1997 Upper Deck Legends of the NFL

Football sets don't get much love on the blogs, particularly non-vintage sets. Here's one that deserves some. I think this '97 Upper Deck Legends was one of those sets that people purchased for the 'hits' (signed cards) and then just sold off the base cards cheaply. I believe I stumbled across it at a show at a bargain price. I've featured some of these in prior posts but never really looked at the entire set.

However I got it, I'm glad I did. The photography is terrific. Lots of classic shots like this one of my former 'Public Enemy #1', Joe Namath.

I'm sure there is a term for what my scanner does to the pics but I'm not a photo nerd, so I have no clue. But, believe me, they look sweet in hand. Upper Deck had its faults but finding and using beautiful sports photos wasn't one of them. Stadium Club gets accolades (deservedly) for its use of unique and beautiful photographs. But UD had its share of nice sets as well.

There is a high nostalgic value to the set for me certainly. This Tittle card, maybe my favorite in the set, reminds me of watching late afternoon Giants games with my father. BTW..sideline capes are simply not getting enough use these days.

Bart Starr was another guy who was on my youthful 'enemies list'. He was the focal point of the hated Packers. But looking back over time I've come to appreciate his greatness. I can hear the late, great CBS (and Packers) broadcaster Ray Scott with his minimalist play calls..."Starr.......... this is Dowler..... touchdown."

Not every card is of a quarterback, obviously

Scattered thru the set are some of those classic old school pix that appeared on cards. Helmet-less pulling guards...

...and helmet-less receivers doing their thing.

Speaking of the Bears this picture of Mike Singletary perfectly sums up his approach to the game.

As does this one of my guy, Mike Curtis.

The set is dominated by color shots but some great B7W cards appear throughout.

The backs have full career stats and a small write-up and career highlights. The photo used on the reverse is sometimes the same as the one on the front, but not always.

The set consists of 208 cards, the final 30 of which are 'Super Bowl Memories' and this subset has a different design.

If I had a quibble it would be with this next 10 card subset.

The Legendary Leaders include coaches and pioneers which is a fine idea. But choosing to use a different design detracts from the overall set. At least it does for me when I'm flipping through the pages. That shot of Lombardi would have looked better using the set's basic design. Maybe grouping them together would have been the way to go but in any case it's a small thing and the set doesn't suffer much as it is.

I mentioned autographed cards. Most of the 178 player cards were available in an autographed version. Apparently not all the players returned the cards in time but most did. The signed insert versions have a back that states that it is the authorized signed version. I decided to just find a binder page worth of these. They are not rare and many are very reasonable. I'm at six and I'll add three more on my next COMC visit.

Here are three of mine. I had bought this Lenny Moore card sometime back as a supplement to my Colts collection.

There is more to the set than I have time to write about, other available subsets, 'jumbo' cards which I assume were box toppers and so on. Cardboard Connection has a very thorough summary and delves into the similar sets UD did for other sports.

Football card folks really should look into this if they haven't already. Of course, as with most hobby stuff, I'm probably the last guy to have figured this out and its old news to everyone else. :-)

10 Posts, 10 Cards, 10 Books, 10 Songs (#3)

My wife has been out of town most of the week so it was the perfect time for a crack party. Now hold on. It wasn't what you just thought. You see I've had about a dozen graded cards that need to be in my set binder kicking around my hobby room for months. Today I grabbed a pair of pliers, a flat screwdriver and those encased cards and went to town. The result? Filled binder holes and a few upgraded cards as well.

That Mike Schmidt was one of them. He had a place reserved in my '76 binder and since it was filling up fast I needed him in there with his friends. A '76 Ryan joined him.

Here is Schmidt before he was free to breathe.

The others who were paroled from plastic prisons were from Topps 1959 and 1962 sets (all upgrades) and several 1961s. Those were filling holes. And rest assured that the broken plastic pieces were properly disposed of. They went into the recycling bin. The best news is that I didn't damage a single card which shows that I'm improving my skills.

