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Since there are so many reasons to love vintage sports cards (and, sure, I’m a bit biased), I thought it would be fun to occasionally feature a card in my collection. Whether it jumped out at me, generated questions, or just made me smile, I thought there’d be a decent chance that you’ll feel the same way.

1956 Topps #88

Look at that photo. I mean, how could you not love that? And questions did come to mind. Like, did the photographer specifically ask him to do that? Or did “Wildman” (his actual nickname) just volunteer to do that, to perhaps mimic the Eagles logo, demonstrate how he rushed the quarterback, or maybe just show how he played airplane with his kids? Inquiring minds want to know.

And speaking of rushing the QB, upon doing some research into Willey’s football career, I learned that he (unofficially) got 17 sacks in ONE GAME on October 26, 1952. Seventeen!! It’s unofficial because sacks weren’t an official statistic until 30 years later, but, I mean, come on. And that reportedly included 11 sacks in a row (!!) and all against the same quarterback, Charlie Conerly (poor guy). Further proof of how impressive the feat was is that he was matched up against future Hall of Fame tackle Roosevelt Brown.

And that’s another reason I love vintage sports cards - the opportunity to learn about former players who may not be the legends we all know, but are still professional athletes (i.e., better at their sport than 99.9% of the population) who have fascinating accomplishments and experiences for me to discover.

In this issue you'll find:

Auction highlights
News in the hobby
Rich “Goose” Gossage’s rookie card and player profile
Collector-grade football HOF rookie cards from the 1950s
ICYMI
Recent Vintage Card Voyage videos

Let’s get into it.

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Auction Highlights

In order of closing date (prices as of Sunday evening PT):

Mile High Card Company (ending January 15):

⚾ 1911 T205 Sovereign Christy Mathewson SGC 3- $977

🏈 1955 Topps All-American Cello Pack Authentic Unopened GAI 5.5 - $967

🏒 1977-79 Sportscaster Italy #77-10 Wayne Gretzky PSA 8 - $847

REA (ending January 18):

⚾ 1940 R335 Play Ball #27 Ted Williams SGC 3 - $925

🏈 1958 Topps #62 Jim Brown RC PSA 5 - $925

⚾ 1955 Topps #50 Jackie Robinson PSA 5 - $875

Collector Investor Auctions (ending January 18):

⚾ 1955 Topps #123 Sandy Koufax RC BVG 6 - $925

🏃🏾‍♂️‍➡️ 1937 Ogden’s LTD Champions of 1936 #3 Jesse Owens PSA 7 - $323

🥊 1910 Hassan T218 Jack Johnson Side View SGC 4 - $213

Which featured auction listing prices are most relevant for you?

News Briefs

⚾ A Huge Collection of Late-’50s Cards Are Heading to Auction

🎨 An Interview With Legendary Sports Artist James Fiorentino

⚾ Part Two of the “Golden Age Collection” Heads to Heritage

🏈 Some Vintage Cards With Big Growth in 2025

⚾ A History of 1926 Baseball Cards on Their 100th Anniversary

Vintage HOF Rookie Card: Rich “Goose” Gossage

My primary memory of him was of one of his fastballs hitting Ron Cey in the head in the 1981 World Series, cracking Cey’s batting helmet. That obviously didn’t define him, though, as he starred throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, ending his 22-year career in 1994.

Rich “Goose” Gossage - RP

HOF Induction in 2008 - Named on 466 out of 543 ballots (85.8%)

Standout Stats:

Nine-time All-Star
Finished in the top 5 in Cy Young voting four different times (1978, ‘80, ‘81, ‘84)
Three-time A.L. leader in saves
Recorded double-digit wins four different times, all as a full-time reliever
His one year as a full-time starter in 1976, he finished 9-17, but still made the All-Star team

1973 Topps #174

Grade	PSA	SGC	BVG
10	12	0	0
9	233	8	2
8	903	90	28
7	729	117	25

I’m not exactly sure what happened with the first sale, as it was part of an auction with 21 total bids. It was admittedly not that well centered, but I still say whoever won it got a pretty good deal. And the average for all 10 sales came in at $67.43.

Hobby Thoughts: 1950s Collector-Grade Football HOF Rookies

As mentioned previously, collector grade is based on the decade - a 7 grade for the 1970s, a 6 for the 1960s, and so on.

This week I’ll focus on football Hall of Fame rookie cards from the 1950s. Because of the type of cards being considered and the decade, I’ll define “affordable” as $175 or less, with each price based on the average of the last three sales.

Before tabulating, my guess is that around 50% of the cards fall into the “affordable” category.

