Chicago Bears - Custom Extension Set

Over a year ago I posted my set of Oakland Raiders custom cards issued by RetroCards.net. A few months ago I made another purchase from them - their 1967 Bears and 1966 Falcons sets. 

 

All the sets I've bought from them are listed on the sidebar. 

RetroCards.net makes "cards that never were" mostly for football, but some baseball and non-sports issues too. Among their football sets, they lean toward the Cowboys, Packers, and Bears, but other teams are occasionally represented, including all teams in the 1963 and 1966 sets. The sets for most teams include about 9 cards, but sets for their 3 favorite teams usually include 20 or more cards.

 

Here are the 1967 Bears, that complement the original set issued by Philadelphia Gum. The inclusion of 3 quarterbacks in this custom set makes for 4 quarterbacks overall (including Rudy Bukich from the original set.)

 

Within each grouping, I accidentally arranged the cards in the opposite position order from what I normally do. (right-to-left, rather than left-to-right) 

 

 

(Blogger limits the labels to 200 total characters, so I couldn't include everyone.)

Oakland Raiders - Custom Extension Set

Here are the 1967 Oakland Raiders cards made by RetroCards.net, the companion set to the original Topps cards. 

 

These look much better than the Chiefs' cards I posted last week. 

 

 

As usual, there's no room within Blogger's 200-character limit for labels to include everybody. 

 

Next? RetroCards also made a 1967 set for the Bears. If and when I buy that, I will post them here. That's the last of the 1967 cards.

Kansas City Chiefs - Custom Extension Set

This is the fourth of five 1967 team sets I bought from RetroCards.net. Previously, I posted the Cowboys, Packers, and Saints sets.  Those are all great-looking cards.  

I can't say the same for these Chiefs cards.  Almost every photo is too dark - some so dark as to either not be able to make out the player's face, or that the jersey is red.  It doesn't help that the borders are also black (Topps' original color for the Chiefs' cards). 

On the plus side, we have 18 more players for the defending AFL champions.  (Notable absences from the combined Topps/RetroCards set are G Ed Budde, K Jan Stenerud, MLB Willie Lanier, T Dave Hill, and DE Chuck Hurson.)

 

"65 Toss Power Trap!"

I also bought the Raiders' set at the same time.  Those cards have much better photo quality.

Next: Oakland Raiders

New Orleans Saints - Custom Extension Set

After the disaster that was the 1967 Philly Gum Saints cards, RetroCards could have done just about anything and it would have been an improvement over the originals. 

 

They responded with an 18-card set, featuring everyone in a new Saints jersey. Included in the set are Bill Kilmer, Jim Taylor, Dan Abramowicz, Doug Atkins, and a multi-player card featuring Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor, among others. 

 

Gary Cuozzo started most of the games in 1967.  Bill Kilmer was the regular QB from 1968-70, then was traded to the Redskins. (In 1971, 2nd-overall pick Archie Manning took over.)

7 receivers! (WRs Hall, Roberts, Abramowicz, Gilliam, Poage, and Simmons, plus TE Kramer.)

Steve Stonebreaker has a Jim Taylor haircut! 

 

In my recent post about the custom Cowboys cards, I showed a card back. While the backs of all the custom Cowboys cards have referee signals, the backs of the Packers and Saints cards have a montage of custom card photos. (Looks like they are working on a Rams set.)

 

 

Next: Kansas City Chiefs

Green Bay Packers - Custom Extension Set

Continuing with the "Cards That Never Were" sets from RetroCards.net, here are the 1967 Packers. 

 

The original set included mostly defensive players, so there are a lot of offensive players (17 of 20 cards) in this set. 

 

Lots of running backs! (Filling the void of the departed Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor.) 

 

Boyd Dowler and Carroll Dale are both noted as flankers here, but on the back of both cards it says "he could line up at split end too". How versatile of them! 

 

6 offensive linemen (augmenting the 2 starting tackles in the original set).

The original set included CB Herb Adderley and S Willie Wood. Bob Jeter was also a starting cornerback.  Between the two sets, I think the only regulars missing are DE Lionel Aldridge, DT Ron Kostelnik, and S Tom Brown. 

 

(Note: Blogger limits the combined length of all labels to 200 characters, so there was no room to include the backup players.)

 

 

Next: New Orleans Saints

Dallas Cowboys - Custom Extension Set

Back in 2017 I posted this about a company named RetroCards that made "Football Cards That Never Were" (and a few baseball cards too). 

At that time, I had purchased their sets for 1967 and 1971 Cowboys, and the 1967 and 1968 Packers. Since then, I have purchased many other sets, that you can find listed on this blog's sidebar under the RetroCards ad. 

