Washington Wednesday: Funny Sonny Mystery

A Funny Sonny Mystery

Some months back {looking in email history and saved text messages*} I had gotten an email from someone with an offer to sell me a card. I'll call him "Bob" to protect the guys identity and spare some of the embarrassment. In addition I couldn't remember his name until I located my communications with him. 

Out of the blue I get this email from "Bob":

"My grandfather left me certain baseball and football cards including a Sonny Jurgensen from the 1969 season. His # was 6 and was QB for the redskins. He was the leading passer in the NFL in 1969. The card is probably 1970 T.C.G. It also has an autograph on it but I doubt that its real. Would you like to purchase it? I can take pictures of it with my phone and send it to yours to prove that it's real or I can sell it to someone else. Its up to you."

OK he got my interest, one of my all-time fave players and a vintage card probably signed in person sometime within the last 40 years. I let his comment about Sonny being number six slip. Probably should have torn him a new one for that, but I'm a nice guy. Actually it turns out #6 was the card number, good thing I didn't go all Chuck Norris on the guy. OK so I had to find out what this was all about.

I replied:

"Yes I am interested in it and yes I would like to see pics of it first."

Bob:

"Took the pics just need a number to send them to

My number is  xxx-xxx-xxxx"

He sent a blank Message asking for me to send him my cell number.

I don't normally do text stuff like I said but I replied:

"My cell number is xxx-xxx-xxxx"

Bob replies:

"Hope u got the two pics. As u can tell they're in good condition and the real deal so whats ur offer cause I'm dealing with several people on this card"

The rest of this conversation took place with text messages.

"Bob" said:
"Good right?"
and
"What do u think?"

'Bob' sent a couple of pics of the card (I cropped them here a little).

Cell phone picks of the card, I got a kick out the back "dining room table w/Mom walking in" shot. That at least is what it looks like. Also looks like there is one of those weird white-fade-out dots on the back or it's paper loss. The black spot on the bottom I think is the shadow of his thumb.

Seeing these pics I said:
"Yes very cool. It is a 1970 Topps "Super" or Giant"
At the time I couldn't remember if Topps called them Super or Giant they call them Super.

So he says: "I know and there's only 35... Its in great shape so what do u think?"

My comeback that goes for the jugular.
"I have one already in just as good shape as that one. I have to burst your bubble there were way more than 35 made, and the "autograph" is one of those facsimile autographs. Its worth about $5-$10."

He concludes the conversation with a simple "Ok. Later"

Here is my copy of the card:

1970 Topps Football Super 6 Sonny Jurgensen Redskins

(Front and Back)

So yeah the guy thought that this card: was more special than it was. He thought it was number 6 of only 35 special Sonny Jurgensen cards, or he was playing me for the uninformed super fan who didn't know his card history.

*For the record I rarely text message. I receive text Messages from the Nationals for the game updates and I have entered the occasional contest via text like when NBC had that game show "Deal Or No Deal" and had a win from home thing where you picked a case (out of 4 they showed on the screen) and then text in the number with your guess and if you picked the right number you had a chance to be picked randomly from the right guesses. Oh and when I'm waiting for a tow truck I let AAA text the 4 digit call number for my situation.

Happy Birthday Number Nine!

23 August 2013:
It is NFL Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen's 79th birthday. Happy Birthday Sonny! Here is what was on Facebook this morning on the Redskins Page:

image from Redskins page at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redskins

Another birthday mention is on the blog "Can't Have Too Many Cards" with some cool Sonny pics, some of which I hadn't seen before.

Sonny J. is one of my All-Time favorite QBs if not my favorite. He is best remembered as a Redskin, but he started his NFL career in Philadelphia with the Eagles.

1958 Topps Football 90 Sonny Jurgensen RC Eagles

In 1964 Sonny was traded to the Skins in a trade that involved QB Norm Snead. That meant that a few of his late 1960s trading cards even though they were labeled as him being on the Skins, used  an old photo of him in his green Eagles jersey.

1968 Topps Football Stand-Ups Insert 10 Sonny Jurgensen Redskins

A couple of my fave Sonny cards I have scanned. There are a few more in my Sonny PC but I don't have them scanned or at least don't have the scanned images online anywhere yet.

1970 Kellogg's Football 53 Sonny Jurgensen Redskins

1970 Topps Football Mini Glossy Insert 20 Sonny Jurgensen Redskins

OK this last pic is not a card but it is cool memorabilia. In 1971 (and '72) The Mattel Toy company made little battery operated "toy" record players with 2.5" discs of the popular sports figures of the day. Called Instant Replay I got this Sonny Jurgensen one off of Ebay for $6.99 + $2.00 shipping.

