1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Redskins

Its taken over a month, but we've finally reached the last pair of teams in the review of the 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL Football Stickers variations.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

The Buccaneers helmet stickers can be found with either a white or an orange facemask. In addition, you can see that the stripes on the top of the helmet are different as well. And lastly Bucco Bruce is a lighter shade of orange on the sticker on the left relative to the sticker on the right:


The same shading difference can be seen on the logo stickers as well.

Washington Redskins:

The Redskins variations are similar to the Bucs. The Redskins have helmet stickers with either a white or a yellow facemask, have differences in the stripe patterns, and have color differences in the circle around the logo as the sticker on the left has more of a yellow circle while the sticker on the right is more orange:


The difference in the color of the circle is evident on the logo stickers as well.

One other type of variation:

As we wrap up the review, I would like to cover one other type of variation that I've come across. I've only found a few of these so I don't know whether it should be classified as a true variation or just a printing flaw, but I've found 3 stickers which have a light green background around the field instead of blue. This picture shows the 3 green background variations I've found compared to the normal blue backgrounds:


If anyone has any of the green background stickers in their collection, I'd be interested in hearing from you.

The 1981 Fleer NFL Team Action Football sticker set is without a doubt the king of sticker variations. With at least 2 and sometimes 3 distinct variations for each sticker, collecting a full master set of variations is quite a challenge.

1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks

We're almost to the end as this is the next to the last pair of teams to be reviewed in our look at the 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL Football Stickers variations.

San Francisco 49ers:

The 49ers helmet can be found with a white facemask and a lighter shade of gold helmet and with a gray facemask and a darker shade of gold helmet:

Unfortunately my scanner doesn't really show the different shades of red in the 49ers logo, but the logo can be found with lighter and darker shades of red.

Seattle Seahawks:

The Seahawks helmet can be found with a gray facemask and a light blue helmet logo / team name and a white facemask with a purple helmet logo / team name.


The logo stickers have the same light blue / purple variation, but do not have a facemask color variation.

1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Chargers

We're in the home stretch of the review of the 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL Football Stickers variations as we've just got a few teams left to analyze.

St. Louis Cardinals:

There are 2 variations on the Cardinals helmet stickers. The sticker on the left has a white facemask along with a Cardinal with a light yellow beak while the sticker on the right has a gray facemask and a Cardinal with a darker yellow or slightly orange beak.


The same color difference in the beak can be found on the logo stickers as well.

San Diego Chargers:

The variations in the Chargers stickers are due to lighter and darker shades of blue as seen on the helmet stickers

as well as the logo stickers.

1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers

Its an all Pennsylvania entry today as we look at the next 2 teams in the review of the 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL Football Stickers variations. Not only do these 2 teams share the same state, they actually combined to form a single team for 1 year during the 1943 season due to a lack of players caused by WWII called the "Steagles".

Philadelphia Eagles:

The Eagles helmet sticker can be found with a lighter shade of green and gray as seen on the left vs darker shades of these two colors as seen on the right:


There is also a slight color difference on the logo stickers, but the main differences can be found on one of the Eagle's wings and how the name lines up relative to the hash mark on the football field background. Lets take a closer look at the circled areas:


The white outline around the Eagle's wing is different between the two stickers, and the hashmark on the field is aligned in different places under the second "E" in the team name.


Pittsburgh Steelers:

Unfortunately the scan doesn't pick up the difference on the helmet stickers, but the sticker on the left has a yellow helmet stripe while the helmet on the right has a white stripe. The scanner unfortunately makes them both appear to be white.


For the logo stickers, the main difference is that the sticker on the left has more of a mustard colored yellow in the logo while the sticker on the right has a lighter shade of yellow.

1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - New York Jets and Oakland Raiders

Next up on the list of 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL Football Stickers variations are 2 AFL rivals whose most famous game is remembered more for the show that interrupted the fantastic ending of the game than the ending itself. The "Heidi" Game as it has come to be known changed the way that football was broadcast when NBC made the decision to cut to the movie Heidi with 65 seconds left in the Jets - Raiders game in 1968.

Viewers missed the Raiders score 2 TDs in 9 seconds and come back from a 32 - 29 deficit to a 43-32 win because the game was preempted by the movie. The reaction from viewers was overwhelming as so many people called NBC that the switchboard shut down due to the massive amount of calls. As a result, NFL TV policies were amended to require that games be shown in their entirety in the markets of the teams involved.

New York Jets:

The variations on the Jets stickers are a very subtle difference in the shade of green on the helmets.


The difference is minor with the stickers on the left having a slightly darker shade of green.

