1971 O-Pee-Chee Joe Critchlow #20 Rookie Card Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Description

1971 O-Pee-Chee Joe Critchlow #20 Rookie Card Winnipeg Blue Bombers The path to the Canadian Football League in 1971 was rarely a straight line, and this 1971 O-Pee-Chee Joe Critchlow #20 Rookie Card Winnipeg Blue Bombers issue tells that story on its back in glorious detail. Critchlow was a No. 1 draft choice who played for the Charlotte Royals of the minor leagues, the BC Lions, and the Denver Broncos before finding a home on the Winnipeg defensive line, and the card back notes he was an All-Star in his senior year at Southeast Missouri State, where he was All-Conference in three of his seasons with the school's Indians. A 6 foot 1 inch, 245 pound import defensive tackle, he was part of that wave of American linemen who made the Bombers one of the toughest teams in the West, and this is his first and key O-Pee-Chee card, with only a 1972 follow-up to complete his brief two card run. For collectors who enjoy the rescue stories of Canadian football, the career journey from Charlotte and Denver to the Winnipeg trenches is exactly the kind of narrative that makes this card memorable. The visual is classic 1971 O-Pee-Chee, a bold red frame, white caps name plate, framed colour photograph, football graphic, and the heavy serif Winnipeg Blue Bombers type, and Critchlow's portrait is one of the most intense in the sheet, a furrowed brow stare that could belong to a man about to knock a quarterback down. The crisp photography against the blue sky gives the card that unmistakable early seventies Canadian summer feel. through the protective sleeve, this copy shows sharp, well defined corners with only the faintest of touches, clean edges with no meaningful chipping, and centering of roughly 55/45 left to right with the photo frame sitting slightly toward the right. The surface is free of creases, wrinkles, and indentations, the photo area is clean with strong colour, and the light specks visible in the red border are the usual series print flecks rather than wear. The back is the Canadian O-Pee-Chee bilingual back, with English and French biography panels on tan stock, and it is not a puzzle back, since the 1971 design uses the cartoon and text layout rather than puzzle art, with the © O-PEE-CHEE and PRINTED IN CANADA line present. A conservative raw grade in the EX-MT range is justified, making this the strongest looking defensive card in the group and an excellent rookie card for the Bomber team set. Grade Estimate: EX-MT 6