There are dozens of Muhammad Ali bios. Just search Amazon and you'll be overwhelmed. But of the few I've read David Remnick's King of the World is head and shoulders above the rest. It's nearly twenty years old but the story holds up. Great writer detailing a fascinating man. Reading about the Liston and Patterson fights, which I thought I knew quite a bit about, was eye-opening. Amazon has copies for under $2 plus shipping. 

I grew up listening to Top 40 A.M. radio during the time of the British Invasion. The Beatles, Dave Clark Five, the Kinks, etc. Mixed in was a lot of Beach Boys, Motown and Philly Soul. But when I got to high school my group of friends (and therefore the music I heard) changed quite a bit. 

One artist I discovered and came to love was King Curtis. Curtis Ousley was a terrific sax player, bandleader and composer. He died far too young. I absolutely wore out this album in the early seventies. Heavy rotation in my dorm suite alongside Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, and Miles Davis.

King Curtis live at the Fillmore West  Soul Serenade

Bonus content: I found this video looking for the above one. It's from the Montreux Jazz Festival. I had this whole thing on a reel-to-reel tape at one time. Never had a player so I had to date someone with one. Here 'tis: King Curtis & Champion Jack Dupree Live from Montreux 1971

We Interrupt This Charles Bender Blog....

...to bring you a few football cards that arrived from north of the border. Angus (Dawg Day Cards) sent me these sweet cards and they fit right into my modern Baltimore Colts collection. It was one of those totally unexpected deliveries. And aren't those the best kind?

First up is a signed Mike Curtis. This comes from a 2004 Upper Deck set and is my first Curtis signed card.

I'll admit to some prejudice but I've always felt that Mike Curtis has never gotten his due as a player. He was famously hard charging player who also had a nose for the football. He had 25 interceptions in what amounted to eight full seasons. A lot of folks remember his for one moment on the field when he slammed a fan who attempted to make off with the game ball.

But he was much more than that and I think he's Hall of Fame worthy. But the good old boy network that runs the Hall has never seen it that way. Of course they are the same guys who denied John Mackey entrance for over a decade because of his Players Association work.

But it's a great card and much appreciated.

The other two are both of Raymond Berry, one of my football PCs.

Shiny Chrome Prizm above...

..and a real beauty from the Donruss Americana set. (I think...the fine print on the back is really, really fine!

Here is a fun little video about Mike Curtis.

Thanks so much Angus.

And this is as good a place as any to post my Colts World Champions sticker sheet. I was directed to some of these on eBay but I had a package of sheets from back in the day. Amazingly they came from a Hallmark store in Catonsville, Maryland long, long ago.

1971-72 NFLPA Wonderful World BALTIMORE Colts Stamps

Back when I was doing my rundown of all things BALTIMORE Colts I came across this stamp set which was listed as the NFLPA Wonderful World Set/Album. There were 15 players from each NFL team in the set for a total of 390. The stamps were distributed in packs of 8.  

They albums issued in '71 and '72 have different covers as do the packs. But the stamps are very close to being identical in both year's sets. I had a few stray singles but a month or so ago I came across a listing for the complete Colts set. It was pretty cheap so I picked it up. 

The stamps themselves are very simple with no text on the front and just a minimum ID on the back. A short write-up is found in the box for each players' stamp in the album. I scanned most of the Colts. This being an unlicenced set there are no team logos to be found. 

The great John Unitas. This was just as he was starting to let his hair grow out. No more flattop for Johnny U.

Next is another Hall of Famer, John Mackey. John has those 70's sideburns going for sure.

Badass linebacker Mike 'Mad Dog' Curtis.

Did I mention he was a bad ass?

Below is left tackle Bob Vogel. The logo on his helmet is whited out giving the impression that he's holding a balloon. 

Here is the back of one of the stamps.

Norm Bulaich, the 'Human Bowling Ball'.

Another balloon holder, receiver Eddie Hinton.

Safety Rick Volk.

Ted 'The Mad Stork' Hendricks

Versatile halfback Tom Matte.

And finally the hero of Super Bowl V, Jim O'Brien.

Excuse me just a second as I re-live a great moment:

Anyway I found some photos on eBay of the album and wrappers from both years of this thing.

