August 03, 2023

At his peak, Bart Starr was the best quarterback in the game and the biggest star. Today he is still considered one of the game's elite. NFL.com ranks him as the 13th greatest quarterback of all time, sandwiched between Troy Aikman and Brett Favre.

Bart’s achievements are impressive. He led the league in passer rating three times and was the NFL MVP. He didn’t win the first Super Bowl MVP.

There's a tendency to underrate Bart Starr because of the Green Bay Packers. The 1962 version of that team went 13-1 and was arguably the finest football time to ever stand on the gridiron. The talent was outrageous, with names like Jim Taylor, Jim Ringo, Willie Davis, Ray Nitschke, and Herb Adderly. They were coached, of course, by the great Vince Lombardi.

But that is not much different from underrating Tom Brady or Joe Montana because of their excellent teammates. Ultimately, it is up to the quarterback to deliver. And boy, did Bart Starr do that. Starr's ability to slice defenses with perfect passes and his unparalleled consistency sets him apart. And he remains the only quarterback to lead his team to three straight NFL championships, as Bart did in 1965-67.

Collecting Bart Starr Cards

As the biggest quarterback of his era and one of the biggest stars of the 1960s, Bart Starr’s cards are the key to many of the football sets of the time. You can find him in most of the significant Topps, Fleer, and Philadelphia set we all know and love. The only player with cards as crucial in the late 1950s and 1960s is arguably Jim Brown. Therefore, Bart Starr's cards were given extra attention. They are often gorgeous and always worth a good deal in solid condition.

Here are the top 15 Bart Starr cards.

1970 Topps Bart Starr #30

A PSA 10 sold for $2,425.

The 1970 Topps Bart Starr #30 shows the legendary Hall of Famer with his best days already in the rearview mirror. But you wouldn’t know it from the commanding look in his eyes, and those genuinely impressive forearms. The design for 1970 Topps Football cards is a classic, with that great circle surrounding the picture and the ribbon-style nameplate. These cards are better than most Bart Starr cards because they are from a later era and they have white borders that hide chips well. So there are 12 PSA 10s out there.

1967 Philadelphia Bart Starr #82

A PSA 9 sold for $5,280.

The Philadelphia chewing gum decision to put the NFL shield in their designs was great, making their cards stand out from the crowd. The yellow borders are gorgeous, but they do tend to chip. Not as badly as black borders, but still enough to make the 1967 Philadelphia Bart Starr #82 more valuable than you would expect. And Philadelphia cards were less popular as well, adding to the scarcity. So you have only 5 PSA 9s and no 10s among a mere 491 PSA-graded cards.

1969 Topps Bart Starr #215

A PSA 9 sold for $1,886.

There is only one question I care about. What is the weird white stuff in the quarterback's mouth on the 1969 Topps Bart Starr #215 card? Did he get overeager with the Colgate? I guess we will never know. Ok, two questions. Because I honestly do not understand why there is a cartoon kicker in the bottom right-hand corner of the card. By 1969, Bart and the Packers were out, and replaced by new age stars like Joe “Broadway” Namath. But he could still give an intense winner's stare with the best of them.

1968 Topps Bart Starr #1

A PSA 9 sold for $3,190.

I never completely understood the 1968 Topps Football card design. Some of the cards had these weird illustrations, like the 1968 Topps Bart Starr #1, and others were clean. The pictures have nothing to do with the relevant players. But I guess Topps was just excited to finally get the NFL and AFL in the same set. Despite being busy, this is a classic late-career Bart Starr card. And you have to admit, our favorite quarterback ages well.

1971 Topps Bart Starr #200

A PSA 9 sold for $1,073.

The final Bart Starr card of his career catches the lion in winter. And Bart outdoes himself. That pained expression that follows the quarterback in all his trading cards reaches its final culmination. That is probably because his body probably felt it after 15 years of getting sacked. But Bart still cut a magnificent figure in the 1971 Topps Bart Starr #200 card. The blue borders are stunning but make this one difficult to grade. Although there is one PSA 10 out there, it has never been sold.

1963 Topps Bart Starr #86

A PSA 9 sold for $4,063.

As you will see in this article, there are only two things Bart seemed to love more than kicking ass on the gridiron. Those things are looking tortured and trying to hand you the ball. The 1963 Topps Bart Starr #86 picture gives you a perfect example of both. My favorite part of this card is just how classy those old-school Green Bay Packers uniforms were.

1961 Fleer Bart Starr #88

A PSA 10 sold for $9,000

After Topps had tried to keep them out of the game, Fleer managed to land the rights to produce football cards in the early 1960s. The 1961 Fleer Football card set was one of their key releases of the decade. The design of 1961 Fleer Bart Starr #88, as you see, is questionable. Not least, because that silhouette of the Wisconsin map here is upside down. But we are not geographers, right? Starr looks like he is about to drop the whitest soul album you have ever heard, and we love that for him.

1961 Topps Bart Starr #39

A PSA 9 sold for $2,074.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Topps's turn toward minimalism reached its logical conclusion with the 1961 Topps Football release. Luckily for us, they would soon replace it with a more ambitious approach. Having said that, the 1961 Topps Bart Starr #39 is not without its charm. The lettering is good, and overall the design is better than the one offered by their rivals at Fleer that year.

