HAPPY BLOG BIRTHDAY

I'VE TOLD THIS STORY A DOZEN TIMES BEFORE BUT THIS BLOG GOT ITS START ON DECEMBER 26TH A MILLION YEARS AGO WHEN I GOT A NEW SCANNER FOR CHRISTMAS AND USED IT TO CREATE THIS IMAGE OF THE CARD I'VE HAD IN MY COLLECTION THE LONGEST AND USED THAT TO CREATE A CARD BLOG COPYING A DOZEN OTHER BETTER ONES I LIKED TO READ

I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL I WAS DOING AT FIRST BUT THEN I GOT SUPER POPULAR AND DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING AND I GOT HELLA PROLIFIC WHILE NOT KNOWING WHAT I WAS DOING THEN I THOUGHT I KNEW WHAT I WAS DOING BUT I DIDN'T THEN I GOT KICKED IN THE DICK METAPHORICALLY SEVERAL TIMES AFTER WRITING STUFF WHEN I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING THEN I REALLY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING AND THEN I BARELY DID ANYTHING THEN I SAID SCREW IT I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING BUT I'LL DO SOMETHING AND NOW WE'VE GONE FULL CIRCLE AND I'VE STARTED POSTING REGULARLY AGAIN AND JUST LIKE AT THE BEGINNING I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL I'M DOING

ONE THING I DID MANAGE TO DO THIS YEAR IS FINISH SOME STUFF I STARTED. IT TOOK A WHILE BUT I DID IT. THEN I STARTED LIKE THREE OTHER THINGS AND NOW I'M STARING A COUPLE HUNDRED DRAFT POSTS IN THE FACE. ALL WHILE NEGLECTING ALL THE OTHER POSTS I SHOULD HAVE WRITTEN MONTHS AGO, SOME OF WHICH ARE MIXED UP IN THAT DRAFT FOLDER. AS A BLOG BIRTHDAY PRESENT TO MYSELF I HAVE DECIDED TO COMPLETELY IGNORE ANYTHING AND POST NOTHING ELSE THE REST OF THE YEAR EXCEPT FOR THE ONE THING THAT'S ALREADY SCHEDULED. IF I GET STUFF WRITTEN, GREAT! I'LL BE AHEAD OF THE GAME NEXT YEAR. IF I DON'T, OH WELL! IT'S JUST SHITPOSTING ABOUT BASEBALL CARDS. MAYBE I'LL GET SOME STUFF ORGANIZED OR PUT AWAY OR GET SOME PACKAGES MAILED OR COLLAPSE IN A HEAP ON THE FLOOR AND LIE THERE TWITCHING FOR A WEEK. SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE! OR MAYBE I'LL DO NOTHING! IT DON'T MATTER. NONE OF THIS MATTERS

I AM STILL HAVING FUN DOING THIS NONSENSE AND I'VE EVEN POSTED MORE STUFF THIS YEAR THAN I HAD THE PREVIOUS FOUR YEARS COMBINED. THAT DRAFT FOLDER THO. AND THE IMAGE FOLDER WITH HUNDREDS OF PHOTOS FOR EVEN MORE POSTS. HOO BOY. I'M NOT GONNA THINK ABOUT THAT RIGHT NOW, I'M ON BREAK FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR. WHICH IS LESS THAN A WEEK BUT WHATEVER. AS A SPECIAL TREAT I'VE DUG DEEP IN THAT DRAFT FOLDER AND FOUND THREE POSTS FROM A VINTAGE CARD SHOW IN SEPTEMBER 2013 THAT NEVER GOT WRITTEN AND I'M GONNA SHOW THEM OFF NOW. ONE MORE THING FINISHED IN 2023!

IN 2013 I WAS STILL FULL STEAM AHEAD TRYING TO COMPLETE MY 1974 TOPPS SET WHICH MEANS CHASING THAT RATBAG PETE ROSE. HE'S ONE OF THE LAST DAMN CARDS I NEED FOR EVERY DANG SET AND I HATE IT. GO CHECK MY 1976 TOPPS NEEDS, I'M EXTRA MAD AT PETE AT THE MOMENT. I GOT NOTHING AGAINST BOBBY MURCER. I DON'T REMEMBER EXACLY WHEN I COMPLETED THE '74 SET AND I'M STILL LOOKING FOR THOSE DUMB SAN DIEGO LARGE AND SMALL PRINT FRIESLEBEN ROOKIES BUT I'M PRETTY SURE THIS WASN'T ANYWHERE NEAR THE LAST CARD I NEEDED. I WONDER WHAT IT WAS? MAYBE I CAN FIND IT IN THE BLOG

