Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

Don Joyce, a defensive lineman from 1951 to 1962 for the Chicago Cardinals, Baltimore Colts, Minnesota Vikings, and Denver Broncos, passed away on February 26, according to the twincities.com web site. Joyce made the Pro Bowl in 1958, and he was a member of the Colts’ NFL Championship teams of 1958 and 1959.

Joyce finally appeared on football cards in his 11th NFL season, after the Vikings acquired him in the 1961 NFL Expansion Draft. The cards shown here are his 1961 Fleer and 1961 Topps cards. He also appeared with the Vikings on a 1962 Post Cereal football card, but he played for the AFL’s Denver Broncos in 1962.

Yesterday I identified the members of the San Francisco 49ers Hall of Fame in the Vintage Football Card Gallery. The 49ers Hall of Fame was created recently, in 2009, so most of the inductees thus far have been members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I presume that over the next few years, the 49ers will add team stars that have not been inducted into the Pro Hall.

Pictured here is one of the 2011 inductees, R.C. Owens, on his 1959 Topps card. (Ordinarily I feature players’ rookie cards, but Owens’s rookie card pictures Don Owens, not R.C.) Owens played his first five seasons for the 49ers, then moved on to other teams. After retiring as a player, he returned to work for the 49ers for over 20 years.

The 49ers web site has a list of the all of the team’s hall of famers, along with photos and short summaries of their careers. I especially like the photo of John Henry Johnson, who is wearing a funky clear facemask.

If you’re not a 49ers fan, you can probably find your team’s Hall of Famers via the Gallery’s Advanced Search page. Not all teams have a hall of fame, but I have finished most of the teams that do.

Yesterday I added a virtual uncut sheet of 1962 Fleer football cards to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. By studying miscut cards from the set, my friend Paul puzzled out the numbering pattern of the cards on the sheet. Most of the cards that are scarce in high grades are grouped together on the sheet, and I added a diagram to show that.

The Gallery now includes virtual uncut sheets for 27 football card sets. For the full list, see one of my previous blog articles, U is for Uncut Sheets.

(Click on the image to see the full virtual sheet.)

Freddie Solomon, a wide receiver from 1975 to 1985 for the Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers, passed away yesterday. Solomon was a member of the 49ers’ NFL Championship teams of 1981 and 1984. His best season was 1981, when he gained 1012 combined yards rushing and receiving. Playing quarterback at the University of Tampa, Solomon gained 3299 yards rushing, then an NCAA record for a quarterback. There is a picture of him in action on the University of Tampa web site.

I have just one Freddie Solomon card, his 1976 Topps rookie card, pictured here. He also appeared on many newer cards that I don’t yet have in the Gallery. You can find most of them on eBay.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Last year I gave you Flowers, this year it’s Harts. Here we go:

First is Leon Hart, a Heisman Trophy winner and College Hall of Famer. Hart played eight seasons for the Detroit Lions, and he appeared on at least twelve football cards. His rookie card, the 1948 Leaf pictured here, was issued while he was still at Notre Dame. It is a high number and one of the key cards in the set.

Next is Pete Hart, who played for the New York Titans in the AFL’s inaugural season, 1960. (The Titans were renamed the Jets in 1963.) Hart appeared on a 1961 Fleer card and the 1961 Fleer Wallet Picture shown here.

Jim Hart was a quarterback for nineteen seasons in the NFL, all but one of them for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was a Pro Bowler for four straight seasons, 1974 to 1977. Hart appeared on a lot of football cards; the one pictured here is a 1968 Topps Stand-Up insert card.

Doug Hart played from 1964 to 1971 for the Green Bay Packers. He had the NFL’s longest interception return in 1969, an 85-yarder. The Packers had a lot of great players in the 1960s, of course, so Hart didn’t appear on a card until 1970. His 1970 Topps card is pictured here. He also made it onto a 1972 Sunoco Stamp, but he did not play in 1972.

Tommy Hart played thirteen seasons for the 49ers, Bears, and Saints. He appeared on several cards during his career; you can see most of them in the Vintage Football Card Gallery. His rookie card, a 1973 Topps, is pictured here.

