In 1963, Fleer was stopped by Topps while trying to issue a set of baseball cards showing active players. As a result, the company curtailed making sports cards entirely after that year, making the 1963 football set its final gridiron-related issue until 1976. Even then, they stayed within the framework of action photos of the NFL teams and would wait until 1990 before they attempted another set of current players.
For the 1963 design, Fleer went to its basic positioning and size of football players and surrounded them with a red block. For the third year in a row, the area below the player's picture include his name, position, team and a team logo. Even with the red block in the design, a thin white border surrounds the card. Backs are vertically oriented, with a red block at the top. The player's name, position, team and two lines of vital stats are located inside the block. A bold red card number in the main area begins a player biography. There is also a small red stripe that extends along the bottom of most cards.
An unnumbered checklist card was also included in packs, which is considered to be separate from the 88-card set. In order to make room for the checklist on the printing sheet, the card of Bob Dougherty was short-printed. Due to the thin white borders on the cards, centering issues really stand out. Cards that are divisible by four are found either with or without the red stripe at the bottom of the card back. The set is numbered so the players are grouped by team. Each team is arranged alphabetically by home city.
Key rookies include Lance Alworth, Len Dawson and Nick Buoniconti.
Key 1963 Fleer Football Cards:
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1963 Fleer Football Card Checklist
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