Cards of the Best Players from the ’50s
Post-war America in the 1950s was the NFL’s “Golden Age,” as the country grew exponentially, so did the nation’s love of football. But the sport was much different than it is today—featuring field goal uprights in front of the end zone, the first half of the decade seeing minimal head protection, and quickly evolving from the leather caps of yesteryear to plastic helmets, first without face masks, then with small bars to protect players. And the players had positions all over the field. Prolific kickers were offensive linemen. Punters were QBs; there weren’t even playbooks for the first few years of the decade.
But perhaps the most quaint factoid of this pre-Super Bowl era is the absolute dominance of the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions. The Lions and Browns met in the championship game four times in the ’50s, and some of the most iconic players of the era were from these teams.
Collectible cards for these future Hall of Famers were also in their infancy, borrowing designs mostly from their baseball counterparts, with fascinating designs and interesting back-of-card bios and cartoons that make these cards funky and worth collecting.
The Funkiest Cards Of The ’50s
1952 Bowman Small #16 Frank Gifford RC
Player info
• 1956 NFL MVP
• Pro Football Hall of Fame (class of 1977)
Set info
• 144 card set
card back
• a college bio and his carrying, passing, receiving, and scoring stats
1958 Topps Football #2 Bobby Layne
Player info
• third overall section in the 1948 NFL draft
• in 1958, the defending champ Lions traded Layne, who said the Lions would “not win for 50 years.” And so began the Layne curse.
Card info
• 132 card set
• The first set crafted after taking over for bowman
card back
• A recap of layne’s 1957 season, shortened by a broken leg
1951 Bowman Football #20 Tom Landry RC
Player info
• Developed the 4-3 defense and thus became known as “the great innovator”
• was both a player and the defensive coordinator from 1954 until his retirement, then continued his coordinator duties
Card info
• 144 card set
• included a stick of gum, of course
card back
• A look at his strengths as a defensive back and his college playing time in which he won the Orange Bowl with the University of texas
1957 Topps Football #138 Johnny Unitas RC
Player info
• Three-time AP MVP
• three-time NFL champion, one-time Super Bowl champion
Card info
• 154 card set
• first all-horizontal set design in Topps football history
card back
• Vitals and a recap of his 1956 season, as well as a short bio calling him a “bargain” after the Baltimore Colts picked him up following the Steelers releasing him (featuring a cartoon with him saying “revenge is sweet”
1958 Topps Football #52 Lou Groza
Player info
• Nicknamed “the toe,” Groza was both an OT and a kicker and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1974
• played 21 seasons in the NFL, held the all-time scoring record at the time, and was the last member of the original browns when he retired at 44.
Card info
• Set released in a single series, so cards have equal numbers
card back
• A glowing recap of his career up to this point, called the “most talented kicker in the history of football”
1956 Topps Football #6 Norm Van Brocklin
Player info
• First player in NFL history to throw for over 500 yards (554)
• The above record also still stands as the most yards any QB has ever thrown for to this day
Card info
• The entire set was printed in a single series, but the Chicago Cardinals and Washington redskins were short-printed and are considered scarce
card back
• Vitals and a recap of Van Brocklin’s 1955 series, in which he also led the NFL in punting
1958 Topps Football #62 Jim Brown RC
Player info
• sixth pick in the 1957 draft by Cleveland
• 1957 rookie of the year
Card info
• 132 card set
• Includes full team photos for the first time since ’56
card back
• A recap of Brown’s rookie year in which he led the league in yards gained en route to Cleveland claiming the NFL title
