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In the long, storied history of the Detroit Tigers’ baseball team, there have been many great players. This is the 1963 Topps card of one of the greatest, outfielder Al Kaline. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980, “Mr. Tiger” was signed as an 18 year old phenom and went directly to the Tigers, never playing a game in the minor leagues. He was the youngest player to ever win a batting title in 1955, won 10 Gold Gloves for fielding, was an 18 time American League all-star, and played on the Tigers’ World Series-winning team in 1968, batting .379 with 2 home runs and 8 RBIs in the seven game series.

1957 Parkhurst hockey card of Frank Mahovlich, a center (or “centre” if you’re Canadian) for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mahovlich is a hall of famer who played for both Canadian original six teams, the Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, helping win Stanley Cups in both cities. “The Big M” played on a total of 6 Cup-winning teams, and, at the end of his career, played in the WHA  with the Birmingham Bulls, playing on a line that included Dave Hanson, one of the Hanson Brothers from the movie Slap Shot.

Football card of former Denver Broncos’ split end Lionel Taylor. Taylor was one of the top receivers in the 10 year history of the American Football League, and many feel he should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He led the league in receptions in the league’s first 6 years, and in 1961 became the first player with 100 catches in a season. Taylor had a long outstanding assistant coaching career after his playing days ended, and was briefly a head coach in NFL Europe with the London Monarchs. When Tony Dungy became the first African American coach to win a Super Bowl, he paid tribute to all the others who had paved the way for him but never got their opportunity, mentioning Lionel Taylor by name.

1975 Topps basketball card of one of the NBA’s legendary “small” guards, Calvin Murphy. Murphy played for the San Diego/ Houston Rockets from 1971 until 1983, and was once a member of the Rockets’ broadcast team. He was also a world class baton twirler, and while playing in college at Niagara University, occasionally twirled baton with the marching bands at halftime of the Buffalo Bills’ football games. Murphy was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.

“Juuuuuust a bit outside”. That was the famous line by Bob Uecker in the classic baseball comedy Major League. This is Uecker’s 1963 Topps baseball card. At the time he was Joe Torre’s backup catcher with the Milwaukee Braves. Uecker’s major league career was a little better than he joked about after it ended, but he was a career backup. He was generally regarded as a decent defensive catcher, but in 1967, his final season, he led the National League in passed balls, despite playing only 59 games, and rode that one horrible season into a career as a comedian and actor. He used to appear regularly on The Tonight Show and Johnny Carson dubbed him “Mr. Baseball”.  He is now a Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster and played the Cleveland Indians’ broadcaster in the movie mentioned above.

1968 O-pee-chee hockey card of an all-time great, Jean Beliveau of the Montreal Canadiens. Beliveau is an iconic figure on the most legendary NHL team of them all, the Canadiens. Inducted into the sport’s Hall of Fame in 1972, Beliveau played on 10 Stanley Cup winning teams and, as a team executive, was a part of 7 more Cup-winning teams. He was team captain in the last 10 seasons of his career, leading the fabled “Flying Frenchmen”, as the Habs of that era were called.

1965 Topps football card of Oakland Raiders center Jim Otto. Otto played 15 years for the Raiders and is a pro football Hall of Famer. The strange thing about this card is that Otto was issued jersey number 50 in Oakland’s inaugural American Football League season in 1960, but switched to the number “OO” that he became famous for the year after that, so this obviously was an old photograph used on the card.  Amazingly, Otto was a Pro Bowler 13 times in his 15 year career, and was the AFL all-league center for all 10 years of the league’s existence.

1971 basketball card of Kentucky Colonels center Dan Issel, who was one of the star players of the old American Basketball Association. Issel was a star at the University of Kentucky and decided to also pursue his pro career in Kentucky with the Colonels. He was the ABA rookie of the year in 1971, won the ABA title with the Colonels in 1975, but wound up with the Denver Nuggets the following year. He played with the Nuggets, who were absorbed into the NBA in 1976, for 11 seasons. Issel later coached the team and also served as team president and general manager. Issel was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993. 

1963 Topps baseball card of New York Mets first baseman Gil Hodges. Hodges was a fan favorite of the old Brooklyn Dodgers so  when the Mets entered the National League as an expansion team in 1962, they added Hodges, and manager Casey Stengel, a former Yankee skipper, to try and capture the Dodgers old fans’ attention. The Mets were a laughingstock in their early years but Hodges would later lead the franchise into their most glorious moment, managing the “Amazin’ Mets” to an unbelievable World Series win over Baltimore in 1969.

1957 Topps hockey card of “The Chief”, long-time Boston Bruins left winger John Bucyk. Bucyk played on some of Boston’s bad teams in the 1960s, but was the team captain when they won the Stanley Cup in the early ’70s. Bucyk has been with the Bruins’ organization for over 50 years, serving in various capacities including broadcaster and in the front office. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1981.