1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL Moe Racine #48 Ottawa Rough Riders VG-EX 4

Description

1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL Moe Racine #48 Ottawa Rough Riders VG-EX 4 Few players are as synonymous with one franchise as Moe Racine is with Ottawa, and this 1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL Moe Racine #48 Ottawa Rough Riders card honours one of the most durable linemen in Canadian football history. Born in Cornwall, Ontario, Racine was a non-import who spent his entire professional career with the Rough Riders from 1958 through 1974, a remarkable 17 season run that saw him win Grey Cups in 1960, 1968, 1969, and 1973. Listed at six foot four and 250 pounds, he anchored the offensive line as an all-star tackle, but he was also the team's placekicker, earning the nickname The Toe, which the bilingual back of this card playfully illustrates with the green cartoon panel declaring that Moe the Toe is this player's nickname. The English and French text also notes his other nickname, The Cat, and reminds collectors that he kicked the odd field goal and won the E. F. C. scoring championship. Racine was later inducted into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame and remains a beloved figure among fans who remember the Lansdowne Park dynasty years. The front photograph shows him kneeling on the turf in the black number 62 jersey with the stadium behind him and the red bucking horse Rough Riders logo, a design shared by the entire 115-card 1970 O-Pee-Chee CFL set, which was printed in Canada and never distributed in the United States. this is the nicer of the two Racine copies in this lot and presents attractively. The front shows only light corner touches with a modest amount of softening at the upper right and lower left, minimal edge chipping, and a clean image with good colour. Centering is slightly shifted to the left with the top border a bit narrower than the bottom. The black back is clean and glossy with sharp text, no writing, no stains, and only minor corner wear, and I detected no creases or wrinkles in either scan. Because black-backed 1970 O-Pee-Chee cards are graded harshly for even minor corner and edge exposure, I am conservatively estimating this raw card at VG-EX 4 while noting that it could arguably squeak into EX 5 territory in hand. A genuine franchise legend on affordable vintage cardboard, this Moe Racine single is a must for Ottawa collectors and CFL set builders. Grade Estimate: VG-EX 4