1973 NFL Rookies of the Year

1973 still had 10 different Rookie of the Year awards. Associated Press and Pro Football Weekly had offensive and defensive awards. The Sporting News, United Press International and the Newspaper Enterprise Association all had awards for both AFC and NFC. These ten awards were distributed to 4 different rookies. As was the norm in that era, none of them had cards in the 1973 Topps set.

Chuck Foreman was the recipient of the 1973 AP award for offensive Rookie of the Year. The Vikings fullback was also a receiving threat. He had 1163 combined yards with 4 rushing TDs and 2 receiving TDs.  He was selected to the Pro Bowl his rookie year. He would make the Pro Bowl 5 times during his career.

Wally Chamber came into the NFL with a Pro Bowl afro.  A sack threat before sacks were an official stat, Chambers was a Pro Bowler his first year. He was given 2 defensive Rookie of the Year Awards from Pro Football Weekly and the Associated Press. An injury during the All Pro game in January of  1977 cut his career short. He missed most of the '77 season and was traded to Tampa Bay in 1978. He retired in 1979.

With three AFC Rookie of the Year Awards (Sporting News, UPI and NEA) the Bengals 12th round pick really paid off.  He was primarily an offensive lineman in college.  Due to injuries, he was put in the backfield and caught the eye of Paul Brown. He rushed for 988 yards and 8 TDs his rookie year.

Leading the pack with 4 different Rookie of the year honors was Charle Young.  Young's first name was often misspelled on his cards as Charles, Charlie or Charley.  In fact, Topps misspelled his name "Charlie" on the front of his 1984 card, and misspelled his name "Charley" on the back of the same card.  Young was the starting Pro Bowl tight end after his rookie season.  He played 13 season for the Eagles, Rams, 49ers and Seahawks.

Give-away Winners

 

The winners of the Sandberg/Boggs 1982 Fleer Card That Never Was are:

Rod (Padrographs), Jeremya1um, gcrl, Jim from Downingtown, Brett Alan, Fleerfan, dburba, Matt, Bulldog and Steve at 1975BaseballCards.com.

To those that had linked emails, I sent you an email. The rest please send me your mailing address to ctnwblog@gmail.com.  I will send your cards out right away.

For the few that didn't win, I will be announcing very soon how to buy these packs.  I will also be revealing the full contents of the pack. But you might be able to figure out a few from my teaser.

First Ever Give-Away

 After much hemming and hawing, I've taken the leap and decided to actually make some physical cards.  These are all cards that have appeared in this blog.  They are high quality card stock with both front and back printed. These are closer to Topps Archives type feel than the actual vintage 60s or 70s feel.  But they are NOT cheapo cardstock or paper prints.

I will be selling these for $10 a pack, plus shipping.  I am still working out the details. In the mean time. here is a tease as to what cards are in my first pack:

Now due to an error, I got twice as many of the 1982 Fleer Major League Prospect card of Sandberg and Boggs.  So I'm giving them away to 10 random people who leave a comment. Just leave a comment here, and on Friday I'll pick 10. I'll then contact those 10 for their mailing address.

I'm also giving 10 away on Twitter. Check me out @CardsThatNever. I am asking for a follow and retweet.  I will then select 10 winners there. Good Luck. 

***************************UPDATE*************************

Lots of great comments already. My first batch is done already. But I am curious which cards of mine would you like to see in the physical form?

1965 Philadelphia Bob Hayes

 

Keeping on with a football vibe, here's a rookie Card That Never Was of Bob Hayes.  On this date in 1964 he won a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in the men's 100m.

In his rookie season, 1965, he had 1003 receiving yards, led the NFL in TD receptions and was selected to the Pro Bowl.

1962 Topps George Blanda

Fifty eight years ago today, George Blanda tossed 6 TD passes.  The Oilers beat the NY Titans (later the Jets) 56-17.  The 1962 Topps Football set is definitely one of my favorite designs.  But in 1962 Topps made cards for the NFL and Fleer made AFL cards.  Fortunately, I don't have to follow those rules.

