Seventy-six years ago today, on December 28, 1947, the Chicago Cardinals got the franchise’s only win ever in an NFL Championship Game. The Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 28-21.
Elmer Angsman and Charley Trippi were the heroes of the game, each scoring on two long touchdown plays. Angsman had two 70-yard touchdown runs, and Trippi scored on a 44-yard run and a 75-yard kickoff return.
Today’s card of the day is Angsman’s 1948 Leaf card. There are two variations of the card: one with Angsman’s name in black, and the other with his name in white. The “white name on front” (WNOF) variation, the scarcer of the two, is pictured here. Apparently, Leaf realized that white text on a yellow background is hard to read, and they made an adjustment before printing too many cards. Angsman’s is one of several WNOF cards in the 1948 Leaf set; the others are scarce, as well.
The Cardinals and Eagles met again in the 1948 NFL Championship game, with the Eagles winning the rematch, 7-0. The Cardinals would not play in another championship game until 2009, when the team–now the Phoenix Cardinals–played the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII. Alas, the Cardinals lost, 27-23.
