1960-1969 Football Cards

The 1960s football card sets elevated the football card hobby and collecting to a whole new level. This included a strong lineup of former greats and iconic card designs. The main card companies during this period consist of Topps, Fleer and Philadelphia Gum Company. They combined to offer collectors vintage 1960 football card sets for each year of the decade. Vintage football cards still rank behind baseball, but the 1960s helped close the gap.

1961 was a great year for football cards as it ushered in a decade where collectors had a choice. In addition, two football leagues were now vying for fans across America as the fledging American Football League (AFL) emerged to compete against the established National Football League (NFL).

The most valuable 1960s football rookie cards are available for Dick Butkus, Joe Namath and Mike Ditka. Other popular rookie options include Fran Tarkenton, Ray Nitschke, Gale Sayers, Fred Biletnikoff, Lance Alworth, Bob Lilly, Ernie Davis, Deacon Jones, Brian Piccolo, Larry Csonka, Don Meredith, Roman Gabriel, Jack Kemp, and Lenny Dawson.

1964 Philadelphia Football Cards

1964 Philadelphia Football marked the company’s first foray into the NFL. Key cards include Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas and Merlin Olsen.

Product Details

In 1964, the Philadelphia Gum Company secured the rights to produce cards featuring NFL players. 1964 Philadelphia Football was born. It was quite the coup given the fact that the company's longtime rival, Topps,  had been making them since 1956. The rights were negotiated in a back-room deal with a former Topps employee, so Topps had little recourse but to switch over to producing cards for the upstart American Football League.

As a result, Philadelphia began a four-year string of NFL sets, each containing 198 cards and measuring the standard 2-1/2 by 3-1/2 inches. The key rookie cards in 1964 Philadelphia Football are Herb Adderley (#71) and Merlin Olsen (#91). Other rookies include John Mackey (#3), Willie Davis (#72) and Jim Johnson (#161), to name a few. Veterans anchoring the set include Johnny Unitas (#12), Mike Ditka (#17), Jim Brown (#30), Bob Lilly (#48), Paul Hornung (#78) and Bart Starr (79)

Design

The design of the 1964 Philadelphia Football cards is fairly basic. The posed player photographs are accompanied only by a solid-colored block at the bottom that contains the player's name, team and position. The color of the box was determined by which team is featured. A white border runs around the card and also runs between the photo and the block of text. The card backs are printed with light blue, featuring a helmet-shaped icon with a card number inside, and the player's name, team, position and vital statistics to the right. There are two blocks below that. The first has either yearly and career statistics or a short biography for players whose positions didn't involve statistics. The larger block includes a comical cartoon about the player.

Checklist Notes and Errors

The set is uniquely numbered according to team, with players arranged in alphabetical order by their last name. There are 14 cards for every team, with 12 players, a team photo and a play card that shows a diagram of a team play, the team's coach and the home stadium. This system makes it very simple to collate. The play cards are of interest to collectors for featuring Hall of Fame coaches like Vince Lombardi (#84), George Halas (#28) Don Shula (#14) and Tom Landry (#56). There are a handful of uncorrected error cards most having to do with name spellings as is the case with Herb Adderley's rookie card or other typographical mistakes. There are also two checklist cards, which identify the year as 1963. The date was never corrected. No known variations are said to exist within the set.

Oddities

One interesting note about the 1964 Philadelphia Football card set is the pink Cadillac that appears in the background of all the cards of players on the Cleveland Browns. Hobbyists have claimed it was a car that Jim Brown owned, others say it was a car his dealership sold, and others insist that the pictures were merely taken next to a parking lot. Whatever the reason for it being included, it makes those cards stand out.

How We Grade:

Gem Mint (GMT): (10.0) A flawless card. To be in Gem Mint condition, a card’s borders must have a ratio of 50/50 side to side and top to bottom. 

Mint (MT): (9.0-9.5) A perfect card. Well-centered with parallel borders which appear equal to the naked eye. Four sharp, square corners. No creases, edge dents, surface scratches, paper flaws, loss of luster, yellowing or fading, regardless of age. No imperfectly printed cards – out of register, badly cut or ink flawed – or card stained by contact with gum, wax or other substances can be considered truly Mint, even if new out of the pack. Generally, to be considered in Mint condition, a card’s borders must exist in a ratio of 60/40 side to side and top to bottom. 

Near Mint/Mint (NM/MT): (8.0-8.5) A super high-end card that appears Mint 9 at first glance, but upon closer inspection, may exhibit a very slight wax stain on reverse, slight fraying at one or two corners, or a minor printing imperfection. Centering must be app. 65/35 to 70/30 or better on the front and 90/10 or better on the reverse. 

Near Mint (NM): (7.0-7.5) A nearly perfect card at first glance, but upon closer inspection, may have slight surface wear, slight fraying on some corners, slightly out-of-register picture focus, a minor printing blemish or slight wax stain on reverse. Centering must be 70/30 to 75/25 or better on the front and 90/10 or better on the reverse.

Excellent/Near Mint (EX/NM): (6.0-6.5) Card may have visible surface wear or a printing defect. A very light scratch. Corners may have slightly graduated fraying. Picture focus may be slightly out-of-register. Card may have minor wax stain on reverse, may have very slight nothing on edges. Centering must be 80/20 or better on the front and 90/10 or better on the reverse.

Excellent (EX): (5.0-5.5) Corners are still fairly sharp with only moderate wear. Card borders may be off center as much as 85/15. No creases. May have very minor gum, wax or product stains, front or back. Surfaces may show slight loss of luster from rubbing across other cards. Dark bordered cards may have one or two small nicks.

Very Good/Excellent (VG/EX): (4.0-4.5) Shows obvious handling, but still looks nice. Corners may be rounded or have minor creases. No major creases, tape marks or extraneous markings or writing. Surfaces does exhibit loss of luster, but the printing is intact. May have paper wrinkles. May show major gum, wax or other packaging stains. All four borders visible, though the ratio may be as poor as 95/5. Exhibits honest wear. 

Very Good (VG): (3.0-3.5) A well-worn card, but exhibits no intentional damage or abuse. May be “Mis-cut or Off-Center” with no border visible. May have major or multiple creases, however, creases are not so deep as to show the underlying paper. This card is completely readable, has not been written on, and has no tape marks or holes. Corner rounding may extend well beyond the border. 

Good (GD) (2.0-2.5) Shows excessive wear, along with damage or abuse. Will show all the wear characteristics of a Very Good card, along with such damage as thumb tack holes in or near margins, evidence of having been taped or pasted, perhaps small tears around the edges or creases so heavily as to break the cardboard. Backs may show minor added pen or pencil writing or be missing small bits of paper. Still basically a complete card. 

Poor (P): (1.0-1.5) A card that has been tortured to death. Corners or other areas may be torn off. Card may have been trimmed, show holes from a paper punch or have been used for BB gun practice. Front may have extraneous pen or pencil writing, or other defacement. Major portions of front or back design may be missing. Not a pretty sight.