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Courtesy of www.CheckOutMyCards.com , a 1985 Fleer baseball card of former major league outfielder Jose Cruz, who is a member of a royal baseball family. He is the brother of former major leaguers Hector and Tommy Cruz, and his son, Jose Jr., also was a star major leaguer. Cruz had a long career spanning 19 seasons with 3 teams, primarily the Houston Astros. Aside from Roberto Clemente, he is the most famous Puerto Rican-born player. His 6 career walk-off home runs are still an Astro team record, and he had an outstanding NLCS playoff series in a losing cause in 1980, batting .400 in the dramatic five-game series loss to the Phillies.

1964 Topps baseball card of former major league player and manager Tony LaRussa, who retired after guiding the St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series title in 2011. He had been involved in major league baseball since 1963, when he began his playing career as a utility infielder for the Kansas City Athletics. He was mostly a mediocre player, finishing in 1973 with a .199 career batting average. His managerial career was legendary, however, as he piloted 3 different franchises, the Chicago White Sox, Oakland A’s and the Cardinals, for a total of 33 years. He won 3 World Series championships and is third on the all-time list for wins by a manager, behind Connie Mack and John McGraw.

1975 Topps basketball card of former National Basketball Association player Jack Marin, who played 11 seasons in the league for 4 different teams. He was once traded from the Baltimore Bullets to Houston for Elvin Hayes, a move that helped the Bullets become a powerhouse. The left-handed Marin was a pure shooter and one of the NBA’s top free throw shooters during his career. He became a lawyer after his playing days ended, and currently serves as outside counselor to the NBA Retired Players’ Association, as well as representing players performing abroad. Marin is active in the Hope For Warriors campaign, which teaches golf and other sports activities to severely wounded U.S. Marines.

1989 Topps football card of former NFL defensive end Bruce Smith, a stalwart of the Buffalo Bills’ defense for 15 seasons. After being released by the Bills in 1999, he finished his career in Washington, where he became the all-time career sack leader in league history. Smith is arguably the best defensive lineman in NFL history, as he was an 11 time Pro Bowler and a member of the Buffalo teams that played in 4 consecutive Super Bowls in the 1990s. Smith was voted to the NFL’s All Decade teams for both the 1980s and ’90s. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009, his first year of eligibility.

1958 Topps football card of a former Pittsburgh Steeler defensive back who was just elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Jack Butler. Playing in an era when the NFL draft was 30 rounds long, Butler went undrafted, after a stellar college career at St. Bonaventure, but signed with the Steelers and carved out a sold nine year stint, making the Pro Bowl 4 times and grabbing 52 total interceptions. In 2008, he was named one of the top 33 Steelers of all time, quite an accomplishment considering the talented players who’ve played for the franchise over the years.

1989 Topps football card of former Washington Redskins’ quarterback Mark Rypien. He was the first Canadian-born player to start at QB in the NFL, and was mostly a journeyman in his long career. His best year was 1991, when he guided the Redskins to a Super Bowl championship, and was named the game’s MVP, the first foreign-born player to win the award. After his football career was over, Rypien was involved in NASCAR as a team owner of the #97 car.

1966 Topps football card of former New York Jet fullback Matt Snell, who was a star runner for the team for 9 seasons. Although Joe Namath gets the lion’s share of credit for the Jets’ collossal upset win over the Colts in Super Bowl III, mostly due to delivering on his guarantee of a victory, it was Snell who was the major offensive factor in the win. The Jets played a ball control offense that day, mixing in play action passes by Namath with a good running game, keyed by Snell’s 121 yards rushing. He also scored the Jets’ only touchdown in the game on a four yard run. After retiring, he appeared in the first Miller Lite beer commercial, and currently owns a restaurant in New York City.

1986 Topps football card of a player who was a member of one of the most memorable Super Bowl teams of all time, former Chicago Bear defensive lineman William “The Refrigerator” Perry. An immediate fan favorite when he joined the Bears, Perry played defensive tackle and also was used at fullback, to lead block for Walter Payton and occasionally to carry the ball. He even scored a touchdown in the Bears’ Super Bowl win over the Patriots. That Bears team, coached by Mike Ditka, was full of characters, led by Perry and rebel quarterback Jim McMahon. They even released the “Super Bowl Shuffle” video before they qualified for the game. Perry wound up playing 10 seasons in the NFL, and has the distinction of having the largest Super Bowl ring of any player in history to win one.

To kick off Super Bowl week, this is a 1969 Topps football card of the only player in Super Bowl history to be named the game’s MVP after playing for the losing team, Dallas Cowboy linebacker Chuck Howley. In Super Bowl V, Howley intercepted 2 passes and recovered a fumble in a losing effort, and was named MVP. In a sign of the way players felt toward their profession at the time, he refused to accept the award, since his team had lost. The Cowboys won the Super Bowl the following year and Howley was again outstanding, but teammate Roger Staubach was the MVP. As for his career, Howley was drafted by the Chicago Bears and played 2 years for them before suffering a major knee injury that forced him to retire. He came out of retirement in 1961 to play for the expansion Cowboys, and it turned out to be a great decision, as he played another 13 seasons for them. He was a six time Pro Bowler, and one of many former players who probably deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, but isn’t.

1982 Opeechee hockey card of former Edmonton Oiler Jarri Kurri. A native of Finland, he had a long and storied career in the National Hockey League, mostly as an Oiler, where he played on 5 Stanley Cup winning teams. Although he played in the shadow of teammates Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier on those teams, Kurri was an outstanding player in his own right, scoring 600 career goals. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001, and currently serves as the general manager of Team Finland.