Here are their additional Cowboys' cards to supplement the original set.

I wasn't going to post these cards, because it was noted by other bloggers that some scumbags were selling custom cards (one-off card fronts made by others in the card blogging community) on eBay for their own profit. 

But, I decided to post these now, to show you what they look like. I have added a watermark (similar to what the company does on their own website). I think this is a 1-man operation, so I don't want my postings to cut into his sales. Also, I had to pay for these cards, so....

 

The card backs are very similar to the originals.

 

I will also be posting their 1967 Packers, Saints, Chiefs, and Raiders sets.

1967 Custom Cards II

A few months ago, I stumbled across a website of the company above that makes (mostly football) Cards That Never Were. It seems that they specialize in Cowboys, Packers, and Bears sets, but there are many more football team sets from the 1950s to 1970s, as well as a few baseball offerings (such as 1970-style Brewers cards that actually say "BREWERS" instead of "PILOTS").

Here is the site's main link.

After much consideration as to whether I should post the cards I purchased (because although I bought them outright, this guy is in business to make these cards, and anyone saving my posted card images from the internet is siphoning off his business), I decided not to post them because of this and this.

I have already purchased:

1967 Cowboys

1971 Cowboys

1967 Packers

1968 Packers

These cards look great, and the backs also match the vintage sets (except for a company advertisement). The only issue I've had so far is that the blue borders on the 1971 set do not match the color of the original set.

Also, they have created a 140-card extension set (the "3rd series") for the 1966 NFL set, which you can either purchase in its entirety, or build your own custom packs (complete with wax-pack wrappers). I have purchased 2 custom packs, 1 of all Eagles, and 1 of all quarterbacks.

Feb 2024 edit: It appears that the 1966 cards are now available per team, not as an entire set. Nor can you "build-a-pack", as in the past.

1967 Custom Cards

A few years ago, I asked John Hogan at the "Cards That Never Were" blog if he would make a few custom football cards for me, specifically some starting quarterbacks that were missing from the '67, '68, and '71 sets. He soon responded with some real beauties. I have already featured those 1968 and 1971 custom cards on my blogs for those years. Now it is time for the 1967s.

Jack Concannon was left out of the 1967 set because at press time, he was probably still the Eagles' #3 quarterback. Traded to the Bears in the off-season for TE Mike Ditka, Concannon became the Bears' starting QB for the next 4 seasons, before giving way to Bobby Douglass in 1971.

Veteran Milt Plum was the Browns' #2 pick in 1957, and was their starting QB through the 1961 season (making the Pro Bowl in '60 and '61). He was the Lions' starting QB from 1962-65, and started 6 games each season for the Lions in '66 and '67. Perhaps Karl Sweetan was chosen as the QB in the 1967 set because he started 8 games in 1966, to the injured Plum's 6 games. After 1967, Plum was traded to the Rams for QB Bill Munson. He finished his career in 1969 with the Giants.

Billy Kilmer was the 49ers' 1st pick in the 1961 draft. After 6 years with the Niners (4 on the bench behind John Brodie, and 2 on injured reserve), Kilmer was selected by the Saints in the expansion draft prior to the 1967 season. Gary Wood was chosen as the QB for the '67 set. My theory is that Wood started many games for the Giants in 1966 due to Earl Morrall's injury, while Kilmer and 3rd QB Gary Cuozzo had not been starters in the previous season.

Kilmer spent 4 years in New Orleans, the last 3 1/2 as their starting QB. His penance with the Saints was rewarded in 1971, when he was traded to the Redskins and installed as their #1 QB for the next 7 seasons. In 1972 he led the NFL with 19 TD passes, and took the 'Skins to the Super Bowl.

With the Giants' QB department in shambles after the 1966 season, the team acquired Fran Tarkenton from the Vikings. Tarkenton had been the Vikes' starter since their inaugural season in 1961, and made the Pro Bowl in '64 and '65. During his 5 seasons in New York he made 4 more Pro Bowls. After the 1971 season, Fran was traded back to the Vikings, where he was the starting QB for his remaining 7 seasons. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986.

With Scramblin' Fran now in New York, what were the Vikings to do? Raid the Canadian League for their star QB Joe Kapp! Kapp played 4 seasons in the NFL, 3 with the Vikings and one with the Boston Patriots. Joe made the Pro Bowl in 1969, while leading the Vikings to the Super Bowl.

John also made some cards of Doug Buffone, after his death a few years ago. Here is the 1967 card.


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I also found this custom card of ex-Packers' great Jim Taylor floating around on the internet. It was made by Bob Lemke, who creates limited edition cards (fronts and backs) for sale to the public.