Finally, Harold Hart played four seasons, 1974-1975 and 1977-1978, with the Raiders and Giants. Ironically, his only card is a 1976 Topps that shows him with Tampa Bay, but he didn’t play in 1976, and he never played a regular season game for Tampa Bay. According to his page at bucpower.com, the expansion Buccaneers acquired Hart in the 1976 Veteran Allocation Draft, but he hurt his knee in the pre-season and spent the year on injured reserve.

That’s all the Harts! Next year, Roseys?

Last week I added 1974 Fleer Immortal Roll cards–also called 1974 Fleer Hall of Fame cards– to the Vintage Football Card Gallery. The page for the set includes a short description, so I won’t describe again them here. I added a fun fact or two for each card in the set, as well. Take a look!

Frank Aschenbrenner, a star halfback for Northwestern University in 1948 and 1949, passed away on January 30. Aschenbrenner was named the outstanding player of the 1949 Rose Bowl after scoring on a record-setting 73-yard run and rushing for a total of 119 yards. He is a member of the Northwestern Athletics Hall of Fame and the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame. After college, Aschenbrenner played one season for the AAFC’s Chicago Hornets and one season for the CFL’s Montreal Allouettes.

While at Northwestern, Aschenbrenner appeared on the 1948 Leaf football card pictured here. The 1948 Leaf set contains cards of both NFL and college players, with most of the college players falling among the scarce high numbers, 50-98. Aschenbrenner’s card is number 93.

John Guzik, who played linebacker from 1959 to 1961 for the Los Angeles Rams and Houston Oilers, passed away on January 22. Guzik was a first team All-American guard at the University of Pittsburgh, but his pro career was shortened by injuries. There is an interview with Guzik and a summary of his career on the NFL Former Players blog.

Guzik never appeared on a regular issue football card, but he did appear on the 1959 and 1960 Bell Brand Rams cards pictured here. These scarce cards were distributed regionally in bags of Bell Brand potato chips and corn chips; you can read more about them in my article about regional sets. You can see that Guzik switched from number 60 to number 65 in 1960. He apparently gave number 60 to rookie Jerry Stalcup, who had worn number 60 at the University of Wisconsin.

Last week, looking at Frank Ryan’s football cards, I noticed that his 1962 Kahn’s Wieners card, his 1963 Topps card, and his 1969 Topps card all picture him wearing number 18 for the Browns. According to his page at pro-football-reference.com, however, Ryan never wore number 18 for any team. I thought maybe he had worn number 18 for his first season with the Browns, and that pro-football-reference had not picked it up. But no, Ryan’s first season with the Browns was 1962, and he is wearing number 13 in the Browns 1962 team photo. See him in the upper right?

So I did a little digging, and I came up with a guess. My guess is that when he was photographed in number 18, Ryan was wearing Len Dawson’s old jersey. Dawson wore number 18 for the Browns in 1960 and 1961 (see his 1961 National City Bank card), and the Browns released him around June 1, 1962. The Browns then acquired Ryan from the Rams on July 12, 1962. Until he got his own jersey, Ryan wore Dawson’s, at least for pictures.

That would explain the number 18 on Ryan’s 1962 Kahn’s card, but what about his 1963 and 1969 Topps cards? My guess is that Topps just used old images for those cards, as they often did. Another old image that jumps to mind is the one on the Len Dawson puzzle on the backs of 1969 Topps cards. Though by 1969 Dawson had quarterbacked the Chiefs for six seasons and taken them to a Super Bowl, Topps chose an image of him with the Browns–wearing number 18!

I hope you like this feature, because it took me awhile: I identified all of the players in the Vintage Football Card Gallery who are members of the College Football Hall of Fame. You can do a search for all of the College Hall of Famers, all of the College Hall of Famers from a certain college (say Ohio State), or all of the College Hall of Famers from a certain pro team (say the Los Angeles Rams). Use the Gallery’s Advanced Search page to specify whatever combinations you like.

What I like most about this feature is that it highlights some cards that you typically find in the commons bin. Some players with stellar college careers had short or not-as-stellar pro careers, and you wouldn’t know from their cards how good they were in college. The player pictured here is one example: Jim Swink was runner-up to Howard Cassady for the Heisman Trophy in 1955, and he was elected to the College Hall of Fame in 1980. Swink played pro football for just one season–1960 for the AFL’s Dallas Texans–and this 1960 Fleer card is his only football card.