1962 Football Cardinals Heading in the wrong Direction

Nineteen sixty-two saw the football Cardinals heading the wrong way. After finishing .500 their sophomore year the Big Red would slip to a record of 4-9-1 finishing second to last, finishing above the Eagles. Bright spots for the season were Sonny Randle who set franchise records for most pass receptions in one game-16, most receiving yards in one game-256 yard. John David Crow also set a franchise record with most touchdowns in one season-17. They were 10th in both points scored, and points scored on them. They were 3rd in yards gained, and 9th in yards given up.

Nineteen sixty-two Cardinals would see the arrival of rookie kicker and fan favorite Jim Bakken who would spend all 17 years of his career with STL and would kick 1,380 points. Garland Boyette (LB) also made his NFL debut. Perhaps a very unlucky player when it comes to having a NFL. Here is “his” 1964 Philadelphia Card, and here is the first card with the real Garland Boyette, 1970 Topps, Ernie McMillan (OT) made his debut in 1962 but wouldn’t have a card till 1963 as did Jim Bakken. Bill Triplett (RB) began his 10-year NFL career in 1962 as well.

Returning veterans included Joe Childress (RB), Bobby Joe Conrad (WR), John David Crow (RB), Bob DeMarco (C), Prentice Gautt (RB), Irv Goode (OG), Ken Gray (OG), Mal Hammack (RB), Jimmy Hill (DB), Charley Johnson (QB), Sonny Randle (OE), and Larry Wilson (DB).

Topps was the only producer of NFL cards in 1962. Topps issued the 1962 set in one series of 176 cards with 88 short prints. Mike Thomas on his excellent website Football Card Gallery believes catalogues have misidentified these. I will go with Mr. Thomas. Cardinals unfortunately have 7 of these short prints. There are 12 Cardinals in this set including a checklist. Topps also issued a football version of baseball bucks, which had thee Cardinals- John David Crow, Sonny Randle, and Prentice Gautt.

The ’62 Topps is known for condition issues related to the easily chipped black boarders, which make obtaining very high-grade copies an expensive challenge. Nineteen sixty-two would see Topps return to a horizontal format for the first time sine 1957. The front of these cards had three boxes all framed in black, with a black boarder around the entire card. The largest box to the right contained a portrait or posed action shot. A smaller box to the left and top shows a real game action shot-however, several of these show the incorrect player. A smaller color (red, blue, green, yellow) box below give the player’s name, team, and position. All teams show a mix of these colors, however almost all of the Lions have red boxes except for one player who got a yellow box.

The reverse is vertical grey stock with three boxes all outlined in red, with a red border around the entire card. The largest box contains a cartoon with some NFL trivia. Above this is the player career and previous year’s stats, an interesting fact about the player, physical stats, college, and of number of years pro. A smaller box in the top right of the reverse has the player’s name, team, and position. To the left of this a smaller box has the card number.

Topps Bucks were inserted in to packs and are 48 in total with, $1, $5, and $10 denominations.  The fronts have a player portrait in the center, with name, team, and position below, denomination in the corners, player fact one side, and the stadium or field of the player’s home club.

The reverse has the NFL and team emblems in circles, with denomination in center and corners, National Football League Stars at top, and number of the buck at the bottom.

I don’t want to always take a look at oddballs every year but those that I believe are unique I will do so. 1962 saw the only year that Post Cereal would issue football cards. Two hundred cards in all would be printed on the backs of boxes of Post cereal. Thirteen Cardinals have cards in this set.


1962 Card Stats 1/12 have