some good ol' fashioned vintage in varying grades

I started off the trade with Craig last night featuring a bunch of checklists from the '77 Topps set.  Tonight, we're going through a few '71 Topps cards.  I sorted them into 3 different photos for our viewing pleasure.

A pair of NFL All-stars, both of them safeties!  They also both look like they're from opposite ends of the age scale.  The bios on the backs of the cards show that they are 7 years apart in age, but the Rick Volk photo looks like a kid during his college (or maybe even high school) days.  

It's nice that you can tell the all-star cards right away;  the NFC cards are solid blue, the AFC cards are solid red, and these are a mix of the two.  

I'm seeing the end of the golden years for the Packers in this set, and I find Zeke Bratkowski, who is the back up to Bart Starr.  Zeke started his career in 1954 with the Bears, had a 2 year gap until he started playing again in 1957.  Played a few years for the Bears and then the Rams before joining the Pack in 1963.  He played back up from 1963-1968, then again had a 2 year gap before playing his final season in 1971.  His only 2 full seasons as a starter were with the Rams in '61 & '62, where he and the team struggled, winning only 3 games over 2 years as the starter.  

I added to this page of AFC players involved in the trade a RC of Marty Schottenheimer I grabbed off of my latest purchase off of eBay.  

Some great names on this scan.  Buck Buchanan (real first name was Junious), one of the greatest linemen for the Chiefs, made All-Pro six straight years and the pro bowl 8 times.  Emerson Boozer (a great name for obvious reasons) was a draft pick in both the AFL (Jets) and NFL (Steelers).  Emerson led the AFL in total TD's in 1967 (13) and the NFL in total TD's in 1972 (14).

So far in the few posts I've done for vintage football sets, I've learned a little something each time.  There will be more to come in the future for sure.

The '71 set is just over 30% done, and the condition of the cards I've received so far has not surprised me in any way.  I'm not expecting anything earth shattering as far as mint cards, and as long as there is no writing or paper loss on them, all is good.  

Aesthetically pleasing might the best way to describe older football cards in my world

Robert

Checklist city

I was able to complete a trade in the past week with one of the biggest traders on the TCDB site, Craig (Known as Dukey Devil).  It was a 70 for 70 football trade, which is probably the biggest football trade I'll pull off ever on the site.

It was split up nice, 13 1971 Topps cards, and the remaining 57 were 1977 Topps.  The one group of cards that I noticed right away were the checklists from the '77 set.

The thing you spot immediately is the more popular teams in the set.  No surprise on this group of 6 that the Packers, Bears and Cowboys feature quite a few players more than the Oilers, Broncos and Chiefs.  The Bears alone have 23 cards in the set.  Another thing I spotted is how beautiful the checklists look, there is not a mark on any of them at all.  That is going to spoil me for finding spotless checklists for the remainder.

I was a bit surprised at how many Cardinals were in the set ( I counted 22 ), as they were in an era where the team had a few talented players, but weren't winning titles.  The '76 football Cardinals went 10-4 and still only finished 3rd in the NFC east behind the Cowboys (11-3) and the Redskins (10-4).  I also learned a little something while writing this post, Don Coryell, he of the Air Coryell teams in San Diego, coached the Cardinals for 5 years (3 straight double digit win seasons) before moving on to the west coast.

I also remembered that 1977 was the Buccaneers first season in the NFL.  Had to have been tough, they were shut out in their first 2 games, only kicked 3 FG's in their 3rd game, and didn't score the first touchdown in team history until the 4th quarter of the 4th game, and it was a defensive TD to boot!  (44 yard fumble return)  Oh and they didn't win a game in '77 going 0-14.  Ouch

I'm sure unlike the 60's sets I've featured lately on the blog, a lot of these checklists should have recognizable names and bring back some football memories for sure.

Robert

Dirty tease

I went on a bit of a spending spree at the end of last week.  I decided to hit up Sportlots to try and knock a couple of want lists down.  Mission succeeded.

In what might be a record shipping time, I received the first of my 2 orders yesterday.  The 2013 A&G want list is all but dead.  Just 2 cards remaining now, the Manny Machado RC and the Pele correct version (yes, I do want the writing on the back).

42 cards were in the lot, 20 of them were very affordable short prints (either 27 or 37 cents).

I took a quick look through the 42 cards while writing the post.  Not one non-ball player in the group.  Plus a lot of them were legends, Clemente, Gehrig, Rickey Henderson, Jeter, Mays, Whitey Ford, etc.

Great group of cards for under $20 to nearly finish this set.  I don't know if the seller was wanting to give me a bit of a heart attack, but this a picture of the snap case he sent the cards with...

Now, I would have been very happy had the case been full of 1961 Topps cards, but I'll settle for what I have now.  Wonder what the other group of cards that I bought from the Sportlots site will arrive in?

Robert

Another slow set build....but I think it will be fun

1962 Topps football.  Certainly not one of the bigger vintage sets out there at just 176 cards.

They're all horizontal as well.

Multiple photos on the front of the card.  Jimmy Patton intercepting a pass, Roger Leclerc being described as a "LB-Kicker" on his card, which I don't think you will not find very often on any player card (certainly not in the modern era).

And these guys just look like football players.  The backs?  Easy for an older guy like me to read.

I find a lot of the newer sets a bit difficult to read, especially if I'm sorting by number (as always); the card numbers now are a lot smaller and on some sets are almost impossible to read, if not find.  Look at that number 156 in the upper left.  Can't mistake that!!

I looked at some of the card prices on COMC while writing this post and learned about Ernie Davis.  Died at 23 before ever playing a professional football game due to leukemia.  What a shame.

Hopefully I'll be able to find an affordable card of his one day.  Wait and see...

Robert

What got me started

I've been writing the blog for 12 years now (haha I missed the blog's anniversary on July 23rd), and for most of that time I had no interest in vintage football.

Sure there was always the vintage hockey interest (I grew up in Canada) and over time the vintage baseball interest came along (the '64 set build helped create that love).

A few months back I stumbled across a '70 Topps football lot on eBay, and my current obsession has become older football sets.  I've been picking up pieces and parts at shows, on eBay and via the trade route on TCDB.

Unlike the baseball and hockey vintage sets which for the most part are pricing me out of completion, I don't believe the same thing is going to happen with football.  As I work on building these sets, I might end up proving myself wrong.  But for starters, I've been having fun acquiring some of the old stuff.

This set I do like, and I've been able to put almost half of it together already.  120 out of 263 are already in house, and I have a COMC order that will put the set over the halfway point.

This set has reminded of what the vintage sets should be.  Old cards.  For the most part, especially with baseball and hockey, I'll be very picky about what I add to the sets.  Most of the cards that I acquire for 60's and 70's builds are usually EX-MT or better.  That can get pricey.

For the football stuff, especially 1972 and before, I'll accept the dinged corners, I'll see the creases that are there and accept the fact that that's how they should be.

I do stick to the hard and fast rule for my vintage, no paper loss.  Even I like to be able to read everything that is on the old card backs, which I'm loving for the football sets.  

It'll be a few weeks before I see my COMC order come in, and I'm looking forward to a pair of cards, Fran Tarkenton and Johnny Unitas '70 Topps.   Between the 2, I paid less than $10 total.  That isn't bad. 

Actually, at that price, this is fun!!

Robert