Jim Otto, who started at center for the Oakland Raiders in every game from 1960 to 1974, passed away on May 19. He was 86. Otto was a member of the Raiders team that won the AFL Championship in 1967 and played the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II. He was named a First-Team All-AFL player nine times, and a First-Team NFL All-Pro once. Otto was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980.
Today’s card of the day is one of Otto’s rookie cards, a 1961 Topps. (The other is a 1961 Fleer.) Fittingly, it is the only horizontally-oriented player card in the 1961 Topps set. The card shows Otto wearing number 50, his number in 1960. From 1961 on, he wore his familiar 00–which could be read aught-oh.
(I first noticed today that Topps used “offensive center” as Otto’s position on this card. I can’t think of any other card that lists a player as an offensive center, rather than just a center. Can you?)
Not surprisingly, Otto also appeared on many more cards and stamps during his career. You can see all of Jim Otto’s cards in the Gallery.
