Happy New Year, everyone! May your 2024 be happy and healthy. I hope I can entertain you a bit each day, and introduce you to some cards, players, and trivia that you might not be familiar with.
Today’s card of the day is a 1967 Philadelphia card of Dick Gordon, who is celebrating his 80th birthday today. A wide receiver, Gordon had a ten-year NFL career with the Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers, and San Diego Chargers. In 1970, playing for the Bears, he led the NFL with 71 receptions and 13 touchdown catches. He made the Pro Bowl that year, and again in 1971.
Gordon’s card is one of the double prints in the 1967 Philadelphia football card set. Though the price guides don’t show it, there are 66 double prints in each of the Philadelphia sets from 1964 to 1967. The math is pretty simple: There are 198 cards in each set, and the cards were printed on 264-card sheets. That left room on each sheet for 66 of the cards to be printed twice. You can see the configuration of the 1967 sheet on the Gallery’s 1967 Philadelphia virtual uncut sheet page. The Gallery has pages for the earlier three Philadelphia sets, as well.
Gordon also appeared on numerous other cards, stamps, and stickers. You can see them on his page in the Gallery.
Happy birthday, Mr. Gordon!