Football · REFERENCE ENTRY
Gale Sayers
1966 · Philadelphia Football · #38
Sayers’s Philadelphia #38 is his recognized rookie documented by PSA.
- Sport
- Football
- Year / season
- 1966
- Set
- Philadelphia Football
- Number
- #38
- Format
- Card
- Issue status
- Rookie card
About this card
Gale Sayers’s 1966 Philadelphia Football card is number 38 in that release. Philadelphia Gum held the NFL card license from 1964 to 1967, which is why NFL players of those years appear in Philadelphia sets rather than in Topps.
The catalog labels this a rookie card, based on the source cited below.
How to identify it
Centering, corner wear, stains and print marks are the first things to check on a card this old. Famous cards from the era have been reprinted, so compare the card stock, printing and size with a known original.
In Gale Sayers’s run
This is the only Gale Sayers entry in the catalog so far.
In the 1966 checklist
The catalog’s selected checklist for the 1966 Philadelphia Football release also includes Dick Butkus. It is a partial checklist of cataloged cards, not the full release.
What to know about this issue
- This issue adds another Chicago Bears player from the same 1966 Philadelphia set.
- The exact Sayers reference is #38, separate from Butkus’s #31.
Inspect the source
Source reviewed 2026-10-07. The source describes this issue; it does not verify any item offered by a third party.
No assigned grade, market value or verified offer is supplied by this reference entry.
Read the football collecting guideRaw or graded. Inspect the actual copy.
The issue stays 1966 · Philadelphia Football. These are research checks, not a condition assessment of a specimen.
Raw / ungraded
- Match the issue
- Match the full year or season, release, number and named edition to this reference. Ask for readable images of the actual item’s front and back.
- Record visible condition
- Inspect corners, edges, centering and surface in suitable photographs or in person. Record damage or unanswered questions without assigning a predicted professional grade.
- Keep authentication separate
- Ungraded does not establish authenticity or mean “never authenticated.” A protective case alone does not establish a professional condition grade.
Professionally graded
- Read the complete label
- Record the grading company, exact issue, card grade and any qualifiers or designation. Keep an autograph grade separate from the card’s condition grade. An authentication-only designation may have no numeric condition grade.
- Compare the certification record
- Use the company’s official lookup and compare its issue details and available images with the actual item, label and holder. A matching certification number alone does not establish that an offered item is genuine.
- Compare within the stated scale
- Retain the company’s exact grade name and number. Different companies and grade designations are not automatically equivalent; a numeric label does not establish a current price.
A source-linked reference or historical scan does not authenticate the card you are considering. CardRoster supplies no assigned grade, certification or price for it.
