Saturday, July 13, 2019

Philadelphia Eagles (bonus cards - part 1)

In the last post, we looked at the 1968 Eagles in the Topps regular issue set. Like with most teams, there were 8 cards.

A few years ago, I stumbled upon the website for RetroCards, a company that makes (mostly football) cards in the design of sets from the 1950s to 1970s. They seem to focus mainly on Cowboys sets, but there are many sets for the Packers and Bears, as well as for some other teams (and all teams in 1963 and 1966).

There are usually between 15 and 24 cards per team set (depending on photo availability I guess). The card fronts match the original sets almost exactly, while the backs are mostly the same except for a company logo.

In the past few years I bought the 1966 Eagles, 1967 Cowboys and Packers, 1968 Packers, 1971 Cowboys, some assorted 1966 cards, and the 5-card Vince Papale set. The only discrepancy I have found among those sets is that the blue border on the 1971 cards is lighter than the original Topps cards.

This month I bought the 1968 Eagles set, and it just arrived. I am going to show these cards in two posts, for the sole reason that Blogger limits the labels to a combined length of 200 characters. This post has 12 offensive players. The next post will have the 5 defensive players, and OT Lane Howell. (If I thought ahead, I could have included Randy Beisler with the defensive group instead, since he played DT in 1968.)

What I like about this set:
1. Eighteen more 1968 Eagles cards. Yeah!
2. The only cards made for Chuck Hughes, Harry Jones, Larry Conjar, Frank Molden, and Harold Wells.
3. The only Eagles card for Randy Beisler, and the only card of Mel Tom wearing #58 (he later switched to #99).

What I don't like: 
1. The card backs are gray with red printing, making them hard to read. (The original backs were bright white with green or blue printing.)
2. No Ben Hawkins card. He was a starting WR from 1966-72, and had just led the NFL with 1265 receiving yards in 1967. It's hard to believe a photo of him wearing the 1966-69 jersey was not available.
3. Other 1968 starters left out of the Topps and RetroCards combined set are center Gene Ceppetelli, guards Dick Hart and Mark Nordquist, DE Tim Rossovich, DT Gary Pettigrew, and cornerback Alvin Haymond.

I'm not sure why Timmy Brown was included, since he was traded to the Colts in January 1968. Also, it’s odd that little-used backups Jones, Conjar and Ron Goodwin were included while the above-mentioned starters were not. I guess it was photo availability.

The bottom line is, I like this set and I hope they plan on making Eagles sets for '67, and '69 to '72.

---

King Hill is back for one more season as the Eagles' #2 quarterback.

As mentioned, Timmy Brown was traded to the Colts in January 1968 for cornerback Alvin Haymond. He was the Birds' starting halfback for a number of years, but was slowed by injuries in 1967.

Izzy Lang took over the starting halfback chores from Brown, and manned that spot in '68 and '69.


Tom Woodeshick was a backup for several seasons, then started at fullback from 1967-69.

Harry Jones was the Eagles' #1 pick in the 1967 draft, but was a complete bust, getting all of 8, 22, 1, and 13 carries in his 4 seasons with the team.

Larry Conjar was the Browns' #2 pick in 1967, and played for 3 teams in his 4 NFL seasons. He rushed for 21 yards in his only season (1968) with the Eagles.

---

Chuck Hughes was a backup wide receiver from 1967-69, before playing for the Lions in ’70 and ’71. I commend RetroCards for (no doubt) resisting the urge to include a note on the back about his in-game death in 1971.

Ron Goodwin was the starting flanker from 1963-66, then lost his job to Ben Hawkins, but stuck around as a backup for 2 more seasons.

Fred Hill was the backup tight end from 1965-71, and started 8 games there in 1968 due to Mike Ditka’s absence. Hill also started 8 games at split end in 1966.


Randy Beisler was the team's 1st-round pick in 1966, and started half the games in each of his 3 seasons with the Eagles. In 1968, those games were at defensive tackle. After the 1968 season, he was traded to the 49ers for backup quarterback George Mira. (This makes NO sense! Trade your former #1 pick for a little-used backup QB? And not a very good one at that? Meanwhile, Beisler played in EVERY game for the Niners from 1969 to 1973, and started all but one game from 1970-72, while Mira was gone after one season.)

Jim Skaggs was the Eagles' starting right guard for much of 1965-70, but missed the entire 1968 season due to injury.

Bob Brown was the Eagles' starting right tackle from 1964-68, making 3 Pro Bowls during that time. He made three more with the Rams and Raiders, on his way to the Hall of Fame in 2004.

Part 2 is here

1 comment:

Jim from Downingtown said...

Boy, the Eagles really sucked at trading for quarterbacks. In 1963 they traded away Sonny Jurgensen for Norm Snead.

In 1969 they traded away #1 pick Randy Beisler for George Mira, a career backup who rode the bench for 1 season in Philly, while Beisler became a starting guard for the 49ers.

Before the 1971 season they traded several draft picks to the Lions for 3rd stringer Greg Barton, who had 1 career pass attempt to that point, and none afterwards as he chose to play in Canada rather than start for the Eagles. A few weeks later, they traded more picks to the Broncos for Pete Liske, who was, well, Pete Liske!