This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/15/2017
With all due respect to fans and collectors of Jim Brown cards, the most important gridiron issue ever produced is the 1965 Topps rookie card of Joe Namath. And at the risk of offending baseball card purists, we are unapologetic in adding that if there was ever a football card that could be compared to the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle in terms of popularity, it also is the debut pasteboard of Mr. Joe Willie Namath. There's a certain poetic justice in Namath's rookie appearance coming in the popular 1965 Topps "tall-boy" release, for only an over-sized issue could aptly announce the arrival of his larger-than-life persona, the game's first-ever media megastar. Unlike other gridiron greats, the legend of Joe Willie Namath transcends mere statistics; his importance to the sport is measured as much off the field as on it. By rejecting an NFL contract for the bright lights and potential glory that the AFL offered in "The Big Apple," Namath's record $427,000 contract made him a target for the NFL's established superstars, and Namath relished the challenge. Leading the Jets to an AFL championship and a date with the seemingly invincible Baltimore Colts, Namath appeared at the Miami Touchdown Club three days prior to Super Bowl III and delivered what would go down in NFL lore as "the guarantee." The brash and cocky Namath, angrily responding to rowdy Colts supporters, said, "You Baltimore guys have been talking all week, but I've got news for you, buddy. We're gonna win the game. I guarantee it." Few quotes in football history are more remembered as Namath and his New York Jets, an 18-point underdog, became the first AFL team to claim a Super Bowl victory. With the win, the AFL established a level of credibility that was instrumental in the merger of the two leagues. The featured card is an impressive SGC 92 NM/MT+ 8.5 specimen that offers near perfect centering and endpoints that stand at the border of MINT status. The glowing yellow field that supports Namath's image is free of uninvited stray print and the reverse boasts a deep, bold salmon and black pigment on a stark white canvas. Perhaps on a different day, SGC would see their way clear to gracing this beauty with a MINT label. From our standpoint, it certainly deserves it!