Blog RSS
Those We've Lost in 2020: Part One
As time presses on, we continue to lose many sports figures and pop culture personalities from the RetroCards Era of 1955-1988. In this Part One of Those We've Lost in 2020, RetroCards offers a brief memorial by showing a "card that never was." Those who have passed and are featured here include: Herb Adderley, Sean Connery, Eddie Van Halen, Sam Wyche, Don Larson, Doug Hart, David Stern, Neil Peart, Allen Brown, Willie Wood, Orson Bean, Robert Conrad, Kelley Nakahra, Ja’Net Dubois, Nesby Glasgow, Gloster Richardson, Del Shofner, Lyle Waggoner, Benny Malone , Curly Neal, Mike Stratton, Jim Wynn, Goldie Sellers,...
The NFLs Golden Boy: Paul Hornung
The NFL’s Golden Boy, Paul Hornung, passed away at the age of 84 on November 13th, 2020. If you were to pick one player on Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packer teams that launched that dynasty in the 1960s, it would have to be Paul Hornung. An unlikely NFL quarterback, the Heisman Trophy winner was drafted number one in 1957 to bolster the hapless Packers at time when the term “Titletown” was a distant memory. In his first two seasons Hornung was under utilized as a runner, receiver, and kicking specialist, tallying only 85 points in his first two seasons. Granted,...
Washington Federals - Lovable Losers of the USFL
If you are a fan of the old USFL, then you are probably familiar with the league's best teams and players. But fans must take the bad with the good and the Washington Federals were one of the truly hapless teams of that era. The 1983 the new United States Football League had plenty of hurdles to clear and one of the league's successes was they put very competitive teams on the field. In fact, by 1984 the talent level rose to NFL levels. The Federals were not among these and though their record was worse than their talent, the...
Spotlight: The Johnstone-Monday Connection
Two old school baseball players from the 70s and 80s that I grew up admiring were Rick Monday and Jay Johnstone. Neither played for my hometown team but as I collected baseball cards, those two players always stood out to me. When the Los Angeles Dodgers made their World Series run in 1981 I had fun watching Monday and Johnstone make big contributions on the road to the Dodgers World Series victory. I’ve always been partial to role players and Johnstone and Monday were unlikely heroes on a team chock full of stars and great players. That Dodger team seemed...
What Is the Future of Card Collecting?
The future viability of sports cards collecting looks cloudy. A pandemic has pushed professional and collegiate sports to the point of extinction and one has to wonder what this means for sports card collecting in the future. The soaring prices at every conceivable level of pro sports was easily absorbed by sports fans until now. Will sports complexes be closed? Will there only be virtual fans at games? Who will pay for these billion dollar venues if no fans are in them? Will sports return to normal after the pandemic? If there are no professional sports, will there be sports...
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...
Dallas Cowboys: The All-American Handsome Blond Receiver
An earlier RetroCard post discussed the innovative “3rd down back” receiving position revolutionized by the Dallas Cowboys and Preston Pearson in the 1970s. But there was another less talked about receiver, also pioneered by the Cowboys. That was the “All-American Handsome Blond Receiver” position. The string of pretty-boy wide receivers that passed through the organization is interesting if not peculiar. Possibly foreseeing the marketing benefits of combining the long ball and good looks, the Cowboys began their quest and formulated a look becoming of “America’s Team.”The blond syndrome began in 1964. Despite having a rising star receiver in Frank Clarke...
The Match Game - Leaving Nothing Blank
RetroCards continues its assault on nostalgic collectors with more 1970s TV frivolity: Introducing the all-new, star-studded, big-money Match Game set! This daring and provocative collection of cards focuses on what many believe to be the best game show in television history. The 1970s version of the show is full of colorful characters, orange shag carpeting, and wide ties that will cause that funky theme song to play in your head for the first time in ages. The show was a revamped version of the black and white 60’s version of the show, but this time around, the new Match Game ’73 had...
Recent Posts
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020