Card: 1950 Bowman, Card #45

Team/Position: The Cleveland Browns / Quarterback

Cost: $15.50 for this snowed in version of one of the greatest rookie cards of all time

There were three or four cards that I genuinely thought I’d have no chance in hell of acquiring for a reasonable price.  The two big boys from the 1957 set, Johnny Unitas and Bart Starr, are almost impossible to acquire on the cheap regardless of condition — so they’ve been back-burnered.  Then there’s Topps’ 1965 version of Joe Namath, which literally offers no hope for eventual purchase.  Namath’s numbers don’t jump out at you, but when you’re the quarterback of the New York Jets and you captivated a nation of young people, your rookie card’s going to sit at 250 bucks with 24 bids and 4 days left in an eBay auction as a PSA5 .

Finally, there’s the 1950 Bowman rookie card of Cleveland’s Otto Graham. If you’re of the belief that a quarterback is the field general and should be judged based on his accomplishments rather than statistics: Otto Graham is the best quarterback of all-time, with very little room for argument.

Some people look at Montana and Bradshaw’s four Superbowls a piece or maybe Bart Starr’s epic courage under fire, but all Otto Graham did was win — something the Cleveland Browns haven’t done since his departure.  Graham’s career started with the Browns in 1946 after he finished his service with the U.S. Navy’s coast-guard division.  The legendary Paul Brown signed Graham to a 2-year deal paying him $7,500 per year to play with the AAFC’s Cleveland Browns.

Football History doesn’t look back kindly upon AAFC statistics, as it was generally considered an inferior league that produced meaningless statistics.  From 1946 until the 1950 merger, Otto Graham and his Cleveland Browns won four consecutive AAFC championships through utter domination.  In 1950 when the leagues merged, Otto Graham finally got his rookie card — a beautiful small Bowman, colour and all.

Graham also provided vindication for the AAFC in 1950 by leading the Cleveland Browns to the NFL Championship Game in their inaugural season.  Cleveland finished up the 1950 regular season with a 10-2 record with both loses coming courtesy of the New York Giants’ Umbrella defense (see. Emlen Tunnell). Graham would gain his revenge in the playoffs by defeating the Giants before leading a masterful drive against the Los Angeles Rams to win the NFL Championship for the Cleveland Browns.

In Graham’s six years with the Cleveland Browns of the NFL, he lead the team to six consecutive championship games (winning three).  If his AAFC career’s included, Graham lead the Browns to the title game in each of his 10 professional seasons: An accomplishment that’ll live on in the history books for eternity.

Graham’s four AAFC and three NFL titles place him amongst the most successful quarterbacks of all time; even if he is technically one NFL Championship short of matching Montana and Bradshaw.  Graham’s 57-13-1 record as a starter in the NFL represents the greatest winning percentage (81%) of all time for a starting quarterback.

Automatic Otto Graham or Otto-matic, also won an NBL Championship with the Rochester Royals, who would eventually become the Sacramento Kings,  in his only season of Professional Basketball.  Graham had an uncanny ability to excel in whatever athletic pursuit he engaged in, which will forever remain his legacy.

Graham was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965 along with Sid Luckman, Steve Van Buren and Bob Waterfield, forming one of the best NFL HOF classes of all-time.

Graham’s statistics are nowhere near those of the great quarterbacks, but nary a soul could match his proficiency on the field.  It’s unfair to Graham to limit him solely to his NFL statistics, eliminating some of his best years because they occurred in the AAFC.  With Lou Groza and Marion Motley at his side, Otto Graham was the perfect vessel for Paul Brown’s version of Football.

Card: 1951 Bowman Football, Card #91

Team/Position: NY Giants, GB Packers / DB, Safety.

Cost: Acquired in a Lot ($15)

As a side-project, I’ve started to put together than 1951 Bowman set.  That year really doesn’t offer a lot of value in the Rookie Card department, but it’s definitely cheaper than the ’50 or ’52 sets.  Emlen Tunnell is one of the few rookies in the set, along with Tom Landry and Stormin’ Norman Van Brocklin.

Now, my card doesn’t exactly have the best color to it, but wasn’t Emlen Tunnell supposed to be the first African American to ever suit up for the New York Giants?  If so, is there a reason as to why Emlen comes across as a son of the Mediterranean — Maybe Italian? Maybe Greek?  Thankfully by 1952, Bowman had corrected the matter and Emlen Tunnell was indeed the first African American to play for the New York Giants.

Tunnell has a fairly interesting story, especially for a man that passed away far too early. Tunnell started out at Toledo where he unfortunately broke his neck.  The injury cost him enlistment in both the Army and Navy during WWII, but Emlen was eventually accepted by the Coast Guard.  What I absolutely loved about that era of sports was the dedication to their country that these players showed.