Happy BirthdayGood old number Nine, I'm not sure why the Redskins have not retired his number yet. They should before some hotshot kid claims it and has a terrible career while wearing it, or someone from another team that wears the number like Mr. Romo gets traded to the Skins. Oh I did a quick Google and technically not retired, The Redskins have a sort of non-retirement policy, his number along with several other Redskins legends like John Riggins are "Unofficially" retired.

Washington Wednesday: Wistia Win Two

Second Listia Auction Win

Recently, about a week ago, I won my second auction at Listia. This one "cost" a bit more from the credits standpoint 100 as opposed just 1 from the last one, but from the shipping $ standpoint was FREE.

I wasn't sure if I already had it or not so I went ahead and got it. You see for many years during the 1980s and early 1990s I would get at least the Topps flagship base team set of the Redskins from my LCS for whatever the going rate was. Of course since they are in Silver Spring, MD (The MD City north of the border to DC) they tend to use the "Hometown Inflation" scale for Skins cards that Blogger Dime Box Nick talked about a week or so ago. OK so sometimes I would pay $5 - $10 for about a dozen hand sorted cards instead of maybe $2 but at the time there was no internet to shop for deals on my Homie Team. Anyway I don't think I ever got all the skins from 1980, maybe I did maybe not I'm not sure as my Football card collection is atrocious it is more disorganized than my Baseball is currently and I am actually improving the Baseball organization some (in part thanks to four MONSTER Boxes I had gotten from my LCS one of the last times I had gone there very early this year. My big goal is to go back to mostly binders, but My unorganized hoard collection is a discussion for some other time some other place)

So here it is my second Listia Auction Win:

 1980 Topps Football 475 Joe Theismann Redskins

(Front and Back)

Then from Ebay more recently (like today Tuesday 18 DEC 2012) I got another of my Homie QBs my main HQB Sonny J. (Other than current QBs RGIII and Kirk Cousins (My "Kirk Cousin"*)) It was $1.78 + FREE Shipping This card is from this year, I prefer Sonny J. cards from his playing years but I love the Classic Skins Arrow Helmet from the '60s. This one is from the 2012 Topps Football: Quarterback Immortals 19 card subset.

 2012 Topps Football: Quarterback Immortals

QI-SJ Sonny Jurgensen Redskins

(Front and Back)

*NO I am not related to Mr. Cousins I just share the same first name so we are cousins in the first name sense.

2007 Donruss Classics Redskins fun

On Friday 27 January 2012 I got a card in the mail that I had paid for two days earlier on Ebay for just 99~ + $2.25 shipping. The card is a 2007 Donruss Classics - Classic Singles - Bronze - CS-21 John Riggins (front shown above) serial numbered to 1000. As much as I like Riggo, and these Donruss Classic Singles sub-set cards I can't stand that picture of Riggo. The expression on his face is strange.

This one is a jersey number card as it is #0544/1000.

  

2007 Donruss Classics - Classic Singles - Bronze - CS-21 John Riggins Back

  (Serial Number 0544/1000)

I have another of this card that I've had for sometime it is #0056/1000.

 

2007 Donruss Classics - Classic Singles - Bronze - CS-21 John Riggins

2007 Donruss Classics - Classic Singles - Bronze - CS-21 John Riggins Back

  (Serial Number 0056/1000)

I have other Classic Singles including this of John's fellow Redskin Joe Theismann serial numbered 0441/1000 which if you add all the numbers up is Sonny Jurgensen's number 9, or you can just take the 44 for Riggo.

2007 Donruss Classics - Classic Singles - Bronze - CS-6 Joe Theismann

(Serial Number 0441/1000)

Mattel Instant Replay Discs

 

 Back in the day early 1970s around '71/'72 Mattel released a wonderful electronic audio toy. The Portable Instant Replay Record Player. The hand held audio device used batteries (1 D cell) and played these little 2.5" records. The player came with 4 discs to start your collection off, then they sold sets of 4 discs of football, baseball, basketball, racing and mixed sports. I forget if Hockey was included or not. The little button on the side basically was just a play/eject button, it might of had a fast forward but I think it was just play/stop/eject. Every once in a while Ebay will have some of the discs available and sometimes the players.

Instant Replay Black Disc back.

I had the blue version of the player which I think was the first generation one, my brother had the Red version which I think came about a year later (1972) with "double sided" discs. Those discs had two pictures on the disc but I think just played on one side. The quality of the recordings was not that great, and as your battery ran down so did the playing of whatever was on the disc.

Back in the day my brother and I had about two dozen of the discs or so. There were many players I recall knowing about because I had this "toy". Over the years the discs were lost to time, or rather the "utility room" in our basement. Many of the discs sell for between $10-$30 or more sometimes you can find lots of several of the discs for a better price.

Anyway my rebuilt collection of the discs (useless as audio records unless I can find a working player for a decent price) are shown below. The Frank Robinson disc I got for $15.00 at my local card shop and the Sonny Jurgensen I got for $6.99 (+$2.00 postage) from Ebay.

