What do you think are the 5 most "iconic" football cards ever?

[Brian48]

I'm a Brady fan and grew up watching Montana and players of that era, but I can't picture any modern card being iconic in my mind. For me, when I think of "iconic", I think the '76 Topps Payton is the probably most "modern" on my short list. I do agree with cards like the Nagurski, Unitas, Starr, and Namath rookies.

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by Dallas Cowboys

To me there are two levels of iconic:
1. The level where most collectors can picture the card in their head immediately without looking it up online.
2. The level where the general public that doesn't collect can picture it in their head without looking it up - like the Griffey rookie.

I wouldn't say the Mahomes RPA falls under that status.

Do you think the general public knows what a Mahomes Prizm looks like without looking it up?

[49erRCCollector]

Originally Posted by tjforce

Do you think the general public knows what a Mahomes Prizm looks like without looking it up?

The general public doesn’t know what any card looks like.

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by 49erRCCollector

The general public doesn’t know what any card looks like.

Not true...

The 1989 Griffey, the 1986 Fleer Jordan, the 1952 Mantle are pretty recognizable by a lot of people.

Sure, the 85 year old grandma who has never watched sports in her life doesn't recognize them, but anybody who considers themselves a sports fan (even if not collectors) knows what they are looking at if they see those 3 cards.

[carlo16]

Originally Posted by tjforce

Not true...

The 1989 Griffey, the 1986 Fleer Jordan, the 1952 Mantle are pretty recognizable by a lot of people.

Sure, the 85 year old grandma who has never watched sports in her life doesn't recognize them, but anybody who considers themselves a sports fan (even if not collectors) knows what they are looking at if they see those 3 cards.

No no no. If you don’t collect you don’t know what these or any cards look like.

[oplum29]

Originally Posted by carlo16

No no no. If you don’t collect you don’t know what these or any cards look like.

agreed! 100%

[49erRCCollector]

Originally Posted by tjforce

Not true...

The 1989 Griffey, the 1986 Fleer Jordan, the 1952 Mantle are pretty recognizable by a lot of people.

Sure, the 85 year old grandma who has never watched sports in her life doesn't recognize them, but anybody who considers themselves a sports fan (even if not collectors) knows what they are looking at if they see those 3 cards.

Untrue. Most non collecting sports fans have no idea about any of those.

[ReggieBush22]

Originally Posted by 49erRCCollector

Untrue. Most non collecting sports fans have no idea about any of those.

I think if one card has kind of transcended beyond the hobby is the Jordan Fleer. It's just so iconic that even some non sports fans probably can recognize it.

[Scottish Punk]

Originally Posted by Brian48

I'm a Brady fan and grew up watching Montana and players of that era, but I can't picture any modern card being iconic in my mind. For me, when I think of "iconic", I think the '76 Topps Payton is the probably most "modern" on my short list. I do agree with cards like the Nagurski, Unitas, Starr, and Namath rookies.

Me neither, I am surprised at the consensus with the Brady contenders. That card really doesn't speak iconic to me. Nothing modern does, too many RCs of each player. Somebody asks to name a Brady RC, you are going to get different answers.

My five are Thorpe, Brown, Namath, Payton, Montana

[RetailChamp]

No one wants to mention the 2001 SP Authentic Michael Vick auto/jsy? I believe they were #/500. Vick ran the show in 2001 and 2002

[jplarson]

Originally Posted by RetailChamp

No one wants to mention the 2001 SP Authentic Michael Vick auto/jsy? I believe they were #/500. Vick ran the show in 2001 and 2002

That's over in the Footballs Most Forgotten Cards thread.

[f2tornado]

I cannot think of a football card even close to the iconic nature of the 89 UD Griffey or 86 Fleer Jordan. If I had to pick one I’d go with the Jim Brown rookie. Probably the 86 Jerry Rice or 89 Score Barry Sanders for more modern stuff.

[49erRCCollector]

Originally Posted by ReggieBush22

I think if one card has kind of transcended beyond the hobby is the Jordan Fleer. It's just so iconic that even some non sports fans probably can recognize it.