Oakland Raiders:

There are actually 4 Raider helmet variations (although I've only got 3 variations to show). The obvious variation is that the helmet can be found with either a gray or white facemask.


What's not so obvious is that there is a second variation that has to do with the placement of the helment on the football field background. As you can see in the scan below, the hash marks are in different positions on the 2 helmets with the gray facemask.


This same variation exists with the white facemask helmet, but I haven't been able to track down a copy yet.

The logo variation is also due to the markings on the football field background.


The sticker on the left has the yard line going through the top of the "O" in Oakland while the sticker on the right has the yard line going through the middle of the "O". The other minor difference is the white outline around the logo. It is slightly thicker on the sticker on the left.

1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - New Orleans Saints and New York Giants

Next up in the ongoing review of the variations in the 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL Football Stickers are the Saints and Giants.

New Orleans Saints:

The Saints helmet can be found with either a white or a black facemask. In addition, the helmet with the black facemask is a darker shade of gold:


The difference in shading is also found on the logo stickers as the sticker on the right has a slightly darker shade of gold.

New York Giants:

The Giants helmet can be found with a lighter shade of blue as seen on the left and a much darker shade of blue on the right. The other interesting difference is that the helmet with the lighter shade also has a thin white stripe just under the red stripe on the top of the helmet while the darker shaded helmet does not have the thin white stripe.


As the logo sticker is just a smaller version of the helmet, the same variations are found on the logo stickers.

Happy Thanksgiving - AFL Style!

In the early years of the AFL, teams were responsible for creating their own game programs which resulted in unique covers which often used art work showing the home team's mascot taking on the opposition's mascot. These team created program covers are much more interesting than the league produced programs which followed a few years later in both the AFL as well as the NFL as the leagues tried to standardize the programs across all teams.

In honor of Thanksgiving, here are a few AFL programs with a Thanksgiving theme:






Happy Thanksgiving from The Fleer Sticker Project!

1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - Minnesota Vikings and New England Patriots

Next up on the ongoing review of the variations in the 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL Football Stickers are the Vikings and Patriots.

Minnesota Vikings:

The Vikings helmet can be found with a lighter and darker shade of purple. The helmet on the right has a darker shade of purple than the helmet on the left.


The same is true for the logo sticker, where the name Vikings is a darker shade of purple on the right.

New England Patriots:

The Patriots stickers have two color variations. The red stripe on the helmet as well as the red football and Pat Patriot's red hat and socks are different shades of red between the two helmet stickers. In addition, the jacket is blue on the helmet on the left, while it is almost black on the helmet on the right.


The same color differences are found on the logo stickers. One other small point of distinction is that Pat Patriot has some red on his cuffs on the sticker on the right while the same marks are gray on the sticker on the left.

1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - Los Angeles Rams and Miami Dolphins

We've reached the half way point in the review of the sticker variations in the 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL Football Stickers.

Los Angeles Rams

The differences in the Rams stickers are very easy to identify. The helmet sticker can be found with a white facemask (with a lighter shade of blue helmet and yellow ram horns) or with a gray facemask (with a much darker blue helmet and horns that are closer to orange)


The logo sticker can be found with either a white or orange ram.

Miami Dolphins

The variations with the Dolphins stickers are found in the different shades of aqua used on the Dolphin logo. The helmet with the gray facemask has a darker shaded dolphin than the helmet with the white facemask.



The same difference in shading can also be seen on the logo sticker. In addition, the shade of orange is darker on the stickers on the left as well.

1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - Houston Oilers and Kansas City Chiefs

We've got 2 original AFL teams for today's installment of the ongoing review of the 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL Football Stickers:

Houston Oilers:

The Oilers helmet can be found with either a white or a red facemask. In addition, the helmet with the white facemask has a lighter shade of blue (closer to a powder blue) for the oil derrick logo than the helmet with the red facemask:


The ligher shade of blue is also seen on the logo sticker on the left vs the slightly darker shade of blue on the right.

Kansas City Chiefs:

The variations for the Chiefs can be found in the different shades of red that were used. Once again I'll apologize for the fact that my scanner doesn't really show the difference as well as is should, but both the helmet and logo stickers on the left have a lighter shade of red than the stickers on the right.


The differences in the shades of red are more easily noticeable than what the scan is showing.

1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers

We've got 2 NFC North teams for today's installment of the ongoing review of the 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL Football Stickers:

Detroit Lions:

The helmet on the left has a gray facemask and the helmet on the right has a white facemask. In addition, the helmet on the left is dark gray with a dark blue lion while the helmet on the right has a lighter gray helmet with a lighter blue lion.



