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.