Football Is Back

And I for one am happy about it. Not much going on for me hobby-wise so in honor of the Chiefs whipping up on the Texans here is the second-to-last card I had on my needs list for my '61 Fleer build.

Hall of Famer Johnny Robinson's rookie card has been a pain to find in nice shape at a decent price. I really can't figure out why it's such a costly card. Then again, I guess I've already answered my own question... HoF+rookie.

You'll note that the Chefs were originally the Dallas Texans. So this evening we have the NFL kicking off with the current vs former 'Texans' clubs. I gave up my Texans season tickets this year. I'd owned them since the first day they were available back in 2001. I simply got tired of throwing good money towards a franchise that doesn't seem to be intent on winning.

Add to that the fact that in 2019 they awarded a grant to one of Houston's biggest private health clinics, one that serves many in the minority and gay communities in Houston, most for little or nothing. But when the owner found out about who his board had awarded the grant to he refused to allow the founder/CEO on to the field to accept the check. they mailed it to her. She happens to be one of my wife and I's closest friends, an incredible woman, and a Texans season ticket holder herself. That soured me on the organization.

As I type this the Houston Texans are getting their asses kicked by the former Dallas Texans. I'm not upset. 

the last card for this fun set that I needed was the Don Meredith rookie. I landed it last week. The seller finally shipped it yesterday. I can wait. It'll be fun to put this thing to bed.

Pandemic Life

Things have been pretty quiet as far as my hobby activities are concerned. No card shows mean I'm cut off from my chief source of want-list killing. I've had some stuff arrive in fits and spurts so I figured they'd make a post if I stuck 'em together.

Up top is the Tom Flores card from the 1961 Fleer set. It was one of the three pricey rookies that I put off finding until the end. The others are Don Meredith and Johnny Robinson. This card was an absolute bargain due to the pencil mark on the front. Oh, and a worn-down corner. Paying $14 for a card that averages 10 times that is a small victory. The Meredith card is going to be much tougher to nab.

It was just announced that Flores is a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame for 2021. He was the first Hispanic coach in the NFL. I hope he makes it into the HoF. But the good old boys that do the voting have some strange ways.

This next card falls into a category I mentioned in my last post, the "I'd have sworn that set was done but turns out I need it!" thing. When I bought the Bart Starr card for this 1960 Topps set I thought I'd put it to bed. Nope. Flipping through the pages showed me an open slot where Dave Middleton should have been so it was off the SportsLots I went.

Middleton played halfback and split end (I'm showing my age, I know what those positions are) for the Lions from 1955 through 1960 after a college career at Auburn. He finished with the expansion Vikings in 1961 (he's got a card in the '61 Fleer set). His claim to fame is catching a TD pass in the NFL title game in 1957 when the Lions destroyed the Browns, 59-14.


No story behind the rest of these other than the '79s being upgrades to that finished set. Yes, it really is finished, I checked.

I bought a '96 Topps set to commemorate my fantasy football title that season and the thing was missing the Farve card on the right. That's the second or third time in the last year that a set listed as 'complete' on eBay has arrived with something missing. Luckily, the cards I've had to track down were easy to locate and cheap enough.

I added the one of the left to the order because I liked it. And if I'm going to spend a buck for shipping on a 50 cent card I might as well buy a second fifty center and call it even.

That's it for now. I'm taking advantage of the quiet hobby time to write up a bunch of posts for my 1960 blog and finish up my look at the many color combos that Topps used. Lots of work, but some fun research.

A Thing of Beauty

Most of the sets I collect appeal to me for nostalgic reasons, i.e. I collected the cards as a kid and they bring back memories of that time.

This is not one of those sets. I decided to collect the 1961 Fleer football set for one reason alone...it's flat out awesome. I have no recollection of having seen these things back in the day. I collected baseball starting around 1959 but the first football cards I remember having are the '63 Topps cards and the Philly Gum sets circa 1964.

But I've owned the Baltimore Colts from this set for a long time and the Lenny Moore card has always been one of my favorites from any set. You can see my post on this card by clicking here. And my look at the Colts in this set (and how they compare to the '61 Topps cards) is available by going here.

I think the set is beautiful in its simplicity. It was issued in two series, one for the NFL teams and the other of the AFL bunch. SCD has the background details in a story from 2017. I'm just going to throw some cards up here and comment on them.

That's not Jim Brown's best card but it's not his worst either. Bonus points for Brownie. The use of the cartoon-style logos, official or otherwise, is one of the set's charms.

