Football Card sequencing

NWebster · Post by **NWebster** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 6:05 am

Some years / sets are obviously sequenced. So the old Philadelphia sets were easy they were sequenced by Team and then players last name. But any idea about how the 70's Topps or even 1951 Bowman were sequenced, was there a rhyme or reason, the 51 Bowman are odd in that they have clusters of players on the same team, then a break, then another cluster, etc.

And maybe unrelated - but what were your favorite special insert cards. I always liked the Team leaders from the 70's with 4 different players on them, usually a Rushing, Receiving, Intercepting and Sacking leader. On rare occasion the Sacking leader was only shown in the set on that Card. I think all the new "Foikl" / "Uniform" stuff is junk, but other than a pack randomly to see what they looked like I haven't really bought Cards since the very early 90's when they killed the Goose that laid the Golden egg. Also never inded special All-Pro cards like 1972, though I prefer a banner on a regular card like 1977. As I think about it, I think they were just all better prior to about 1986.

ChrisBabcock · Post by **ChrisBabcock** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 7:58 am

I always thought those 70s and early 80s sets were completely randomized. I've wondered myself if there was any rhyme or reason to the order and I never found any. I believe in about 1982 they started grouping by teams. 1982 was also a "watershed" year for Topps cards in that apparently they finally got licensing rights to use team logos. No more bad airbrushing jobs blanking out logos.

I liked the "Super Action" cards of the star players that they had for a few years.

Citizen · Post by **Citizen** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 9:13 am

As far as I know, nobody has ever determined whether or when there was any rhyme or reason to the sequence of Topps sets. There was more of a pattern in the company's old baseball sets. Cards numbered in multiples of 50 and 100 always went to star players.

XanaduNow · Post by **XanaduNow** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 2:18 pm

I don't know about old Bowman but there's definitely sequencing for Topps. There's sheet sequencing for rack, cello and wax packs, as well as single card sequencing for individual packs. You obviously need to know the sequence but also have an image of an uncut sheet in order to tell which cards will follow. For instance, a 1971 Topps sequence might be down one row, right four cards. You would need to find where on the sheet the card you can see showing in the pack is and then run that sequence over and over to determine which cards should follow.

Keep in mind, the sequence will break halfway through each pack as the sheet sequence breaks. For instance, 1991 Topps wax pack has two halves to it. The half that is on the wax/gum side is filled with cards from sheets *A and *B. The other half is filled with cards from sheet *C, *D, *E, and *F. This sheet sequence is also a good tool in determining if those expensive, vintage rack packs are legitimate or not. Each one of the three cells will only have cards from two respective sheets each year. So, for instance, if the '78 Eddie Murray rookie is an *A sheet card and it's in the *E & *F card cell of the rack pack, that rack pack is almost certainly bogus.

That's probably more info than you wanted, but, it's Saturday.

Arthur

JeffreyMiller · Post by **JeffreyMiller** » Sat Oct 20, 2018 3:38 pm

And who chose whom would appear on cards? For example, the 1969 Topps set includes Bills RB Bob Cappadona, but not perennial all star performers like Mike Stratton or Billy Shaw. Heck, even Jack Kemp got on one of the 4-in-1 cards that year but not a full size card.

Citizen · Post by **Citizen** » Sun Oct 21, 2018 9:12 am

Thanks, Arthur -- and I understand that a trained eye can divine the sequence and use that knowledge to make an educated guess about, say, what's underneath the cards showing in a cello pack.

I'm more curious to know how players are assigned their spot in the sequence. Bart Starr #1 in 1968? Of course, makes total sense. But why Dick Bass #2, Grady Alderman #3, etc.?

XanaduNow · Post by **XanaduNow** » Sun Oct 21, 2018 9:48 am

Oops, I totally misunderstood the OP.

Arthur

NWebster · Post by **NWebster** » Sun Oct 21, 2018 10:21 am

XanaduNow wrote:Oops, I totally misunderstood the OP.

Arthur

That was my question as well but I found your answer very interesting, thanks for that.

Jay Z · Post by **Jay Z** » Sun Oct 21, 2018 6:04 pm

Until 1973 Topps issued its baseball and football cards in series within the set. Cards 1-132 would be one series. This would contain players from all teams. Later in the season Series 2, cards 133-264, would be issued. All new players. And so on. Baseball typically had at least 5 series. Football, except for 1972, never more than 2.

With that system, there was less incentive to group the players by team, since it would just happen again with the following series.

Topps did reserve "round" numbers for better players. The very best or most popular players would have the hundreds, 100, 200, 300, etc. Lesser stars would have a number ending in 0.

James · Post by **James** » Mon Oct 22, 2018 11:34 am

Started collecting football cards in 1974 when I was 7 years old. No idea of how Topps sequenced things, bit numbers ending in 0 or 5 were always stars or semi-stars.

James

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