The Daily Helmet: Pocket Schedules More Sports Cards And An Old Project Revisited

by Mike Cline Jr. in The Daily Helmet

A Schedule For Your Pocket

Back before smartphones, league and team specific apps with push notifications galore, the only way you could easily access your team’s schedule was to pick up a pocket schedule. Teams would print them and stuff one in your envelope when you bought tickets. To this day when I go to my first hockey or baseball game of the season I try to grab a pocket schedule. there is just something cool about having them, even if they are no longer a necessity. Sadly some teams don’t even release pocket schedules. The Bills for example just have little plastic schedules, which are okay, but don’t have any team artwork which is the best part. The other type of pocket schedule is the independently printed schedules by beer companies and other local businesses like corner stores or hardware stores. These schedules were usually not official so they just listed the city names and didn’t have any team specific artwork. As a collectable, they are not worth all that much, but if you are looking for a cool and affordable collection, pocket schedules might be the way to go. I sadly don’t have too many, but eBay has a ton and for not too much. Here is a sampling of what you can start or add to your collection with:

Here is a whole set of Goodyear 1968 schedule cards. there is not really any artwork but is it cool that the whole set is together.

1985 Dolphins Schedule featuring who else, but Dan Marino?

United Way released these schedules, which had every game played for that specific year. I actually have this one somewhere.

Like the design of this Lions 1977 Pocket Schedule.

This listing has a ton of options, including a combination Gophers/Vikings Schedule.

Here is the Super Bowl Champion 1985 Bears schedule

1972-1973 NFL Schedule with some TV Tube troubleshooting tips which are always helpful!

This Kid Is Taunting me with his stuff!

When I was younger there was a kid down the street, who was an only child. Every year he would have a brand new favorite sports team and a new Starter jacket to go with it. This was back when wearing a starter jacket was a real status symbol. Even when you’re a nine year old kid. This add from a 1983 Oilers Vs. Bills program features that kid that everyone knew. Who had all the best stuff, but in our minds just didn’t appreciate it like we would. What a dick, taunting me with all his wonderful NFL stuff.

Diving Back Into Card Collecting Continued

I’m really enjoying my foray back into card collecting. This is a super casual thing, right now. I’m not really looking for any high priced items or anything. I am perfectly happy just opening up packs form the late-eighties and early nineties and seeing what i can get. I did dig out what was left of my collection from when I was a kid. A lot of these cards spent time in musty basements,s o they have not fared well over the years. Plus, when you are a kid, you mostly don’t take the best care of the stuff. Luckily it is really not at any great loss, because cards from the late-eighties and nineties were so mass produced, it is the rare card that has any real value. Next, I need to find a big binder and some sleeves so I can display the book like one of those giant atlases at the library. This way all my guests can look through my books. I don’t see the point of collecting things that you can’t display!

Traded*

I love the traded cards. Cards of players who were traded a little to close to printing and they had to get creative, by photoshopping or in the case of this Steve Young Card i have, just make a small note, that he is now with the 49ers.

The Boz Is Not Looking So Good

One card I definitely did not take very good care of was this Brian Bosworth rookie card. I might have to replace this one, which as it turns out would not break the bank.

Oh Boy, Now I’m buying new packs

I was at Target so I found myself wandering to the collectible section in the front of the store. I saw some current 2019 baseball packs and decided to pick a couple up. The best pack was this 1970 style set with modern players. Very cool. I hope they do this for football too.

NFL Team Watchman

After the invention of the Walkman, the next obvious thing to make would be a portable TV. These early 1980s Watchman with team helmet logos are amazing. For some reason not every team is represented, but these things sure would come in handy in an era where jumbotrons and 4K gigantic video boards were not yet a thing. That is of course if the game you were attending wasn’t blacked out.

What I Watched: 2 Hour NFL Films Highlight Reel

This was an amazing find on youtube. It is two hours of NFL music over thousands of vintage NFL game footage from the NFL Films Archives. It is total eye and ear candy and should be on a loop in every home across the nation. It also features an awesome clip of this cheer squad member getting an unexpected souvenir. I hope she got to keep it. I will warn you the intro is really long, which is basically what YouTubers do.

Helmet OF The Day: 1954 Pittsburgh Steelers

I made this 1954 Steelers replica out of this old Johnny Lattner helmet. the helmet is only slightly bigger than a mini helmet, so I have no clue what kid this would fit. Read all about the project here.