1961 Topps Football Original Negatives - Fantastic Action Shots

I came across a number of original negatives that Topps is auctioning off through the Topps Vault this week which contain some excellent action photography that was shot during the 1960 season, and used for "Highlight" cards in the 1961 Topps Football set. I'm not that familiar with the 1961 set, so I didn't realize there were a number of action shots in the set until investigating these negatives.

Just take a look at this great shot of Johnny Unitas:


This was the photo used for card # 57:


I really like this picture as it shows so much of the action from the play as opposed to a tightly cropped shot of just one player. Even though you can't see the receiver that Unitas is throwing to, you can see the pressure on him to get the pass off in a hurry. You also get 3 refs in one shot which is something you don't see too often.

And how about a shot of Jim Brown running against the Giants:


This picture appeared on card # 77 (where Topps refers to him as Jimmy):


Here is Paul Hornung against the Eagles at Franklin Field


which was used for card # 38:


This picture of Eddie LeBaron


was used on card # 19 denoting the 1960 inaugural season of the Dallas Cowboys:


Here is Charley Conerly of the Giants against the Steelers back when the Steelers wore numbers on their helmets

which appeared on card # 94


Speaking of the Steelers, here is Bobby Layne


which was used for card # 113


Here is Milt Plum of the Browns in what appears to be a night game


which was used on card # 132


These photos and the 1961 cards show that Topps had the ability to produce cards with excellent action shots by the early 1960s. They continued featuring action shots on their 1962 Football cards with B&W action shots beside a color portrait:


But after that, action shots virtually disappeared. Why didn't Topps feature action shots in either baseball or football sets on a regular basis (other than the occasional action shot on a World Series card) until almost a decade later, when they started including action shots in the 1971 baseball set

and in 1972 for their Football set:


Taking a look at the 1972 "In Action" cards, I'd have to say the 1961 cards look much better in terms of the action they portray. The airbrushing just kills any kind of sense of action that the picture conveys because it doesn't look real. Speaking of the 1972 action shots not looking real, what is going on in this picture?


Apparently the ball has some kind of force field around it which causes everything around it to become blurry. Since you can see the feet of the players below the blur, I'm guessing Topps must not have had the rights to someone on the bench so it looks like they tried to make them disappear.

After seeing these negatives and finding the 1961 cards that were produced using those pictures, it really seems a shame that Topps didn't include any action photography in their football sets for 10 years, and instead put out cards that looked like this:





Just think how much better these sets could have been had they included some action shots. After seeing what Topps was able to do in 1961, there is no reason why they could not have had at least a few game photographs in their sets each year.

It wasn't until 1976 when Fleer issued their first Team Action set that we saw cards that depicted NFL action in a similar fashion to those 1961 cards since Fleer didn't have to airbrush the logos:


It seems like in some ways those 1961 "Highlight" cards were ahead of their time with their use of game action photographs since it would be quite awhile until collectors would once again find these types of action shots included in their sets.

1987 Topps Football Box Bottom Cards / Panels

After putting team cards on the back of their Football boxes in 1986, Topps returned to putting player cards on the bottom of their 1987 Football wax boxes (as they had done in 1985):


Whereas the 1987 Topps Football cards have a white border, the box bottom cards have a yellow border to easily differentiate them from the regular cards.

Once again, Topps issued 4 different boxes for a total of 16 different cards numbered A - P as seen on the back of this panel:

Unfortunately I have only been able to locate 2 of the 4 panels, but you can see the complete list of players / panels on the checklist on the back of the box:


To wrap up this look at the 1987 Topps Football box bottom cards, here is a look at the top of the box featuring Phil Simms:

1987 Topps & OPC Box Bottom Cards / Panels

For their 1987 Baseball wax boxes, Topps once again issued 4 different card panels to encourage collectors to buy multiple boxes, but this year they put the cards on the back of the box instead of on the bottom, which resulted in only 2 cards per panel instead of 4 as they had done the previous year.




The cards are numbered A - H, and the backs include a writeup about a career milestone the player reached during the 1986 season:


Because they are located on the back of the box instead of the bottom, in order to fit both cards on the panel, they are smaller than a standard sized card, and are closer to the size of 1975 Topps mini cards. This picture of the set in a 9 pocket sheet gives an idea of their size:


The bottom of the box includes a small checklist of the 4 different boxes:


Here is a view of the top of the box:


OPC issued the same 8 card set, but put the cards on the bottom of the box in 4 card panels (although they did retain the smaller card size), so there are only 2 different OPC boxes:



The backs have English / French backs with the OPC logo:

Wacky Packages 2010 All New Series (ANS) 7

It looks like the release of the 2010 Wacky Packages set (which is the 7th of the "All New Series" or ANS) is just around the corner as an ad has just come out


as well as a one sheet containing additional information about the set and the various inserts:


Check out the bottom of the ad - Topps has come up with a great use for the "cereal" boxes that they have used in the past for sports cards - these boxes depict classic Wacky cereal parodies!

In addition, some other titles are pictured on the cover of the Aug/Sept cover of the Non-Sport Update Price Guide:


When word first came out about this set in May, the projected release date was August 23. I'm not sure if that is still the release date or not, but Topps.com is indicated that they will be released this month so they should be showing up shortly.

Based on the titles shown so far, this looks like it will be a great series!

1987 Fleer Box Bottom Cards / Panels

Fleer issued 4 different baseball card panels on bottom their 1987 Baseball wax boxes, and once again included a team logo card on each panel as they did in 1986. The team logo cards feature the 1986 World Champion New York Mets, the AL Champion Boston Red Sox and the other 2 1986 playoff teams - the Houston Astros and California Angels.





The cards are numberd C1 - C16, with the team logo cards serving as checklists:


Here is a look at the top of the box:


Fleer also included cards on the bottom of their Star Sticker boxes, with 2 different panels



The Star Sticker box bottom cards are numbered S1 - S8, with the team logo cards including a checklist:




Fleer even extended the idea to the boxes that were used to sell some of their 44 card boxed sets that were sold by various retail chains. You don't see these boxes available that often since collectors typically didn't buy an entire box of 24 boxed sets, so many of these were likely thrown out by the stores once they were empty.

The 2 boxes that I am aware of that contain cards on the bottom are the 1987 Fleer Limited Edition Baseball Superstars box




and the 1987 Baseball's Best Sluggers vs. Pitchers box:





Some of the other boxed set boxes may have cards on the bottom, but I haven't been able to find any boxes to confirm. Since Fleer issued 9 different boxed sets in 1987, it may be possible that there are other box bottom cards on some of those boxes.

1987 Donruss Box Bottom Cards / Panels

For the third year in a row, Donruss included cards on the bottom of their wax boxes:


Once again Donruss created a card of the completed puzzle that was used as the insert in 1987 Donruss packs with this year's puzzle featuring Roberto Clemente.

The numbering on the cards picks up from where the 1986 set left off (PC4 - PC9) as the 1987 box features cards PC10 - PC12 as well as the unnumbered puzzle:


All 1987 Donruss Baseball boxes featured the same 4 cards.


But just as they had done the previous year, Donruss did have a second set of 4 cards on the bottom of their other major offering that year - the 1987 Donruss All Stars / Pop Up set:



These cards continue the same numbering and are numbered PC13 - PC15.

1987 was the final year that Donruss included cards on the bottom of their boxes. Donruss was the first to come up with the idea, and was also the first to discontinue the practice. Their competitors who quickly followed their lead did not abandon the idea as quickly as they kept producing box bottom cards until the early 1990's which we will continue to cover in future posts.