OH SONOVABITCH 

THE BACK FEATURES A BOBBY BONDS 1973 ALL STAR MVP PUZZLE. WHY HAVEN'T I PUT THESE PUZZLES TOGETHER AND TAKEN A PHOTO YET?? ONE MORE THING FOR ME TO DO IN 2024

I REALLY LIKE THIS 1955 TOPPS ALL-AMERICAN SET BUT SOMEWHERE AROUND 20-15 YEARS AGO OR SO I STOPPED BEING ABLE TO FIND THEM FOR A BUCK APIECE. I ALREADY HAD THE GEORGIA BULLDOGS CARD AND I COULD BUY TWO OR THREE 50'S BASEBALL COMMONS FOR THE SAME PRICE AS AN ALL-AMERICAN SO I FOOLISHLY KEPT PASSING THEM UP. NOW YOU CAN HARDLY FIND THEM AT ANY PRICE. I'M PRETTY SURE THIS WAS THE LAST '55 ALL-AMERICAN EVER SOLD FOR A BUCK

BENNIE OOSTERBAAN IS A GREAT NAME AND MICHIGAN IS A PREMIER COLLEGE FOOTBALL CLUB. THIS CARD IS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION TOO, SO MUCH CHARACTER. YOU DON'T SEE THIS KIND OF CARD ENTOMBED IN A PLASTIC CASE. OR MAYBE YOU DO, THESE CARDS REALLY HAVE GOTTEN EXPENSIVE

I COULD NEVER LEAVE A VINTAGE CARD SHOW WITHOUT RAIDING THE BARGAIN NON-SPORTS BOX AND I GOT A PRIMO CARD THAT SEPTEMBER SHOW. DA VINCI WAS A FAVORITE ARTIST OF MINE WHEN I WAS A KID BECAUSE NOT ONLY DID HE DO THE SUPER FAMOUS PAINTING BUT ALSO A BUNCH OF SCIENCY STUFF AS WELL. HE WAS WAY COOLER THAN MICHAELANGELO, DONATELLO OR RAFAEL. I WAS ALREADY A BIG FAN OF THIS 1952 TOPPS LOOK 'N SEE SET AND WAS STOKED TO FIND LEO. NOT ENOUGH TO YA KNOW - WRITE THE GODDAMN POST - BUT SUPER STOKED ALL THE SAME

THE GIMMICK OF THIS SET IS YOU COULD HOLD UP A PIECE OF RED CELLOPHANE TO THE BACK OF THE CARD AND SEE A SEECRIT PITCHUR! YOU DON'T NEED NO CELLOPHANE FOR THIS ONE, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT THAT BLOB BEHIND THE TEXT LOOKS LIKE. OL' SMILIN' LISA IS EVERYWHERE, INCLUDING ON TRADING CARDS. REMEMBER A COUPLE YEARS AGO WHEN SOME NEWFANGLED SET PUT A MONA LISA ROOKIE CARD GIMMICK IN THEIR SET? HOGWASH! SHE WAS HIDING ON THE BACK OF A CARD IN 1952 ALL ALONG

I REALLY HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE CARD IDIOCY THIS YEAR BECAUSE THERE'S TWO AND A HALF BOXES OF ONLINE DIME BOX CARD POSTS LEFT AS WELL AS THREE QUARTERS OF A JUNK BOX, AND MORE CARD SHOW POSTS AND A BIG COMC ORDER ON THE WAY AND OH GOD I NEED TO WRITE UP SOME PACKAGE POSTS AND ACK THERE'S TOO MUCH TO DO! I'M OUTTA HERE! SEE Y'ALL NEXT YEAR!

RIP Topps Football - 1956-2009

Wail, weep and woe! King Topps has been unfairly stripped of its NFLPA license! 55 years of history flushed down the toilet! Football shall never recover! Topps is doomed! The hobby shall falter! All is lost! I'll never buy another football card again! Everything is ruined forever!

Well, actually Topps has been doing football cards since 1948, not 1956. And they didn't have NFL cards at all for four of those years. And no NFL Properties license (or logos) for another decade or so. And absolutely no talent for making football cards at all, ever. And they have an exclusive license to produce cards for the only sport that really matters. And MMA and Wrestling licenses that will probably outsell most of the other sports. And a bunch of non-sports products. And they'll probably run a a double reverse around the license and put out something football related anyway. Oh, they also sell gum.

