April Fools, It's Just Craig Morton
They had to know what they were doing, right?
In 2023 and 2024 Topps and Panini football products, Craig Morton was not only on the Broncos checklist, but also had many autographs. So what's the fools joke with Craig Morton? Well he happens to have worn #7 for the Denver Broncos, just before Hall of Famer John Elway was traded there in an infamous deal with the Baltimore Colts.
Imagine picking up a box of 2024 Topps Chrome football. You go home, settle into your ripping ritual, and lo and behold you notice an autograph in your stack of cards, freshly ripped from the pack. You slow roll the previous card down revealing "Broncos." Immediately Bo Nix and/or John Elway come to mind. You move the front card a little more down and see the number 7 on the old 80s jersey and you're elated...until you see the name at the bottom.
RELATED: Justin Fields to The Jets and His Cards Did This
Morton was drafted with the No. 5 overall pick in the 1965 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. He would arrive with the Denver Broncos in 1977 after a three-year stint with the New York Giants. Morton played in Denver, wearing #7, until 1982 when he retired and John Elway arrived in the Mile High city.
No this isn't a slight on Morton, but come on! Topps, in a product with a limited checklist until the licenses kick in, chose to include Morton, a Bronco wearing the #7 jersey. He played for three other teams! You're telling me Topps and/or Panini didn't know what they were doing when they went this route? The funny thing is, a search on eBay for 'Craig Morton auto' results in nothing but 2023 and 2024 cards, with him donning the orange and blue and famous #7.
You would think an act like this would garner a cult following for Craig Morton. Collector's coming out of the woodwork looking for Craig Morton autographed cards. Perhaps if Topps and/or Panini came out and just admitted the motivation behind Morton cards the cult following would get a good jump start!
Who knows what member of the Panini and Topps brass brought this up. And if no one made the comedic connection, then what are we doing here folks? And if they did do this on purpose, well it's good to know there's a sense of humor that still rumbles through the hobby.
After graduating from the University of North Dakota in 2008, Cole worked as an advertising copywriter until shifting to print journalism a few years later. Managing three weekly newspapers in the Dakotas, Cole won numerous awards from the North Dakota Newspaper Association including Best of the Dakotas and, their top award, General Excellence. He returned to collecting in 2021 and has since combined his passion for writing with his love of cards. Cole also writes for the Sports Cards Nonsense newsletter and has made guest appearances on multiple sports card collecting podcasts including Sports Cards Nonsense, and the Eephus Baseball Cards Podcast. IG: coleryan411 X: @colebenz