Cardboard History : NFL

Showing posts with label NFL. Show all posts

Saturday, September 23, 2023

THIS was the best photo they had?

I find that hard to believe!

Let's check the back and see if that's any better...

Hrm, slightly better.

This may well be my favorite football card now. I don't collect football, but my best friend sends me his duplicates because he knows I'll take them. This one came in his latest box and I've been laughing about it since I saw it.

Even more fun, this is the only card from this set in my collection, so it will be the official representative of 1992 Pro Set Power in my Set Archive, which contains one scan from each major set for each subject.

Monday, June 15, 2020

7 Day Card Challenge Day 3: Favorite Football card

This is a tough one for me. I'm not a football fan...of the five major sports it's my least favorite. (and one of only two I've seen in person). But...since I will take any card ever, for the hopefully forthcoming museum...I have acquired over 2000 of them. And like the last post in this series, I've shown this one before.

From 1993 Topps, this is a great photo, capturing a real moment in time. That guy with the ball is roughly 2 seconds away from being crushed and seems totally oblivious to that fact, as Mike Jones literally flies through the air, presumably to perform a better squashing of the ball holder. I may not be a football fan but I can certainly recognize great photography when I see it.

Or....

Technically, this is a football card. An insert in 2009 Philadelphia, several cars got cards...and one of them is the El Camino! If you've been a regular reader, you know I'm a life-long fanatic of the Chevrolet model that was build from 1959-1987. I dream of someday owning one, and this generation- the 1973-77 models- is the one I've targeted, due to style and price point. (I could actually afford one of these if I saved up for a year or so; they sell for about $5000 to $8000 since it's the least popular generation). But alas, I don't have the physical capability to work on cars, and my health problems prevent me from driving. So, the odds of me ever actually getting an El Camino or any other classic car are about as likely as winning the lottery...which I don't play.

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Cardboard History History of Cardboard: 1970-1979

The 1970s, known somewhat derivatively as the "malaise era" in the automotive world, saw a major shift in non-sports cards as all the fun topics of the past started to disappear, and the vast majority of sets were TV and Movie related. Of course, while I'm obviously not fond of that development, a certain movie (and card set) from 1977 would play a major role in the eventual formation of the Cardboard History collection...

1970

1970-71 Topps

1971

1971 Fleer AHRA

1972

1972 Donruss Street Chopper / Hot Bike

1973

1973 Topps

1974

1974 Visual Panographics American Presidents

1975

1975-76 Topps

1976

1976 Craven Black Cat Vintage Cars

1977

1977 Topps Star Wars

1978

1978 Visual Panographics Change the Animal Picture Cards

1979

1979 Topps The Incredible Hulk

What more can I say about the 1977 Topps Star Wars set? Although it was not the first set I ever had in my collection, I mistakenly thought it was from sometime unknown until around 2012, when my brother remembered that he didn't give me his duplicates until after I had some of the 1988 Bigfoot cards. For all those years, (he gave them to me in 1988) I believed that the Star Wars set was the keystone, the foundation of my collection. You may wonder why I chose such a poor condition example as the card of 1977? It's because that's one I remember having when I was a little kid- it's one of the foundation cards, and it's one of the few that I am 100% sure was a foundation card. It's been chewed- probably by our dog, but possibly by me, I can't rule it out. I was either 3 or 4 years old when he gave them to me, after all (depending on what time of the year- lost to history). The 1978 Visual Panographics Change the Animal Picture Card is one that he gave me then too...it's the only one of the originals that I have not been able to hunt down a checklist for, nor find any other cards in the set. It's a small card, about half the height of a tobacco card, when turned on edge. 1971, 73 and 75 are represented in my collection solely by sports cards.

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Cardboard History History of Cardboard: 1960-1969

The 60s, in my opinion, had the best music, especially from 1964-68. But the cards, especially in the non-sports realm, do not have the same vibrant variety as what had come before; to this date that still holds true. The NBA finally starts to get some cardboard respect, with annual sets debuting in 1969-70.

1960

1960 Revell 50th Anniversary of Naval Flight

1961

1961-62 Fleer

1962

1962 Topps

1963

1963 Topps Flag Midgees

1964

1964-65 Kahn's

1965

1965 Donruss Spec Sheet

1966

1966 Topps Batman

1967

1967 Philadelphia

1968

1968 Topps Hot Rods

1969

1969 Topps Man on the Moon

My 60s collection, for non-sports, is actually pretty slim. The years represented by sports cards here do not have a single non-sports card in my collection, with the exception of 1961. 1960 is also pretty slim- the Revell promo card is the only non-sports card issued in that year that's in my collection, although the year is represented in my NHL and MLB collections. The 1968 Topps Hot Rods set is actually a reissue of the 1966 set of the same name, which had slightly different back coloration. While the iconic 1969-70 Topps NBA set should probably have gotten the nod for 1969, the Man on the Moon set- humanity's greatest achievement- could not be ignored. Even though none of the cards in the set actually have any images from the Apollo 11 mission, mostly being a modified reissue of a 1963 set that is not yet in my collection. (Edit to the original post: The 1963 Astronauts set now IS in my collection, although not scanned yet)

Monday, March 30, 2020

I actually bought a football card

It is not something I do very often...I've bought a grand total of three football cards and one of them was from an insert set that had cars in it, so it wasn't even a football football card. But this one was...

When I saw this in a local dealer's box, I laughed out loud and had to have it. It's from the 1999 MVP Draw Your Own Trading Card Winners set, and I guess you might be able to say it is also a car card...but not really.

I actually got it a couple of years ago and had forgotten I had scanned it. When I was uploading the football cards by season to the Cardboard History Gallery I saw it in there and finally wrote up the post. Even though I don't actively collect football I will take people's castoffs and rejects and I have accumulated over 2000 of them that way.

This is my 800th published post on Cardboard History. Holy mackerel, that's a lot. Not stopping any time soon, either....

Monday, December 30, 2019

In Memoriam 2019

Time for the annual look back at the people who appear in my collection that have died during the current year. I am happy to report that the list is smaller this year, with only 37 people present, down from last year's 45. However, like last year, there are some people who appear in my collection but have not been scanned yet.