1970 O-Pee-Chee Peter Francis #63 Rookie Card Winnipeg Blue Bombers CFL VG-EX 4

Description

1970 O-Pee-Chee Peter Francis #63 Rookie Card Winnipeg Blue Bombers CFL VG-EX 4 Collectors who build CFL sets by the binder page understand that doubles of key Canadian content cards never go to waste, and this second example of the 1970 O-Pee-Chee Peter Francis #63 rookie card offers the same beloved design at an easier entry point. The 1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL issue totaled only 115 cards, printed in Canada with a layout borrowed from the 1969 Topps NFL series, and the reverse is the classic Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, presented in both English and French on black stock with the green ink cartoon panel and the PRINTED IN CANADA line, and it is not a puzzle back. Francis's bilingual reverse identifies the NON-IMPORT at 6 feet and 180 pounds from the University of Saskatchewan, playing flanker and defensive halfback, and records that he was selected by the Bombers in the 1968 college draft, with the French text adding that the flanqueur et demi défensif fut choisi par les Bombers au repêchage de 1968 dans les collèges canadiens. The cartoon quiz panel echoes the milestone, Peter was selected in the 1968 draft, a nice bilingual touch for collectors who enjoy the personality of these early O-Pee-Chee reverses. As a draft class addition from the Huskies program, Francis embodied the CFL's nationalization era, when roster rules required clubs to develop Canadian talent and players who could handle two positions were worth their weight in roster space, and he did it wearing number 29 for a Bombers club that was retooling around veterans after the championship years of 1958, 1959, 1961 and 1962. With no card issued in 1969 and his absence from the scarce 1968 O-Pee-Chee test run, the hobby treats this 1970 card as his recognized rookie card, which keeps steady demand from Winnipeg team set builders and Canadian football specialists. this copy carries slightly more visible rounding on two corner tips than its sheet mate, light wear along the top edge, a clean glossy front free of creases, wrinkles or surface marks, centering that sits marginally high, and a bold black bilingual reverse with crisp lettering and only light corner touches on the back. The wear is honest and well distributed rather than eye catching, the sort of respectable circulation that defined cards bought at corner stores and flipped through bicycle spokes more than fifty years ago. For anyone searching a 1970 O-Pee-Chee Peter Francis #63 on a budget, or pairing it with the finer copy to complete a two card player page, this is a sensible, fairly priced option with strong display appeal for the grade. Grade Estimate: VG-EX 4