Favorite

[Cmvorce]

I’m curious what everyone’s favorite card is in their collection. Not necessarily the most valuable, or oldest, or highest graded, but their “favorite”.

When I was in 7th grade I made the biggest school bus trade anyone could remember. I received this 61 Mantle in exchange for Tecmo Bowl, Bases Loaded, Baseball Stars, and Mike Tyson’s Punchout on NES. 4 classic games - everyone on the bus thought I have up way too much but I bet that kid’s dad killed him when he got home.

Anyway, this card will always be my favorite because it was my first vintage. My first legend. Up until this my collection was filled with a bunch of late 80s Canseco’s and Jackson’s and Clemens. This changed everything.

What’s your favorite?

[Schlesinj]

Maybe that person has those games (and graded them) they may be worth more than the Mantle.

[Cmvorce]

Ha - you never know!

[riggs336]

This WaJo will always be my favorite. In 1988 my toddler daughter sprayed it with grape juice from her sippy cup. She's 36 and living in another city now so I don't see her as often as I'd like, but every time I look at this card I have fond memories.

[Casey2296]

Love the sippy cup story. I have a few trinkets from when my daughter was a young'n that evoke the same memories.
Here's mine, the only card my Dad and I ever bought together. $225 bucks and that was $50 over budget which was a really big deal for our working class family. Priceless to me.

[jchcollins]

The '56 Mantle. As a kid probably 10 or 11 years old, I first saw a picture of it in one of the Surf books that had every Topps card pictured for a particular team. Then a few years later I came upon a lower grade one in a card shop and traded the dealer virtually my entire collection at the time to take it home. That one was traded in for an upgrade (to SGC 4) this past summer. Just a classic looking card of the best player in baseball at the time, and to me screams 1950's nostalgia.

[Cmvorce]

I love all these stories. The grape juice is classic.

[joshuanip]

I’m curious what everyone’s favorite card is in their collection. Not necessarily the most valuable, or oldest, or highest graded, but their “favorite”.

When I was in 7th grade I made the biggest school bus trade anyone could remember. I received this 61 Mantle in exchange for Tecmo Bowl, Bases Loaded, Baseball Stars, and Mike Tyson’s Punchout on NES. 4 classic games - everyone on the bus thought I have up way too much but I bet that kid’s dad killed him when he got home.

Anyway, this card will always be my favorite because it was my first vintage. My first legend. Up until this my collection was filled with a bunch of late 80s Canseco’s and Jackson’s and Clemens. This changed everything.

What’s your favorite?

That was also my first card too! I bought it at a card shop in West Covina CA over 30 years ago... it’s probably the card I have with the least monetary value, but it has the most sentimental value because it brings me back to the orange julius and caramel corn days with my pops. My mom would shop and He’d let me go to the arcade and I’d run over to the shop afterwards before we left the mall. It will be the last card I own too!

[cornhusker]

Listing a favorite card is tough... like picking the best song from Ace Frehley's solo album. Here is one from my short list though. Picked this little gem out of a fiber barrel of cards my son and I bought at auction several years ago. There were 3 barrels with about 150k cards total. Junk '80's cards on top with layers of 60's & 70's vending from the mid point down. This cards stands out to me as I clearly remember my 8 year old saying "these '68 Bench cards are really cool but I wish we would find a '69". A handful or two later - there it was :)

[big-six]

Love the background on this pose

[WA_HOF_rookie]

This card = being a kid and watching Braves games with my grandfather. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210131/4e4968eb9edd0d3e3a38fc6e79aee53b.jpg

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

[Seven]

It changes from time to time, but I think when push comes to shove, it's my 68 Mantle because it was the first one I owned, and it's what started me in Vintage.


https://i.imgur.com/vOK00uA.jpg?1

[Exhibitman]

Dropping an Ace Frehley reference...nice!

This is the first old card I ever got:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/dropins/websize/1952%20Topps%20Dropo.jpg

I must've been 7-8 years old, so maybe 1972 or 1973? It has been with me through cross-country moves, earthquakes, riots, fires, and even survived my and my daughter's childhoods. I will never part with it.

This is the first T206 i ever got:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/dropins/websize/Copy%20of%201909-1911%20T206%20Johnson%20ready.jpg

I bought it raw from Mike Berkus at one of his Anaheim shows around 1978. Slabbed years later. Another one I'd never part with.