The same is true with the logo stickers. The sticker on the left has dark blue stripes behind the lion while the sticker on the right has gray stripes. In addition, the name Lions is in dark blue on the left and in light blue on the right on both the helmet and logo stickers.

Green Bay Packers:

As we've seen with a number of teams, once again we've got a facemask variation, with the helmet sticker having either a white or a green facemask.


The logo stickers can be found with the football player wearing either a light green or a brown uniform.

1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos

Time for the next 2 teams on the ongoing review of the 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL Football Stickers:

Dallas Cowboys:

The Cowboys can be found with a darker shade of blue as seen on the star on the helmet as well as the team name on the left vs the lighter shade of blue on the right.


This same color variation is found on the logo stickers as well. Also note different shades of grey for both the helmet and logo stickers.

Denver Broncos:

There are 3 helmet variations for the Broncos. The first variation on the left is a light blue helmet with a red "D". The variation in the middle has a similarly colored helmet, but with an orange "D" (which unfortunately didn't show up very well on my scanner - take a look at the logo stickers below the helmets to get a better idea of the color difference). The variation on the right is a very dark (almost purple) helmet which also has an orange "D".


The logo stickers show the red/orange difference that is also found on the helmets. As was the case with the Browns variations I reviewed last time, my scanner is not doing as good a job showing the true difference in shades of color between orange and red as what you will see when you are looking at both stickers in person.

1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns

For the 3rd installment of the review of the multitude of sticker variations in the 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL Football Stickers, we've got the Bengals and Browns:

Cincinnati Bengals:

Both the helmet and the logo stickers both have the same variations with either white or black facemasks and different shades of orange:


Cleveland Browns:

Just like with the Bengals, the Browns logo sticker is just a smaller version of the helmet. For the Browns, the variation is the color of the helmet. The stickers on the left have orange helmets while the stickers on the right are much closer to red.


The scanner didn't capture the color difference as well as I hoped, especially for the larger helmet stickers. If you are holding both stickers in your hand, the difference is much more evident that what this picture is showing. The difference shows up a bit better on the small helmet stickers in the picture.

1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - Buffalo Bills and Chicago Bears

As I mentioned in the previous post about the 1981 Fleer Team Action NFL Football stickers, each team has 2 variations, and in some cases there appears to be a 3rd version.

Buffalo Bills:

The first team where we see what appears to be a 3rd variation is the Buffalo Bills:


The Bills have helmets with a white face mask, a blue face mask, and a black face mask. The buffalo on the helmet is dark blue on the helmet on the left, a lighter shade in the middle sticker, and black on the sticker on the right.

The same holds true for the logo stickers with the different shading of the buffalo and the team name. I'm guessing that the stickers on the right with the black facemask and buffalo are most likely due to printing issues as opposed to intentional variations. However, given the fact that I've come across black versions for both the helmet and logo lead me to believe that these were more than just a mistake that was limited to a small portion of the production run.

Chicago Bears:

The Bears have two distinct helmet sticker variations. The sticker on the left has a white facemask and a navy helmet while the helmet on the right is black with a grey facemask. The other difference is that the coloring of the word Bears is slightly more orange on the left and more red on the right.

Unfortunately my scanner doesn't do a good job of showing the color variations between the 2 logo stickers, but just as with the helmet stickers, one version has a more orange shade of the word Bears while the other version is more red. When looking at the 2 logo stickers in person, the difference is much more noticeable in the color than what the scan is showing.

The other very subtle difference has to do with the positioning of the logo. The sticker on the right has just a tiny bit more of the goal post showing.

1981 Fleer NFL Football Stickers - Atlanta Falcons and Baltimore Colts

Now that Football season is back in full swing, its time to pick where I left off at the end of last Football season with the continuing review of Fleer's annual Team Action sticker sets.

We're up to the 1981 set, which was the 5th consecutive year that Fleer issued Team Action Cards and stickers (click links to see 1977, 1978, 1979, and 1980):


The 1981 Fleer Football sticker set is the king of Fleer variation sets. Each team has a helmet sticker and a logo sticker, and each of these stickers has 2 clear variations, and arguments could be made that some of these stickers have yet a 3rd variation.

Lets take a look at the Detriot Lions as an example:

Notice that the helmet on the left has a gray facemask and the helmet on the right has a white facemask. In addition, the helmet on the left is dark gray with a dark blue lion while the helmet on the right has a lighter gray helmet with a lighter blue lion.

The same is true with the logo stickers. The sticker on the left has dark blue stripes behind the lion while the sticker on the right has gray stripes. In addition, the name Lions is in dark blue on the left and in light blue on the right.

Not all teams have variations that are are as easy to spot as we've seen with the Lions, but all teams do have similar differences.

