1970 O-Pee-Chee Mike Webster #109 Montreal Alouettes EX-MT 6

Description

1970 O-Pee-Chee Mike Webster #109 Montreal Alouettes EX-MT 6 This is the finest card in the nine card sheet, a superb 1970 O-Pee-Chee Mike Webster number 109 showing the Montreal Alouettes defensive tackle crouched in his three point stance, and it is the example to buy if you want the best possible raw presentation from this vintage Canadian issue. The 1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL set occupies a cherished spot in Canadian hobby history as the first football issue dedicated entirely to the Canadian Football League in more than five years, printed in Canada and sold only north of the border, which is why surviving examples in high grade are so much scarcer than their American Topps design cousins. Webster's reverse biography documents a truly international career: a 255 pound defensive tackle from Notre Dame, one of many American-trained players who crossed into the CFL, acquired by Montreal in a trade with the B. C. Lions and then entrusted to develop behind a veteran Canadian defensive line. Note that this is the Alouettes defender of the early 1970s and not the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame center of the same name, which makes the card an interesting conversation piece as well as a genuine vintage collectible from the season Montreal surged from a 2-8 start to win the 1970 Grey Cup, the franchise's first championship in 21 years. The card carries the authentic Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back with the biography presented in English and French above the olive green cartoon panel, and it is not a puzzle back, unlike the 1971 and 1972 sets that followed. the corners are sharp with only a whisper of softness detectable at the top left under magnification, all four edges are clean and straight with no chipping, the front gloss is strong and the sky and turf colours are vivid, centering is slightly toward the right border, there are a few tiny natural print specks in the turf that are common to the issue and not damage, and the black reverse is deep, glossy and unmarked with sharp corners. With near-sharp corners, clean edges and a bright bilingual back, this example merits a conservative EX-MT 6, and we call it 6 rather than 7 because the slight centering bias and faint corner touch would likely draw strict eyes at a grading table. Grade Estimate: EX-MT 6