Nearmint's Vintage Football Card Blog

Last week I picked up few of the short prints from the 1967 Royal Castle Dolphins football card set. One of them, Abner Haynes, is pictured below. You can see all of the new cards and a description of the set in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

The lot I purchased included a “Jr. Dolphin” card, also pictured below. This card is not listed in the price guides, but it looks like the rest of the Royal Castle cards, so I would consider it part of the set. I called it card #28 and added it to the Gallery, as well.

I am in the market for the cards I don’t yet have from this set: Frank Emanuel, Tom Erlandson, Norm Evans, Bob Griese, Jerry Hopkins, and Jim Warren. If you happen to have any of them for sale, please send me an email.

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?

As I have mentioned in other articles, I have been gradually adding fun facts for the cards in the Vintage Football Card Gallery. In May I identified the players whose brothers also played pro football (see my blog article Teammate Brothers), and this month I marked the players whose fathers or sons also played professionally. I used the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s list as a reference.

Many of the players on the Hall of Fame’s list never appeared on cards, and some of them appeared on newer cards that I don’t yet have in the Gallery. I did find five pairs of fathers and sons who both appear in the Gallery, though. In honor of Father’s Day, here they are:

Tony Adamle played six seasons for the Cleveland Browns in the AAFC and NFL; his son Mike played six seasons for the Chiefs, Jets, and Bears. Tony is pictured here on his 1951 Bowman card, and Mike on his 1975 Topps card.

Ted Fritsch Sr., a member of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame, played from 1942 to 1950 for the Packers. Ted Fritsch Jr. played from 1972 to 1979 for the Falcons and Redskins. Ted Sr. appears here on his 1950 Bowman card; Ted Jr. is shown on his 1974 Topps card.

Dub Jones played for the Miami Seahawks, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Cleveland Browns in the AAFC, and he remained with the Browns when they joined the NFL in 1950. He is shown here on his 1953 Bowman card. Bert Jones, Dub’s son, was a quarterback for ten seasons with the Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams. His 1976 Topps card is shown here.

George Sauer Sr. played from 1933 to 1935 for the Green Bay Packers; he is shown here on his 1955 Topps All-American card. George Jr. played from 1966 to 1970 for the New York Jets; he is shown on a 1969 Glendale stamp.

Finally, George Wilson Sr. played for the Chicago Bears for ten seasons, and he was head coach of the Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins for thirteen. Wilson never appeared on a card of his own, but there is a small image of him on the 1964 Philadelphia Lions’ Play card shown here. Wilson’s son, George Jr., played for his father for one season at Miami. His 1967 Topps card is shown here.

Billy Neighbors, who played guard from 1962 to 1969 for the AFL’s Boston Patriots and Miami Dolphins, passed away on April 30. There is a story and a recent picture of Neighbors on the AL.com web site. Neighbors was voted to the Associated Press and UPI All-AFL teams in 1962, 1963, and 1964. In college, he played for Bear Bryant on Alabama’s 1961 national championship team. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

The cards pictured here are Neighbors’s first two cards. The first, a 1961 Nu-Card, shows him still with Alabama, and the second, a 1963 Fleer, is considered his rookie card. (I don’t know why 1961 Nu-Cards are not considered rookie cards.) He appeared on several other cards and stamps, as well.

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.

Mike Current, a tackle for 13 seasons with the Denver Broncos, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Miami Dolphins, has passed away. According to his page at bucpower.com, Current started 105 consecutive games for the Broncos and played in a total of 169 AFL and NFL games. Current was elected to the AFL West All-Star team after the 1969 season.

The cards pictured here are Current’s rookie card, a 1970 Topps, and his last card, a 1976 Topps. You can see all of Current’s cards and stamps in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the longest NFL game, a Christmas Day AFC semi-final playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs. The game went 7 minutes and 40 seconds into the second overtime before Garo Yepremian ended it with a field goal. The final score: Miami 27, Kansas City 24.

Kansas City’s Ed Podolak was the star of the game; he rushed, received, and returned the ball for a total of 350 yards. The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s summary of the game includes a great photo of Podolak in action. Dig the facemask!

Topps commemorated the game in 1972, sort of. The 1972 Topps football card set was the first to contain a card for each of the previous years’ playoff games, and the Miami-Kansas City marathon happened to be one of them. Unfortuately, Topps missed an opportunity and didn’t mention that the game was the league’s longest ever. I believe that’s Ed Podolak running the ball on the front of the card. Podolak wore number 14, and that facemask looks familiar.

Merry Christmas!

The Miami Dolphins will add Jim “Mad Dog” Mandich to the Dolphins Honor Roll on December 4, according to the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel web site. Mandich played tight end for the Dolphins for eight seasons, then did radio broadcasts for the team for nineteen years. He passed away earlier this year.

The card shown here is Mandich’s rookie card, a 1975 Topps. I added it to the list of vintage football cards of members of the Miami Dolphins Honor Roll in the Vintage Football Card Gallery.

Don’t ask me how I got there, but the other day I found myself thinking about players with “Mad” nicknames. Here are four I thought of: Daryle “Mad Bomber” Lamonica, on his 1968 Topps Stand Up insert; Ted “Mad Stork” Hendricks, on his 1975 Wonder Bread card; Alex “The Mad Duck” Karras, on his 1966 Philadelphia card, and Jim “Mad Dog” Mandich, on his 1976 Topps card.

Can you think of more?

George Wilson Jr., quarterback for the Miami Dolphins in their first season, 1966, passed away on August 6. The Miami Herald web site has a report of his death. Wilson led the Dolphins to their first regular season win, which came against Denver in the sixth week of the season.

The card pictured here is Wilson’s 1967 Topps card, issued the season after he played for the Dolphins. He also appeared on a 1967 Royal Castle Dolphins card. The Royal Castle card is one of the rare short prints in the set, and I have never seen one.

Wilson’s father, George Wilson Sr., was the Dolphins’ coach in their first season. Before joining the Dolphins, Wilson Sr. coached the Detroit Lions for eight seasons. He made a cameo appearance on a Detroit Lions Play of the Year card in the 1964 Philadelphia set.