 

 Sonny Jurgensen

The Ebay seller sent as a bonus an unopened pack of 1991 Upper Deck The Quarterback's Challenge cards distributed by Domino's Pizza. I'm debating if I should open the pack or not.

Good Old Sonny J.

One of my fave QBs of all time especially growing up was Sonny Jurgensen of the Washington Redskins. My Homie Team. here is a card I recently got for a decent price at Ebay. It is serial numbered and that was one of the selling points to it because of the connection I could make with the number.

2007 Donruss Gridiron Gear

Performers Gold P-30 Sonny Jurgensen

244/500

The serial number is 244 of 500. Of course the number 44 is Riggo's jersey number (John Riggins).

Sometime earlier I had gotten this other 2007 Jurgensen card from a group break. It is also serial numbered Bronze Spotlight card it is 32/32 an Ebay 1/1. Then it's companion common version.

2007 Donruss Leaf Limited Bronze Spotlight
189 Sonny Jurgensen

32/32

2007 Donruss Leaf Limited

 189 Sonny Jurgensen 

 

 100/249

 2008 Donruss Leaf Limited

181 Sonny Jurgensen

 064/499

 Another grab from the Bay was a special version of the 1994 Ted Williams  61 Sonny Jurgensen Card. Notice that the picture of Sonny on this card is the same exact photo as the previous 2008 Leaf Limited card. Also the faded background picture is a 1970s picture where the main picture is from the '60s.

1994 Ted Williams 61 Sonny Jurgensen

 

 1994 Ted Williams 61 Sonny Jurgensen

AUTOGRAPHED

  

 As I said I got that one from the Bay and at a good price only $5.74 +$3.00 shipping. It's not authenticated but it does seem to be consistent with Sonny's signature. The exception though is it doesn't have "HOF 83" this worried me a little, but there have been some authenticated autographs of his by PSA without the extra Hall of Fame line. I know that for every legit autograph out there there are about 1,000 forgeries. This card might not be an authentic autograph, but I don't mind. There have been cases of people getting legit autographs from celebs and then an "expert" tells them that their signature is a "fake". I have no intentions of selling or trading this card. If I ever do I guess I'll say out front that I don't for sure if the signature is authentic or not. I've gotten autographs of celebs before; Weird Al Yankovic, James Belushi, Peter Noone & Harry Chapin to name a few and those signatures are not "authenticated' maybe someday I'll get then looked at. The Belushi & Noone autos are on a program from 1982 when they performed in The Pirates of Penzance, and the Chapin auto is in a concert program, so those should be easier for an authenticator to give the thumbs up on.

1971 Topps Inserts: Pin-Ups

1971 TOPPS Insert Game Mini Poster Pin-Ups

In 1971 Topps produced a Football Card Game similar to their Baseball Card Game from 1968. In addition to the cards (set of 52 cards) they produced a set of 32 Mini Poster Pin-Ups that had the game board on the back for the card game. The Pin-Ups were folded up in the packages with the cards, they are the size of 4 cards put together.

 

 A special "field Postion" marker card was an extra card for the set. Apparently you were supposed to cut it in half using one half to mark the ball on the field and the other half for the first down marker.

I'm pretty sure I had a few of the pinups back in the day, and a few of the cards, but I don't know where my original ones went. The ones I have now have come mostly from Ebay purchases, some of the cards have come from trades.

 Pin-UP # 1 Gene Washington - 49ers

#8 Roman Gabriel - Rams

#10 Bart Starr - Packers

 

 #17 Sonny Jurgensen - Redskins

 #32 Larry Brown - Redskins

1970 Topps Super Trio

It's been quite a while since I've added a post here, as a result I may have lost some followers. Not to worry those who are truly interested will follow and eventually find me I guess. Anyway back in January of this year (2010) I had gotten some cards from Ebay for nice prices. I don't recall exactly but I know they were no more than $10 a piece, I think they were $5 each give or take a few dollars. One of them I think was a few dollars more than the other two because of a second bidder, or higher starting price. To be specific I got Three Topps 1970 Super Football Cards:

06 Sonny Jurgensen Redskins
07 Deacon Jones Rams
16 Roy Jefferson Steelers

All three cards are in very nice shape. I recall back in the day I had the Jurgensen and maybe the Jones, but due to poor storage by a younger kid me they were in terrible shape. I don't recall what happened to them. I thought I had a few cards from this set still left, but didn't find them. Oh well.

The backs of these over sized cards are the same style as the regular issued cards. These cards are on a very sturdy cardboard stock so they are more than just regular "Tall Boys" which have been made in other years.

06 Sonny Jurgensen Redskins

07 Deacon Jones Rams

16 Roy Jefferson Steelers

  
There are 35 cards in this subset and I just have these three as of now. I would like to get the others, and as usual for a cheap price, free or by trade.