Em eventually settled in Iowa after his tour of the Coast Guard was up.  Tunnell wasn’t drafted, as he surprisingly chose to forgo his third season at Iowa.  Tunnell eventually landed a gig with the New York Giants where he’d prove to be a cornerstone of their Umbrella Defense.

Tunnell was a 9-time Pro Bowl Selection, 8-time All Pro, a member of the All-Decade Team of the 1950′s and a two-time Champion.

Em was literally “offense on defense”  as you can see from the rear of the card: “On the defensive platoon, Em was a valuable factor in attack, returning 2 pass interceptions and 1 punt for TDs.  During season, he intercepted 10 passes and ran them back for 251 yards. Ran 26 punts back for 315 yards” (What awful grammar!)

I’d highly recommend checking out this biography of Emlen Tunnell:

Emlen Tunnell was, as he himself pointed out to Maury White of the Des Moines Register, the “first black everything” with the New York Giants of the National Football League—”player, scout, talent scout, assistant coach, and first full-time black assistant in the whole league.” Tunnell was more than a pioneer, however. Playing the position of safety, he was one of the greatest defensive backs in the history of the game, setting records that lasted for decades after his retirement in 1961. Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967, he was not only the first African American to join that body but also the first defensive player. And on top of all this Tunnell was an individual with strong leadership skills that helped smooth the way for the integration of a pro game that was almost all-white when he first took the field.

Card: 1957 Topps Football Card #85

Team/Position: Chicago Cardinals, Detroit Lions / End, Defensive Back

Cost: $8.50

After a brief hiatus, I’m back with one of my favourite cards.  While the posts stopped; the cards just kept filling tiny apartment mailbox.

When it comes to defensive backs, Night Train Lane is the best of the best.  Dick was named the best defensive back of the first 50 years of professional football.His accolades are plentiful:

• Enshrined in the HOF in 1974
• Seven-time Pro Bowl Selection
• Six-time First Team All Pro and Four-Time Second Team.
• Named to the All-Decade Team for the 1950′s
• Named to the NFL’s 75th Anniversary Team.

Dick’s name is also plastered all over the NFL Record Books.

Lane’s set the record (as a rookie) for interceptions in a year (1952) with 14.  The record continues to stand to this day and probably will never be touched.  Darren Sharper’s posting one hell of a season, but he’s only at 8 interceptions after playing eleven games.

Lane’s amongst the top-5 in almost every other major interception category.

Lane had his best years with the Detroit Lions, where he finished his career.  On the field, Lane was one of the best big-play athletes to ever play a down of football.  He took risks and almost always succeeded.

Card: 1950 Bowman Gum, Card #23

Team/Position: Philadelphia Eagles / Runningback

Cost: Acquired in a $20.00 Lot

After writing about Steve Van Buren’s Leaf rookie card yesterday, I received a wonderful surprise today:  Steve Van Buren’s first Bowman card that doesn’t look like a boring old stock photo.

While the 1950 Bowman set looks a lot better than the earlier efforts, it doesn’t have the intricate team logos that make the ’51 and ’52 sets so gorgeous. 

I’m currently contemplating putting together the cheaper 1951 Bowman set because of cards like the Van Buren pictured right.

The cards have a good assortment of completely random backgrounds — I mean, Steven Van Buren running through a coniferous forest can’t be touched by modern cards.

Van Buren’s got the ball in his off hand, retaining all three points of contact.  Van Buren’s elbow’s a bit wide and the ball’s not as high and tight as we’d like to see but we’ll chalk this up to artistic license.

The market for vintage cards has also stabilized, which doesn’t make for terrific profits in the short-term, but if you’re ever forced to sell off your collection, you’re not going to lose too much money.

If cards are the stock market, than Vintage cards are the blue-chips.  Maybe they’ll lose ten-percent based on a poor auction time, but for the most part you’ll get back what you paid for ‘em.

Modern cards on the other hand will absolutely screw you over.  Even if a rookie succeeds, unless he’s on pace to break every conceivable record, you’re going to lose money.  There’s very little appreciation from early speculative prices.

Even if Sanchez goes onto multiple Pro Bowls, his cards won’t touch the early prices again unless he starts playing like Manning, or winning like Brady.  Even then, the cards from Playoff Prestige, Bowman Draft or Upper Deck Draft won’t come close to touching their early prices.

I suppose we just live in a society of instant gratification and pissing contests.   Throw in eBay and you’ve got cards going for ridiculous sums of money only to drop in value like a new car driving off the lot.