Topps will be fine. I'll be fine, you'll be fine, the hobby will be fine, everybody will be fine. However, I simply cannot let such a melodramatic wave of retro nostalgia angst go to waste. This is a golden opportunity to begin a huge long-ass project that I've wanted to do for 2 years but don't really have time for and will end up abandoning about a third of the way into it anyway when I get bored or distracted or evicted from my house or something. So with no further ado (lies!) here's the beginning of...

CARDBOARD JUNKIE'S REVIEW OF EVERY TOPPS FOOTBALL BASE SET EVER

Let's start with the early days of Topps football cards before they got mixed up with that newfangled NFL. What an unmitigated disaster that was, just look how it turned out for them! They shoulda stuck with the college cards, like they did with these four sets here:

1948 Topps Magic

Set size: 252 cards over 19 series
Actual football cards in the set: um, 18? maybe?
Card Size: 7/8" x 1 7/16"
Best card: Doak Walker, maybe Chuck Bednarik
Rookies: probably all of 'em

I don't have any of these cards so I used a 2009 Topps Magic insert to illustrate what they kinda sorta looked like. These cards were an early early trading card gimmick. The cards came out of the pack blank, when you got the card wet and pasted it to the wrapper or put it in direct sunlight or some such nonsense the picture would 'develop' and you'd have a card with a really faded and blotchy image of some celebrity or whatnot. This was Topps' first set of anything ever so it'e pretty historical. Not historical enough for me to pick up even a type card, apparently.

1950 Topps Felt Backs

Set size: 100 cards with 25 extra color variations
Card Size: 7/8" x 1 7/16"
Best card: Joe Paterno
Rookies: most of 'em

I don't even have a reprint of these scarce little buggers. Haven't even seen one in person that I can recall. You can take a look at 'em here and here if you wish. Check out the crazy eyes on Harry Ulinski! These cards were tinly like the '48 Magic cards and had a black & white image of the player surrounded by a solid color border on the front, and a felt college pennant on the back. The fronts have red, blue, green or brown borders with the colors divided equally in the 100 card set. Cards with a brown border can also be found with a scarce yellow border variation. The best card by far in the set is one of Joe Paterno, back when he was quarterback of Brown university. There are also four hall of famers in the set and a college football card of 1958 AL MVP Jackie Jensen. If anyone out there actually has one of these things in their collection, please let me know because I've seriously never even seen one before.

1951 Topps Magic

Set size: 75 cards
Card Size: 2 1/16" x 2 15/16"
Best card: Vic Janowicz? Really?
Rookies: I don't know, man. I don't have a good football price guide to tell me these things.

This is the set Topps resurrected into an odd retro college sticker auto set this year. The cards are a little bigger and have full color fronts this time. Topps still gimmicked up the set with a scratch-off trivia question on the back. If you lose your mind and decide you just have to collect a complete set of cards from the '50s, this might be a good one to tackle. There are only 75 cards in the set, making it the smallest Topps football base set. There are also virtually no stars in the set at all. My ancient football card price guide from 1985 shows only 7 out of the 75 cards in the set book for more than the common price. Those players are: Babe Parilli, Bill Wade, Jim Weatherall, Marion Campbell, Bert Rechichar, John Bright and Pittsburgh Pirate outfielder Vic Janowicz. The most interesting card in the set has to be George Young, the long time NFL executive who built three Super Bowl champs.

1955 Topps All American

Set size: 100 cards, cards 93-100 are short printed
Card Size: 2 5/8" x 3 5/8"
Best card: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Other good cards: Jim Thorpe, Knute Rockne, Red Grange, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Sammy Baugh, Otto Graham, Sid Luckman, Ernie Nevers, Don Hutson.

As far as I'm concerned this is the greatest football card set in the history of carddom. The set features some of the absolute greatest players in college football history. The design is absolutely unique with the color action photo superimposed ove a black and white stock football photo. The college logos were made up by Topps and are often completely random. There's even a trivia cartoon on the back. A full gallery of the cards can be found here. A good look at the two best cards in the set, Jim Thorpe and The Four Horsemen, can be found here. The most interesting card in the set is one of Byron "Whizzer" White, who later became a Supreme Court Justice. He was also the guy who accidentally ran backwards 51 yards on a play resulting in an NFL record for biggest yardage loss on a play from scrimmage. Oops.