I guess it can now be said that I have made the big time. Thanks to one of the many great connections I’ve made through the internet, some of my AFL programs were recently featured in an article published in the December 7 edition of the Boston Globe!

Titled “How football programs have changed—and what it means” and written by online buddy Robert Newman, the article looks at how the great Boston Patriots programs of the old AFL stack up against the modern, slick New England Patriots covers. (Spoiler alert: The old ones are better.)

A related article highlights a handful of old Pats vs. San Diego Chargers programs, with good commentary by Robert. It’s well worth a read (and a listen) even apart from the fact that it features items from my fantastic collection of sports ephemera. Make sure to check it out and give Robert a follow while you’re at it.

And of course if you haven’t already checked out my latest and greatest project — The Press Room — what are you waiting for?

Another Football Friday, another set of sweet vintage decals. This one comes from 1960 and includes all American Football League teams except for the Houston Oilers. As with the last set I displayed, these were manufactured by the Palm Bros. Decalcomania Company.

It’s been awhile since my last Football Friday post, but with the preseason inching ever closer it’s time to get back into the swing of things. So here’s a cool photo I came across this week of American Football League legend Gino Cappelletti, Boston Patriots receiver/kicker. Gino was truly a double threat, and led the league in scoring for four of its ten seasons. He also took home AFL MVP honors after the 1964 season.

Cappelletti is one of seven Boston/New England Patriots to have his jersey number retired by the team.

Here’s Gino (#20) attempting a kick, with backup QB Tom Yewcic (#14) holding.

Oh yeah, let’s not forget to take a second and admire those sweet, vintage Patriots uniforms.

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

These are exciting times at The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, my friends. In addition to a great new project in the works (hint: it involves old postcards), the updates to the main site have been coming fast and furious.

I uploaded a bunch of new scans to my classic Sears catalog area, for the 1958 Spring/Summer edition. And if you love vintage saddles shoes and children’s wear, then you will love these scans. New stuff starts on this page.

Elsewhere, I’ve added a bunch of new game programs in my American Football League cover gallery, as well as added some higher-res versions of existing ones. There are too many for me to list here, but I can share a few of the cooler ones with you here.

This is from the very first matchup between the New York Jets and New York Giants. It was a charity preseason game played in front of 70,000 people at the Yale Bowl. The Super Bowl champion Jets had a little something to prove that day, and prove it they did. They creamed their older NFL brother 37-14. Joe Namath threw three TD passes and Mike Battle returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown.

Well what’s not to love about this cover? It’s from the 1960 AFL regular season finale between the visiting Boston Patriots and home Houston Oilers. The Oilers and Dallas Texans home game programs from the league’s first few seasons are all outstanding.

Speaking of neat old Oilers images, how does this 1962 pocket schedule strike you? Yeah, I love it too.

I’ve been doing a lot of housecleaning of my American Football League game program section, and I was inspired to showcase some more of my favorites from the collection. So here’s a half dozen more AFL covers that help make the case that we did lose something when they merged with the NFL. If you want to check out the first cover gallery, go here.

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One of these days, when I’m independently wealthy, I’m going to amass the largest collection of American Football League game programs around. Until then, I’ll just pick them up on eBay from time to time and collect scans from the internet. Here is but a sampling of cover images from AFL game programs during the ten-year existence of the league. Much like the AFL itself, these programs reflect a great deal of character and color.

To see more of these great old programs, check out the AFL program gallery on the main site.

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