HOF Spotlight: Bronko Nagurski

Name: Bronko Nagurski
Position: Fullback
Pro Career: 1930 – 1937, 1943
Team Affiliation(s): Chicago Bears
College: Minnesota
Induction Class: 1963 – Charter Member

Brief Bio: In an era before technical aerial passing and fancy fleet-footed running, Bronko Nagurski was the epitome of smash-mouth football. Never one for jukes or shifty moves, Nagurski dominated defenses by running straight at, through, and over the best efforts they could throw at him. To this day, many people still claim that no one hit the line as hard as he did. The consummate complete player, Nagurski was just as dominant on defense as a take-no-prisoners linebacker. He would also show his versatility by perfecting a devastating jump pass, in which he would fake plunge, step back, jump and lob the pigskin into the arms of an awaiting receiver. His two touchdown passes helped to clinch the 1933 title game. When Nagurski could not receive a raise to $6,500 in 1938, he retired to pursue a wrestling career. When WWII thinned the NFL ranks, Nagurski rejoined the Bears for the 1943 season, once again leading them to a championship before retiring for good.

Career Stats: 97 games played; 2,778 rushing yards; 25 rushing TDs; 7 passing TDs; 4 XPs

Featured Card: 1935 National Chicle #34. After a string of several HOF members without true rookie cards, we have one of the most iconic and valuable rookies cards in all of football. In 1935, National Chicle became the first nationally-distributed bubble gum card set to exclusively feature football players, and the Bronko Nagurski rookie card from that set is considered one of the “holy grails” amongst football collectors. Trivial Beckett value is $5,000, but for once, this price may not be too far off. An eBay search shows several PSA 1s with an asking price range of $3,888.88 – $4,444.44 (gotta love those cents!). A PSA 2 is listed for a shade under $5,000. Please use extreme caution when purchasing such a highly sought-after vintage card like this one. Forgeries are bound to be plentiful and there are many reprints of this iconic card. Many reprints will state it is a reprint on the front or back, but some may not. Be sure to do plenty of research and trust your “gut test” before pulling the buy trigger. For something this valuable, you definitely want to look for a respectable third-party authentication. Also, it may not be a bad idea to only purchase cards like this at sports cards and memorabilia auctions where you can see the card first hand prior to bidding. Plus, any respectable auction service should check into its items before the sale. Use your head out there; you can never be too cautious!

NOTE: You can find all of my Hall Of Fame Spotlight Features by clicking the HOF Spotlight banner above.

Settlement

In a bit of non-sports news, my wife and I settled on our first house yesterday. So now we get to start mass cleaning, painting, buying appliances, packing, moving and somewhere in there still find time to sleep. This should be fun. Fortunately, we did not buy a starter home, so hopefully we will not need to do this again for a very long time.

Posts will still continue to come to First and Goal, but please do not expect the same consistency as the past several weeks and don’t be offended if you see my HOF Spotlight on a more regular basis. After all, I do not have anyone giving me advertising money to support my ridiculous opinions that are passed off as gospel a la our “friends” at Beckett (I use that term loosely). I do still have a few box breaks to post, but who knows when I will get a chance to scan the goodies. I throw that out there so that you guys keep coming back…

The Emmitt Smith Collection

The Emmitt Smith Collection Gallery has been launched! Go check it out and let me know what you think. Please note, this is a very rough edition of the Emmitt Smith Collection Gallery. This site will be majorly overhauled in the future. I just wanted to get this out there for the world to see while I work on a much better site design. This edition has been optimized for Internet Explorer 7.0. Any other browsers have not been tested. Please use IE if possible.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER GALLERY!

To Cut or Not to Cut…

…that is the question.

Recently I posted about how the aim of my Emmitt Smith collection has gradually changed over time, allowing me to conquer small foothills in the quest of climbing the mountain that is obtaining all Emmitt Smith cards (I do realize that will probably never happen…that’s why I like these foothills). One of the early aims in my collection was to obtain all five Emmitt rookie cards. While searching around for the Topps Traded card, I found a fairly cheap copy that was graded 10, mint or better. At the time, I thought, “why wouldn’t I want the card to be in the best possible condition?”