I spied my high school hero Ben Hawkins on the Eagles page. I may have to track his stamp down. 

Lastly here is what Beckett has to say on these:

This set of 390 stamps was issued in both 1971 and 1972 under the auspices of the NFL Players Association in conjunction with an album entitled "The Wonderful World of Pro Football USA." The album features a photo of Earl Morrall and Mark Washington from Super Bowl V. The stamps are numbered and measure approximately 1 15/16" by 2 7/8". The team order of the album is arranged alphabetically according to the city name and then alphabetically by player name within each team The picture stamp album contains 30 pages measuring approximately 9 1/2" by 13 1/4". The text narrates the story of pro football in the United States. The album includes spaces for 390 color player stamps. The checklist and stamp numbering below is according to the album. There are some numbering and very slight text variations between the 1971 and 1972 issues on some stamps.

It's nice to knock another oddball item off my BALTIMORE Colts wantlist.

Pierce-related GQ Minis

Before we made our trip to Chicago Jedi Jeff of 2x3 Heroes sent me a handful of cards. Three of them were 2016 Gypsy Queen minis of White Sox players and they will make it into my Billy Pierce collection. Or at least into the 'Pierce-related' pages I keep in the back of my Pierce binder.

All three display the player in a way that shows off the #19 memorial patch they wore following Pierce's death last July. The Minnie Minoso patch (#9) is visible as well. They re a little hard to see in the scans so I blew up a part of the Rondon card above. Take a look:

I've been trying to find one of those patches since they were used last year. I see plenty of team uni patches for sale on the net but not this one. I poked around every kiosk and team store I could find in Comiskey but they don't seem to be available. I'll keep looking though because sometimes I'm surprised by what turns up on eBay.

Jeff also tossed in a couple of Orioles. This is a 2005 Topps something or other of Boog Powell. Any card with a Topps Rookie trophy is worth having. I'm not sure why the back scanned so poorly though.

Speaking of Boog Powell....here is a headline from ESPN a few weeks back that gave me pause:

Mariners minor leaguer Boog Powell gets 80-game suspension for PEDs

I had no idea there was another Boog Powell in baseball. But there is. And he's in trouble.

Finally here's an SP card of one of those Orioles whose career was totally eclipsed by my 'baseball boycott' of the late 90s. It's Curtis Goodwin and this shiny chromified die-cut beauty just screams '1990s hobby cards'. 

Goodwin stole 22 bases for the '95 Orioles and repeated that number for the '97 Reds but never was able to grab himself a full time job as he bounced around to a handful of other clubs. I learn a lot from these cards of guys I never knew existed.

Thanks again Jeff. I'm on the lookout for a '19' patch for BOTH of us.

Baltimore Colts' Card History Pt. 9...1980 & 1981

This was originally to be a post covering the final four years of cards for the Colts franchise in Baltimore. But given the amount of scans that would cram into one entry I'm going to break it in half.

1980 Topps

Topps gave the '80 set a sort of pop art-ish look. The name/team/position element reminds me of the Yellow Submarine. I dunno, maybe it's just me.

In any case the photos are heavily weighted towards sideline game shots. They were vertical and the Colts got the green/yellow combo. The border around the name, etc. matched the border around the front picture.

I'm not a fan of the deep red of the backs. I think it makes the text difficult to read. The cartoon relates to the team, not necessarily the particular player on the card. Stats for the skills guys, block text for the grunts. No surprises or innovations as to what the backs contained.

The team leader card had the team checklist on the reverse. I'll give Topps credit for using two different Joe Washington pics on this one.

Joe Washington's photo is the same on the Receiving Leaders card as it is on the Colts leaders card. And the same as it was on the 1978 team leaders card...and his base card. Never let it be said that Topps didn't ring every last possible use out of a photo.

1980 Fleer

Fleer again has the same four cards for the Colts, two showing 'Team Action' and one for each of the Colts' two Super Bowl appearances. Nothing new here except the idea that the 1981 Topps cards bear a passable resemblance to these '80 Fleer cards. 

I like this one because you get that Memorial Stadium infield dirt and the  wooden temporary stands of stadium in the background. 

