Mount Rushmore of Football Cards

[jefferyepayne]

So, if you had to choose four cards to be on the Mount Rushmore of Football Cards, what would they be and why?

I'm gonna have to think a bit about this myself but wanted to open it up to everybody for their thoughts.

Post away!

jeff

[Tyranusberg]

'35 Nagurski
'58 Brown
'65 Namath
'81 Montana

[Bigshot69]

Punt Montana and add 33' Goudey Sport Kings Red Grange. Just my $.02.

[Bigshot69]

Next question. Whats the Rushmore of defensive players?

57' Lane, 82' Taylor, 86' White have to be considered, right?

[jim]

Move white out and put in Butkus and nietchke in. Have jack lambert as an alternate.

[revmoran]

You can't exclude all the players from the pre-war era when guys went both ways from a defensive Rushmore. Mel Hein was the first NFL MVP and a charter member of the HOF, and he's remembered as a offensive center but it was his defensive play that was cited in his MVP award. But are we talking about players or about cards?

[jefferyepayne]

My Pre-War Mount Rushmore of Cards









jeff

[Angyale]

Based on performance of player, not value of card.

Angyale

[jefferyepayne]

A VERY worthy candidate! Love that card and have been trying to upgrade mine for 5 years.

jeff

[rats60]

35 Nagurski
57 Unitas
58 Brown
65 Namath

Defensive players
63 Deacon Jones
66 Dick Butkus
71 Joe Greene
82 Lawrence Taylor

[Bigshot69]

Jones was a stud but Nightrain Lane's INT record, which he set his rookie year in a 12 game season, has stood for 65 years. He was also 7X first team all-pro, and his violent play served as a contributor to the origin of the facemask penalty.

He might not only be on the Defensive Rushmore, he could be the Abe Lincoln.

[samosa4u]

I agree that the Namath deserves to be on the list because it is a very popular card. Here is the thing I don't understand though: if you look online at any list that ranks the greatest QBs to ever play the game, he didn't even make the top 20! So how come his rookie card is so popular among collectors? What makes it so special?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

I agree that the Namath deserves to be on the list because it is a very popular card. Here is the thing I don't understand though: if you look online at any list that ranks the greatest QBs to ever play the game, he didn't even make the top 20! So how come his rookie card is so popular among collectors? What makes it so special?

New York. The Super Bowl prediction and win. The swinging image. The relative scarcity of the set.

[frankbmd]

Emmitt Smith until someone is able to Rush more

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Bigshot69

Jones was a stud but Nightrain Lane's INT record, which he set his rookie year in a 12 game season, has stood for 65 years. He was also 7X first team all-pro, and his violent play served as a contributor to the origin of the facemask penalty.

He might not only be on the Defensive Rushmore, he could be the Abe Lincoln.

The best nickname in FB history IMO.

[Chris Counts]

I'm surprised to never hear much about 1959 Bazookas when people talk about great football cards. The set includes Jim Brown and Johnny Unitas, as well as other stars, and the cards are both attractive and rare. I'd take a '59 Bazooka Brown over a '58 Brown any day, and the '58 brown is one of the most desired of all football cards.

[BigRedOne]

[gustomania]

I've love this topic.....here is my Rushmore

Nagurski
Unitas
Brown
Namath

Walter and Montana as alternates

[whiteymet]

After Sunday nights BST Auction it looks like the Exhibit Checklist card showing Chuck Bednarik should make the Mt. Rushmore of cards seeing what it sold for!

https://www.bst-auctions.com/1950_W4...s-LOT3024.aspx

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by whiteymet

After Sunday nights BST Auction it looks like the Exhibit Checklist card showing Chuck Bednarik should make the Mt. Rushmore of cards seeing what it sold for!

https://www.bst-auctions.com/1950_W4...s-LOT3024.aspx

A strong price for sure. Particularly since some collectors/dealers wonder whether it is a legitimate card or not. Would be curious what the grading companies would say about it.

jeff

[whiteymet]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

A strong price for sure. Particularly since some collectors/dealers wonder whether it is a legitimate card or not. Would be curious what the grading companies would say about it.

jeff

Jeff

Curious what the concerns are? Maybe that this is a paper header card attached to another card? Only thing I can think of. Please enlighten

[th38larg]

Well if you go by the original dealer's notations on the back, they didn't think it was anything special either.