Here’s the data from Vintage Card Prices (and unlike previous newsletters, I’ll use tables this time, so it’s easier to see all the information):

Year/Company	Player	Average Price
1959 Topps	Bobby Mitchell	20.84
1959 Topps	Jim Parker	22.12
1957 Topps	Jack Butler	24.46
1956 Topps	Stan Jones	25.01
1955 Bowman	Dick Stanfel	26.17
1956 Topps	Roosevelt Brown	27.83
1955 Bowman	Len Ford	30.33
1955 Bowman	John Henry Johnson	32.59
1959 Topps	Sam Huff	33.98
1955 Bowman	Mike McCormack	34.41
1959 Topps	Jim Taylor	36.67
1959 Topps	Jerry Kramer	39.67
1957 Topps	Tommy McDonald	40.10
1959 Topps	Alex Karras	42.00
1956 Topps	Bill George	43.33
1956 Topps	Joe Schmidt	45.81
1955 Topps All-American	Wilbur “Fats” Henry	46.50
1952 Bowman (Small)	Les Richter	48.40
1955 Bowman	Bob St. Clair	50.66
1955 Topps All-American	Benny Friedman	52.00
1955 Bowman	Jim Ringo	55.05
1955 Topps All-American	Frank “Bruiser” Kinard	56.32
1955 Bowman	Frank Gatski	57.51
1952 Bowman (Small)	Wayne Millner	58.87
1955 Topps All-American	Ernie Nevers	59.33
1955 Topps All-American	Mel Hein	62.58
1952 Bowman (Small)	Andy Robustelli	67.66
1958 Topps	Sonny Jurgensen	70.07
1955 Topps All-American	Clarence “Ace” Parker	70.98
1954 Bowman	Doug Atkins	73.17
1956 Topps	Lenny Moore	79.02
1951 Bowman	Arnie Weinmeister	82.09
1952 Bowman (Small)	Jack Christiansen	86.55
1951 Bowman	Lou Creekmur	87.33
1950 Bowman	Tom Fears	88.94
1951 Bowman	Ernie Stautner	97.51
1957 Topps	Dick “Night Train” Lane	98.33

We’re 37 cards in and have yet to reach a card that averages $100 or more. Clearly I was being pretty darn hopeful with that 50% prediction. There are a few surprises here, including Sonny Jurgensen (who had the fourth-most career passing yards upon his retirement), Dick “Night Train” Lane (who still has the fourth-most career interceptions), and Alex Karras, at least based on his awareness within pop culture (any “Webster” or “Blazing Saddles” fans?).

Year/Company	Player	Average Price
1950 Bowman	Joe Perry	131.29
1954 Bowman	George Blanda	134.40
1950 Bowman	Dante Lavelli	137.50
1950 Bowman	Tony Canadeo	140.19
1952 Bowman (Small)	Art Donovan	147.79
1951 Bowman	Emlen Tunnell	151.92
1952 Bowman (Small)	Gino Marchetti	162.86
1950 Bowman	Lou Groza	167.33
1952 Bowman (Small)	Yale Lary	179.50
1950 Bowman	Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch	182.70
1957 Topps	Raymond Berry	188.59
1951 Bowman	Norm Van Brocklin	190.92
1952 Bowman (Small)	Hugh McElhenny	191.50
1950 Bowman	Mac Speedie	207.54
1952 Bowman (Small)	Bobby Dillon	213.02
1951 Bowman	Ed Sprinkle	221.40
1952 Bowman (Small)	Ollie Matson	241.17
1952 Bowman (Small)	Joe Stydahar	273.43
1952 Bowman (Small)	Frank Gifford	295.66
1957 Topps	Paul Hornung	331.33
1955 Topps All-American	Don Hutson	340.73
1950 Bowman	Marion Motley	366.89
1950 Bowman	Y.A. Tittle	417.65
1957 Topps	Johnny Unitas	587.67
1950 Bowman	Otto Graham	1,086.33
1957 Topps	Bart Starr	1,117.33
1958 Topps	Jim Brown	1,196.65

Apparently I should’ve guessed closer to 75%, as the “affordable” category came in just a tick above 70%. And, like many of the others I looked into, the average for all 64 cards got pulled up a bit by the higher-priced cards, coming in at $171.52.

Some of the higher prices seemed to be set-dependent, as the earlier Bowman sets (specifically 1952) had some players that I wouldn’t have thought would land where they did. Meanwhile, compare the 1958 Topps Jim Brown rookie to last week’s 1950s baseball entries - 10 different cards’ averages were more expensive, with the 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle coming in at nearly 25 times (!!) more.

What did you think about the results?

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