1959 Bazooka Football Cards
There are eighteen cards in the 1959 Bazooka football card set, plus one variation: a Charley Conerly error card that says he is with the Baltimore Colts. The cards were printed on the bottom of boxes of Bazooka bubble gum, and they were cut by hand from the box. The set contains at least one player from each of 1959's twelve NFL teams. The cards are about five inches tall, and their backs are blank.
A second error card in the set was not corrected: on Woodley Lewis's card, his name is spelled "Woody." Topps (who made Bazooka gum) misspelled Lewis's name on his 1958 and 1959 Topps cards, too.
A big thanks to Mike Ford for providing the images for the Bazooka set.
| Image | Set | # | Card Title/Players | Pro Team | Position | College | Honors | Notes | Grades available at Nearmint Sports Cards |
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1959 Bazooka | Alan Ameche | Baltimore Colts | fullback | Wisconsin | College Hall of Fame 1975, Heisman Trophy 1954 | |||
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1959 Bazooka | Jon Arnett | Los Angeles Rams | halfback | USC | College Hall of Fame 2001 | Arnett placed tenth in voting for the 1956 Heisman Trophy. See the Gallery's page of football cards of Heisman candidates. | ||
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1959 Bazooka | Jim Brown | Cleveland Browns | fullback | Syracuse | Browns Ring of Honor 2010, College Hall of Fame 1995, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1971 | Brown placed fifth in voting for the 1956 Heisman Trophy. See the Gallery's page of football cards of Heisman candidates. | ||
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1959 Bazooka | Rick Casares | Chicago Bears | fullback | Florida | ||||
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1959 Bazooka | Charley Conerly | New York Giants | quarterback | Mississippi | College Hall of Fame 1966, Giants Ring of Honor 2010 | |||
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1959 Bazooka | Charley Conerly | New York Giants | quarterback | Mississippi | College Hall of Fame 1966, Giants Ring of Honor 2010 | Error card This card shows Conerly with the Baltimore Colts, but he played for the New York Giants. |
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1959 Bazooka | Howard Ferguson | Green Bay Packers | halfback | Packers Hall of Fame 1974 | ||||
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1959 Bazooka | Frank Gifford | New York Giants | halfback | USC, Bakersfield College | College Hall of Fame 1975, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1977 | |||
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1959 Bazooka | Lou Groza | Cleveland Browns | tackle, kicker | Ohio State | Browns Ring of Honor 2010, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1974 | |||
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1959 Bazooka | Bobby Layne | Pittsburgh Steelers | quarterback | Texas | College Hall of Fame 1968, Pride of the Lions 2009, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1967, Steelers Hall of Honor 2017 | |||
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1959 Bazooka | Eddie LeBaron | Washington Redskins | quarterback | Pacific | College Hall of Fame 1980, Commanders Ring of Fame | |||
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1959 Bazooka | Woodley Lewis | Chicago Cardinals | end | Los Angeles City, Oregon | Error card Lewis's first name is misspelled "Woody" on this card. |
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1959 Bazooka | Ollie Matson | Los Angeles Rams | fullback, defensive back | San Francisco | Cardinals Ring of Honor 2006, College Hall of Fame 1976, Eagles Honor Roll 1987, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1972 | |||
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1959 Bazooka | Joe Perry | San Francisco 49ers | fullback | Compton Community College | 49ers Hall of Fame 2009, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1969 | |||
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1959 Bazooka | Pete Retzlaff | Philadelphia Eagles | end | South Dakota State | Eagles Honor Roll 1989 | |||
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1959 Bazooka | Tobin Rote | Detroit Lions | quarterback | Rice | Packers Hall of Fame 1974 | |||
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1959 Bazooka | Y.A. Tittle | San Francisco 49ers | quarterback | LSU | 49ers Hall of Fame 2009, Giants Ring of Honor 2010, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1971 | |||
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1959 Bazooka | Tom Tracy | Pittsburgh Steelers | halfback | Tennessee | ||||
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1959 Bazooka | John Unitas | Baltimore Colts | quarterback | Louisville | Pro Football Hall of Fame 1979, Ravens Ring of Honor 2002 | Unitas was voted the NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1959. |