Cards really have become a modern marvel. We spend a lot of time digging for bargains and hoping we’ll find our favorite parallels for sale behind glass cases. But where did football card collecting start? There are some college sets in the 1920’s and early 1930’s and a few multi-sport sets that featured football players, but the first true standard issue football card set came in 1935 with National Chicle. The 36-card set was the first time we saw true blue professional football cards (there are also Diamond Matchbooks, but we’ll get into those at a different time).
In the set, there are 4 different Steelers/Pirates: Ben Ciccone, Ben Smith, Warren Heller, & Armand Niccolai (SP). The first 26 cards were the main set, and the last ten were short prints, which includes the legendary Niccolai card. Additionally, there are two other players who played for the team at some point in this set: Ed Matesic & Chester “Swede” Johnston.
As far as cards and collecting have come, it’s fun to reflect on the early days of both cardboard and our favorite team!
1 comment
Are those yours? I’ve been wanting to purchase these for a few years but can’t pull the trigger. Instead I’ve been building my 40’s,50’s and 60’s sets up.