1960: The Dawn of a New Era in Pro Football
By the late 1980s, it was understood that the modern football era began in 1960. This made some sense because in the 80s we had the hindsight to recognize that 1960 was the beginning of pro football’s main expansion with the advent of the newly formed American Football League and the beginning of Pete Rozelle’s 30-year reign as NFL Commissioner. Looking back from the 21st century, 1960s football seems charming if not ancient. But the decade of the 1960s was the first real growth period in football’s modern era.
There were two football card sets in 1960, one taking the NFL players and the other dealing exclusively with the new AFL. This RetroCards set adds another 20 cards of NFL players. Designed as the first of two series, the 1960T RetroCards set includes the players from the Baltimore Colts, St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Detroit Lions: Andy Nelson, Sherman Plunkett, Ernie Barnes, Gino Marchetti, Ken Panfil, Jerry Norton, Dick “Night Train” Lane, Bill Stacy, Jimmy Orr, John Reger, Buddy Dial, Fred Williamson, Roger Brown, Gail Cogdill, John Gordy, Harley Sewall, and Alex Karras. This set also includes a wrapper card and Championship card of the 1959 classic between the Colts and the Giants.
Coming soon!
- Also check out other 1960RetroCards team sets of the Giants, Cowboys, Bears, and Packers.
- The forthcoming 1960T series two with include players from the Los Angeles Rams, Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, and San Francisco 49ers.