Yes, I was busy

Just because I wasn't blogging here doesn't mean I wasn't doing hobby stuff. In fact, I was really getting after some sets I had been considering for a long time. They were all football sets and that was one reason I wasn't motivated to post. Not much interest in vintage football in the blogging world.

But I decided that I'd throw some stuff up here just because. I nabbed some oddball baseball sets as well and maybe they will find themselves here, too.

I posted some of the '71 Topps football set last year. I finished it off a few months ago with some COMC pickups. It's a fun set with the obvious colorful 1975T baseball set vibe going. The majority of the set is comprised of posed training field 'action' shots like Joe Willie here.

For the most part, the rest of the set consists of portraits. Many of them are practice field shots as well like this one of fellow Hall of Famer Paul Warfield, who will always be a Cleveland Brown in my mind. Some portraits were just cropped into headshots.

There is a sprinkling of game action shots. Dennis Shaw is one. Like everyone else seen in this set wearing a helmet, his is airbrushed.

Joe Greene's rookie card is the most expensive (and one of the least interesting) cards. But it's by no means hard to find. It was the last card I picked up for this bunch because I took my time to find one with the right balance of affordability and condition.

I pulled a random page to show off the colors and variety. AFC guys with red borders, NFC got blue. And the All-Stars got the combo treatment which really foreshadowed the '75 baseball set.

Kind of an interesting page there as I look at it. Alan Page has his game face on for sure. He is among the best defensive players I've ever seen. Spike Jones is not related to the 40s-era comedian and bandleader of the same name. But he does share the nickname. Duane Thomas was a real talent in the early 70s. His Wikipedia page is worth scrolling thru. Daryle Lamonica was known as the 'The Mad Bomber'. I always think of my childhood friend who called him Daryle Harmonica. It's no funnier now than it was then. 

And finally, there is Dick Anderson. He was a Pro Bowl level corner for a decade in Miami. He also sent a dagger through my heart in the 1971 AFC title game when he found a Johnny U pass in his arms and took it back 60+ yards for a soul-crushing score. Almost 50 years later and I'm still not sure I've ever recovered.

Because I like torturing myself I dug up (several) videos of the play on YouTube. The one below is in black and white but it features the NBC call by Curt Gowdy that still haunts me. Curt, of course, was an AFL guy and that came through in every broadcast. In this one, he all but explodes with joy. Funny thing, I never resented Gowdy. He was a fantastic broadcaster. I could stand watching more than I had to of this tape but it appears to be Curt's own analysis of the play from some sort of TV show. Whatever.

So that's the '71 Topps set. I have several more vintage sets complete. A couple have a few empty slots and are awaiting my COMC delivery scheduled for Tuesday.  I hope a few folks are interested in them because I'm going to keep posting 'em whether you like it or not. 😉😄

Some '97 Upper Deck QBs

Back in the pre-merger days I was never much of an AFL fan but looking back I can see that the league had a lot of appeal. Three of the standouts are quarterbacks featured in the 1997 UD Legends set.

First we have a shot of the 'Mad Bomber' Daryle Lamonica. He came out of Notre Dame and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills. He developed a reputation as a guy who'd throw deep in almost any situation but was languishing on the bench in Buffalo when he was acquired by Al Davis to replace the popular Tom Flores. Look back on Lamonica's numbers with the Raiders and they don't seem too impressive given the kind of pinball stats you see out of modern qbs, but in his day he was very impressive.

That's a cool shot of him on the card looking to throw down field. Throw off that back foot, Daryle, and throw as far as you can! He ended up winning Player of the Year awards in the late 60s.  

Jack Kemp shows up on one of the few portrait cards in the set. Kemp was the guy who started in front of Lamonica in Buffalo. He might have been the best of the AFL's quarterbacks and played in the league for it's entire 10 year run. He picked up an MVP award, too.

And yes, he is that Jack Kemp, former Cabinet member under the first George Bush and the Republican nominee on the Dole ticket in 1996. He died a couple of years ago. And, to beat the wise old Night Owl to the punch, the 'left leaning' scan is NOT a political statement, just a bit of technology-induced irony.

And finally we have the one and only Joe Willie Namath. I hated the guy for his brash ways when he began his pro career. Then he beat my Colts in Super Bowl III after predicting it! So I hated him even more. But through the years I've mellowed on almost everything when it comes to sports and rivalries. Besides, how can you hate a guy who hits on Suzy Kolber while drunk on national TV?

Hair today, Gone Tomorrow

The NFL had 'playboys' players before Joe Willie Namath came along (Paul Hornung and Frank Gifford come to mind) but Namath changed the way Americans looked at it's heroes. He was, as they say, brash and irreverent. He had the audacity to spit in the eye of the established NFL and with his Super Bowl III backed up his words. As a Baltimore Colt fan I was certainly no admirer of Namath, hell I hated him after that game but in retrospect he had a fine career. He's a Hall of Famer and, while his numbers don't bowl you over, he certainly had the 'celebrity' and charisma that made it impossible to keep him out.

I own two Namath cards with this 1972 being my favorite. The 1972 set is pretty mundane to my way of thinking but this card of Namath, with his hair, sideburns and far away gaze, is pretty cool. On this day of giving thanks..... Broadway Joe, I forgive you.

To restore the cosmic balance of the universe, however, I need to post a card of the greatest football player ever, John Constantine Unitas. It's a "Monarch Corona" card that someone sent my way a long time ago. I had no idea what it was until I googled that name this morning. Turns out that is a brand of privately printed cards that are manufactured and sold by a guy named Allen Miller. I'd be astounded to learn that any entity or athlete has actually authorized these cards so if you want to find out more you can google it yourself. I check out his website and I will say he does some nice work.

Anyway here is the 'anti-Namath', my hero, the great Johnny U.