[brianp-beme]

Great stories. I think like most of us the first vintage card is something that will always hold a special place in our collecting hearts. I always will consider my T206 Mathewson (seen below) that I got along with 4 other 1910 era HOF cards as the favorite of my collection, as it transformed me into a PreWW2 collector of lower condition cards almost instantly. Not only because they were more affordable, but also because I realized that a card doesn't have to be perfect (or in many cases not even close) to be interesting, desirable and awesome.

Brian (it also kickstarted my affinity for cards that are bigger on the front than they are on the back)

[Cmvorce]

thanks for sharing, everyone. this is fantastic. And i love that our favorite cards are almost never our "best" cards. They all have their story!

[BuzzD]

Even tho I am 98% pre-war in interests, the 53 Mickey is just too beautiful

[Pack The Ripper]

My favorite card is a 78 Molitor/Trammell rookie that I opened from my chilhood. It's a PSA1 at best but I don't care.

It's in this picture with me somewhere. Since Ace Frehley was brought up, if you look to the left side, almost all of that is 1978 Donruss Kiss cards. :)

[campyfan39]

I love all five of my 1953 Campy's but my favorite/most meaningful card is this 1956 Mantle. I received it on my 13th birthday in 1986.
This was just before leaving for a ball game and it was the one year my Dad was my coach.
My folks bought it from Kit Young's catalogue for $35 listed as EX.
About 10 years ago while researching for my book "Buying Back Dad's Cards" I was able to talk to Kit and tell him the story.
Next to the wife and kids this is what I would grab in case of a fire!

https://www.net54baseball.com/picture.php?albumid=544&pictureid=29601

https://www.net54baseball.com/picture.phpalbumid=544&pictureid=29601

https://www.net54baseball.com/picture.php?albumid=544&pictureid=29602

[todeen]

61 Koufax and Snider. I convinced my mother to buy both at different times. I never thought she would say yes, but she did both times and I didn't have to beg.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210201/5e916df2d79294566e70ce596a65a81b.jpg

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[tedzan]

1st 19th Century cards (cannot decide which one of these is my favorite)....acquired in Peterborough, NH antique shop (1986).

https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan77/images/large/abn162ansonkelly.jpg




1st T206 card ....acquired at the Willow Grove Show (1981).

http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan77/images/1stT206Chaseblue50x.jpg.http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan77/images/1stT206Chaseblue50xb.jpg




Last 1952 TOPPS card....from a 5-cent wax-pack in the Fall of 1952

https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan77/images/websize/mmantle52t.jpg

TED Z

T206 Reference (http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=237816)
.

[Cmvorce]

Ted has dropped the mic. Absolutely beautiful. How much did the Anson and Kelly set you back in the 80s?

[GasHouseGang]

My favorite has to be this one.

[ullmandds]

My favorite card is a 78 Molitor/Trammell rookie that I opened from my chilhood. It's a PSA1 at best but I don't care.

It's in this picture with me somewhere. Since Ace Frehley was brought up, if you look to the left side, almost all of that is 1978 Donruss Kiss cards. :)

that is fantastic!

[Cooper1927]

My favorite player has always been Lou Gehrig. I was ecstatic 8 years ago when the wife let me pull the trigger on a 1934 Gehrig #37. It was my wish card for many years. I am definitely I’m glad I got it when I did with the run up over the last few years and especially the last year.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210201/4bff678d25a4c5f3ff5cd9aff4cf4a1a.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fkm_bky]

This card = being a kid and watching Braves games with my grandfather. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210131/4e4968eb9edd0d3e3a38fc6e79aee53b.jpg

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

100% the same as me. Dale Murphy was my childhood hero (even amongst Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett) and I collected all his cards. I bought my 77 rookie at a card show in probably 1983 in St Paul. I think I spent $15 on it and that was a lot for me.

Pre-war my favorite is this E93 blank back Phillippe. The coloring on it is just fantastic, combined with a bit more rarity.

Bill

[Al C.risafulli]

When I was a kid, Graig Nettles was my favorite player. I wore #9 in little league, played third base, modeled my batting stance after his (though I hit righty).

