Category Archives: football cards
The Moeller Show
Twice a year, a card show is hosted in the Moeller High School gymnasium. Moeller is the alma mater of two Baseball Hall of Famers, Barry Larkin and Ken Griffey Jr. I attended this show for the first time in November, 2008, and got my first Dave Parker autograph. I’m not sure why it took me a decade to go back, but last weekend my youngest son and I hit the show. No autographs this time around, just cards on the cheap, such as these Reds legends for a quarter each…
Frank Robinson, Pete Rose, Junior Griffey, Tom Seaver, and Heinie Groh, thank you very much.
I also got a quartet of Gypsies for a quarter each as well…
If I had more wall space, I would love to add some Heroes of Yesterday artwork by Steve Douglas to my collection. But I’m not going to buy something and let it collect dust in my closet, when it could be enjoyed by someone else hanging on their wall. But Mr. Douglas was giving out business cards which featured artwork as well, and I took one featuring Chris Sabo…
If you have a mancave and want to add a little originality to the walls, check out Heroes of Yesterday for some pretty cool pieces.
Of course, I grabbed a handful of non-Reds cards also. From Gypsy Queen, I scored Zack Cozart and Chris Archer for ten cents each…
And Magic Johnson for a quarter…
And the entire 1989 Pro Set Football Final Update series…21 cards…for a quarter…
I really miss Pro Set. I miss the fun NFL. I hope the XFL lives up to the hype and restores my interest in football.
I’m not going to wait another ten years to go back to the Moeller Show, but I don’t think I’ll wait until the last day to go, either. A lot of dealers had already packed up and left, and I’m sure those who remained were picked through pretty thoroughly before I got there. It was still fun, though, and I was happy with the cards I added to my collection.
He broke his leg, now he is breaking our hearts
Jared Lorenzen, injured quarterback for the Northern Kentucky River Monsters, has announced that he is finished playing indoor football. The “Hefty Lefty” said the decision was due in part to his broken leg, but added, “I’m tired of being burned by ownership.” Fort Thomas Matters has the full story.
Lorenzen goes down
Fort Thomas Matters broke the news that Jared Lorenzen broke his leg a few days ago, and even has video of the fateful play. This could be a devastating blow to the Northern Kentucky River Monsters, at least publicity-wise, as Lorenzen was the biggest name on the team.
TWJ contributor Patrick quickly sent over a couple of “fun cards” of this season lowlight, using the 1978 and 1979 Fleer football templates for inspiration.
I decided to get in on the action too, pulling from the 1985 Topps football set, one of my favorite card designs of all time regardless of sport.
Another former Highlands High School quarterback, Kyle James, took over for Lorenzen. I still hope to catch a NKRM game this season, but it won’t be the same without the Hefty Lefty on the field.
Fun Cards Submission: 1959 Topps Jared Lorenzen
TWJ contributor Patrick is back with a brand new “fun card,” featuring the Pillsbury Throwboy Jared Lorenzen of the Northern Kentucky River Monsters. If you’re not familiar with the River Monsters, click here.
Thanks for the submission Patrick!
Too big for a binder: Boomer
Back when I was a football fan, and more specifically a Cincinnati Bengals fan, I accumulated some memorabilia that was too big for a binder. In 1986, McDonald’s issued football cards with some sort of a scratch-off game on a perforated bottom. The only card I have from this set is Boomer Esiason, and hey it’s a rookie card! The scratch-off game was separated from the card before I received it.
The other Boomer item I have is a candy bar wrapper. The candy bar is long gone of course. There is an offer on the back for a limited edition “I Ate a Boomer Bar” shirt. There are a handful of Boomer Bar wrappers on eBay, but no shirts.
Fun Cards: 2013 Topps Marvin Lewis
Before today’s Reds game, some of the Bengals players and staff took batting practice. Coach Marvin Lewis even got in the cage and took a few hacks. Maybe he and Dusty Baker can switch jobs? Couldn’t do any worse, could he?
