1964 Philly Gum #12 John Unitas
1964 Philly Gum
This set, or at least the Colts in it is a big reason for my taking on this project. I had about half the 12 Colts and wanted to pick up the rest of them. One thing led to another and my goals expanded to finding all the Philly Gum Colts and then to complete all the vintage Baltimore Colts subsets.
I eventually decided to collect all four complete Philly Gum sets. It was a fun project but I sold them off (along with much of my baseball card collection in 2022.
The Colts were photographed for this set at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The lighting, the background, the richness of the colors, and the color combo just make for a great team set. It's worth noting that while most of the teams have training camp/practice field backgrounds there are some interesting team sets here. The New York Giants were photographed at Yankee Stadium. Their cards look a lot like the Colts' cards.
Related note: The Browns are shown with a chain-link fence behind them and behind that fence sits (or so legend has it) the players' parking lot with Jim Brown's Cadillac featured in most of the shots. Great stuff.
I can't pick a favorite among the Colts' cards but if I was asked to keep only one for my collection it would be the Unitas or one of these three I've posted. Gino Marchetti looks so 'Marchetti-ish' in this one. He's the guy who refused to be carried to the locker room after he broke his leg in the '58 title game.
This is John Mackey's rookie card. Cardboard greatness.
Vertical blue and black backs were easy to read. As has been the case with football cards for years to this point skill guys get a stat box, linemen a blurb.
The listing of Pro Bowl and other honors is new. I'd like to see that on more cards. The cartoons relate to the player on the card and are in the form of a quiz question.
Each team also got a team card and a 'Play of the Year' card. Like all the team cards the Colts' card had a black and white team photo. At least the background is intact. The card has a different color scheme than the players' cards do but contains both the team helmet and logo. A team-related paragraph and cartoon quiz question make up the back.
The Play of the Year card shows Coach Don Shula as well as Memorial Stadium and has a play diagram linked to a specific game from the previous season. Interestingly the play diagrammed doesn't seem to be the same one described on the back. As a coach, I always used the dotted line to indicate a pass in the air and this one shows Unitas hitting Jimmy Orr on an 'out route' rather than Jerry Hill in the flat.
1965 Philly Gum
Philly Gum had come up with a nice template with the inaugural '64 set and it never varied by a whole lot. Each of the four yearly sets had the same 'look and feel'. Again there were 198 cards in the set.
Year Two of Philadelphia Gum's license saw them break out the NFL shield logo for the front of the cards. It was the first time this has happened. Other than making the name box smaller to accommodate the league logo the cards stayed pretty much the same. There were twelve Colts in the set plus the same two 'extra cards', the team card and the 'Play of the Year' card.
Most of the players got posed shots showing them from the waist or numbers up. Tony Lorick's full-action pose is an exception. The Colts were given light blue text for the player names and white for the team and position. The other teams each had their own combination.
As seen with Ray Berry and Lou Michaels above and Jimmy Orr below the iconic Colts helmet is present in this set more than any previous one.
Single bar face mask alert!
Well, look here. The coloring of the team card matches the players' cards. That's new.
I'm going to break my own rule here and stick a non-Colt card into the mix. But only because it's one of the best football cards, ever. This is the Gale Sayers rookie card from this '66 Philly Gum set.
1967 Philly Gum
The fourth and final Philly Gum NFL set retains the basic elements of the previous three but adds a slight twist... yellow borders. I'm sure someone at the company thought this was a good idea. They borders don't look bad when combined with the colors of some of the teams but when a team was assigned a name block like the pink one of the Cowboys or the purple of the Vikings it made for a bad look.
Another new club, the Saints, caused the team player totals to be reduced to ten per team plus the usual two extra cards per club. The Colts again had blue name/team/position blocks. I find the thin, sans-serif type to be 'cheap' looking somehow. I can't put my finger on it but it just doesn't look right. At least the size of it allowed them to use 'Johnny' as Unitas' first name this time.
Some of the photos look to have been taken in the same photoshoot as those that appeared in the previous year. Others look like Memorial Stadium shots from the '64 set. The Unitas card appears to be taken right after the '66 card. It's as if they said, "OK, Mr. Unitas, hold that pose....let us put your helmet on you and try not to move".
It's worth noting that this set marks the first contributions to this project from fellow bloggers. Mark Hoyle and Joe Shlabotnik, were both very generous in sending me Colts from many different sets from the late 60s right up through the Topps 1983 set. That's the final year of the Baltimore Colts franchise.
This
'Ray Berry" (above) card pictures cornerback Bobby Boyd who is
also shown on his own card (below) which uses what is likely a shot
taken for the '64 set.
