Since it’s the off-season I thought I’d start a fun project involving NFL history. So I’m going to go division by division and post football card galleries (when available) featuring all NFL players who have had their jersey numbers retired by their teams. This week it’s the four squads of the NFC East — the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, and Washington Redskins.

Previous galleries: AFC East

Dallas Cowboys (0)

The Cowboys do not officially retire jersey numbers, opting rather to induct players into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor. The Ring, which began in 1975, is made up of the players listed below (as of the end of the 2012 season, in order of induction). Sorry, no cards for the Cowboys, since they insist on being so different.

#74 — Bob Lilly
#17 — Don Meredith
#43 — Don Perkins
#54 — Chuck Howley
#20 — Mel Renfro
#12 — Roger Staubach
#55 — Lee Roy Jordan
#33 — Tony Dorsett
#54 — Randy White
#22 — Bob Hayes
#43 — Cliff Harris
#70 — Rayfield Wright
#8 — Troy Aikman
#88 — Michael Irvin
#22 — Emmitt Smith
#88 — Drew Pearson
#94 — Charles Haley
#73 — Larry Allen

New York Giants (11)

#1 — Ray Flaherty

Flaherty, whose #1 jersey was the first number retired in NFL history, played before the era of modern football cards.

#4 — Tuffy Leemans

Same goes for RB Alphonse “Tuffy” Leemans.

#7 — Mel Hein

I couldn’t find any Giants cards for Hall of Famer Mel Hein (who retired in 1945), but this 1955 Topps showing him from Washington State is very nice.

#11 — Phil Simms

#14 — Y. A. Tittle

#16 — Frank Gifford

#32 — Al Blozis

Blozis only played for two full seasons for the Giants, 1942 and 1943. After a lengthy attempt to join the U.S. Army, he was finally inducted on December 9, 1943. In January 1945 his platoon was in the Vosges Mountains of France scouting enemy lines. When two of his men failed to return from a patrol, he went in search of them alone. Blozis never returned. He was first listed as missing, but in April 1945 his death was confirmed. His jersey retirement, therefore, was a posthumous honor.

#40 — Joe Morrison

#42 — Charlie Conerly

#50 — Ken Strong

#56 — Lawrence Taylor

Philadelphia Eagles (9)

#5 — Donovan McNabb

#15 — Steve Van Buren

#20 — Brian Dawkins

#40 — Tom Brookshier

#44 — Pete Retzlaff

#60 — Chuck Bednarik

#70 — Al Wistert

#92 — Reggie White

#99 — Jerome Brown

Jerome Brown played five seasons for the Eagles before his death on June 25, 1992, following an automobile accident in Brooksville, Florida. He was 27 years old.

Washington Redskins (1)

#33 — Sammy Baugh

The Redskins have not officially retired any jersey numbers since Hall of Fame quarterback Slingin’ Sammy Baugh retired in 1952.

Outstanding panel from True Comics issue #47 (March 1946) showing a scene from the Trinity atomic bomb blast in New Mexico on July 16, 1945 (artist unknown). Less than one month after this successful detonation, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan. With this test, the Atomic Age began.

Quite a few years ago, I discovered that there was someone out there on the internet who loves old postcards even more than I do. No, not James Lileks, although he clearly does too. I’m talking about my ‘net buddy Jordan L. Smith of The Pie Shops. His collection of postcards and vintage ephemera dwarfs mine by a rather large order of magnitude.

I’ve been looking for a way to team with Jordan for some time now, and we actually have a rather exciting project in the works right now. But until that’s ready — and even after it is — he has graciously agreed to allow his fantastic Cardboard America Tumblr feed to be syndicated on this site. So every once in a while you’ll see some of the best vintage postcards the internet has to offer showcased not only on Cardboard America but on this blog as well. Bonus!

A big advance thanks is in order for Jordan, so thanks! And if you like the cards you see here, stop by his Pie Shops Facebook page and give it a Like. Tell him I sent you!

There’s a lot to love about this Post Sugar Crisp ad from 1955, not the least of which are the classic ’50s bear mascots:

But what drew my eye was the gaggle of vintage baseball logos on the bottom. They’re actually MLB patches Post gave away with the cereal, and the legendary Ted Williams gives his smiling approval.

