10 – One 1965 Topps AFL Tall Boy Not-Named Joe Namath
Like most collectors, I absolutely love the look and feel of this set. The colors are incredibly vibrant and perfectly suit the AFL’s bold and brazen aerial style. With only 8 teams to print out, there’s a wide variety of players for every team included. This is a huge plus as most vintage sets were rather limited when it came to player selection.
These are also very large cards and measure about 2.5″x5″ and serve as the perfect canvas for the bright pallet. So if you’re a fan of the Boston Patriots, the Buffalo Bills, the Denver Broncos, the Houston Oilers, the Kansas City Chiefs, the New York Jets, the Oakland Raiders or the San Diego Chargers, you’re in luck.
But who to choose, who to choose? Well, the Joe Namath is the key card and massively overvalued in part because of the collectibility of the set. So that’s out. After that, we could go the standard Hall of Fame rookie card route and select Willie Brown
or Fred Biletnikoff
. Well, they can still get a bit pricey: Willie Brown in PSA 6 form (there’s one at auction now
) will end up running you around fifty bucks and the Biletnikoff will probably come in around triple that amount.
If you want rookie cards, they’re your bets, but might I suggest going with someone like Jack Kemp? Better yet, how about you have a taste of the greatest Center of all time in Jim Otto
? Both of these cards have tremendous color and pizazz, but I might be tempted to direct you towards Lance Alworth
. Alworth’s card seems to be lacking an extra contrast color, but he’s one of the greatest and most collected wide receivers of all time.
Whomever you choose, you’ve got to have at least one of the 1965 Topps Tall Boys in your collect. It’s an absolute must. Even if it’s someone like Don Maynard (hehe) or maybe even a 1.99+shipping card, it’s worth it and an absolute necessity if you’re going to call yourself a football collector.
I actually had to edit this five minutes after posting because I forgot about George Blanda. The Blanda card is far and away the most colorful of the bunch and definitely a must add.
