Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

This morning, as I scanned some 1968 Topps cards to put up for sale, I amused myself by reading the little cartoons on the backs. Below are a few of them. For each cartoon, see if you can guess the player on the front of each card. Click on the cartoon to see the answer.




I wondered whether “Cornell’s brother, Pumpsie” appeared on any baseball cards, so I did a little search. Sure enough, he has. I learn something every day.

Former NFL running back and punter Donny Anderson is celebrating his 70th birthday today. Anderson played from 1966 to 1974 for the Green Bay Packers and St. Louis Cardinals. He gained over 1000 yards from scrimmage four times, and he made the Pro Bowl with the Packers in 1968. He played on the Packers teams that won the first two Super Bowls.

Before his pro career, Anderson starred at Texas Tech. He is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.

Anderson is pictured here on his rookie card, a 1968 Topps. He also appeared on at least a dozen more cards, stamps, and stickers.

Happy birthday, Mr. Anderson!

Two players in the Vintage Football Card Gallery are celebrating milestone birthdays today: John Morrow is 80, and J.R. Wilburn is 70.

John Morrow played center from 1956 to 1966 for the Los Angeles Rams and Cleveland Browns. He made the Pro Bowl in 1961 and 1963, and he was the starting center on the Browns team that won the 1964 NFL Championship. According to oldestlivingprofootball.com, Morrow is the 493rd oldest living American pro football player.

For a center, Morrow appeared on a remarkable number of football cards. He is pictured here on his 1964 Wheaties stamp.

J.R. Wilburn was a receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1966 to 1970. His best season was 1967, when he caught 51 passes for 767 yards. Wilburn, who grew up in Virginia, was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

Wilburn is pictured here on his 1968 Topps card, wearing a Steelers “Batman” jersey. He appeared on several other cards and stamps, as well. (For more on the “Batman” jerseys, see one of my previous articles.)

Happy birthday, Messrs. Morrow and Wilburn!

Craig Morton, who played from 1965 to 1982 for the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Denver Broncos, is 70 today. Morton was the starting quarterback for two Super Bowl teams, the 1970 Cowboys and 1977 Broncos, and he played on the 1971 Cowboys team that won Super Bowl VI. He was inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame in 1988.

Prior to his pro career, Morton starred at the University of California. In 1964, though Cal had just a 3-7 record, he finished seventh in voting for the Heisman Trophy. (See my Football Cards of Heisman Trophy Candidates page.) Morton was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

The card pictured here is Morton’s rookie card, a 1968 Topps. The back of the card is a piece of a puzzle picturing Bart Starr. Morton also appeared on many other cards and stamps during his long career. You can see all of his cards up to 1978 in the Vintage Football Card Gallery. (It’s odd to see someone other than John Elway wearing #7 for the Broncos, isn’t it?)

Happy birthday, Mr. Morton!

Jim Whalen, a tight end from 1965 to 1971 for the Boston Patriots, Denver Broncos, and Philadelphia Eagles, passed away on December 18. There is an article about Whalen on the Patriots web site. According to the article, Whalen led the Patriots in receptions and receiving yards during his five seasons with the team.

Whalen is shown here on his 1968 Topps and 1969 Topps football cards. His first three cards, from 1965 to 1967, picture him in his Boston College uniform, with his face obscured. You can see all of Whalen’s cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

I have always thought that this 1968 Topps Frank Emanuel card was the worst rookie card ever. As you can see, the image on the front is awful: Emanuel’s helmet is askew, and you can’t even see his eyes. The back of the card doesn’t help. It happens to be a piece of a Len Dawson puzzle, so Emanuel didn’t even get the customary bio and stats. Topps atoned a bit in 1969, giving him a good looking card, complete with stats on the back.

Any other nominations for worst rookie card ever?

Tom Keating has passed away; he played defensive tackle from 1964 to 1975 for the Buffalo Bills, Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Kansas City Chiefs. There is an article about Keating on the San Francisco Chronicle web site. Keating played on the three American Football League championship teams: the 1964 and 1965 Bills, and the 1967 Raiders. The 1967 Raiders team went on to play Green Bay in Super Bowl II.

The card pictured here is Keating’s 1968 Topps football card. In 1968, Topps honored the prior season’s Super Bowl contestants, the Raiders and Packers, by giving their cards a different design than the rest of the teams. Keating also appeared on a 1965 Topps card, a 1970 Topps card, and a 1972 Sunoco Stamp.

Lonnie Wright, who played defensive back for the Denver Broncos in 1966 and 1967, passed away yesterday. Wright also played four seasons for the Denver Rockets and one for the Floridians of the American Basketball Association. The Denver Post web site has a summary of his athletic career.

Wright appeared on one football card, a 1968 Topps card that shows him with the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals acquired him from Denver in the 1968 AFL Expansion Draft, but he retired from football before playing for the team. He also appeared on one basketball card, the 1971 Topps card pictured here. Like his football card, Wright’s basketball card pictures him in a Denver uniform, but with a different team.

Here’s another old record from the nfl.com individual records page: in the 1963 season, Don Hultz, a rookie for the Minnesota Vikings, recovered nine opponents’ fumbles. That broke Joe Schmidt’s record of eight, set in 1955, and no player has come close since. According to The Vikings Timeline at vikingupdate.com, Hultz’s feat earned him a new nickname, “The Magnet.”

In 1964, the Vikings traded Hultz to the Philadelphia Eagles, and he never again came close to his 1963 record. Hultz’s page at pro-football-reference.com says that in his last eleven seasons, he recovered just three more opponents’ fumbles.

The card pictured here is Hultz’s rookie card, a 1968 Topps. He also appeared on a 1972 Sunoco Stamp and a 1973 Topps card.

In 1968, after the NFL and AFL decided to merge, Topps became the sole major producer of American football cards for the first time since 1959. The 1968 Topps football card set was the first since 1961 to contain cards of both NFL and AFL players. To mark the occasion, Topps decided to honor the teams who had participated in the first two NFL-AFL World Championship Games–or, as they came to be known, the first two Super Bowls.

First, Topps honored the Super Bowl II contestants, the Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders, by using a horizontal format and alternate design for their cards. The two examples pictured here are Donny Anderson, on his rookie card, and Daryle Lamonica. You can see all of the horizontally-oriented 1968 Topps Packers cards and 1968 Topps Raiders cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Second, Topps honored the quarterbacks of Super Bowl I, Bart Starr of the Packers and Len Dawson of the Kansas City Chiefs, by putting puzzles of them on the backs of some of the 1968 second series cards. The piece pictured here, Dawson’s right eye, is on the back of Ernie Wright’s card. A page in the gallery shows both assembled puzzles. Oddly, for Dawson’s puzzle, Topps chose a seven- or eight-year-old photo from when he was still with the Browns, though they had been picturing him in his Chiefs uniform since 1965.

• See my 1968 Topps virtual uncut sheets
• See 1968 Topps football cards for sale at nearmintcards.com