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The team card matches colors with the players' cards.
The 'officials' signals' feature previously included on the now defunct 'play of the year card' has moved to the team card.
A team logo card has been substituted for the 'play of the year' card. I have lots of love for the Leapin' Colt! I wish the current version of the team, the one that plays in another city, wouldn't use it. To mean it means BALTIMORE COLTS. But that's a whole other story.
The back has a nice summary of the Colts franchise up to that time. Note the reference to Johnny Unitas as "Mr. Quarterback". Indeed.
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The Colts were photographed for this set at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The lighting, the background, the richness of the colors, and the color combo just make for a great team set. It's worth noting that while most of the teams have training camp/practice field backgrounds there are some interesting team sets here. The New York Giants were photographed at Yankee Stadium. Their cards look a lot like the Colts' cards.
Related note: The Browns are shown with a chain-link fence behind them and behind that fence sits (or so legend has it) the players' parking lot with Jim Brown's Cadillac featured in most of the shots. Great stuff.
I can't pick a favorite among the Colts' cards but if I was asked to keep only one for my collection it would be the Unitas or one of these three I've posted. Gino Marchetti looks so 'Marchetti-ish' in this one. He's the guy who refused to be carried to the locker room after he broke his leg in the '58 title game.
1964 Philly Gum #4 Gino Marchetti
1964 Philly Gum #5 Jim Martin
1964 Philly Gum #3 John Mackey
Vertical blue and black backs were easy to read. As has been the case with football cards for years to this point skill guys get a stat box, linemen a blurb.
The listing of Pro Bowl and other honors is new. I'd like to see that on more cards. The cartoons relate to the player on the card and are in the form of a quiz question.
Each team also got a team card and a 'Play of the Year' card. Like all the team cards the Colts' card had a black and white team photo. At least the background is intact. The card has a different color scheme than the players' cards do but contains both the team helmet and logo. A team-related paragraph and cartoon quiz question make up the back.
1964 Philly Gum #13 Baltimore Colts Team
The Play of the Year card shows Coach Don Shula as well as Memorial Stadium and has a play diagram linked to a specific game from the previous season. Interestingly the play diagrammed doesn't seem to be the same one described on the back. As a coach, I always used the dotted line to indicate a pass in the air and this one shows Unitas hitting Jimmy Orr on an 'out route' rather than Jerry Hill in the flat.
1964 Philly Gum #14 Colts' Play of the Year/Don Shula card
1965 Philly Gum
Philly Gum had come up with a nice template with the inaugural '64 set and it never varied by a whole lot. Each of the four yearly sets had the same 'look and feel'. Again there were 198 cards in the set.
Year Two of Philadelphia Gum's license saw them break out the NFL shield logo for the front of the cards. It was the first time this has happened. Other than making the name box smaller to accommodate the league logo the cards stayed pretty much the same. There were twelve Colts in the set plus the same two 'extra cards', the team card and the 'Play of the Year' card.
Most of the players got posed shots showing them from the waist or numbers up. Tony Lorick's full-action pose is an exception. The Colts were given light blue text for the player names and white for the team and position. The other teams each had their own combination.
1965 Philly Gum #2 Ray Berry
1965 Philly Gum #12 John Unitas
1965 Philly Gum #10 Jim Parker
1965 Philly Gum #6 Tony Lorick
1965 Philly Gum #4 Wendell Harris
The
backs went to a reddish color and the 'coin rub' cartoon returned. The
layout remained about the same as the '64 set. Again any honors from the
previous season are listed for the players.
Again the team card comes in with a color not associated with any other Colts' card.
1965 Philly Gum #1 Colts Team
Other
than the colors the Play of the Year idea returned unchanged. At least
this time the diagram matches the action that's described on the back.
1965 Philly Gum #14 Colts' Play of the Year/Don Shula card
1966 Philly Gum
1966 Philly Gum #24 John Unitas
Philly
Gum football returned in 1966 with a few changes but nothing that would make you wonder who produced them. The name-team-position box moved to
the top of the card but similar posed portrait cards dominated, at least among the Colts' cards. Each team got its own colors with light blue again on the Colts' cards.
The
addition of the expansion Atlanta Falcons meant that the other teams would get one less card each. There are now 11 Colts players represented plus the two related team cards. There were six members of the College or Pro Football Halls of Fame among the 11 Colts.
1966 Philly Gum #20 Lou Michaels
1966 Philly Gum #25 Bob Vogel
1966 Philly Gum #15 Ray Berry
As seen with Ray Berry and Lou Michaels above and Jimmy Orr below the iconic Colts helmet is present in this set more than any previous one.
