Ramblings of a Dallas cowboy football card dealer

It's not often that I am taken back by a football card. I typical prefer the vintage look and feel of football cards from 30 or 40 years ago with bland colors, dumb looking player poses, grey or orange colored backs and silly cartoons. I don't think it gets much better than 1962 Topps when it comes to football cards.  All that changed when this card arrived in my mail box the other day. Forget for a moment that this is Isiah Stanback and look at this card.  This card has it all.  3 Jersey Patches using 2 different colors and then an autographed sticker that is inlaid between the cardboard vs simply stuck on top and its s/n to 25!  What is hard to see is the auto sticker is a COWBOYS logo hologram. This card comes from the 2007 Topps Triple Threads brand. I bang on Topps a lot for quality control but this card is a prime example of what Topps can do when they hit it right.  If they had placed an America's Team designation somewhere on the front to go along with the red, white and blue colors this card would really take your breath away. As it is, it is simply the finest looking card I have seen in a long long time.  Imagine if this were a super star like Tony Romo or Marion Barber.  If it were, it likely would not have found its way to me because it would have sold on eBay for a few hundred dollars.  I got this card as a throw in with a lot I bought from a dealer. I am basically giving it away on my home page for $10.  If, and this is a BIG IF, Isiah becomes the next Terrell Owens this card will explode to 3 or 400 dollars.  It's a LONG shot for sure but so was Tony Romo and his Auto Rookie cards are several hundred dollars now and I was selling them for $10 back in 2003!

Topps produces some very nice cards and I especially enjoy the cards of retired stars like Staubach, Lilly and Dorsett. I recently ran across a very nice 2007 Topps Triple jersey Tony Dorsett card which noted on the back that Tony Dorsett won the NFL Rushing title in 1982!  Boy, news travels fast.  I was always under the impression that Freeman McNeil won the NFL rushing title and Tony Dorsett came in second and led the NFC.  No, the NFL did not recently adjust McNeil's stats to put him behind Tony Dorsett, Topps just doesn't do a good enough job researching.  Heck, they could have looked in their own archives and seen that they got it right in 1983 when they produced a League Leader card of McNeil and Dorsett and on the back they had McNeil with 780 yards and Dorsett with 740 yards (strike shortened season).   I had to double check the back of this card and yes, it clearly says Dorsett won the NFL rushing title, maybe they meant to say NFC rushing title, not sure but regardless, this is a very nice card.

I specifically remember when Emmitt Smith won his first rushing title in '92, I think it was, that he was the first Cowboy RB to win a rushing title. Of course he went on to win 4 titles including 3 in a row. Dorsett was a different type of back than Emmitt. A lot less physical and much quicker/faster. Dorsett could hit the corner and be gone in a blink.  Emmitt got most of his yards right up the middle behind one of the most prolific Offensive lines in NFL history. Dorsett simply did not get the carries that Emmitt got over a season. Dorsett eclipsed 300 carries 3 times in his career. He had 342 carries in 1981 for a career high and he had 302 and 305 respectfully in 1984 and 1985.  Emmitt averaged almost 300 carries a year throughout his career (293) and had over 300 carries 7 times including a whopping 377 carries in 1995.  Both Emmitt and Dorsett were very durable which is a requirement for a back seeking immortality and HOF induction.

The NFL draft always brings a lot of additions to the cowboycards.com database. The first pick or two typically have cards already in the market place with Sage Hit and Press Pass cards typically releasing prior to the draft. In 2008, Upper Deck decided to join in the pre Draft fun by releasing a draft pick set featuring 100 NFL hopefuls.  The Cowboys first 4 draft picks in the 2008 NFL draft already have football cards in the market place. I spent a lot of time yesterday cataloging both Sage Hit and UD Draft Picks.  I have yet to find a checklist for Press Pass, which is typical of Press Pass.  From just the 2 brands, I added over 100 new cards when you count the parallels and UD has a ton of Parallels to go along with their new brand.

Check out the newest 2008 checklists; http://www.cowboycards.com/yearlyChecklist.asp?Year=2008 I will have these cards in stock VERY SOON!

Perhaps they still are but the healthy influx of competion has kept Topps on their toes in recent years.  That was not always the case.  There are many Topps cards from the 1970s that have identical photographs.  The Too Tall Jones 1976 Rookie and 1977 card come to mind.  Same photo, just a bit closer up.  When Topps was producing team photo cards in the 1960s, you would think that they would use unique pictures taken for the specified team, considering the team changes year to year and players come and go.  NOT so, I just recently discovererd that the 1961 Topps Team photo card and the 1962 Topps Team Photo card are the same picture.  Looking further, the 1963 Topps Team photo is also the same picture!  I can't believe I just now discovered this but its true. I never took much time looking over these cards until recently.   I have not checked other team photos to see if the same can be said about other teams but I suspect its true.  This is the one area where Philadelphia Gum far out did Topps.  Each Team photo card produced by Philly from 1964-1967 was unique and were very clear photographs.  Perhaps this is one reason why Philly got the contract with the NFL to produce NFL cards during this time frame, who knows.