At the TriStar show earlier this year I found myself with my needs list, sitting at a dealer's table leafing through a binder of these things. At that point, I was probably 40 or so short IIRC. When the guy saw what I was looking at he flipped out and went on and on about how much he loved this set, how beautiful he thought it looked in a binder (my kind of guy, obviously). He told me that it was the one set he had built in graded AND raw form.

I made big strides at that table and one other towards finishing this thing off. I can't remember exactly but I was down to needing less than a dozen when I walked out. As of this post, I still lack three, all rookies...Don Meredith, Tom Flores, and Johnny Robinson. I'm going to be patient with them as I've found some of the others pop up as bargains from time to time.

Whatever that is on the left side of  Bart Starr's head is part of the photo, not a flaw on the card's surface. And I didn't notice right away but the logo has Wisconsin flipped in the wrong direction. The logo on the back is the same way.

Speaking of the backs. They are simple, they are pale green on cream, they tend to fade, and the numbers seem to disappear on a lot of them. In other words, they suck. The back of the Don Joyce card is an example of a back that has survived without much fading. The Paul Maguire card back, on the other hand, is a pretty good example of what you'll find with the lower condition cards. Most of my set is somewhere in between. You'll also find that a lot of the cards are warped and a certain number are cut short top-to-bottom. I thought they might be trimmed but I believe it's just how they were cut at the factory.

The Oilers played their early games at what was then called Jeppesen Stadium on/next to the University of Houston campus. They practiced on fields that later became part of UH's recreation and intramural programs that I was heavily involved in through the early '80s. Those buildings in the background were across Scott Street from campus and were around when I worked there and some may still be.

I love this Blanda card, btw. High tops, wonderful Oilers uni and nearly matching blue sky and puffy clouds. Sweet.

The Titans played in the Polo Grounds before they became the Jets. Here's the guy who would become Joe Willie's favorite target in his navy and gold.

My guy, Tommy McDonald. This card doesn't match the rest of the Eagles in the set which is a bit odd considering he was in his fourth year with them. One of the neat things about the set is that so many cards within each team grouping 'match' in terms of background, style of photo, poses, or all three. More on that below.

I found a signed Paul Hornung. The sig is kind of faint but it's there. I gravitate to 'all-purpose' players like Hornung, Lenny Moore, Gale Sayers, etc and I collect a lot of their cards.

Here's former US Congressman, HUD Secretary, and 1988 presidential hopeful Jack Kemp. It's his rookie card and one of the pricier ones in the set.

The great Ray Berry. His pose, hands-on-hips at Memorial Stadium, is very much like that of Lenny Moore.

The Bears are the first team in the checklist, which is arranged using team nicknames alphabetically. They have nine cards in the set so it makes a perfect example of 'matching' cards within a team subset. This is Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, so I'd venture a guess they were photographed before the Colts-Bears game there in 1960. Colts won that one on a Johnny U to Lenny Moore TD pass late. Their second scoring hookup of the game.

A page of Chargers (with a Bronco sneaking in) shows that some Fleer photogs switched things up just a bit with their poses.

The Giants cards get that terrific Yankee Stadium-based logo. I know that some don't like the fact that a team nicknamed 'Big Blue' uses so much red but I gotta tell ya, these unis (and therefore cards) are fantastic. I love the Robustelli card. It's easy to imagine the photographer yelling 'Hey, Andy!' and snapping when Robostelli turned from the group of players he was standing with.

The Eagles were, for the most part, pictured in Franklin Field where they played back then. The stadium is on Penn's campus and still in use today. UPenn Quaker football, concerts, and the Penn Relays are regular occupants.

The fieldhouse in the background is distinctive.

Still looks about the same, yes?

Cowboys got their pics taken at Yankee Stadium. The date was December 4 of 1960 and the Cowboys tied the Giants, 31-31. It was the only game that they did not lose during that initial season for the club. The Giants, meanwhile, went 1-3-2 at home and Jim Lee Howell was canned.

1961 was the first season for the Minnesota Vikings and Fleer made cards of seven players who had been photographed the year before. Like former Colt Don Joyce.

Finishing up with an interesting card. Randy Duncan was one of the best college players you've never heard of. At Iowa in the late 50s, he was Big Ten MVP, Walter Camp Award winner, Heisman runner-up and led the Hawkeyes to consecutive Rose Bowl wins. He was drafted by the Packers as the first pick in the 1959 draft but opted to play in Canada. The BC Lions offered him a better contract. Oh, how times have changed.

After two seasons he returned to the States and was signed by the AFL's Dallas Texans. He started two games for the '61 Texans and retired after that one season after Hank Stram drafted Len Dawson. He returned to his other love and finished law school at SMU. He's in the College Football Hall of Fame.