While no one seems to know for sure, the theory is that Fleer had 2 different companies printing the sheets which would account for the distinct color variations. I have yet to see an uncut sheet of these stickers, so at this point, this theory seems to make the most sense. Unless a sheet surfaces that has both variations on the same sheet, its most likely that Fleer used 2 different printers.

The backs of the stickers have the team's 1981 schedule:


Given the number of variations in this set, I am going to cover 2 teams each day to highlight the variations, starting with the

Atlanta Falcons:


Its a bit hard to tell from the scan, but the helmet sticker on the right has a darker shade of red than the sticker on the left. The same is true with the name "Falcons" on the logo stickers. The difference is more noticeable when you are holding both stickers in your hand and looking at them together.

Baltimore Colts:


The Colts helmet with the upside down horseshoe is the most obvious variation in the set. For some strange reason, Fleer printed some stickers with the horseshoe upside down. The mistake isn't limited to the front of the sticker however, as it can be found on the back as well:


Both the helmet and logo stickers have this back variation. The correct helmet has the correct back, and the upside down helmet has the upside down back.

For the logo stickers, the sticker on the left with the slightly darker blue logo has the correct helmet on the back while the sticker on the right has the upside down helmet on the back.


As we go through this review of the 1981 set, I'd like to recognize fellow Fleer collector Albert who has done an incredible amount of work investigating and documenting these variations. Many of the variations I will be covering over the coming days were brought to my attention by Albert as he has been very generous in sharing his research with me. Thanks Albert!

Baseball Helmet Banks

I came across an auction recently where someone was auctioning an entire set of Major League Baseball Helmet banks, and thought I'd share the pictures since the banks are very good replicas of the teams batting helmets from the time they were issued (these appear to be from the late 1970's to early 1980's).

Here is a look at the American League teams:

It looks like they had 2 different White Sox and Twins helmets in their collection.

Here are the National League helmets:


Laich was the manufacturer of these helmets, and they also the company that has manufactured the ice cream sundae helmets. The picture below shows that the size of the bank helmet is almost identical to the ice cream sundae helmet.



Here is a look at the bottom of the bank compared to the ice cream sundae helmet:


The bank has a plastic stopper that can be opened to get the coins out. Since the banks had a separate section for the bottom of the bank, they were able to do something that couldn't be done with the ice cream sundae helmets - have the correct colored bill on the cap. The sundae caps unfortunately do not have separate colored bills.

The banks also had the correct front panel color for teams like the Orioles, Brewers, Expos and Padres who had a front panel that was a different color from the rest of the cap - another limitation that the sundae helmets were not able to overcome since the helmets were always just a single color.

Leaf Playball Bubble Gum Baseball Helmets / Caps

I received an e-mail from Jeremy a while back with some pictures that I have been meaning to share. Jeremy sent me pictures of his Leaf Playball Bubble Gum Baseball Helmet collection:


These were available back in the early 1980's. Jeremy says he remembers buying them around 1982 or maybe 1983, which is consistent with when I remember buying them as well. I only had a few of these, but Jeremy managed to complete a full set of all 26 teams which were in the league at the time. Here is a look at the entire set, courtesy of Jeremy:

AL East:


AL West:



NL East:


NL West:


The helmets are similar to the kind of helmets that you would get in gumball machines, but were a little bit bigger in size than what you get from the gumball machine as shown below:

Helmet is really a misnomer as they are really caps instead of batting helmets. If you take a closer look at them as you can see a small button on the top as well as sections of the cap consisting of 6 panels.


It looks like an effort was made to give teams that had an entire front panel of their cap that was a different color than the rest of the cap a slightly larger sticker to try to approximate the color of the front panel. For example, notice that the RedSox logo is a round circle while the Orioles cap has a larger sticker with a somewhat more triangular shape:


However, even though it does look like they tried to make the front panel look a bit more realistic, they didn't produce the helmets as shown on the side of the box as caps did not have separate colored bills as shown for teams like the Orioles, Angels, Indians, Brewers, Twins, etc.


According to the top of the box, packs were $.30 and came with one cap and a gum ball.

Apparently Leaf did a similar release for football helmets as well. I've never seen the football helmets, so I don't know if they are just like the regular gumball machine helmets or were slightly different, as all I have is a picture of the Leaf Kick-Off Bubble Gum Football Helmet wrapper:


For both baseball and football, the packaging mentions a collector display board. According to Jeremy, he had the baseball display board, but the hats didn't really stay on the board because they were too heavy.

I'd like to say thanks to Jeremy for sharing his pictures with me and allowing me to share them on the blog. If you'd like to see all of Jeremy's photos, you can see them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28475240@N08/sets/72157620734798905/detail/