I'd bet that if I walked out on to the street and asked the next 100 people I saw if they knew what the '86 Fleer Jordan was they'd stare at me blankly.

For me - and I guess the bulk of people here, especially in pre-1990 cards, you say the player and I see the card. Bang-Bang. The two are so inextricably linked in my mind I cannot separate them. Especially football. Any player of note from 1950 on I could likely tell you the year, the picture and maybe the #. It's like Rain Man, almost.

It almost makes me feel like other people "would just know" what I know. But as evidenced by any conversation ever with anyone, no one I know has any idea about cards, at all.

[Anish]

Originally Posted by Scottish Punk

Me neither, I am surprised at the consensus with the Brady contenders. That card really doesn't speak iconic to me. Nothing modern does, too many RCs of each player. Somebody asks to name a Brady RC, you are going to get different answers.

My five are Thorpe, Brown, Namath, Payton, Montana

Originally Posted by 49erRCCollector

I'd bet that if I walked out on to the street and asked the next 100 people I saw if they knew what the '86 Fleer Jordan was they'd stare at me blankly.

For me - and I guess the bulk of people here, especially in pre-1990 cards, you say the player and I see the card. Bang-Bang. The two are so inextricably linked in my mind I cannot separate them. Especially football. Any player of note from 1950 on I could likely tell you the year, the picture and maybe the #. It's like Rain Man, almost.

It almost makes me feel like other people "would just know" what I know. But as evidenced by any conversation ever with anyone, no one I know has any idea about cards, at all.

Agree! If you look at the Wikipedia entries for old players, you often see sports cards partly because they had some of the best images from the time.

Jim Brown for example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Brown

Yeah, Brady Contenders is iconic within football cards but not in mainstream. Maybe the million plus dollar sales of the parallel will allow it to reach that level (for example, my Dad who is not a collector might recognize that card now because he has seen it in the news).

But as was said, what’s the most iconic Brady? Contenders? SPA? BC? For Mahomes, NT or Prizm? A new collector might say the top 5 are all Brady and Mahomes. But how about Nagurski? I heard of the player *because* of the card - that is truly iconic. It wasn’t too long ago that Nagurski and Namath were the most valuable cards and who knows how modern cards will age.

To me, Nagurski, Unitas, Brown, and Namath RC’s are the ones in which the player and the card are most intertwined and therefore most iconic.

[ReggieBush22]

Originally Posted by 49erRCCollector

I'd bet that if I walked out on to the street and asked the next 100 people I saw if they knew what the '86 Fleer Jordan was they'd stare at me blankly.

For me - and I guess the bulk of people here, especially in pre-1990 cards, you say the player and I see the card. Bang-Bang. The two are so inextricably linked in my mind I cannot separate them. Especially football. Any player of note from 1950 on I could likely tell you the year, the picture and maybe the #. It's like Rain Man, almost.

It almost makes me feel like other people "would just know" what I know. But as evidenced by any conversation ever with anyone, no one I know has any idea about cards, at all.

High $$ sportscard sales have received great publicity lately. Heck, most of the extreme sales are headlined on the ESPN website. And major publications have covered them too. So I think that some sports fans who don't collect will recognize a Jordan Fleer from time to time.

[oplum29]

Originally Posted by Anish

Agree! If you look at the Wikipedia entries for old players, you often see sports cards partly because they had some of the best images from the time.

Jim Brown for example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Brown

Yeah, Brady Contenders is iconic within football cards but not in mainstream. Maybe the million plus dollar sales of the parallel will allow it to reach that level (for example, my Dad who is not a collector might recognize that card now because he has seen it in the news).

But as was said, what’s the most iconic Brady? Contenders? SPA? BC? For Mahomes, NT or Prizm? A new collector might say the top 5 are all Brady and Mahomes. But how about Nagurski? I heard of the player *because* of the card - that is truly iconic. It wasn’t too long ago that Nagurski and Namath were the most valuable cards and who knows how modern cards will age.