TWJ 2012: Arian Foster
From undrafted free agent to one of the most sought-after running backs in Fantasy Football drafts, Arian Foster rushed for over 1600 yards in his second season.
Why did every team pass over Foster in 2009? According to Wikipedia:
Foster’s subpar senior campaign caused his draft stock to plummet, as well as scouts’ concerns about his below-average pass-blocking, issues with ball security and the less-than-stellar reviews from Tennessee staff members that portrayed him as selfish and hard to coach.[13] A pulled hamstring also prevented Foster from working out at the NFL Scouting Combine, then he had a poor showing at Tennessee’s Pro Day when he registered a 4.71 40-yard dash, 4.50 short shuttle, 32-inch vertical leap and 9’7″ broad jump.
Large photo credit: AJ Guel
Inset photo credit: US Presswire
TWJ 2012: Andrew Luck
It’s Sunday, so might as well post a football card, right? I’m not sure how many current players I will feature in this set, since I’m not a huge fan of modern-day football. My interested in football peaked in the late 1980s and waned by the time I left for college in 1994.
Andrew Luck, however, seems to be an exciting quarterback, a bit of a throwback to the bombastic QBs of the late 80s and early 90s. This guy has a cannon for an arm and if he can hook up with his receivers, he should make a huge impact for the Colts this year.
Large photo credit: AP
Inset photo credit: AJ Mast/AP
Fun Cards: 1985 Topps USFL “The Outlaws”
One of the greatest albums ever released was 1976’s Wanted! The Outlaws, featuring Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. It reached #1 on the country charts and peaked at #10 on the pop charts. The two hit singles were “Suspicious Minds” and “Good Hearted Woman,” but I preferred “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys,” “Honky Tonk Heroes,” and “Put Another Log On The Fire.” That’s not to say the other songs are bad; in fact, there’s not a single track that I skip over when I listen to it.
A few days ago, I created a “fun card” of Waylon Jennings using the 1985 Topps USFL design and used that for the 1985 Topps “Father-Son” card I made of him and Shooter. Here is the full-size version of that Waylon card:
But I didn’t stop with Waylon. I made a card for each of the “Outlaws.”
All fans of country music should own this album in some form…vinyl, CD, MP3…whatever. It is one of the greatest albums ever, regardless of genre, and is near the top of my all-time favorites.
Foreign football cards
While trying to find a Turk Schonert football card (and failing…do any exist?), I made an interesting discovery. I stumbled across this article on boston.com mentioning Schonert, and displaying this non-Schonert card, which looks like a 1987 Topps issue, but there are some small differences.
Underneath the team banner, there is a small strip that says “1000 Yard Club,” and the Patriots logo is shown in a circle in the bottom right corner. I have never seen a card like this before, and I hate not knowing stuff, so I started scouring the internet for information. A Google image search for “1987 Topps Stanley Morgan” produced two main results: Morgan’s 1987 base card with a different photo, and Morgan’s 1987 glossy 1000 Yard Club insert card with the same photo as the card to the right. Surely no one went to all the trouble to switch out the photos, add a strip under the team name, and add the team logo to the front of the card, did they?
Nope.
In 1987, Topps released a set of American football cards for the UK market with these variations and a slightly smaller size. There were only a few cards per team (88 cards total) and some of the cards do feature the same photo as their North American counterparts, while others trade out the regular photo for the glossy insert photo. The card backs are different as well, showing only the previous year’s statistics, facts about the player, and some information about the game of football. For instance, Rueben Mayes‘ card educates the UK collector about the “power sweep” play.
You can pick up a complete set on eBay for only $69.99, or hand-pick your favorites from sportlots.com; many of them can be had for as low as eighteen cents plus shipping (click on the “football” radio button and search for “1987 Topps American/UK”). Had I made this discovery a week ago, I would have purchased the four Bengals included in the set: Boomer Esiason, James Brooks, Cris Collinsworth, and Tim McGee.
But no Turk Schonert.
I feel a “fun card” coming on.
