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The Cleveland Indians were a pretty sorry baseball team in the 1960s, but they got a little respect from the Topps baseball card company with this 1967 “Tribe Thumpers” card, from www.CheckOutMyCards.com . It featured power hitters Leon “Daddy Wags” Wagner and Cleveland legend Rocky Colavito, who at this point was serving his second term with the Indians after being reacquired from the Kansas City Athletics. Colavito had been dealt to Detroit in 1960 in a rare trade in which the Indians traded Colavito, the league leader in home runs, for the Tigers’ Harvey Kuenn, the reigning AL batting champion. Wagner, after his playing days ended, owned a clothing store that featured the motto, “Buy your rags at Daddy Wags”, but he died broke and homeless in 2004.

From www.CheckOutMyCards.com , a 1962 Topps hockey card of former NHL player Pat Hannigan. Hannigan played 5 seasons in the league with the Rangers, Maple Leafs and Flyers. He had a prior stint in the minors with the AHL Buffalo Bisons, and after retiring as a player served as an analyst on Buffalo Sabres broadcasts, teaming with play-by-play man Ted Darling. Hannigan passed away at the age of 71 in 2007.

1978 Topps football card, from www.CheckOutMyCards.com , of former NFL receiver Bob Chandler. Chandler played 12 seasons in the league, mostly for the Buffalo Bills, and gained a reputation as a sure-handed receiver with the Bills in an era when the team mostly featured the running of O.J. Simpson. He finished his career as a Los Angeles Raider, winning a Super Bowl there following the 1980 season. Chandler dabbled in broadcasting when his playing days ended, working as an analyst on NFL games for NBC in 1983, and on the Raiders’ radio broadcasts. He died at the age of 45 after a long battle with lung cancer in1995.

This is a 1975 Topps basketball card, from www.CheckOutMyCards.com , of former Indiana Pacer Darnell Hillman. Hillman was a legend in the old American Basketball Association, earning the nickname “Dr. Dunk”. He remained a Pacer when the club joined the NBA in 1976, and played a total of 9 seasons of pro basketball. Besides his legendary dunks, perhaps Hillman’s greatest achievement was winning the “Biggest ABA Afro” award at a 1997 reunion of the league. Hillman currently works in the Pacers’ front office as a director of alumni relations.

1954 Topps baseball card of former Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder Duke Snider, who passed away on Sunday at the age of 84. Nicknamed “The Duke of Flatbush”, Snider was the centerfielder and top power hitter on the club affectionately known as “Dem Bums”, the Dodger teams of the 1950s. He went with the Dodgers when they relocated to his hometown of Los Angeles, playing on a World Series winning team in Brooklyn in 1955 and in L.A. in 1959. Snider was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1980, and his uniform number 4 has been retired by the Dodger franchise. Snider worked as a broadcaster for the Montreal Expos for 14 seasons after his playing career ended.

From www.CheckOutMyCards.com , a 1971 Topps hockey card of former Boston Bruin Derek Sanderson. He won the NHL’s Calder Trophy as Rookie of The Year in 1968, and was a key player on the Bruins’ Stanley Cup winning teams in 1970 and 1972. Sanderson was a flamboyant character, the “Joe Namath of the NHL”, and even partnered with Broadway Joe in opening the Bachelor’s III nightclub in New York City. Nicknamed “Turk”, Sanderson’s career flamed out after the early success in Boston. He signed a huge contract with the WHA Philadelphia Blazers but never played well there, returning to Boston and later being traded to the New York Rangers. He battled alcoholism, to the point where he almost wound up homeless. Eventually, former teammate Bobby Orr paid to check Sanderson into rehab, and he recovered and went on to a ten-year career broadcasting on NESN (New England Sports Network).

1971 Topps football card of former Miami Dolphins’ placekicker Garo Yepremian, who made one of the all-time “blooper” plays in Super Bowl history in Super Bowl VII. Yepremian, from Cyprus, somehow managed to get his hands on a bobbled snap on a Dolphin field goal attempt, then tried to apparently throw a pass. The ball just floated straight upward into the waiting arms of Redskins’ DB Mike Bass, who returned it for a touchdown and turned a 14-0 Miami lead into a close 14-7 game. The Dolphins wound up holding on to win to cap off an amazing undefeated 17-0 season with their first Super Bowl title. Yepremian lasted 16 seasons in the NFL, 14 with Miami, and was named the kicker on the NFL’s All Decade  team for the 1970s. The picture used on this card was probably taken during an early training camp practice, since he wore jersey # 1 for his entire career with the Dolphins.

From www.CheckOutMyCards.com , this is a 1981 Topps football card of the player many consider the greatest quarterback in NFL history, Joe Montana. He led the San Francisco 49ers to 4 Super Bowl titles, and is the only player in NFL history to be named Super Bowl MVP three times. “Joe Cool” earned so many accolades in his career that it’s hard to list them all, but here are a few: 8 time Pro Bowler, 2 time league MVP, named to both the All Decade team for the 1980s and the NFL’s 75th Anniversary All-Time team. Montana was above all a winner, and his jersey # 16 is retired by the 49ers. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

1965 Topps football card of former American Football League defensive back Fred “The Hammer” Williamson, who played 7 seasons for Oakland and Kansas City. Williamson was a notorious self-promoter, and as a Chief, prior to the inaugural Super Bowl, boasted that he would knock both Green Bay starting receivers out of the game with his famous “hammer”, a vicious “clothesline”  forearm  that he used regularly, that would get him fined, suspended and probably banned from today’s game. Ironically, “The Hammer”  himself was knocked out of the game when he caught a knee to the head from Packer back Donny Anderson. After his playing days, Williamson had a successful acting career, specializing in what was called “Blaxploitation” films, and briefly served as an analyst on Monday Night Football.

From www.CheckOutMyCards.com , a 1962 Topps football card of former Green Bay Packers’ receiver Max McGee. McGee played for the Packers from 1954, through some terrible losing seasons, through 1967, surviving long enough to enjoy the winning years under Vince Lombardi. He had his shining moment in the first Super Bowl, entering the game – with a hangover from partying the night before – after starter Boyd Dowler was injured, and playing the game of his life, with 7 catches for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns. After his football career ended, McGee became a partner in the Chi-Chi’s Mexican restaurant chain, and served as a color analyst on Packers’ radio broadcasts. He died in 2007 as a result of falling off the roof of his home while using a leaf blower to remove leaves.