1964 Topps Football Cards
Product Details
1964 Topps Football was the first in a four-year run where the company lost the rights to produce licensed NFL trading cards to their rival company, Philadelphia Gum. After eight years of printing NFL cards, Topps lost those rights due to some, alleged, back-room dealings made with the NFL and a former Topps employee. Undaunted, the company secured the rights to manufacture trading cards of players from the upstart AFL after Fleer stopped making sports cards.
While the NFL had established stars like Unitas, Starr, Brown and Tarkenton, the AFL had some dominant players of their own. 1964 Topps Football includes players like Jack Kemp (#30), Len Dawson (#96), and George Blanda (#68). Key rookie cards in the set include Buck Buchanan (#92), Bobby Bell (#90), John Hadl (#159), Matt Snell (#125) and Daryle Lamonica (#31).
Design
The front of the cards are dominated by a large picture of a player, which is either a close-up portrait or a posed action photo of the player not wearing a helmet. The player is then superimposed in front of a vibrant, solid-colored red, yellow, blue or green background. A line of stars on a white background make up the outer border. Beneath this, a contrasting colored box contains the player's name, team and position.
Backs are done on blue stock. A section in the upper left corner contains the card number, while a stripe extending away from it has the name, position and team. The left side of the card has three lines of vital stats followed by a biography. A trivia cartoon and a statistics box take up the right side. Cards are arranged alphabetically by last name with each player grouped by team. Each team is arranged alphabetically by home city. Two checklist cards appear within the set as well.
Printing and Distribution
It is believed that the 1964 Topps Football card set was printed on two consecutive 132-card press sheets. With 176 total cards in the set, it is estimated that at least 88 of the cards were short-printed. The most popular player from the list of short prints is Jack Kemp. The 2-1/2 by 3-1/2 inch trading cards were distributed in one-cent and five-cent wax packs as well as cello packs. In addition to the trading cards and gum, each pack was accompanied by two team pennant stickers measuring 2-1/8 by 4-1/2 inches. There are a total of 24 stickers within the set and includes college football teams in addition to those from the AFL.
Errors, Condition Issues and Variations
Several cards are found with variations in the color of the box at the bottom of the card, however, these cards do not command any sort of premium. Several uncorrected errors exist within the set, most having to do with name misspellings. These errors are carried over to the two checklists as well.
The 1964 Topps Football card set is plagued by mis-cuts and poor centering. Finding cards absent of these flaws can be a challenge and do command a premium. High-grade samples are even more difficult to locate.
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Key Cards
Key 1964 Topps Football Cards
Jack Kemp #30
Checklist #176
Len Dawson #96
Daryle Lamonica RC #31
George Blanda #68
Set Checklist
1964 Topps Football Set Checklist
Base Set Checklist
2 Houston Antwine RC
3 Nick Buoniconti
4 Ron Burton SP
5 Gino Cappelletti
6 Jim Colclough SP
7 Bob Dee SP
8 Larry Eisenhauer
9 Dick Felt SP
10 Larry Garron
11 Art Graham
12 Ron Hall
13 Charles Long
14 Don McKinnon
15 Don Oakes SP