Single bar face mask alert!
1966 Philly Gum #22 Jimmy Orr
The
backs of the cards have been re-arranged for '66. The alignment is now
horizontal and printed in green. The left side has player vitals and a
bio paragraph, and the right side has a 'Guess Who Quiz'. There is a small
black-and-white photo of a different player or coach and the idea is to
guess his identity. You are directed to a different card to find the
answer. Previous seasons' honors were included in the section with vital
stats although neither card I scanned had any. The stats box for 'skill
position' players is gone, each player gets a text paragraph. This will
hold true for 1967 as well.
Well, look here. The coloring of the team card matches the players' cards. That's new.
1966 Philly Gum #14 Colts Team
The
old 'play of the year' format evolved into a clear picture of a play
that is documented on the reverse. I love this shot of Lenny Moore and
Jim Parker doing their thing. Merlin Olsen in pursuit makes it three
Hall of Famers in the shot. I'm not sure but the Ram player on the
ground between Moore and Parker may very well be Deacon Jones. That
would make it four Hall guys.
1966 Philly Gum #26 Colts Play of the Year
The back of the play card has an illustrated officials' signals explanation rather than another 'guess the player' picture.
I'm going to break my own rule here and stick a non-Colt card into the mix. But only because it's one of the best football cards, ever. This is the Gale Sayers rookie card from this '66 Philly Gum set.
1967 Philly Gum
1967 Philly Gum #16 Ordell Braase
The fourth and final Philly Gum NFL set retains the basic elements of the previous three but adds a slight twist... yellow borders. I'm sure someone at the company thought this was a good idea. They borders don't look bad when combined with the colors of some of the teams but when a team was assigned a name block like the pink one of the Cowboys or the purple of the Vikings it made for a bad look.
Another new club, the Saints, caused the team player totals to be reduced to ten per team plus the usual two extra cards per club. The Colts again had blue name/team/position blocks. I find the thin, sans-serif type to be 'cheap' looking somehow. I can't put my finger on it but it just doesn't look right. At least the size of it allowed them to use 'Johnny' as Unitas' first name this time.
Some of the photos look to have been taken in the same photoshoot as those that appeared in the previous year. Others look like Memorial Stadium shots from the '64 set. The Unitas card appears to be taken right after the '66 card. It's as if they said, "OK, Mr. Unitas, hold that pose....let us put your helmet on you and try not to move".
It's worth noting that this set marks the first contributions to this project from fellow bloggers. Mark Hoyle and Joe Shlabotnik, were both very generous in sending me Colts from many different sets from the late 60s right up through the Topps 1983 set. That's the final year of the Baltimore Colts franchise.
1967 Philly Gum #23 Johnny Unitas
1967 Philly Gum #14 Ray Berry (Error)
1967 Philly Gum #15 Bob Boyd
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1967 Philly Gum #19 Lenny Lyles (from Mark Hoyle)
The
backs are done in brown with the pertinent player info on the right and
a 'coin rub' quiz question about the player on the left. The
questions actually like they were written by hand. Pro Bowl and other
awards are listed again.
The team card matches colors with the players' cards.
The 'officials' signals' feature previously included on the now defunct 'play of the year card' has moved to the team card.
A team logo card has been substituted for the 'play of the year' card. I have lots of love for the Leapin' Colt! I wish the current version of the team, the one that plays in another city, wouldn't use it. To mean it means BALTIMORE COLTS. But that's a whole other story.
The back has a nice summary of the Colts franchise up to that time. Note the reference to Johnny Unitas as "Mr. Quarterback". Indeed.
Semi Off Topic:
I love the New York Giants' cards in this set an awful lot. There are about six of them that are taken in Yankee Stadium featuring players with helmets on. They remind me of listening to Giants games with my father (he was a huge fan of them) with Marty Glickmann at the mike. The cards are awesome.
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A bit of detective work has shown me that these '67 Giants cards were not necessarily 'outtakes' from the '64 photos. Allen Jacobs wasn't in the NFL until 1965 and he was a Packer that season. He came over to the Giants in 1966 so that likely when the shot was made.
So
that wraps up the four Philadelphia Gum seasons of NFL production as
seen through the Baltimore Colts' cards. The sets are all very similar
but each has aspects to make it stand out. As noted I'm partial to the
1964 set but collecting any of the four would be a blast.
Topps was back in the NFL card business in 1968. The Colts and the rest of the NFL teams joined the AFL clubs in Topps colorful 1968 set. That one is up next!
Topps was back in the NFL card business in 1968. The Colts and the rest of the NFL teams joined the AFL clubs in Topps colorful 1968 set. That one is up next!
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