1977 NFL Rookies of the Year

Remarkably, all 5 NFL Rookie of the Year presenters were in agreement for the second year in a row.  In 1977 (like 1976) there were only 2 ROYs. Tony Dorsett was the unanimous choice for both Offensive Rookie of the Year and NFC ROY.  AJ Duhe was similarly the unanimous choice for Defensive ROY and AFC ROY.

 

1975 Topps Divisional Playoffs

 These were requested by someone who contacted me through eBay.  He wanted more complete NFL playoff cards from Topps.  I needed to add a few custom football cards to my binder cover anyway (more on that later).  Anyway, here are the divisional playoff from 1974 using a similar format of the 1974 AFC and NFC championship cards in the 1975 set.

Trailing Buffalo 7-3 to start the 2nd quarter, the Steelers scored 26 unanswered points.  Rocky Bleier caught a 27 yard TD pass from Bradshaw. Franco Harris rushed for 3 more TDs to make it 29-7 at the half. Pittsburgh went on to beat the Bills 32-14.

With the game tied 7-7 at the half, the Vikings scored 16 points in 7 minutes. 10 of which were off Cardinals turnovers. In the game Chuck Foreman had 1968 all purpose yards. He rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown and caught 5 passes for 54 yards.

Trailing 26-21 in a back and forth battle. and just 2 minutes left in the game, Ken Stabler mounted another comeback.  Drive the Raiders downfield culminating in a 8 yard TD pass to running back Clarence Davis. Down 28-26 with just 24 seconds left, the Dolphins' Bob Griese threw an interception on the second play of the drive. Phil Villapiano's pick iced Oakland's victory

In the final game of Sonny Jurgensen's Hall of Fame career, it was all about the defense.  There were only 2 offensive TDs and one of those was set up by a forced fumble. In all there were 9 turnovers between the Rams and Washington. The nail in the Redskins coffin was a 4th quarter pick-six by Isiah Robertson to put L.A. up 19-10.

Some 1974 Football Customs

 I am in the process of getting my old cards from the 70s into binders.  Most of these sets fit nicely into Walmart cheapo 2 1/2" D-ring binders. I am making custom art to make the binders look better.  Since I haven't made many football customs, I've been creating a lot lately and I thought I'd share them with you.

Len Dawson was in the twilight of his Hall of Fame career.  But at 39 he was still the Chiefs opening day starting QB.  I'm not sure why he was excluded, but it gave me an excuse to use this famous shot of him enjoying and post-game lung dart and a Fresca?  Namath was famously missing from Topps sets after 1973.  There are many customs made of this card.  There was even an actual Topps prototype of a 1974 Joe Willie before he pulled the plug. Here that one is in case you've never seen it:

In 1974 Topps baseball there was a subset of traded cards.  Obviously these weren't part of the football set, but I thought I'd include one of the bigger trades of the season.  John Hadl, who was a star QB for the Chargers then the Rams was dealt to the Green Bay a few games into the season.  1974 also saw the birth of the World Football League.  I made a card of Virgil Carter of the Chicago Fire.

Another Topps baseball staple that never appeared in their football sets, was the Rookie Stars card.  Here is a San Diego Chargers Rookie Stars card of future Hall of Famer Dan Fouts and the 1974 Rookie of the year Don Woods.

I also wanted to make a card commemorating the College All Star game.  This was an old tradition played in Chicago which pitted, you guessed it, College All Star against an actual NFL team.  Not just any team either, they played the previous year's NFL Champs.  While this seems very one sided, the tradition goes back to when the NFL was young and college football was hugely popular. The early games were very competitive. AS the NFL grew the games became less so. It eventually ceased in 1976.  Still would've made for a cool looking card.

So here is what my final binder cover will look like. In addition to these six cards, I added a rookie Jack Lambert card that had already appeared on this blog. I also used the 1974 pack design.  I also use the center row of cards as the spine of the binder.

