Hi everyone. For my very first posting on this forum I prepared something special.
I am the author of this text and photos, please forgive any possible mistakes since English is not my native language, I hope you guys find this information useful.
1977 Topps Football comparison between a regular edition and a Mexican edition single card (information on cardboard type, printing quality, ink or image centering is not included here).
Front of the cards
There are two main differences, being the first one the name of the player’s team. All of the Mexican cards (with a few exceptions) have an accurate translation to Spanish of the team’s name (example: BENGALS – BENGALIES).
The second difference relates to the abbreviation of the player’s position. There is a relatively accurate translation of the player’s position in most of the cards (example: WR [WIDE RECEIVER] – AA [ALA ABIERTA]).
However, it is useful to consider there have been minor changes when referring to football position names in Mexico and Latin American countries through the years. Collectors and football enthusiasts must consider NFL fandom in Mexico started around the early seventies, when games started being aired through Mexican TV stations. This is one of the reasons why Mexican cards come with many errors or inaccurate data.
Back of the cards
There are a greater number of differences here.
Consider this: when compared to English language, regularly it takes more words in Spanish to write a phrase or express an idea. This is particularly visible in translation so in many cases it took a lot more space on cards to print all of the player’s basic information and statistics. Due to this constraint, some information was deliberately cut from the text.
It is clear that translators were not football experts. We don’t even know if they were signed directly by Topps to do this job, but definitely they were not coaches, players nor football specialists. This is why there are a lot of grammatical mistakes on these cards.
On the top of the cards we find that card number and player’s name are exactly the same on both items. Main differences start appearing right below in the space reserved for the player’s team and position (example: CINCINNATI / WIDE RECEIVER – CINCINNATTI / RECEPTOR ABIERTO). Mexican cards show a different text font, which apparently seems to be slightly bigger than on the regular edition.
In this particular example the city’s name is misspelled, also the player’s position does not match with the abbreviation printed on the front of the card. Capital letters used should have been RA (for “Receptor Abierto”) instead of AA (for “Ala Abierta”); otherwise they should have printed ALA ABIERTA on the back of the card instead of RECEPTOR ABIERTO.
Next there is a frame with the player’s basic information. In order to make it a comprehensive text for the Mexican audience, translators were forced to convert player’s height and weight measures from the English system of measurement to the decimal metric system, which is commonly used in all Latin American countries (example: HEIGHT: 6’11” WEIGHT: 193 – ESTATURA 1.85 M. PESO: 88 KGS.).
Right below we find the player’s draft information (example: DRAFTED: BENGALS # 8 1974 HOW ACQUIRED: VIA DRAFT – ASIGNADO: BENGALIES # 8 1974). The word “asignado” (assigned) was used as an equal to the word “drafted” even though they do not mean the same. There is no exact meaning in Spanish for the word “drafted” when it particularly refers to the NFL Draft. Also, the information referring to how the player was acquired was deliberately cut from the text. We know how popular the NFL Draft has become since 1977, so maybe this is the reason for all of these errors and omissions.
Also on the same frame there are the player’s birthdate and home (example: BIRTHDATE 9-23-51 HOME: BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA – FECHA DE NACIMIENTO: 9-23-51 VIVE EN: BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA). There are no particular errors here but once again the text font is different from the regular edition, this time being a smaller one.
On the card’s next level we find the NFL player’s record, which is different depending on the player’s position. In this particular example we find a receiving record (ej: RECEIVING RECORD – RECORD DE RECEPCIONES). It is worth noting a pair of small, slightly different sized red diamonds between both text lines. Once again text font used here is a different one.
The column heading for each of the numbers is different, upper case and lower case letters were used for the translation text (example: YEAR TEAM NO. YDS. AVG. TDS. – Año Equipo Núm. Yardas Prom. T. D). Text font used here is different as well, given the fact that the same style was used for the rest of the player’s record information on the original edition. There are no other visible changes for the rest of the information on the chart.
Right below the record chart we find several text bullets related to the player’s highlights. Unfortunately, some of the translation texts are very much inaccurate and present a lot of major omissions. Besides, there are a lot of punctuation and accent errors (note: written accent or “acentuación” is a major grammatical rule in Spanish language).
- Enjoyed the finest game of career for Bengals against Raiders, 12-6-76, as he caught 9 passes for 201 yards. TRANSLATION: Disfrutó del mejor juego de su carrera con los Bengalies, contra los Raiders, 12-6-76, cuando atrapó nueve pases (No full stop here; the 201 gained yards statistic was cut and is a relevant number for a wide receiver; the accent on the word “Bengalíes” is missing).
- Caught 3 passes for 31 yards in Bengals’ 1976 finale against Jets. TRANSLATION: Cacho 3 pases para 31 yardas, en la final de 1976. Bengalies contra Jets. (The word “Bengalíes” is missing the accent once again; a serious mistake here is the misinterpretation of the word “finale” which refers to the last game of the regular season for Cincinnati, but the translator thought it was about a playoff game (“la final”) and the Bengals did not make it to the playoffs in 1976).
- Has seen action as specialty teams player for most of career. Is club’s fastest man downfield on punt coverage and excels on kickoffs. TRANSLATION: Durante la mayor parte de su carrera, estuvo ocupado en equipos especializados (no period/comma here) Es el hombre más rápido del Down-Field y excelente pateador. (Another serious mistake here is noting that the player is an excellent kicker (“excelente pateador”) which definitely does not mean the same as “excels on kickoffs”, translator should have used a phrase like “sobresale en las patadas de despeje” or “sobresale regresando patadas de despeje”).
- Has fine potential and many moves. TRANSLATION: Tiene un refinado potencial y movimientos variados. (There are no errors on this translation text).
On the bottom of the card we find the player’s college information (example: COLLEGE CORNER – FICHA ESCOLAR). Several grammatical errors appear once again on the translation text. These are really obvious mistakes that should not have been made, especially when colleges and cities names are proper names and should never be changed (example: ATTENDED LINCOLN UNIVERSITY JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI – ASISTIO A LA UNIVERSIDAD LINCOL JEFERSON CITY, MISOURI).
Also, on the same frame there is an additional player’s college highlight. For many years the Topps Company used a special “hand-written” text font here, which gave the card a kind of warm touch.
Unfortunately, on the Mexican edition they used a regular, cold text font, which is even bigger than the original one. One again there are some major omissions on the translation text (example: WAS ALL-MISSOURI ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION PICK TWICE, AND HOLDS ALL LINCOLN RECEIVING RECORDS – DOS VECES FUE SELECCIONADO POR LA ASOCIACION ATLETICA).
Lastly, on the same college information frame is the copyright legend * * © TOPPS CHEWING GUM, INC. PRTD. IN U.S.A. We find exactly the same information and text font on the Mexican edition, but the words “PRTD. IN U.S.A.” were deleted.
I miss the days when you could easily tell the difference between the front and the back on a sports trading card.