16 Ross O'Hanley SP
17 Babe Parilli SP
18 Jesse Richardson SP
19 Jack Rudolph SP
20 Don Webb RC
21 Patriots Team
22 Ray Abruzzese
23 Stew Barber RC
24 Dave Behrman
25 Al Bemiller
26 Elbert Dubenion SP
27 Jim Dunaway RC SP
28 Booker Edgerson SP
29 Cookie Gilchrist SP
30 Jack Kemp SP
31 Daryle Lamonica RC
32 Bill Miller
33 Herb Paterra RC
34 Ken Rice SP
35 Ed Rutkowski
36 George Saimes RC
37 Tom Sestak
38 Billy Shaw SP
39 Mike Stratton
40 Gene Sykes
41 John Tracey SP
42 Sid Youngelman SP
43 Bills Team
44 Eldon Danenhauer SP
45 Jim Fraser SP
46 Charles Gavin SP
47 Goose Gonsoulin SP
48 Ernie Barnes RC
49 Tom Janik
50 Billy Joe RC
51 Ike Lassiter RC
52 John McCormick SP
53 Bud McFadin SP
54 Gene Mingo SP
55 Charlie Mitchell
56 John Nocera SP
57 Tom Nomina
58 Harold Olson SP
59 Bob Scarpitto
60 John Sklopan
61 Mickey Slaughter
62 Don Stone
63 Jerry Sturm
64 Lionel Taylor SP
65 Broncos Team SP
66 Scott Appleton RC
67 Tony Banfield SP
68 George Blanda SP
69 Billy Cannon
70 Doug Cline SP
71 Gary Cutsinger SP
72 Willard Dewveall SP
73 Don Floyd SP
74 Freddy Glick SP
75 Charlie Hennigan SP
76 Ed Husmann SP
77 Bobby Jancik SP
78 Jack Lee SP
79 Bob McLeod SP
80 Rich Michael SP
81 Larry Onesti RC
82 Checklist UER
83 Bob Schmidt SP
84 Walt Suggs SP
85 Bob Talamini SP
86 Charley Tolar SP
87 Don Trull RC
88 Oilers Team
90 Bobby Bell RC
91 Mel Branch SP
92 Buck Buchanan RC
93 Ed Budde RC
94 Chris Burford SP
95 Walt Corey RC
96 Len Dawson SP
97 Dave Grayson RC
98 Abner Haynes
99 Sherrill Headrick SP
100 E.J. Holub
101 Bobby Hunt RC
102 Frank Jackson SP
103 Curtis McClinton
104 Jerry Mays SP
105 Johnny Robinson SP
106 Jack Spikes SP
107 Smokey Stover SP
108 Jim Tyrer RC
109 Duane Wood SP
110 Chiefs Team
111 Dick Christy SP
112 Dan Ficca SP
113 Larry Grantham
114 Curley Johnson SP
115 Gene Heeter
116 Jack Klotz
117 Pete Liske RC
118 Bob McAdams
119 Dee Mackey SP
120 Bill Mathis SP
121 Don Maynard
122 Dainard Paulson SP
123 Gerry Philbin RC
124 Mark Smolinski SP
125 Matt Snell RC
126 Mike Taliaferro
127 Bake Turner RC SP
128 Jeff Ware
129 Clyde Washington
130 Dick Wood RC
131 Jets Team
132 Dalva Allen SP
133 Dan Birdwell
134 Dave Costa RC
135 Dobie Craig
136 Clem Daniels
137 Cotton Davidson SP
138 Claude Gibson
139 Tom Flores SP
140 Wayne Hawkins SP
141 Ken Herock
142 Jon Jelacic SP
143 Joe Krakoski
144 Archie Matsos SP
145 Mike Mercer
146 Alan Miller SP
147 Bob Mischak SP
148 Jim Otto SP
149 Clancy Osborne SP
150 Art Powell SP
151 Bo Roberson
152 Fred Williamson SP
153 Raiders Team
154 Chuck Allen RC SP
155 Lance Alworth
156 George Blair
157 Earl Faison
158 Sam Gruneisen
159 John Hadl RC
160 Dick Harris SP
161 Emil Karas SP
162 Dave Kocourek SP
163 Ernie Ladd
164 Keith Lincoln
165 Paul Lowe SP
166 Charley McNeil
167 Jacque MacKinnon RC SP
168 Ron Mix SP
169 Don Norton SP
170 Don Rogers SP
171 Tobin Rote SP
172 Henry Schmidt RC SP
173 Bud Whitehead
174 Ernie Wright SP
175 Chargers Team
176 Checklist SP UER
Pennant Stickers Set Checklist
2 Buffalo Bills
3 Denver Broncos
4 Houston Oilers
5 Kansas City Chiefs
6 New York Jets
7 Oakland Raiders
8 San Diego Chargers
9 Air Force Falcons
10 Army Cadets
11 Dartmouth Indians
12 Duke Blue Devils
14 Minnesota Golden Gophers
15 Mississippi Rebels
16 Navy Midshipmen
17 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
18 SMU Mustangs
19 USC Trojans
20 Syracuse Orangemen
21 Texas Longhorns
22 Washington Huskies
23 Wisconsin Badgers
24 Yale Bulldogs
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