This card is very different from the rest of the Texans' cards and I decided to poke around on the web.

Sure enough, I found this photo of Duncan from his days at Iowa.

My first thought was that Fleer had painted a helmet on him (in addition to obviously colorizing the uni in Texan's red/white) but I noticed that his left arm is in a different position. And the barely visible numbers on the side of his helmet match Iowa's helmets exactly. If  Fleer had created the helmet artistically they wouldn't have used those numbers I don't believe.

More likely is that the photographers at Iowa's picture day had players pose with and without helmets, etc.

Well, so much for that little side trip down a rabbit hole.

To paraphrase Bum Phillips on Earl Campbell...the 1961 Fleer set may not be in a class by itself but it damn sure doesn't take long to take roll.

Baltimore Colt Card History Pt. 3 The Early 60s.

1960 Topps #5 Jim Parker

After the two colorful and innovative sets Topps produced in '58 and '59 they took a step back in 1960, at least in my eyes. 

1960 Topps

On the plus side Topps had better photographs in the '60 set than the ones they used previously. Mostly posed portraits and 'action' shots with training camp backgrounds. But the set is otherwise pretty nondescript. The player names, team and position on a color football. The colors are random through the set with the Colts getting mostly red with a couple of orange and a yellow. Other teams had blue and green mixed in. To me the design isn't 'clean' enough to be clean (and I do like plain, simple designs) nor is it 'fancy' enough to be 'fancy'. If that makes any sense. It's just sort of 'there'. 

The Colts got the first 10 cards in the 132 card set with #11 being their team card. The Colts' team card has the second series checklist on the reverse.

1960 Topps #4 Ray Berry

The Johnny Unitas card always draws comments because of his 'spaced out' expression. My 'Colts Project' copy is far from pristine but it fills the spot. I have a nicer copy in my Unitas PC. 

1960 Topps #1 Johnny Unitas

1960 Topps #6 George Preas

I wish Topps had used the actual background for the team cards. I don't understand the point of doing otherwise. They have used natural backgrounds on previous team cards so why do this in a set where player cards show trees, grass and sky? It was one of my complaints with the 1959 baseball set as well. At least the leaping colt makes an appearance.

1960 Topps #11 Colts Team w/2nd Series checklist back

Green card backs are new. The usual vitals appear at the top with either year/career numbers or a bio blurb below that. 'Football Funnies", at least the ones I can read on the cards I have, are not particularly football related outside of kids wearing helmets in 'Bazooka joke style' comic panels.

Here is the above comic panel shown in a larger scan.

1960 Topps Metallic Sticker

Topps had these 'metallic stickers' as inserts in 1960. The above image is actually the one I purchased from COMC and and am awaiting delivery on. The fact that I'm now close enough to finishing off my wantlist of vintage Colts regular cards that I can chase inserts is a good sign I guess.

In '60 Fleer had jumped into the football card game with a set featuring players from the brand new AFL. In 1961 they expanded their football offering and included NFL cards. Topps added AFL players to their set as well in '61 so while this was the 2nd year of competition for kids' nickels between the two companies it was the first (and only) year that saw them both going 'all out' with players from both leagues.

1961 Topps

Topps' set in 1961 isn't much of an improvement over 1960 and may very well be a step backwards. The eight Colts included are shown with portrait photos for the most part. These are cut and pasted on solid color backgrounds of orange, red or yellow. Green and blue backgrounds show up with other teams. There are no team logos on either the front or back. The Fleer set used the teams' logos so I'm not sure if there was a licensing issue this year. Anyone?

1961 Topps #6 Jim Parker 

1961 Topps #4 Ray Berry

1961 Topps #9 Colts Team

Blue backs are new but the standard elements remain. Vitals, a bio paragraph or stat box and a 'coin rub' cartoon are set horizontally for the player cards.

The team card, horizontal on the front gets a vertical back.

Scattered throughout the set are '1960 Football Highlights' cards. The Colts are shown on this one commemorating Johnny U's 25 TD passes. His numbers were impressive at the time but in the current NFL they would be mundane. Times have changed.

1961 Topps #57 Highlights Johnny Unitas

The tattoos that Topps issued in the early 60s as inserts are generally out-of-sight pricewise, particularly the Unitas which is considered a 'test issue'. But this sticker, which I just purchased minus the tab (you can see the perforation markings on the left), was very cheap.

                                              1961 Topps 'flocked' sticker

Meanwhile, across the tracks, Fleer was producing what may be my favorite football set not issued by Philly Gum.

1961 Fleer

The majority of the players in the Fleer set are shown in pregame stadium shots and many of the NFL players had their picture taken at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. That fact, I'll admit, has a bearing on my view of this set. But beyond that these are terrific cards. These are football players by God!