For the price of a loose pack of just about any product at your local card shop, you can acquire an early-50′s card of a Hall of Famer.  The rush of winning a great card at a damn good price should equal that of rippin’ packs.  You’re never going to pull that $300 Sanchez though, but you’ll avoid the awful cycle of ripping, selling, using the profits to rip more, and eventually selling more.  In the end, you’ll end up with a shit-tonne of base cards and no-name autographed rookies.

If you consider that fun; then, so be it.

Card: 1950 Bowman Football, Card #43

Team/Position: Cleveland Browns / Fullback

Cost: $30.00

The 1950 Bowman Gum Football set is one of the greatest sets of all time.  Prior to the 1950 season, the AAFC merged with the NFL and some of the all-time greats finally got their first rookie cards.  The Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers joined the NFL intact; meanwhile, the AAFC New York franchise was split evenly between the two NFL teams in New York.

The remainder of the AAFC players were dispersed evenly amongst the NFL franchises in a draft.  So there you have it, that’s why the 1950 Bowman set is absolutely loaded.

In the AAFC’s four year existence, Marion Motley and the Cleveland Browns won every championship.  When the AAFC shut down in 1949, Motley was the league’s all time leading rusher with 3,048 yards.

When Motley and the Browns joined the NFL, Marion Motley lead the league in rushing in his very first NFL season with 810 yards on 140 carries.  Motley averaged 5.8 yards per carry that year, averaging under a dozen carries per game.

No cards were produced for the AAFC, so Motley’s first card came when he was already 30 years old.  The front of the card makes Marion Motley look like an absolute beast, and at 6’1″ / 235lbs, he certainly was.  When you first look at the card, Motley’s number 76 and large stature make him look more like an offensive lineman than a fullback.

During a game against the Steelers in 1950, Motley rushed for a staggering 188 yards on only 11 carries: In turn, setting a yards per carry average record of 17 yards per attempt.

When it comes to the best runningback of all-time, Marion Motley’s definitely in the conversation with Jim Brown, Walter Peyton and Barry Sanders.

Motley was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.

Card: 1952 Bowman Football, Card #129

Team/Position: Detroit Lions / Defensive Halfback

Cost: $4.00

The early Bowman Football cards are probably the best looking football cards ever produced.  After the black and white cards of the late 40′s, Bowman really stepped it up and produced football cards with incredibly bright, contrasting, colours and terrific team logos.

Another benefit of the ’52 Bowman set was the insertion of both large and small cards.  The ’52 set is the stuff dreams are made of, and PSA has documented the costly hobby of nailin’ down these sets, here (small) and here (large).

When it comes to purchasing these cards, I’ll definitely need to scale back my guidelines and stress that condition isn’t all that important.  The Jack Christiansen that I acquired almost spoils the mythology behind this set.  The colors aren’t as sharp, the corners are shot, and it’s filled with creases; BUT, it was under five dollars — Score!

I’ve included a thumbnail of a PSA 9 Christiansen, if you’re curious as to what this card should look like.  Try your best not to fall in love with high-grade vintage cards or you’ll end up going broke quick-fast.

Christiansen was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1970 after playing for the Lions from 1951 to 1958.

During his career with the Lions, Christiansen was elected to 6 First Team All Pro Teams, and 5 Pro Bowls.

Christiansen lead the Lions to two consecutive NFL Championships in ’52 and ’53.

As the Lions defensive leader, Christiansen finished his career with 46 interceptions.

Christiansen also gained fame for his outstanding return abilities and finished up his career with 8 touchdowns on 85 punt returns.

Personally, of the three Bowman’s (50, 51, and 52,) I think that I’m leaning towards ’52 set.  The 1950 set has the greatest “Rookie” class of all-time, but the ’52 set has a lot to offer.  Financially, the ’51 set is probably the most affordable, if that’s what you’re looking for.

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.

Card: 1955 Bowman Football #44

Team/Position: San Francisco / Full Back

Cost: Free Money

No, not this Joe Perry, who was joined on-stage at the Fillmore by Steven Tyler to dismiss rumors of Aerosmith’s breakup. No, not the Joe Perry who came out the next day to say that the break-up was still on, either.

We’re talking about San Francisco 49ers fullback, Joe “the Jet” Perry.

Perry was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969. 

The 1955 card isn’t Perry’s rookie card; that honor goes to that 1950 Bowman Card.   The 1950 version of Perry is quite pricey, but is the case with all of the early Bowmans, it looks absolutely terrific.

Perry’s most notable attribute was his ability to boogey.  Perry notched a 9.7 in the 100-yard dash, which isn’t particularly useful nowadays: Converted, it’s about 10.5 second 100-m.  The world record around that time was about 10.2 seconds in the 100-m.  Needless to say, Perry was fast.

