The Origins of Football Cards
Football cards, much like baseball cards, have a long history that can be traced back over 100 years. Some of the earliest football cards were produced in the 1910s and 1920s, often featuring college football players from major programs, and were included mainly as premiums or inserts within chewing gum packs or candy bars. These early football cards lacked the standardization, consistency, and widespread popularity of baseball cards being produced at the same time.
It wasn’t until the 1950s that the football card industry really began to emerge as a mainstream hobby alongside baseball cards. Bowman Gum and Topps Chewing Gum were the main producers to launch early sets focused solely on professional football during this period. Some keynote early sets included 1952 Bowman Football, 1954 Topps Card-O-Rama (NFL), and 1954 Bowman NFL Rookies. These sets helped establish football cards as a viable collector category while showcasing the emerging stars of the NFL like Otto Graham, Johnny Unitas, and Lou Groza.
Growth of Modern Football Card Sets
The 1960s marked a period of huge growth for the football card industry. Topps and Fleer emerged as the dominant companies to produce annual NFL sets each year. Topps released their first true annual football card set in 1960 called Topps Football. Fleer soon followed with their own annual Fleer Football releases starting in 1964. These flagship annual sets became highly anticipated releases each year that helped spread the popularity of collecting football cards nationwide among fans.
In the 1970s, the football card boom continued as new companies like OPC (O-Pee-Chee in Canada) entered the market. The 1970s saw some truly iconic football cards released, such as 1973 O-Pee-Chee featuring the “Black Diamond” design on the borders and 1974 Topps cards that captured many of the NFL’s biggest stars in action shots during games. New sets also expanded beyond just NFL players to focus on college football as well. In 1974, Topps tried something truly unique by producing a set featuring only backup NFL players called Topps Reserve Football.
Modern Inserts, Memorabilia Cards, and Parallels
As the 1980s rolled around, the football card industry had turned into a serious profitable business and hobby. Collectors had grown accustomed to new annual flagship releases each year from Topps, Fleer, and Score among others. Innovation in card design soon emerged to keep the market exciting. Special “insert” chase cards started appearing more frequently in the late 1980s featuring shiny foils, autographs, or unique parallels. Fleer was leading this charge by 1987 with innovative inserts like their “Record Breakers” parallel and autograph sets. The 1990s took football card inserts and parallels to an entirely new level. Invaluable rookie cards of stars like Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and Emmitt Smith buoyed the demand. Fleer and Upper Deck inserted autograph and memorabilia relic cards randomly in their packs, which could contain game-worn jersey swatches or signed helmets worth thousands. These modern innovations turned opening a pack of cards into a surprise prize hunt that has endured to this day.
Continued Growth into the Digital Age
While the sports card industry contracted in the late 1990s amidst concerns over counterfeiting and a collectibles bubble, football cards specifically have continued to sell strongly into the 2000s and beyond. Newer companies like Panini emerged as the dominant modern maker of licensed NFL trading cards. Their products feature current stars as well as innovative “patch” and autograph parallel variations inserted randomly in hobby boxes at steep odds. The advent of internet communities and online auction sites in the 2000s also helped expand the football card collecting demographic to a truly global scale, keeping the hobby as popular as ever among fans both young and old. Digital innovations like apps for team-building and online trading also keep the traditional card collecting experience feeling fresh and current even as the industry enters the 2020s. With a loyal, lifelong collector base and no shortage of exciting young NFL talent emerging each season, the future remains bright for football cards as an integral part of the sport’s history, culture, and fandom.