To me, Nagurski, Unitas, Brown, and Namath RC’s are the ones in which the player and the card are most intertwined and therefore most iconic.

idk how you can say that the Brady Contenders isn't mainstream, the card literally sold for $3 million back in June and made national news. Brady himself posted something about it on his Instagram.

that being said, i think to a casual collector, they wouldn't know the difference between a Unitas rookie or a Unitas 2nd year card. But to the intermediate or avid collector, they'd know the top 50 iconic football cards of all time, and if that list doesn't include the 1981 Joe Montana, then that person isn't a football card collector, plain and simple.

the Montana rookie is one of the most important football cards of all-time, and certainly the king of the modern football card.

debating between the Montana and Brady Contenders card is like debating between the Honus Wagner or the 52' Topps Mantle, both are iconic, idk if one is more iconic than the other.

[callou2131]

2000 Collectors edge graded Peter Warrick

[GOATcards]

Originally Posted by ReggieBush22

I think if one card has kind of transcended beyond the hobby is the Jordan Fleer. It's just so iconic that even some non sports fans probably can recognize it.

The Wagner card probably is the most recognizable, followed by the 86F MJ, 52T Mantle and the 89UD Griffey. For football I'm guessing it's the 65T Namath?

[f2tornado]

This is a decent list of top 100 Beckett put together a couple years ago.

[GOATcards]

Originally Posted by f2tornado

This is a decent list of top 100 Beckett put together a couple years ago.

Good one, thanks!

[49erRCCollector]

Originally Posted by ReggieBush22

High $$ sportscard sales have received great publicity lately. Heck, most of the extreme sales are headlined on the ESPN website. And major publications have covered them too. So I think that some sports fans who don't collect will recognize a Jordan Fleer from time to time.

Yeah - but how much of non-essential news do you remember? Sports card news I pay attention to. My wife watched the reports with me and discussed with me. She'd struggle to recall the player or card. Topps Chrome Kobe Refractor, Pristine Label????!!!

Unlikely she'll remember any of that, much less the image, and we live in LA and are Lakers fans.

I think there's a lot of confusing personal interest in cards with the general population's awareness. People don't care.

[oplum29]

Originally Posted by f2tornado

This is a decent list of top 100 Beckett put together a couple years ago.

it's funny because i have a Beckett magazine where they listed the Top Football cards of all-time, and the Montana is the #1 card listed, but on the link you sent, it's #7....hilarious!

[GOATcards]

Originally Posted by oplum29

it's funny because i have a Beckett magazine where they listed the Top Football cards of all-time, and the Montana is the #1 card listed, but on the link you sent, it's #7....hilarious!

The cards I consider the most recognizable are more or less the top 9 cards on the online Beckett list, plus the 86T Rice. I would have put them in roughly the following order:

65 Namath
81 Montana
35 Nagurski
76 Payton
00 Brady
58 Brown
86 Rice
89 Sanders

[34BoJackson16]

1976 Topps Walter Payton
1965 Topps Joe Namath
1957 Topps Johnny Unitas
1958 Topps Jim Brown
1951 Bowman Tom Landry

I would look through Beckett back in the day and wish my parents or uncles and aunts had a shoe box somewhere with these in it.

[Anish]

Originally Posted by oplum29

idk how you can say that the Brady Contenders isn't mainstream, the card literally sold for $3 million back in June and made national news. Brady himself posted something about it on his Instagram.

that being said, i think to a casual collector, they wouldn't know the difference between a Unitas rookie or a Unitas 2nd year card. But to the intermediate or avid collector, they'd know the top 50 iconic football cards of all time, and if that list doesn't include the 1981 Joe Montana, then that person isn't a football card collector, plain and simple.

the Montana rookie is one of the most important football cards of all-time, and certainly the king of the modern football card.

debating between the Montana and Brady Contenders card is like debating between the Honus Wagner or the 52' Topps Mantle, both are iconic, idk if one is more iconic than the other.

I get what you’re saying, but the average person couldn’t recognize that Brady among hundreds of others.

And among collectors, I think the Montana has been passed by more recent cards (not my opinion personally but my observation). It’s recency bias...