I haven't gone to the printer with my football versions yet, but this is what my baseball binders look like on the shelf:

One last thing, Like I said, I am trying to complete 1974-1979 both baseball and football.  This is very much early in the process, but if you are in the same boat, and are looking to trade dupes of commons or semi-stars, let me know.  I would like to get in touch and help each other out.  Keep in mind that in 1974 these cards were kept in cigar boxes with rubber bands. Some cards are rougher than others.  They were well used and well loved by a nine-year-old version of myself.  I guess that's the kindest way to put it. 

1968 Alt-Topps *Football Edition*

A Tribute to Bart Starr

First a tribute to Bart Starr who past away last week. He died the day before Bill Buckner, to whom I have already paid tribute. As much as it pains me (a lifelong Bears fan), I have to respect the man if not the uniform. A five Time NFL Champion including the first 2 Super Bowls. He was also MVP of those Super Bowls. The accolades go on for this first-ballot Hall of Famer, but I won't.

When looking for a suitable card to make, I decided to use one of the discarded Topps demo card designs. This was one of the football card mock-ups among the Topps baseball card prototypes I have been experimenting with.

Overall, it is a pretty cool design. But I'm not sure where to begin when stating what's not right with this mock-up.  Let's start with the obvious, that is a close-up of a basketball.  Not a football.  

Second, that is not Paul Warfield. It is Jimmy Warren.  That photo was taken from his 1968 Topps card.  But we're not done yet. That card has him on the Dolphins but the photo is obviously him in a Chargers uniform. He played for the Chargers in 1964 and 65. The Dolphins took him in 1966 durning the AFL's first expansion draft.

Color photos of football players in that era are pretty hard to find.  I tried unsuccessfully to find one of Warren in a Dolphins uniform. The search did turn up one interesting photo over and over.  Warren was infamously the last man to beat on Franco Harris's "Immaculate Reception". At this time he was wearings a Raiders uniform.

Here is a card that actually features Paul Warfield with a football in the background instead of a basketball. Warfield played for the Browns and Dolphins from 1964-1974. In 1975 he and Dolphins teammates Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick joined the WFL Memphis Grizzlies (AKA Southmen). He returned to the NFL and the Browns in 1976.

And here is a similar treatment for Jimmy Warren.  Alas, I had no luck in finding a color photo of him on the Dolphins so I re-used the same photo on the original prototype.

I also created a few more. First were the eventual MVPs of the 1968 season from their respective leagues.  Joe Namath for the AFL and Earl Morrall of the NFL.

After a pre-season injury to Unitas, Morrall led the Colts to a 13-1 record and ultimately Superbowl III.  After 3 interceptions he was pulled and Unitas was reinstated. But the damage had been done. The AFL Jets beat the heavily favored NFL Colts.

I felt the need to balance these offensive MVPs with defensive stars. So I chose the defensive MVPs from their respective all star games. Although these games were technically played in 1969, they were played by the 1968 season all star selections.

 

The MVP of the AFL All Star game was George Webster. He was the AFL rookie of the year in 1967 as selected by United Press International. He was an All Star selection in each of his first 3 seasons.

In the NFL, Merlin Olsen was co-MVP of the 1969 Pro Bowl along with Rams teammate Roman Gabriel. Olsen was a Pro Bowler 14 of his 15 NFL seasons and was a first ballot Hall of Famer.  

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Just a footnote here: football sets of this era were pretty small. The actual 1968 Topps set was only 219 cards which was actually the largest football set they had issued to date. It was also the first to contain both NFL and AFL players since 1961. These sets contained almost no cards that were not player cards. In 1956 and 1957-1964 Topps also had team cards. The 1961 set also included a handful of "Highlights" cards.  The team cards never really returned. In the late 70s they added team-leader cards. It wasn't until 1972 that Topps had anything other than basic player cards and checklists. In 1972 they went all out. Topps added All-Pro cards, post season cards, leader cards and "Pro Action" cards. That set contained 348 cards and moved football cards into a new era.

The point of this abbreviated history on Topps football cards?  It's my way of saying, "this is it."  I won't be making any additional subsets.  If I ever did choose to make football subsets, I think I would make them for the existing Topps (or Fleer or Philadelphia) football sets. If there is interest, I will make a couple requests. Just be aware of the scarcity of useable player photos from this era.  So I may not be able to cover your request, but I will try.