I am a lifetime Detroit/Michigan sports fan, which has (too often) felt like being in a glass case of emotion. After watching the Tigers collapse in historic fashion and yet somehow stumble around and fall into the playoffs, I had zero expectations for them, primarily because Tarik Skubal has to take days off. Then Detroit had to go and exact revenge on Cleveland to advance to the ALDS, and now they’ve managed to beat Seattle on the road (only to somehow lose the second game with Skubal on the mound). I should know better, since an eventual punch to the gut is the likeliest result, but they’ve drawn me back in. This is the life of a fan that I’m sure many of you can relate to, and I just can’t help myself.

In this issue you'll find:

• Jim Brown and Joe Namath featured prominently in 1960s graded football cards

• Bruce Sutter’s rookie card and player profile

• Highlights from current auctions

• News in the hobby

• Recent Vintage Card Voyage videos

Let’s get into it.

Impressively, the only times Jim Brown’s card wasn’t number one in each year’s list is because 1) a notable rookie card (or cards) finished ahead of his or 2) he didn’t have a card in one of the sets. The same can be said for Joe Namath, who was only supplanted in 1968 by Bob Griese’s rookie card.

Each year’s leaders, meanwhile, are notable in how low the totals are relative to baseball. While not an apples-to-apples comparison, especially considering that Topps was the primary card company during the 1960s for baseball, the following example tells a pretty compelling story:

For the 1960s top 10 lists in baseball, the least-graded card among those 100 cards (the 1967 Topps Carl Yastrzemski and its 2,599 cards graded) would’ve been the seventh-highest football card during the decade and been the #1 card for 15 of the 18 sets.

Here’s the top 10 list by total cards graded:

Jim Brown only makes two appearances, while cards from the 1969 Topps set make four, including the rookie cards of Larry Csonka and Brian Piccolo (profiled in the 1971 movie “Brian’s Song”).

Some other observations:

• Along with Jim Brown and Joe Namath appearing on the list every year of their playing career during the decade, others earning that honor include Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr, Gale Sayers, Dick Butkus and Bob Griese.

• I had no idea how popular Jack Kemp was/is. He appeared in nine of the 18 set lists, and eight of those times, he was in the top 5.

• For the 1967 Topps set, the third-most graded card is Wahoo McDaniel. This struck me as odd because I had never heard of him and most of the players appearing on the lists are relatively well-known players, so I naturally had to dig deeper. As I have since learned, Wahoo McDaniel was also a championship wrestler who was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019, and even though he played 105 games in nine seasons, it was his only Topps card.

• The 1969 Topps set’s top 10 list has substantially more cards graded (19,269) than the second-most graded set, the 1968 Topps set, with 11,628 cards graded. The lowest-graded set, the 1962 Fleer set, came in at 1,758 graded cards among its top 10, an 88-card set that included the rookie cards of Gino Cappelletti, Ernie Ladd, Billy Shaw and Fred Williamson.

Recent High-Grade Sales:

PSA 10: $1,925.09 - eBay auction on April 19, 2025

PSA 9: $184.50 - REA auction on September 22, 2025

SGC 10: No sales history

SGC 9.5: $510 - REA auction on February 24, 2025

SGC 9: $124.50 - eBay auction on March 29, 2025

BVG 10: No sales history

BVG 9.5: $307.99 - eBay Buy It Now on May 29, 2009

BVG 9: $130 - eBay Buy It Now on April 23, 2025

Some Current Auction Highlights

Listed in order by closing date (with bid prices as of Sunday evening PT)

Clean Sweep Auctions (closing October 9)

1909 E90-1 American Caramel Shoeless Joe Jackson Rookie Card PSA 1.5 - $57,005

1975 Topps #228 George Brett Rookie Card PSA 7.5 - $240

1959 Topps #300 Richie Ashburn PSA 7 - $39

Fanatics Weekly Auction (closing October 12)

1933 Goudey #53 Babe Ruth PSA 3.5 - $10,500

1969 Topps #533 Nolan Ryan PSA 3 / Auto 10 - $105

1973 Topps Basketball #234 ABA Scoring Ldrs (Erving, McGinnis, Issel) PSA 9 - $7

News Briefs

Could a 1914 Babe Ruth Rookie Become the Highest Price Baseball Card?

Is CGC Looking to Take More Vintage Card Market Share?

The First of a Three-Part Series About Topps Photo Tricks

The Missing Maury Wills Rookie Card

The Argument Against Regulating Cards

Vintage Card Voyage: Recent Videos

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