Monday, September 29, 2008

Fleer NFL Football Cloth Patch Stickers - Kansas City Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs have 4 different Fleer cloth patch helmet variations and 1 Hi-Gloss helmet sticker. The single bar variation from 1972 & 1973 is on the top. The double bar version from 1974 is on the bottom left, and the 1975 version with the TM is on the bottom right:


Thanks to Craig, here's a picture of the 1976 helmet cloth patch:


and here is the 1976 Hi-Gloss helmet sticker:


The Kansas City Chiefs Logo Patch from 1972 is one of the most interesting and unusual cloth patches Fleer ever produced. As you can see on the patch on the top left, the patch says Kansas City Chiefs but actually uses the Washington Redskins logo and colors:


I'm not sure if this was an error that was corrected during the 1972 print run, or whether it was not fixed until 1973. The patch on the top right is the 1973 patch, but it may have been issued in 1972 as well if Fleer corrected the mistake that year. The patch on the bottom left is the 1974 version, and the patch with the TMs on the bottom right is the 1975 issue.

Once again, Craig lends his assistance with the 1976 logo cloth patch:


and finally, here is the 1976 Hi-Gloss logo sticker:

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Fleer NFL Football Cloth Patch Stickers - Houston Oilers

The Houston Oilers have 4 different Fleer cloth patch helmet variations and 1 Hi-Gloss helmet sticker. The single bar variation from 1972 & 1973 is on the top. The double bar version from 1974 is on the middle left, and the 1975 version with the TM (and with a change in helmet design) is on the middle right:


The 1976 cloth patch and Hi-Gloss sticker are on the bottom row.

There are 3 logo cloth patch variations and 1 Hi-Gloss logo sticker for the Oilers as the same cloth logo patch was issued for 1972 through 1974 as shown on the top left with the 1975 TM version on the top right:


The 1976 cloth patch and Hi-Gloss sticker shown on the bottom row.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Fleer NFL Football Cloth Patch Stickers - Green Bay Packers

With the Green Bay Packers, we see the first example of a difference in the smaller team name patch between 1972 and 1973. Even though there is no difference in the Packers helmet patch sticker between 1972 and 1973, there is a difference in the Pittsburgh Steelers patch:


The 1972 patch on the left has "STEELERS" in all caps while the 1973 patch has "Steelers" in a lower case stencil font.

In 1974 the facemask changed from single bar to double bar:


while the 1975 issue added TMs (although its hard to see against the dark green background):


The 1976 series added a yellow border around the helmet patch as well as had the matching Hi-Gloss helmet sticker:


The Packers logo patch was the same for 1972 through 1974 (top left), followed by the addition of TMs in 1975 (top right)

with the cloth patch and Hi-Gloss sticker from 1976 seen on the bottom.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Fleer NFL Football Cloth Patch Stickers - Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions have 4 different Fleer cloth patch helmet variations and 1 Hi-Gloss helmet sticker. The single bar variation from 1972 & 1973 is on the top, the double bar version from 1974 is on the middle left, and the 1975 version with the TM is on the middle right:


The 1976 cloth patch and Hi-Gloss sticker are on the bottom row.

There are 3 logo cloth patch variations and 1 Hi-Gloss logo sticker for the Lions as the same cloth logo patch was issued for 1972 through 1974 as shown on the top left with the 1975 TM version on the top right:

The 1976 cloth patch and Hi-Gloss sticker shown on the bottom row.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Wacky Packages Coffee Table Book "Lost Wacky" - Boozeball

As I was checking out A Pack A Day this evening, I saw that Gamblers Fan posted the contents of 2 1982 Topps Baseball Stickers packs which came in this wrapper:


Most people probably don't know that there was an unpublished Wacky Package sticker which parodied this wrapper which was created around the time the baseball stickers were issued:
The previously unpublished Wacky Package sticker was recently released as an insert in the newly published Wacky Packages book which reprints the artwork from the first 7 series that were originally released in 1973 - 1974:


I had previously posted the various sports card collecting Wacky Packages a few months ago on my post about my memories of collecting Wackys, but since the book had not been released at the time I wrote my post, I wasn't aware of the Boozeball sticker.

Seeing the Pack A Day post tonight reminded me of the sticker that came with the book, so I thought this would be a good time to share the sticker with everyone.

If you are interested in Wacky Packages, or specifically in the book, I highly recommend The Wacky Packages Website which has all the information you would ever want to know about Wackys. I'd like to thank Greg for the Boozeball scan which I borrowed from his site.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Fleer NFL Football Cloth Patch Stickers - Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos have 4 different Fleer cloth patch helmet variations and 1 Hi-Gloss helmet sticker. The single bar variation from 1972 & 1973 is on the top, the double bar version from 1974 is on the bottom left, and the 1975 version with the TM is on the right:


Thanks to Craig, here's the picture of the 1976 cloth patch:


and here is the 1976 Hi-Gloss helmet sticker:



The Broncos logo patch was the same for 1972 through 1974 (top), followed by the addition of TMs in 1975 (bottom):

with the 1976 cloth patch and Hi-Gloss sticker shown below:

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Customized "Fleer" Baseball Big Signs - Part 2

The most rewarding aspect of starting this blog has been meeting a number of great collectors. After I posted my review of the 1973 Fleer Baseball Big Signs

Jeff contacted me to let me know that he was a big fan of this set, and had made some custom signs based on the set's design. I asked Jeff to send me pictures of what he created, and I posted the examples of the signs he had created for teams that were not in existence back in 1973 (such as the Devil Rays):


as well as some signs using more recent logos (such as this sign for the Brewers):


I asked Jeff if he could create some custom signs for the original Baltimore Orioles logo as well as some signs for the Seattle Pilots. Jeff said he would work on them when he had the chance, and he contacted me this week to let me know they were finished. I have to say that they turned out fantastic!