Click image for a full sized scan

When the card arrived, I was stoked to have a graded card, the first and only in my entire collection, even outside of my Emmitts. Over time, however, the graded slab has become more of a burden. I keep all of my Emmitts in a 1997 Donruss Preferred Tin Box (the Emmitt one of course!). I find that I cannot keep this Topps Traded RC in the correct order with the rest of the cards because the slab is so much bigger than all the others that are in normal top loaders. I have debated for a long time what I should do, and am leaving it up to my readers.

TO CUT: In freeing this card from the graded slab, I will be able to correctly order my collection and will be able to stop forgetting this card is shoved on the side of my Emmitt box. But it is not a 7.5, it is a perfect 10. Cutting it out of the slab would reduce its value, right? But it’s graded by BCCG, so that doesn’t count, does it?

NOT TO CUT: By leaving this card slabbed, I run the risk of a mental breakdown because my OCD inclinations will not be able to see a collection that is uniformally stored and organized. To alleviate that, I could buy another Topps Traded RC (they are less than $15) to put into a top loader and could keep this one as a second copy, or sell it to someone who gives a rat’s ass about grading services. But if I spend $15 for a new copy, that’s $15 less I can spend on obtaining new Emmitts for my collection.

THERE ARE TOO MANY OPTIONS!!!

To help maintain my sanity, please vote in the following poll:

HOF Spotlight: John McNally

Name: John “Blood” McNally
Position: Halfback
Pro Career: 1925 – 1938
Team Affiliation(s): Milwaukee Badgers, Duluth Eskimos, Pottsville Maroons, Green Bay Packers, and Pittsburgh Pirates
College: Notre Dame; St. Johns
Induction Class: 1963 – Charter Member

Brief Bio: An incredibly gifted athlete, John McNally was a superb rusher with blazing speed and was possibly the greatest receiver of his day. In the era of “60-minute men,” McNally was also able to hang with the best passers, punters and defensemen. He enjoyed a successful 14-year career with five different teams, but most notably with the Green Bay Packers, which he helped lead to four championships in 1929, 1930, 1931, and 1936. Known just as well for his off-field antics as his playing successes, McNally got an early start. With one year remaining in his college eligibility, he wanted to try professional football. In order to maintain his collegiate eligibility, he needed a pseudonym, which was common in that day. After passing a theatre showing the movie Blood and Sand, he decided to take the name Johnny Blood. McNally went under that name his entire professional career.

Career Stats: 137 games played; 67 receptions; 1,117 receiving yards; 37 receiving TDs; 4 passing TDs; 5 rushing TDs; 5 INT TDs; 1 punt return TD; 1 kick return TD

Featured Card: 1932 Packers Walker’s Cleaners #13. Just like legendary Packers coach Curly Lambeau, I am featuring a Walker’s Cleaners card, a team-specific set from 1932. Trivial Beckett value of this vintage card is $600. Once again I could not find this exact card on eBay. Like other HOF members who played in a day before football cards were widely produced, McNally is featured in several HOF themed sets, including the 1975 Fleer Hall of Fame set. Copies of that card can be found for around $1. Obviously you will need to pay quite a bit more if you are looking for an autographed copy, especially since McNally left us to play with the Angels in 1985.

NOTE: You can find all of my Hall Of Fame Spotlight Features by clicking the HOF Spotlight banner above.

The First 2009 Addition

When I got home from work today, my wife informed me a small package had come for me. Naturally the six-year-old in me that gets excited any time I get mail (other than bills and advertisements) instantly became giddy. The shear excitement was dulled a little bit because I knew what it was without even looking at the sender. Last week I was perusing eBay listings for 2009 Emmitt Smith singles. I am not ready to drop $80 for some fresh 2009 wax, but I was still considering picking up a few new Emmitts for my collection.

I found three different Smith inserts that had no bids and placed minimal bids on each. I won the card you see below, a 2009 Upper Deck Icons Greats of the Game Gold parallel insert S/N #089/199. It gives into the S/N gimmick of recent years, but it is a pretty well designed card (and shiny!), so I like it. Of course then again, it’s a new Emmitt card, so I would have liked it anyway.

Click image for full sized scan

One thing that receiving this card and scanning it for this post (and my Emmitt website project) reminded me is that I really need to clean my scanner. Trust me, the card above looks much better in person than it does in my scan. Anyone willing to donate a brand new, high-end scanner to First and Goal, please feel free to email me for my mailing address!