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by whiteymet

Jeff

Curious what the concerns are? Maybe that this is a paper header card attached to another card? Only thing I can think of. Please enlighten

That's it. There are examples of this checklist out there but they are all paper thin. The displays out there from the ESCO machines that distributed these cards all have paper thin images of the cards pasted on them. Here is one I have.



Regardless, it is a really cool item and if it hadn't gone so high I would have loved to have had it!

jeff

[orly57]

I feel like the N162 Beecher should be on any football card Mount Rushmore. Definitely Nagursk belongs, and it is the only no-brainer. I hate to admit that the Namath belongs up there. I would round it out with the Sport Kings Grange.
I wouldn't fist-fight you if you wanted to argue Jim Brown and Johnny U belong over any of my suggestions other than nagurski. And I also think the Mayo Cut Anonymous deserves strong consideration.

[glynparson]

Nagurski
Unitas
Brown
Namath

[cfhofer]

Completely agree with glynparson. While Dunlop and Beecher are great cards, their value is based solely on rarity. I’d rather have cards of players that non-collectors would appreciate.

[bmattioli]

Mine..

Brown
Montana
LT
Brady

[TanksAndSpartans]

The first 3 came to mind right away: ’35 Nagurski, N302 Mayo Dunlop/Anonymous, ’65 Namath

But I think the 4th one could be just about anything. A '57 Unitas is a nice safe choice, but I could see an argument for any card already mentioned - one card I thought of that I don't think anyone else threw out is the '89 Score Barry Sanders (I kind of think of it as football's analog to the Griffey Jr rookie). I’ll take the ’48 Leaf Bednarik because its a high numbered card from an iconic set. (I eliminated the Jim Brown rookie just on the aesthetics of that card and set design, but I'd be fine with Chris's suggestion of the '59 Bazooka.)

My card picks don’t overlap with my pro football Mount Rushmore though. In that case I’d say: Lawrence Taylor, Don Hutson/Jerry Rice, Sammy Baugh/Otto Graham, Jim Brown if starting point is 1920/Jim Thorpe if starting point is the beginning of time. I wanted to have at least one defensive player and not have two players at the same position, so odd as it sounds if I really had to pick 4, I wouldn't have Brown or Rice (Thorpe, LT, Hutson, Baugh). Jeff mentioned the '33 Thorpe already. I think the '55 AA Hutson and '48 Leaf Baugh (there's that set again) are nice too as possible 4ths.

[Peter_Spaeth]

All discussions of football start with Jim Brown IMO. So his RC.
Doubtless it isn't unanimous, but I think Brady has the claim to being the best player at the most important position. His best RC is probably SP Authentic.
LT is probably the greatest defensive player but his RC is practically a common from a bad set. So somewhat arbitrarily I would substitute Butkus whose RC is a classic.
Final pick is tough. Nagurski to get a pre-war presence; or Unitas as the best vintage QB. I would go with Unitas.

Namath? No way. Iconic card as it's a perfect storm (tall boy set, NY, Super Bowl prediction, Broadway Joe blah blah) but he probably doesn't even make the top 100 player list.

[jefferyepayne]

Great thoughts, guys! Keep'em coming.

jeff

[Bigshot69]

I feel Elliott and Watson both have extremely high ceilings and their high end RPA’s are both 50% off from where they were 3 months ago. I’ve been picking up a couple here and there.

Yes, Elliott could go off the deep end and Watson has knee issues but collectors could potentially include both names in a Rushmore discussion 25 years from now.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Running back is a tough position to crack the list. On lists just of running backs, the guy with the most yards usually lands around 4 or 5.

[jiovine22]

This is a great question! I think you can look at it from a few different POVs. If you're looking at the players who may have had the greatest impact on the game and who non-collectors would appreciate, then I'd go with:

2000 Playoff Contenders Tom Brady
1982 Topps Lawrence Taylor
1957 Topps John Unitas
1958 Topps Jim Brown

If you're looking at the toughest/most desirable cards to collectors, I'd go with:

1935 National Chicle Bronko Nagurski
1965 Topps Joe Nameth
1933 Goudey Sports Kings Red Grange
1948 Leaf Chuck Bednarik

Just my personal opinion!