In 1965 Jim Brown ran for 1,544 yards, led the league for the eighth time in nine years, and was named Most Valuable Player. He was twenty-nine. It was his last season.
In the summer of 1966 he was in England, filming The Dirty Dozen, and set to miss the start of training camp; the Browns' owner, Art Modell, threatened to fine him. On July 14, at a news conference in London, he announced that he was retiring, at thirty. He left with 12,312 rushing yards, and he went into the Hall of Fame in 1971, his first year of eligibility.
He announced his retirement on a film set in London. This was the last card.
Philadelphia's 1966 set, its third, has 198 cards, and it is the only one of its years with the name box at the top. On #41 that box is brown and reads JIM BROWN, CLEVELAND BROWNS, FULLBACK beside the NFL shield, above a close head-and-shoulders picture of Brown in the brown jersey, number 32, squinting into a bright day.
It is his last card, the record of a final season. By the time the 1966 season opened, he had left the game.
Top-grade copies are hard to find.
