Mel Hein: 1955 Topps All American Football
Player: Mel Hein
Card: 1955 Topps All Americans, Card #28
Team/Position: Washington State (New York Giants) / Center, Linebacker
Cost: $18.00
Mel Hein was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the first ever class in 1963.
Sammy Baugh, Bert Bell, Dutch Clark, Red Grange, George Halas, Pete Henry, Cal Hubbard, Don Hutson, Curly Lambeau, Tim Mara, George Preston Marshall, Blood McNally, Bronko Nagurski, Ernie Nevers, and Jim Thorpe — who we’ll get to in a second — were also part of the inagularal class of ’63.
Hein was an absolute beast for the Giants and played both ways as was customary. Relative to his competition, Hein dominated the center position as well as anyone in the history of the game. Defensively, Hein was often asked to cover fellow inductee, Don Hutson, as he was one of the few men that could keep up.
Hein was voted All-Pro eight times in his career, and astonishingly won the league’s MVP in 1938. Hein was a great player, but unfortunately was well before my time, so I’ll shift my focus to this:
Click To Enlarge, In All It's Glory
When it comes to insanely racist comics, the 1950′s seems to do it very well. When I offered up about 20 dollars for this card, I didn’t see the back. If I had seen the back, I would have paid any price.
Which Indian became one of Football’s All-Time Greats?
The answer is obviously the aforementioned Jim Thorpe. Thorpe, pictured above, apparently played football with a Tomahawk while performing the war-cry of his proud tribe.
Right now, it’s a toss-up between Mel Hein and Jimmy Brown for my favourite card.
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