1975 Topps Joe Namath

 

I've been wanting to make this card for a while now.  If you're of a certain age, you might remember the short lived World Football League.  It existed in only 1974 and 1975.  In 1974 Chicago fielded a team called the Fire. The Fire started out hot (sorry) but after QB Virgil Carter's injury, lost the final 10 games of it's only season. 

In 1975 there was a new team, the Chicago Winds.  The owner pursued Joe Namath who was without a contract.  He offered $4 million for 4 years.  They even changed their colors from red to green to appeal to Namath.  Ultimately, the deal broke down and Namath remained on the Jets.  The ill fated Winds didn't even last the whole 1975 season.  Two different investors pulled out and the league dissolved the team mid-season and distributed their players to other teams via a special draft,

This is a card of what could have been.  Could Broadway Joe have saved the league?

Topps All-Star Misses: 1960 NL Battery

The 1960 Topps All Star set were supposedly "Sport Magazine" selections.  Unfortunately, I can't find any list to verify that.  The Sporting News also selects an All Star team.  Their National League battery included Ernie Broglio, Vern Law, Warren Spahn and Del Crandall.  That's one lefty handed pitcher, two right handed and one catcher.  At first I thought that maybe one of those pitchers was a reliever, but all three are starters.  I'm not sure why TSN included 3 pitchers.  Del Crandall was already included in the Topps set, but the three pitchers who were "Sporting News" selections were not.  Therefor this may be a bit of a stretch for this project.  Nonetheless, Here they are:

Contest Winners

 

Congrats to all that left comments.  If you left a comment on my contest post, you won.  "Defgav", "Old Cards", "Deogolf" and "Tookie". That was easy.  Now just send an email to ctnwblog@gmail.com along with your mailing address and I'll get this 1962 Buck O'Neil card in the mail.  

If you also bought a Series 3 pack and have this card already, let me know and I'll substitute one of my previous contest winner cards.  Choose from 1968 Gibson, 1968 Seaver or 1982 Sandberg/Boggs.

The Series 3 packs have been going quickly with more than half of them selling in the first week. But there are still several left. Hit the PayPal link here to order.  I also have individual cards from all 3 series available on eBay.  My seller's name there is "ctnwblog_8".

Quantity

One Pack $10.00 USD Two Packs $19.50 USD Three Packs $28.50 USD

Congratulations to the winners and thanks again for all your support.

1974 Willie McCovey - Redone?

A recurring feature that was typical of Topps in the 1960s and 1970s was to airbrush players into their new team's uniform.   In 1974 Topps may have jumped the gun a bit by declaring the San Diego Padres were now the "Washington Nat'l Lea."  That variation turned out to be a fun variation in the 1974 set.  But what if Topps took it a step further?

By that I mean, what if instead of poorly airbrushing a newly traded Willie McCovey into a San Diego Padres uniform for this "Washington Nat'l Lea." card, they poorly airbrushed him into the proposed "Washington Stars" uniform?

I had already made a 1974 Topps card of Dave Freisleben who modeled the proposed Star uniform in an earlier post.  I think it would've been cool if Topps really ran with this concept, going even further than the "Washington Nat'l Lea." variation.

Another Pack, Another Give-Away

 

Series 3 is ready to go. Another 12 Cards That Never Were that were previously posted on this blog.  Additionally, there is a 1969 Topps Deckle style insert.  This time it features a 1969 expansion team, the Seattle Pilots and one of their best known players, Jim Bouton.

Now for the give away.  Just post a comment down below and next week (August 11th) I'll randomly pick 5 people to send my version of a 1962 Topps Buck O'Neil card.

Buck is well known as a Negro League legend and the star of Ken Burns' "Baseball".  But he also became the first black MLB coach in 1962.  So this is what his card would've looked like had Topps given him one back in '62.  This is one of the 13 cards that will be included in the 3rd series packs.  

If you want to buy a Series 3 Pack, the PayPal link is below.  If you happen to buy a pack and are chosen as one of the give-away winners, I will let you substitute one one of my earlier give away cards in case you don't want 2 of the same card.  (Earlier give-aways were 1982 Fleer Sandberg/Boggs Rookie card, 1968 Topps left-handed Bob Gibson or 1968 Topps left-handed Tom Seaver).

Quantity

One Pack $10.00 USD Two Packs $19.50 USD Three Packs $28.50 USD

As usual, the packs are $10.00 plus $4.50 s/h.  I also will have individual cards from Series 3, along with some from Series 2  and even a few from Series 1 available on eBay.  My seller name is "ctnwblog_8".

Just leave a comment below to be entered to win this card. 5 winners will be chosen at random August 14, 2021.

Series 3 Packs On Sale Now - SOLD OUT

 Here is the third pack of physical cards from this blog.  As usual, I am selling these through this site for $10.99 per pack plus $4.50 shipping. Please use the link:

SOLD OUT

Due to several requests, I added a drop down menu for multiple orders (up to three).

I was hoping to have these done by the end of July, but I'm about a week late. This is a pretty random group of cards spanning from 1957 to 1983.  If you don't want all 13 cards, you can buy them individually on eBay. My seller's name there is ctnwblog_8.

So, what's in each pack?

12 Cards That Never Were plus a special insert.

This time the insert card is a 1969 Jim Bouton Deckle.

All cards are professionally printed.

Front and Back.

The backs are formatted in a style consistent with their year.

The front of the cards are high gloss UV coated.

The backs are not.

The backs a full color matte finish.

These are similar in look and feel to the Topps Archives cards.

The have all been previously featured on this blog.

I'm running out of things to say.

They're high quality 18 Pt. card stock.

By far the best deal is to buy a pack of all 13 cards from the link on this page.

Due to eBay's cost structure and wanting to mail a quality product complete with penny sleeve and a top loader, individual cards a more expensive. $3.99 including shipping on eBay.

Thanks for all the support over the years.  My next post will be another give-away.

Topps All-Star Misses: 1961 AL Outfield

Topps 1961 All-Star AL outfield contained  Mantle, Maris and Kaline.  Mantle an Maris both started in the two 1960 All Star games and were also 1961 Sporting News All Stars.  Joining them in the outfield for the 1960 games was the "Cuban Comet" Minnie Minoso.  The 3rd 1961 Sporting News All Star outfielder was Rocky Colavito.  Therefore both Minnie and Rocky were worthy of cards in this subset.

Who probably didn't merit inclusion in the 1961 Topps All-Star set, but was in it anyway?

Al Kaline:

 Al Kaline, a future Hall of Famer played in both 1960 and both 1961 ASGs.  He even started the second 1961 ASG.  Plus he was an impressive 5 for 9 in the 4 games.  Nobody doubts "Mr. Tiger's"  bona fides. Since he was a starter in neither of the 1960 contests and he was not selected to The Sporting News All Star team in 1961 (or for that matter, not in 1960 either), his inclusion in this set is questionable.