1960 Topps Bart Starr #51

A PSA 10 sold for $17,655.

Bart’s face looks a bit swollen in the picture taken for the 1960 Topps Bart Starr #51 card. We would never let that get in the way of our enjoyment of a classic card, would we? And we love the beautiful sunny sky behind the quarterback; indeed, something to appreciate when you earn your money playing in Wisconsin in the winter. As you can see, the design for Topps 1960 football is utterly minimalistic, but it works.

There is a PSA 10 of this card, fetching an outstanding price for a mid-career card, and 21 PSA 9s. Overall, only 1,143 graded copies of this card are in circulation.

1964 Philadelphia Bart Starr #79

A PSA 10 sold for $4,338.

The 1964 Philadelphia is, along with the 1962 Topps, one of the gems of 1960s football cards. The Gayle Sayers 1966 rookie card is the obvious standout from the Philadelphia cards, but Bart Starr’s card has an all-American purity that ranks it among his absolute best. The nameplate and sky complement each other beautifully. And amazingly, there is even a PSA 10 among the 525 copies of 1964 Philadelphia Bart Starr #79. Too bad Philadelphia chewing gum didn’t put out more sets because these are just wonderful.

1965 Philadelphia Bart Starr #81

A PSA 9 sold for $2,074.

The 1965 Philadelphia Bart Starr #81 benefits from adding the NFL shield logo. It makes it look like Bart really means business. And the card also marks the beginning of Starr’s absolute peak. In 1965, the Packers won the first of what would be three straight titles, with Bart calling the shots. No other quarterback was ever as dominant as he was in that stretch. Look at those assured hands. That is where you want the pigskin when push comes to shove.

1959 Topps Bart Starr #23

A PSA 10 sold for $11,677.

Aside from one thing, the 1959 Topps Football cards design is standard. That tiny little cartoon football figure they stuck in various corners. Some of the statistics are inexplicably weird. Look at the Jim Brown card; for example, The one in the 1959 Topps Bart Starr #23 card makes more sense; the little cartoon guy is a quarterback in a similar pose to Bart. But what is a lot is that shocking pink background. What is this, the set of Barbie?

Once again, it's surprising to see a PSA 10 on this card. There are 3 of them and 29 PSA 9s out of a total of 1,249.

1962 Topps Bart Starr #63

A PSA 8 sold for $1,886.

I placed this card higher than some of the earlier cards because the 1962 Topps Football design is unbeatable. Every card in this set is a raving beauty. And even the 1962 Topps Bart Starr #63 does not suffer from Bart’s pained expression. Indeed, he looks like he is saying, “Here, take the ball and start for me; I have a terrible migraine.” But that action shot reminds us of how dynamic this legend was. And aside from the gorgeous design, 1962 was arguably the best year ever for Green Bay and its star, Bart Starr.

Like some other sets with black borders, the 1962 Topps Football cards release is a tough grade. There are very few graded copies of this card, and only 3 PSA 9s, none of which have been sold (and no gem mints).

1958 Topps Bart Starr #66

A PSA 10 sold for $22,095.

The 1958 Topps football cards design is simple but elegant, eschewing the multiple-picture approach of the mid-1950s for one, with old-school lettering. The Jim Brown rookie is the best-known card here, but the Bart Starr one makes a good case for the second-biggest card. The beautiful card has a famous error on the back, where Topps mixes up the yearly and career stats in the "Passing Record" section.

How incredible is it that there are PSA 10 copies of 1958 Topps Bret Starr #66? Well, only one and 5 PSA 9s. I don’t know about you, but I always find it suspicious when ancient cards like that are in such good condition.

1957 Topps Bart Starr Rookie Card #119

A PSA 9 sold for $288,000.

There is only one recognized rookie for Bart, and the Topps 1957 Bart Starr Rookie Card #119 is it. The young quarterback looks decidedly unhappy, and his face is crooked when we know he is handsome. The pose of Bart preparing for a pass in the vintage uniform is beautiful.

You can see the high price for a PSA 9 because of the low population. There are only 1,919 graded versions of this card. After all, football cards were produced in lower numbers then. And a mere 3 PSA 9s. The centering was a real issue for the Topps 1957 Football card set, so the beauty you see above needs to be representative. It remains the highlight of the set, which is really saying something, considering that it contains 31(!!!!) Hall of Famers.

The Final Word On The 15 Best Bart Starr Football Cards

Bart Starr dominated football in an era that, in retrospect, was a golden time for football cards. The dueling designs of Fleer, Topps, and Philadelphia were fabulously creative, and Bart’s commanding presence brings all these designs to life. Looking at this collection, these are some of the finest and most historically essential football cards out there, capturing a true winner at the top of his game.

However, one word of caution. There seem to be an excessive number of PSA 10s for some of Bart Starr’s key cards. The population numbers do not always make sense. It looks like you should beware of cards of this Packers legend in remarkably good condition. They may have been altered.

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