The cards feature great posed portraits, the team logo and clean white borders and text block. There are ten Colts in the set, seven of them are in the Pro or College Football Hall of Fame, or both.

1961 Fleer #36 Bill Pellington

1961 Fleer #39 Art Donovan

1961 Fleer #37 Gino Marchetti

The backs don't quite match up to the fronts but the team logo makes another appearance at least. Each player gets a minimal info block and a fair sized paragraph write-up.

The light green doesn't do much to make the cards readable and on faded/browned cardboard like the Marchetti card below the white name and green titles all but disappear. Several of my cards in this set have similar back issues so I guess it's an issue with the cardboard used.

But despite the shortcomings on the reverse the fronts put the '61 Fleer far ahead of the Topps set. I've scanned four examples of the cards of the same player for comparisons sake. Take a look:

That Fleer Lenny Moore, with the view of the scoreboard along the right edge, is a Top Ten football card in my collection. And I'm more in love with that Fleer Artie Donovan card every time I see it. Those Fleer cards are just more 'alive'. It's too bad the company was relegated to 'AFL only' cards for the next two seasons before leaving the football cards business for a decade.

For the next two seasons Topps was again in the driver's seat as far as NFL cards were concerned. Luckily it appears that they were spurred on to better designs in 1962 and 1963. Oh, and Post cereal boxes featured NFL players in 1962. I've got some Colts to show off, too.

1962 Topps

For the first time since 1957 Topps went with a horizontal format for it's cards in '62. And the black border was downright revolutionary, at least in Topps sports cards. The cards, with a large full color shot and a smaller action one, are not unlike the 1960 Topps baseball cards. Name, team and position appear in a color box. The Colts had red and yellow boxes while other teams had these colors as well as blue and green.

1962 Topps #8 Gino Marchetti

1962 Topps #5 Raymond Berry

There were eleven Colts players plus a Colts team card in the 176 card set.

1962 Topps #12 Baltimore Colts Team 

1962 Topps #3 Alex "The Hawk" Hawkins

Vertical backs featured basic info, vitals, stats and/or a short bio and a cartoon that was tied into a football quiz question. The cartoon artwork seems more detailed and sophisticated than much of what has been seen up to now. I like it a lot.

Topps issued Football Bucks, miniature dollar bills with NFL players in 1962 as an insert into the packs of their football cards. There were four Colts in the 48 cards set. I need all four at this point, mostly because I haven't done a whole lot of insert chasing. They range from about $5 for Lenny Moore to $35 for Unitas.

1962 Post

Post Cereal boxes carried NFL cards that mirrored their baseball counterparts of the era. I have 11 of the 15 Colts. All are posed action shots with training camp backgrounds. Lots to love with these. You can find these in poorly trimmed condition (which I obviously have) and that holds down the cost. I'm fine with Post cards in this condition.

Topps had one more year of producing NFL cards before the licence went to Philadelphia Gum for four years.

1963 Topps

The 1963 football card set is colorful and fun. The 170 card set had eleven players for each team and a team card. The Colts cards are yellow and orange/brown. Johnny Unitas got card #1 for the fifth consecutive year. Oddly the team card (for all teams) didn't match the colors found on the players cards. The Unitas card is, as expected, the most expensive of the group. As is the case for the 1962 Unitas I lack a 1963 copy for this project but I have a mid-grade slabbed one for my Unitas PC.

Lots of grass, sky and trees are found behind the Colts players, five of whom are in the Hall of Fame. Taken individually these cards might not make you say "What a cool set!" but flipping through a few 9-pocket pages of these things will convince you it is.

1963 Topps #11 Bob Boyd

1963 Topps #9 Billy Ray Smith

1963 Topps #3 Ray Berry

1963 Topps #12 Baltimore Colts Team

'63 saw Topps change the color of the backs once again. The orange on white backs have the standard info and stats or a short bio. The cartoon is different though. Now it is in the form of a question pertaining to the player on the card and the answer is revealed by laying a small sheet of red cellophane over it. The cellophane came in every pack. I believe it is the first time the cellophane was used with a Topps product since the 1952 mostly non-sport Look 'N See set. Don't quote me on that though.

1963 will be the last Topps football set to contain NFL players until 1968. For the next four years the NFL license was held by the Philadelphia Gum Company and Topps took over the production of AFL cards. Fleer was the 'odd company out' and would be out of the football card business until the mid-1970s.

The Philly Gum sets will all be posted in the next of this series. The four editions range from good to terrific. Completing at least one of them is a 'back burner' project for me.