1971 Eagles

The 1971 Eagles finished with a 6-7-1 record. On the surface that seems like a great improvement from the previous season's 3-10-1 last place finish, but it mattered little because in 1972 they returned to last place with a 2-11-1 record. What a roller coaster! 

These are the cards for the 1971 Eagles. You may be wondering why there is no quarterback card. Long-time veteran Norm Snead was traded to the Vikings in the off-season, and appears on a Vikings card (but in an Eagles' jersey). Snead was replaced by CFL quarterback Pete Liske, but not until just before training camp. 

Aside from not including a quarterback, the position allocation seems a little strange here: 3 running backs, 2 wide receivers (including kick returner Billy Walik instead of veteran starter Ben Hawkins), no offensive linemen, and no middle linebacker.

Except for Tom Woodeshick, Harold Jackson, and Tim Rossovich, all of the cards here are the player's rookie card. The 1970 rookies (Lee Bouggess, Walik, Mark Moseley) appear in the team's current jerseys. Others are shown in the late-1960s' Eagles jersey with stripes around the shoulders.

The 10th Eagles' card in this set is for linebacker Adrian Young, but this is not a photo of Young. It is Rick Duncan, who punted for ONE game in 1968. Why would Topps even have a photo of such a short-short-short timer, but they had trouble finding recent photos for baseball players that were in their 2nd or 3rd full year with a new team? *SMDH*

Details on the individual players can be found in this blog post. 

 

Here are some custom cards I found on the internet:

Pete Liske was the Eagles' #1 QB in 1971 and part of 1972.

Rick Arrington was the 2nd-stringer in 1970 and 1971, then relegated to 3rd string in 1972.

Ron Bull was acquired from the Bears before the 1971 season.

Ron Porter was a starting outside linebacker from 1969-72.

Adrian Young is actually pictured on this card.  The photo is distorted because of enlargement.

Bill Bradley played for the Eagles from 1969-76, and was the starting free safety from 1971-76.