Here’s a closeup view of the logos, featuring the Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Redlegs, New York Yankees, New York Giants, Milwaukee Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Senators/Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Dodgers, Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Chicago Cubs. That’s every MLB franchise from ’55 except for the Kansas City Athletics.

(click for a larger version)

As ’70s AOR goes, Jefferson Starship’s Red Octopus is pretty good. Not fantastic, but really solid stuff. But what I really dig about it is the album cover. It comes in a few variations, which we’ll look at together.

First up is an original issue from the band’s own Grunt Records imprint (catalog number BFL1-0999). It has a sort of embossed look to it, as the material for the band and album names shimmers based on the light source. Same goes for the “red octopus,” which is a heart with eight legs.

Non-U.S. editions of the album have the same layout as the original, but ditch the gold leaf effect in favor of a straight red and yellow color scheme. Here’s a specimen from the U.K. (Grunt FTR 2002). I have to say I prefer this scheme over the fancier one. It’s a very striking arrangement  and I dig the typeface as well.

Graphic design on Red Octopus is credited to the firm of Gribbitt!, and Frank Mulvey is credited as art director. Another fine Gribbitt! entry from ’75 is Parliament’s Mothership Connection.

And so we begin the next thrilling installment in Saturday Serials, King of the Rocket Men! Released in the summer of 1949 by Republic Pictures, the 12-part movie follows the heroic exploits of Jeff King, aka Rocket Man. King was played by Tristram Coffin.

The first chapter, “Dr. Vulcan – Traitor,” gets right down to business. No sooner do the opening credits stop rolling than we see unexplained explosions and scientists being killed off in most violent fashion. But other than the Rocket Man gimmick — which makes an appearance at last in the last four minutes — this is pretty standard action fare from the ’40s. By that I mean plenty of expositional dialogue interspersed with fisticuffs and heavies wearing fedoras. But still, lots of good, vintage fun.

This installment is split into two YouTube videos, but with a total running time of only about 20 minutes.

Long-time readers of this blog already know how much I love talking about and looking at vintage record label art. So imagine my delight when I stumbled on this ad from the May 30, 1970 issue of Billboard magazine. It’s part of a tribute to French record executive Eddie Barclay, known in France as le roi du microsillon (“The King of Microgroove).”

This ad is in celebration of the beginning of the third decade for the Barclay Group, founded in 1949. It shows the center ring art for the imprints his company distributed. I had to do a little cleanup, and I think the result is pretty cool. Click for a larger version.

Just for reference, the labels in this ad are (from left to right in descending order) Amadeo Records, Atco Records, Atlantic Records, Barclay Records, Black and Blue Records, Buddah Records, Chess Records, CNR Records, Egg, Excello Records, Disques Fleche, GRT Records, Jubilee Records, Disques Meys, Monument Records, Princess Records, Riviera Records, Stax Records, 20th Century Fox Records, Vanguard Records, Volt Records, and Young Blood Records.

Since it’s the off-season  I thought I’d start a fun project involving NFL history. So I’m going to go division by division and post football card galleries (when available) featuring all NFL players who have had their jersey numbers retired by their teams. This week it’s the four squads of the AFC East — the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, and New York Jets.

Buffalo Bills (1)

#12 — Jim Kelly

Believe it or not, #12 is the only jersey number officially retired by the Bills. There are three other numbers that aren’t issued anymore — #32, #34, and #78 — but they have not been retired. It’s unlikely that OJ Simpson’s number ever will be at this point.

Miami Dolphins (3)

#12 — Bob Griese

#13 — Dan Marino

#39 — Larry Csonka

New England Patriots (7)

#20 — Gino Cappelletti

#40 — Mike Haynes

#57 — Steve Nelson

#73 — John Hannah

#78 — Bruce Armstrong

#79 — Jim Lee Hunt

#89 — Bob Dee

New York Jets (5)

#12 — Joe Namath

#13 — Don Maynard

#28 — Curtis Martin

#73 — Joe Klecko

#90 — Dennis Byrd

I just had so much gosh darn fun putting together my retrospective of fast food burger chain logos that I decided to turn it into a YouTube slideshow. Because some people just love slideshows. And as a special bonus I included audio extracts from vintage TV ads for some of the chains, like McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Dairy Queen, Arby’s, Sonic, Jack in the Box, Hardee’s, Carl’s Jr., and Checkers/Rally’s.

Enjoy!