Here are the versions he did for the Baltimore Orioles:




and here are the versions he created for the Seattle Pilots:



I'd like to say thanks to Jeff for creating such great looking signs and for allowing me to share them on the blog.

I'll get back to the NFL Cloth Patch review tomorrow, but I couldn't wait to post these new signs once I received them from Jeff.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Fleer NFL Football Cloth Patch Stickers - Dallas Cowboys

As the Dallas Cowboys gear up for Monday Night Football tomorrow, its time to review their Fleer NFL cloth patches .

The Cowboys have 4 different helmet cloth patch variations and 1 Hi-Gloss helmet sticker. The single bar variation from 1972 & 1973 is on the top, the double bar version from 1974 is on the middle left, and the 1975 version with the TM is on the middle right:


The 1976 cloth patch and Hi-Gloss sticker are on the bottom row.

There are 3 logo cloth patch variations and 1 Hi-Gloss logo sticker as the same cloth logo patch was issued for 1972 through 1974 as shown on the top left with the 1975 TM version on the top right:


The 1976 Cowboys logo cloth patch and Hi-Gloss logo sticker are on the bottom row. Since the Cowboys logo is actually their helmet, sometimes these are referred to as the "small" helmet patches and stickers to differentiate them from the the patches / stickers above which have a larger helmet.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Fleer NFL Football Cloth Patch Stickers - Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns have 4 different Fleer cloth patch helmet variations and 1 Hi-Gloss helmet sticker. The single bar variation from 1972 & 1973 is on the top, the double bar version from 1974 is on the bottom left, and the 1975 version with the TM is on the right:


Thanks to Craig, here's the picture of the 1976 cloth patch:


and here is the 1976 Hi-Gloss helmet sticker:


The Browns logo patch was the same for 1972 through 1974 (top left), followed by the addition of TMs in 1975 (top right)

with the 1976 cloth patch and Hi-Gloss sticker shown on the bottom.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Fleer NFL Football Cloth Patch Stickers - Cincinnati Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals have 4 different Fleer helmet cloth patch variations and 1 Hi-Gloss helmet sticker. The single bar variation from 1972 & 1973 is on the left while the double bar version from 1974 is on the right:


Thanks to Craig, here is the picture of the 1975 version with the TMs


And finally the 1976 Fleer cloth patch with the TM and blue border as seen on the left


and the Hi-Gloss sticker with the yellow border on the right.


The logo patch was the same for 1972 through 1974 (top left), followed by the addition of TMs in 1975 (top right)


with the cloth patch and Hi-Gloss sticker from 1976 seen on the bottom.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Fleer NFL Football Cloth Patch Stickers - Chicago Bears

With the Chicago Bears, we see the first example of a different helmet sticker between 1972 and 1973. For most teams, there is no difference between the 1972 and 1973 helmet patches as both have the single bar face mask. However, the Bears made a subtle change to the "C" on their helmet going from an all white "C" in 1972 (top left) to a red "C" with a white outline in 1973 (top right).

The other difference between the 1972 and 1973 helmet patches is that the background color changed from a darker red or burgundy color to a lighter shade of orangish red which was used for 1974 through 1976 as well. The 1974 version with the double bar face mask is on the middle left, and the 1975 version with the TMs is on the middle right. The 1976 cloth patch and Hi-Gloss sticker are on the bottom row.

One other item to point out is that the color of the San Diego Chargers patch changed from light blue lettering in 1972 & 1973 to a much darker shade in 1974.

The logo patches show the same background color change as we saw with the helmets. This helps us in determining that the logo sticker on the top was probably only issued in 1972 as it has the darker background shade of red


while the sticker in the middle left was issued in 1973 and 1974. The 1975 version with the TMs is in the middle right, and the 1976 Fleer cloth patch and Hi-Gloss sticker are on the bottom row.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Fleer NFL Football Cloth Patch Stickers - Buffalo Bills

With the Buffalo Bills, we get to see the first example of a significant helmet design change. The 1972 / 1973 design with the single bar face mask has the standing red buffalo


while the 1974 - 1976 cloth patches have the running blue buffalo due to the design change that the Bills made after the 1973 season. The 1974 version with the double bar face mask is on the middle left, and the 1975 version with the TMs is on the middle right. The 1976 cloth patch and Hi-Gloss sticker are on the bottom row.

There are 3 logo cloth patch variations as the same logo patch was issued for 1972 through 1974 as seen below on the left:

with the 1975 version with the TMs on the right.

The 1976 Fleer cloth patch (on the top) and the 1976 Hi-Gloss sticker (on the bottom) both have a green border around the Bills logo:


Thanks once again to Craig for sharing his scan of the 1976 cloth patch.