My Only Other Sportscaster Promotional Card - The 1967 Green Bay Packers

I mentioned recently that I had a Hank Aaron numbered 993-06.  I also have the 1967 Green Bay Packers card numbered 993-07.

Here is the Packers card.

Unlike the Aaron card which had different text in the regular series, I would expect that this one wouldn't change since the story is all about the 1967 season.  I will check this out soon.  I checked out the regular card and it appears to be exactly the same as the promo card.

Are there cards 993-01 through 993-05?  Is Nadia Comaneci one of them?

Packer fans will be quick to note that there was no QB wearing number 10 on the team in 1967.  Bart Starr wore 15 and Zeke Bratkowski was #12.  How could they not find a picture of the 1967 guys?  Did they not want to pay for one?

So what's up with that picture?  My first thought was that the QB must be Lynn Dickey.  He played for the Packers from 1976 to 1985.

The running back is Erik Torkelson, a packer from 1974 to 1981.  #54 is center Larry McCarren, a Packer from 1973 to 1984.

The lineman in the backfield must be Gale Gillingham, who last played in 1976.  He was the last active member of Lombardi's teams.  So, the picture must be from 1976.  Gale grew up in Stoughton, WI which is near Madison.  I took my team to a cross country meet there a few years ago and my brother's in-laws are from that small town.

Babe Ruth vs. Hank Aaron

There was no Barry Bonds in those days and Sadaharu Oh seemed to be skipped over in this set.  How could they skip him when he surpassed Aaron during the late 1970s when these cards were being produced.

Back to Ruth vs. Aaron.  I want to check out what was written about them on the back of their Sportscaster cards.

Babe Ruth

Ruth was called muscular by Sportscaster writers.  That seemed a bit different from other depictions.  The story begins with his called shot in the 1932 World Series.

Ruth had 730 total homers because they added his 15 in the World Series and one in an All-Star game.  He also hit .342 and had 2,217 RBIs in his career. 

Ruth was also a star pitcher, winning 94 games and losing 46.  He set a record with 29 1/3 scoreless innings as a pitcher in the World Series. 

Ruth set career records with RBIs, walks (2,056) and HRs as well as a few other categories.

Not on the card - he is now credited with 2,214 RBIs and 2,062 walks.  Ruth only had one All-Star Game homer because the All-Star Game begin in 1933 as Ruth was ending his career. 

Hank Aaron

Aaron's story starts with a recap of the game in 1974 when he surpassed Ruth by hitting his 715th homer.  I remember watching the game on the floor of my family's house.  I also taped the play-by-play with a cheap tape recorder.  Sadly, I didn't keep the tape for very long because it didn't work so well.

Sportscaster mentioned in the text that he hit 745 homers, a record that may never be broken.  At the bottom of the card it correctly mentions his career total of 755 homers.  Aaron hit 10 homers in 1976, so the writers were certainly using his stats through 1976 on this card.  This is the promo card, so maybe this was updated in the real set.  I will check that on the next commercial of DieHard.  Yes, it was corrected in the regular set, so this promo card was certainly done before getting 1976 stats.

The cards ends by mentioning that Aaron retired after the 1975 season.  The updated card mentions that he played for the Brewers in 1976. 

I was surprised that the card didn't mention that Aaron had career records in RBIs and Total Bases.  He still is the all-time leader in both.

How Many Promotional Sportscaster Cards Were There?

I bought a lot of Sportscaster cards last week.  It had been a while since I saw anything that I wanted.  The lot didn't have lots of baseball cards, which seems to be the norm for Sportscaster lots.  But, this one had a few and they were some of the biggest stars.

Even when I get some baseball Sportscasters, the cards shown above are rarely included.  Joe DiMaggio was probably at the height of his Mr. Coffee days so I rarely get his card in a lot.  

The Hank Aaron card is from their promotional set.  I think the Jets vs. Colts card is also a promotional card.  Was Johnny Bench in this group?  I will be looking into that over the next few week to try to find out who else might have been included in promotional materials.  Any help would be appreciated.

Hank Aaron is number 993-06.
It looks like the 1967 Green Bay Packers are 993-07.

Are there Series 992-   promotional cards too?

I Found My Checklist

I finally recovered my data from my old computer.  Now I'm going to spend the evening cleaning it up and getting all of it on my new computer.  Even though everything is no longer 100% accurate, it will be great to have that as a starting point to continue finalizing a Sportscaster checklist.