Fifty years ago today, on December 16, 1973, O.J. Simpson became the first NFL player to rush for 2000 yards in a season. He finished with 2003. In the same game, Simpson also broke Jim Brown’s single season rushing record of 1863 yards. Simpson’s record stood until Eric Dickerson broke it with 2105 yards–but in a sixteen game season, whereas Simpson set his record in fourteen.
The card pictured here is Simpson’s 1973 Topps card, which shows him in action against–hmm, who? The pursuing player appears to be wearing a Chicago Bears uniform, but the Bills played the Bears in the regular season only once before 1973, and Simpson didn’t play in that game. The two teams met again in the 1972 preseason, and Simpson did play in the preseason game. There is no number 60 on the 1972 Bears roster, but it’s possible that number 60 was cut before the regular season started. That’s my best guess–anyone have another? It’s always possible that Topps modified the image, though I don’t know what the motivation would have been for doctoring this one.
