to change him out of another NFL team’s colors.

One possibility is that the photo was from DeMarco’s college days (he played at Dayton), and the card company wanted to cover his college jersey. (For an example of that, see John Brockington’s 1972 Topps cards.) That seems unlikely, though, since 1964 was DeMarco’s fourth year out of college, and they should have had a photo of him in a Cardinals uniform by then.

Another possibility is that DeMarco had been wearing a white Cardinals jersey for his photo, like the one on his 1966 card, but Philadelphia wanted all of the Cardinals in the set to be wearing red. The problem with that theory is that there are other players in the set whose jerseys don’t match the rest of their team, and their images haven’t been airbrushed. Tommy McDonald, for example, played for the Cowboys in 1964, but he is pictured still in Eagles green, not Cowboys blue.

At least one other image in the 1964 Philadelphia set appears to have been airbrushed, also, though not as badly: on Dick Schafrath’s card, it looks like Schafrath’s jersey was painted on. I can’t explain that one, either, unless it was to hide the neck roll he is shown wearing on his later Philadelphia cards.

Anyone else have a theory to explain the airbrushing?

Randy White, the great Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle, turned 60 today. White played for the Cowboys from 1975 to 1988, and he was first team all-NFL seven times in that span. He played in three Super Bowls, and he was a co-MVP in Super Bowl VII, in which the Cowboys beat the Denver Broncos. (He shared the honor with teammate Harvey Martin.) White was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994.

In 1974, at the University of Maryland, White won the Outland Trophy, awarded to “the nation’s most outstanding interior lineman.” He also placed ninth in voting for the Heisman Trophy in 1974.

The card pictured here is White’s rookie card, a 1976 Topps. You can see more cards of Outland Trophy winners and Heisman Trophy candidates in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Artie Owens is 60 years old today; he was a wide receiver and kick returner from 1976 to 1980 for the San Diego Chargers, Buffalo Bills, and New Orleans Saints. He also played one season, 1983, for the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL. Owens played college football at West Virginia University, where he also starred in track. He was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.

As far as I know, Owens did not appear on a football card as a pro, but he did appear on the 1974 West Virginia playing card pictured here. A few of his teammates in the deck of 1974 West Virginia cards made it to the NFL, as well.

Happy birthday, Mr. Owens!

If you have been following this blog, you know that I recently added several sets of CFL football cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. While adding the CFL cards, I encountered a few players who also appeared on cards for teams in both the NFL and AFL. To spotlight those players, I created a new Gallery page called Cards in Three Leagues.

One of the three-league players, Tobin Rote, is pictured here on his 1961 Topps CFL card. To see the others, check out my new page. And, in case you haven’t seen them, check out the Gallery’s other fun pages, too!

Former New York Giants running back Tucker Frederickson turned 70 today, according to his profile on the NFL web site. The Giants chose Frederickson with the first overall pick in the 1965 NFL Draft, and he played for the team from 1965 to 1971. He made the Pro Bowl once, in his rookie season.

In 1964, at Auburn, Frederickson placed sixth in voting for the Heisman Trophy. (See my page of football cards of Heisman candidates.) He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994.

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

Happy birthday, Mr. Frederickson!

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

• If I hadn ‘t just bought one, I would grab this 1958 Topps CFL set.
• Like oddball cards? Here’s a huge lot of 1968 American Oil Mr. and Mrs. cards. Find two matching halves, and you could win a new 1969 Ford!
• The seller calls them error cards, but these are actually large lots of 1960 Fleer proofs: some yellow, and some without the yellow. Each lot includes a Ron Mix rookie card.
• Honest seller of the week: the person selling this touched up Fran Tarkenton rookie card. (Tip: when buying 1962 Topps cards, look at the edges. If someone touched up a corner, chances are good that the black ink will have bled onto the edge.)
• EX-NM? More like P-F.
• I haven’t done the math, but this lot of Chicago Bears team sets from 1948 to 2010 might be worth an offer. The older cards are worn, but there are numerous rookie cards of Hall of Famers in there.
• It took me a minute to remember why I bookmarked this 1975 Saints team issue photo of Larry Burton. It’s because he was a sprinter in the 1972 Olympics, and I want to add him to my page of Olympic athletes on vintage football cards.
• Uncut sheet of the week: a second series 1961 Fleer sheet.
• This Farah slacks Don Maynard photo is odd, don’t you think? Did Farah make football pants?
• Finally, don’t forget to bid on my scarce-but-trimmed 1961 Lake to Lake Ray Nitschke pre-rookie card!

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