Topps issued some over-sized cards they called Topps Super in '80 but there were no Colts included. A company called Marketcom had poster-like cards that began in 1980 and whose lifespan carried over several seasons. I don't have any but they are easy to find and generally pretty cheap. I'll grab the Bert Jones versions soon enough. He's the only Colt that I'm aware of in the sets.

1981 Topps

With the flag/banner waving thing on the front along with the red/yellow/blue color combo on the Colts cards the 1981 set has become one of my favorites of the era. 

Most of the Colts appear in sideline shots. And for the final time Topps airbrushes team logos out of them.

A sort of orange-brown made the backs not all that easy to read. But a lot of that depended on the text size.

Man, those stats on the back of Greg Landry's card are tiny!

The Team Leader card once again had the team checklist on the reverse.

This was the first year for 'Super Action cards. As the name implies they were game action shots.

Curtis Dickey rep'd the Colts and got the write-up on the back. 

1981 Fleer 

Fleer was back as always with the Team Action and Super Bowl cards. They mixed things up a bit in '81. The Super Bowl cards had stat dominated backs.

The Team action cards were issued for each team's offense and defense. The backs had that units numbers from the prior season.

They threw a curve, though. They extended the set from 70 to 88 cards with the last being game shots without a team mentioned or having either team's helmet there either.

The backs had a rather generic sentence pertaining to the picture on the front as well as a rules quiz. Note the card has a Colts helmet on the back yet they point of the picture is the Steelers' qb getting the ball off to avoid a sack.

1981 Coke and Coke Premiums

Produced by Topps these Coke cards came in team specific packs, three to a cello pack along with a header card. Seven teams were involved with the promotion. The 11 Colts were all cards also found in the Topps regular issue for '81. A Coca-Cola logo was added to the fronts and it also replaced the Topps logo on the back. The numbering of the cards was different and the shade of red used on the backs was as well.  

The back of the header card had an ad for purchasing an uncut sheet of 132 cards.

The Curtis Dickey card is below.

Side by side it's easy to see the logos on the two Bert Jones cards.

Coke also issued a group of 'Premium' photos. They are 5x7 and have nice posed player portraits. I haven't been able to dig up much on these although they may have been some sort of mail-in promo. Any help on this is appreciated. The checklist includes 24 different cards. I've been looking for these for years and have only seen evidence of a half dozen or so. I have four different ones so my quest continues. I especially want the Randy Burke photo as it's the only known 'card' of him and it would fill a slot in my fantasy football binder that's been open for years and years.

1981 TCMA Football Greats

TCMA put out a Football Greats set in 1981 that included 50's and 60's era players. There were seven Colts among the 78 card set including these three. The others included guys like Gino Marchetti and L.G. Dupre. They are typical TCMA cards, clean fronts and text filled backs. 

1981 Topps Stickers

The little sticker era was starting for Topps. This is the first football edition they produced. Pretty standard stuff, about the same as the baseball sets. But there is one or two interesting things going on here. Check out these three of the eight stickers:

Did you notice anything? Yup, the second one shows Ed Simonini wearing his helmet adorned with the Colts' horseshoe! That's the first time since 1969 that the Colts iconic logo has appeared. For a dozen years Topps has either used pictures of helmet-less players or airbrushed out the logos on helmets, jackets, etc. Since no other Topps product shows a team logo in 1981 I wonder if the Simonini shot slipped past the production crew. Or possibly word leaked that the licensing agreement between Topps and the NFL which took effect in 1982 had been signed. So suddenly, in the middle of the sticker set planning, someone said "OK, we're good with the league...fire the airbrush guy!!"

Topps also produced what I've seen called a 'test' issue, red bordered stickers distributed in vending machines in those familiar plastic containers. I'm dubious of the supposed rarity of these because I got this Bert Jones sticker, the only Colt in the 28 piece set, for about a buck.

The regular and red bordered stickers had similar backs. The regular one had a 'complete your collection' ad while the red border one urged you to "Collect All 28!"

The final installment of the Colts' card history will include cards from the '82 and '83 seasons.