Walter Payton Rookie Card: Which One It Is and How to Identify It

• 1976 Topps #148 (Topps)

• Front is a head-and-shoulders posed photo inside a white-bordered card: the front is a head-and-shoulders posed photograph of Walter Payton.
• Front frame uses a yellow and green rounded border: the front uses a yellow and green rounded frame.

A 1976 Crane Payton disc issued the same year is not counted as a rookie card due to its limited, non-mainstream availability.

Heavily submitted for grading: source cites over 5,190 PSA submissions and roughly 2,909 BGS submissions.

• Card number and set on the back must match the listing above; "rookie card" is a specific card, not any early card of the player.
• Print quality: genuine cards have crisp text and a regular dot pattern under magnification; reprints and fakes blur, especially in small type.
• Stock and size: compare thickness, gloss and corners against a common card from the same set.
• Chrome and Prizm parallels carry a foil, color or serial-number mark that the base card lacks; the base card is the reference rookie unless the source says otherwise.
• Grading is a separate step; a slab authenticates and grades, and the grading guide explains what the number means.

Shoot the front flat, straight on, in daylight, with all four corners in frame, then the back so the card number and copyright line are readable. For chrome or foil cards, take a second front shot tilted under the light to show the finish. The app reads the player, set and number; the checks above confirm the version.