 

1968 Topps Joe Morgan Game Insert

  

I decided to pay tribute (although belatedly) to Joe Morgan by adding him to the 1968 Topps Game Inserts.  He was on the Astros at that time and Topps was in a dispute with Monsanto over the Astros trademark.  So many Houston players appeared hatless or with the logo airbrushed. 

This was actually called out in the comment section when I had made a 1969 Topps Deckle card for Joe Morgan.  I had to agree with the accuracy of the comment and made a second version:

Of course Morgan's superstar status in the '70s made him a frequent subject on this blog. Here are some of the other Joe Morgan Cards That Never Were from past blog posts. 

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Just a side note:  I fought with this posting for hours.  The new google blogger is just awful.  I couldn't get the cards to line up properly.  So after a long battle, I gave up and stacked them.  Then my post wasn't showing up on other feeds.  I deleted it the re-made it, thinking all the reshuffling of images might've messed it up.  Still nada.  Finally it's showing up on others' blog rolls but it randomly used the 4th image instead of the 1st. I am so close to switching to a new platform.  Any recommendations?

1972 NFL Rookies of the Year

We're well into October and I haven't made a football post (other than the Gale Sayers tribute.)  Although these haven't been my most popular posts, I enjoy them.  It fascinates me that there were so many different "Rookies of the Year".  There were so many overlapping awards.  It's so unlike baseball or hockey where there is one clear award winner.  Some turned out to be true Hall of Famers.  Others. not so much.  But the common thread is that Football cards have historically been behind the curve as far as young stars are concerned.  So there are many opportunities for "Cards That Never Were".

In 1972 there were, once again, 5 Rookie of the Year presenters and a total of 10 ROY awards. These 10 awards were divided amongst 4 different players, none of whom had a card in the 1972 Topps set. Chester Marcol and Franco Harris would have rookie cards in 1973. Willie Buchanon and Sherman White would have rookie cards in the 1974 Topps set.

Franco Harris was the unanimous pick of all the presenters, He was the AFC Rookie of the Year for The Sporting News (TSN), United Press International (UPI) and the Newpaper Enterprise Association (NEA).  He was the Offensive ROY for  Pro Football Weekly (PFW) and the Associated Press (AP).

With the Steelers' 1st round pick in 1972 they chose Penn State RB Harris. With this piece of the puzzle, the Steelers won their first playoff game ever and appeared in their 1st since 1947. Although they lost the conference championship to the Dolphins, this was the beginning of the Steelers dynasty.

Willie Buchanon took home 2 awards the AP Defensive ROY and the NEA's Rookie of the Year in the NFC.  A San Diego area native, Buchanon was the Packers' 1st round pick from San Diego State. He would eventually return to San Diego in 1979 and finish his career with the Chargers.

Buchanon's teammate Chester Marcol took home 2 awards as well he was NFC's top rookie according to TSN and UPI.  Marcol was the Packers' 2nd round pick out of Hillside College, a Division II college. He made news there kicking a 62 yard field goal and converting 104 consecutive PATs. In his rookie season he led the NFC in points. Unfortunately his career was cut short due to drug abuse. 

Sherman White was awarded Defensive ROY by Pro Football Weekly (PFW). With the 2nd overall pick in the 1972 draft the Bengals took White.  He was an All American from Cal Berkley. He played 4 seasons in Cincinnati before being traded to Buffalo, where he played 8 more seasons.

One More for Gibby

 1935-2020

It's like deja vu all over again. The last thing I want is for this blog to evolve into some sort of obituary page with baseball cards.  But I simply cannot let the passing of yet another legend go without any some recognition for what he meant to the sport and to the hobby. So here is one more card for the 1973 Alt-Topps set.

Oddly, with Tom Seaver's recent passing, I had mentioned Bob Gibson and his 1968 "Card That Never Was".  Both he and Seaver pulled the exact same stunt of posing as lefties.  Both even had their cards make it as far as the same proof sheet before being noticed by a sharp-eyed proofreader.

Here are those actual Cards That Never Were again, along with the proof sheet:

You can see Seaver 2nd over in the 2nd row.  Gibson is 7th from the left in the 4th row.

Of course this latest card of Gibson isn't the first time he'd been featured in this blog.  Here are some more cards that I had made in the past: