Tuesday, October 9, 2012

NFL Games: Philly vs NY

In 1960, as if Topps didn't have enough to contend with when Leaf introduced a 144 card set of baseball cards, an ornery new player in the trading card field introduced a set of football cards.  Fleer took on Topps, who issued a set of 132 NFL players, with 132 AFL subjects, picking up the new league in its first season.  After issuing the first modern inserts with their 1960 Baseball Greats set, both companies had them in their 1960 football packs.  Topps issued a series of Metallic Stickers while Fleer countered with College Football Decals.

Putting all that aside, I just want to look at the five cent wrappers today from each set. The Topps design was a classic, as this scan from the Football Card Gallery shows:

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Actually, I'll show the penny pack, also from the same site (run by Friend o'the Archive Mike Thomas):




















That Special feature is a bit of a cheat.  While the nickel pack indeed held an insert, the Magic Football Funnies were just a scratch off feature on the back of then card.

Here is what Fleer came up with:


























As for the cards from each company, I think Topps had the winner.  Here is the Topps offering, a great shot of Ollie Matson:



























And here is a typical Fleer card:


























The graphics resemble what Topps had done about four years ago. We'll look at the inserts next time out but it's the same story there.


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