Your nominations for worst football card ever

[Evan]

I remember in the early 80s Topps had a lot of "guys sitting on the sideline with a towel over their head" poses which I thought were kind of lame.

In the 1979 set, the Vikings had an epidemic of these with Fran Tarkenton, Carl Eller and Jim Marshall all draped in white towels. It was bad enough that everyone knew they were tired and old, but did Topps have to picture them wilting under extreme heat too?

Elvin Bethea was draped in a head towel in two of his cards, so I can't claim a bias against Minnesota players suffering in the heat.

[Evan]

I just want to say that I love football cards, that collecting football cards as a kid gave me invaluable lessons in writing, math, history and of course nurtured a love of football. I appreciate how hard it is to pull off all those pictures, crops, backs, etc. That being said, here are some of my favorite among those that are my least favorite ...

1964 Philadelphia Jim Marshall -- Instead of "arms and the man", this is "arms are the man."

Jim_Marshall.jpg (35.83 KiB) Viewed 16575 times

1964 Topps Freddy Glick -- I hope he was dancing at an awesome party, or that he slugged the photog who told him to pose like this:

Freddy_Glick.jpg (39.14 KiB) Viewed 16575 times

1965 Topps John Huarte -- Just creepy, it looks like his head doesn't match his body, or that he's been turned into a rag doll. Something just is NOT right here ...

John_Huarte.jpg (42.59 KiB) Viewed 16575 times

[Evan]

And some more ...

1972 Randy Vataha - Even the blue background is airbrushed.

Randy_Vataha.jpg (35.65 KiB) Viewed 16575 times

1977 Tony Galbreath -- How did they make him look ... golden?

Tony_Galbreath.jpg (50.28 KiB) Viewed 16575 times

1978 Robin Earl -- Insert dandruff commercial joke here.

Robin_Earl.jpg (45.17 KiB) Viewed 16575 times

[Evan]

Then there were cards that begged the question ... who is this card supposed to be of? It's not really clear, as the subject is highly obscured.

Ray_Guy.jpg (50.91 KiB) Viewed 16575 times

Dennis_Havig.jpg (51.42 KiB) Viewed 16575 times

Bob_Hoskins.jpg (53.6 KiB) Viewed 16575 times

[Evan]

Then there is the occasional goof, showing someone on the wrong team. On Oct. 22, 1974, Tom Graham was traded with tackle Tom Drougas from the Denver Broncos to the Kansas City Chiefs for cornerback Jim Marsalis (who failed his physical with Denver and was returned to Kansas City, which sent Denver draft choices instead). Graham played 8 games for Kansas City in 1974, but Topps missed it, putting Graham on Denver for the 1975 set with no mention of the trade on his card.

Tom_Graham.jpg (46.94 KiB) Viewed 16574 times

In their 1980 baseball set, Topps had a similar goof with Ralph Garr, who had been bought by the Angels before the end of the 1979 season, but was pictured in his 1980 card still with the White Sox.

[Gary Najman]

In 1991 they even made cards of the referees. This is my favorite, of the late Gordon McCarter, who was a NFL official fom 1967-1995.

http://millercards.net/im_ya_large/ya034.jpg

[Gary Najman]

And some more ...

1972 Randy Vataha - Even the blue background is airbrushed.

Randy_Vataha.jpg

1977 Tony Galbreath -- How did they make him look ... golden?

Tony_Galbreath.jpg

1978 Robin Earl -- Insert dandruff commercial joke here.

Robin_Earl.jpg

Another one from the 1977 Mexican set, like Tony Galbreath, Wayne Morris is also golden.

http://caimages.collectors.com/psaimage ... an141f.jpg


http://www.google.com.mx/search?hl=es&t ... B333%3B559

[Gary Najman]

Another one from the 1977 Mexican set, when I was 6 years old, I thought John Skorupan was putting a straw on his nose.

http://www.footballcardgallery.com/1977 ... orupan.jpg

[coachtj]

...no doubt the air brushings and staged football movements for players gave a comic look to the cards; yet for me as a nine year old in 1960 the fleer card of gene cockrell (card #56) is an all-timer with him carrying a stand-up bag like he is going to ram the castle gate. my friends thought topps had nothing to worry about. then to our surprise the '61 fleer cards were one of the best sets ever with players photos taken in the stadium before games.

[Saban1]

For me , it was the card of Harry "Chick" Jagade in 1954 in a Chicago Bears uniform. When I saw that, I thought that someone had made a big mistake, being that Chick had played for the Cleveland Browns in 1953. I didn't know that he had been traded.

Kind of interesting story behind the trade. During the 1953 season, Jagade told Cleveland coach Paul Brown that he had to retire after that season. It seems that Jagade's family owned a business in Chicago and needed more of Chick's participation in it, and Jagade could not do that while playing in Cleveland. So, Brown arranged a trade with the Bears sending Jagade to the Chicago Bears for Fred "Curly' Morrison and a draft choice.