1967 Big Giants vs. 1967 Big Eagles

This was an easy pick for an electric football preview. First off, I’m an Eagles fan. And from there…this will be the 161st time these two teams have met, a rivalry that began back in 1933. Sports Illustrated has ranked it as the No.4 pro football rivalry of all time. Right now both teams are 2-1 on top of the NFC East…it’s simply a big game.

And speaking of “big,” it just so happens I was lucky enough as a kid to end up with Big Eagles and Big Giants. The Giants came with my Tudor NFL No. 620 in 1968. The Eagles came directly from Brooklyn not long after Santa parked his sleigh in the garage for the year. These two teams have met many times on the vibrating gridiron.

With both teams being “original,” it really doesn’t get much better than this. My Eagle end is no. 44, or Pete Retzlaff. Pete actually retired in 1966, but so what, he was my favorite player. In 1968 he was still playing for my Eagles. That’s the beauty of electric football. His skewed numbers attest to the difficulty of applying Tudor’s original press-on numbers – at least for 8-year-old fingers.

The Giant is numbered randomly, but at least his numbers are on straight. No matter how the press-on numbers are applied, I find them a magical addition to any Tudor player. That’s because it automatically dates them to the earliest days of Tudor’s NFL. Another dating clue comes from the yellowing plastic of the Giant. This aging artifact is only seen in large players (but not all large players). Some may view this as a defect, but I’ll take all the large yellowing players I can find. I know they’re genuine.

Eagles and Giants battle in 1966

It’s hard to tell if the real Eagles are on their way up or down right now. They usually rise to the occasion for the Giants, with a number of dramatic victories. However, the Giants-Eagles game that still sticks with me is a 62-10 beating that the Eagles took in Yankee Stadium not long after Thanksgiving Day in 1972.

Former Eagle Norm Snead was the Giants quarterback. In 7 years with the Eagles, Snead had compiled an abysmal 28-49-3 record. On this day with Giants, he was Joe Namath and Sonny Jurgensen rolled into one as he sliced up the Eagles secondary for 3 TD’s. He got his revenge that day. Eagles’ luck for sure – and some of us still feel the sting.

Earl