Why this card got a 2.5 is pretty much beyond me. When you compare the Lenny Moore 2.5 against the Joe Perry 2.5, there’s a world of difference.  Perry’s 2.5 looks much closer to the BVG 5.0 that Forrest Gregg pulled down.

Considering that the Perry and the Lenny Moore cost a total of nine dollars, I’m a pretty happy camper.

Card: 1956 Topps Football #60

Team/Position: Baltimore Colts / Halfback

Cost: $9.00

Lenny Moore was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in the first round (ninth overall) of the 1956 draft out of Penn State.  Lenny ended up being one of the few players to get his rookie card in his draft year.  The ’56 set holds some great Hall Of Famers on Topps cardboard for the very first time.  Lenny Moore, Joe Schmidt, Bill George, Stan Jones and Roosevelt Brown all have their Rookie Cards in the ’56 set.

I absolutely love the looks of these cards and I’m contemplating throwing together a low-grade set.  I got Lenny Moore and Joe Perry from the 1955 Bowman set, all for 9 bucks.  I’m going to considering Perry a Bonus! Bonus! card and just say that Lenny cost 9 bucks.  You can find Lenny Moore cards for under 5 bucks though, if you look hard enough.

Moore was a huge part of Baltimore’s offense, but his cards cost about 1/50th of the price as Unitas’.  Moore was another Flanker / Halfback combo-player that contributed whenever he touched the ball.

Over the course of Moore’s career, he notched seven Pro Bowls and seven All Pro selections.  Moore was named to the all decade team of the 1950′s and took home the UPI’s Rookie of the Year Award in 1956.

Lenny Moore was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975 after retiring from the game before the 1968 season.  Moore finished up his career with over 12K combined yards, and a then record, 18 consecutive games played with a touchdown.

Card: 1959 Topps Football Card #140

Team/Position: Halfback, Flanker / Washington Redskins, Cleveland Browns

Cost: $9.00

Bobby Mitchell was yet another incredible athlete from the prestigious Big-10 conference.  This time, rather than ranting and raving about Ohio State, we’re taking a trek westward to visit Champaign, Illinois, and their Fightin’ Illini.   Mitchell was a half-back for the Illini, but didn’t start until late in his sophomore season.  Mitchell finished up the season with a bang, but lost the majority of his junior year due to knee injuries.  His senior season was successful, but he failed to match his First Team All-American performance of just two years previous.

Mitchell’s athleticism landed him an offer from the St. Louis Cardinals to play baseball before even attending the University of Illinois.  Mitchell obviously declined and subsequently starred on the track and field team where his Olympic aspirations were born.

After the Browns drafted Mitchell in the 7th round of the 1958 Draft, Paul Brown had to contend with Mitchell’s Olympic dreams.  Brown’s offer of a $7000 salary was enough to change Mitchell’s mind and set the stage for arguably the best one-two combination that the game’s ever seen: Bobby Mitchell and Jim Brown.

Mitchell had track speed and unbelievable “make-ya-miss” potential.  Brown had the “make-yah-wish-yah-missed” skill that made him arguably the best player ever to have put on a helmet.

The combination was broken up in 1962 when the Washington Redskins underwent a drastic transformation.  The ‘Skins were under tremendous pressure to integrate the team by the local media and even congress, which lead to the eventual acquisition of Bobby Mitchell.  The ‘Skins had drafted Heisman winner, Ernie Davis, with the number one pick but traded him to the Browns for Mitchell and Leroy Jackson.

In one of the saddest stories ever told by the NFL (and eventually the silver screen,) Davis was the first African American to win the Heisman; However, Davis  succumbed to leukemia before ever playing a down of football in the National Football League.

The Redskins and Bill McPeak saw Mitchell as better suited for the outside and switched him to Flanker.  In Mitchell’s first year, he went off for — check this — 72 receptions, 1384 yards, and 11 touchdowns.

Mitchell was absolutely Dyn-o-mite.

Throughout the remainder of his career with the Redskins, Mitchell would never catch fewer than 58 passes in a year, despite being returned to his original half-back position in 1967 by new head-coach, Otto Graham.  When Mitchell retired after the 1968 season, his 14,078 combined yards was the second highest total in NFL history.

Mitchell was truly special in every aspect of the game. As a returner, Mitchell would end up returning almost 5% of kickoffs for touchdowns, which ranks fourth in NFL history.  As a runner, Mitchell was blessed with the break-away potential that few runningbacks, let alone defenders, could ever match.  As a receiver, Mitchell managed almost 8000 yards receiving despite spending a large portion of his career in the backfield.

Mitchell was inducted into the HOF in 1983 after being on the ballot for 10 years.

Seriously, 10 years.