When the 1981 Fleer set was issued, my friends and I were obsessed with the set. There was no internet, obviously, so discovering all the errors was a matter of sometimes discovering them ourselves, sometimes reading about them in hobby magazines that came out just once a month, sometimes finding out about them from card dealers.

The "C" Nettles error from that set became the most coveted card in our neighborhood. Our local card shop had one - Dollars and Sense, in Ridgewood, NJ. It was $17.

My father left when I was 9 years old, and my sister and I were raised by my mother. We had no money. In 1981, seventeen dollars might as well have been seventeen million dollars to our family.

For my birthday that year, my mom bought me that card. I knew what she paid for it, and I knew how she must've had to scrimp and save to get it. I put it in a plastic case I had, and it hasn't left that case since 1981. It's worth about fifty cents today, but it's my favorite card.

-Al

[Cmvorce]

Al, I have almost an identical story with an 83 Donruss Howard Johnson. In fact, that card means more to me than the Mantle I started this thread with. Thanks for sharing.

[WA_HOF_rookie]

100% the same as me. Dale Murphy was my childhood hero (even amongst Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett) and I collected all his cards. I bought my 77 rookie at a card show in probably 1983 in St Paul. I think I spent $15 on it and that was a lot for me.



Pre-war my favorite is this E93 blank back Phillippe. The coloring on it is just fantastic, combined with a bit more rarity.



BillI traded for my Murphy rookie with a guy that lived down the street (two beat up Pete Rose cards and a 1970 Carew). It was my prized possession.

Got a speeding ticket at 16 and went to a card shop to sell some cards to get the $181 for the fine. The dealer told me my entire binder was only worth $175, but he would do me a 'favor.' Valuable lesson.

When I got back into cards last March the Murphy and Mattingly cards were the first ones I replaced.

It's a shame he isn't in the HoF, but that's a whole other thread.
Chris

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

[Republicaninmass]

First IP signed card at Fenway

[hcv123]

1st up has to be the pictured Clemente rookie - At my first "big" card show at the Colosseum Motor inn in Hempstead Long Island - completely mesmerized by all the "old cards" at about 13 years old - probably an hour+ of begging,pleading, etc and my mom begrudgingly shelled out $48 for this beauty! Thus began a lifelong pursuit of most things Clemente and many wonderful stories and friendships over many years. It still sits in the screw down holder that it has resided in shortly after acquisition.

A perfect bookend is this 1960 Bazooka complete box with Clemente (The only example known) just found last year! I had been searching for it for over 30 years as a crowning Jewel in my now extensive Clemente collection that started with the rookie.

[Seven]

Last 1952 TOPPS card....from a 5-cent wax-pack in the Fall of 1952

https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan77/images/websize/mmantle52t.jpg

TED Z

T206 Reference (http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=237816)
.


I can't even comprehend the thought of packing a 52 Mantle but I suppose all cards were pulled from a pack at one point and in the Fall of 52 he was just a very promising young ballplayer from Oklahoma :D

On a more general note, wonderful cards all around, gentlemen

[tedzan]

I can't even comprehend the thought of packing a 52 Mantle but I suppose all cards were pulled from a pack at one point and in the Fall of 52 he was just a very promising young ballplayer from Oklahoma :D

On a more general note, wonderful cards all around, gentlemen

James

Here are the other Hi # cards which were in that pack with Mantle. The Mantle card was in the middle of this stack.
I can still remember the thrill when I shuffled these cards, and saw the Mantle (I was an avid Yankees fan in 1952).

Mantle's BA in 1952 was .311 which is also his card number.....you gotta love this coincidence.

https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan77/images/large/52tchapmjeffhermspenc_1.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan77/images/websize/1952TOPPSwrapper100.jpg



TED Z

T206 Reference ( http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=237816)
.

[BRoberts]

Last 1952 TOPPS card....from a 5-cent wax-pack in the Fall of 1952

https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan77/images/websize/mmantle52t.jpg

TED Z



Do you still own that, Ted, or have you sold it?

[Cmvorce]

Ted, you still have the wrapper?!

[tedzan]

Do you still own that, Ted, or have you sold it?

Hi Bill

This Mantle is in my 1952 TOPPS near-complete master set of 525 cards (I need 31 mid-Series Gray backs to complete it).

My Grandson, Ron, will eventually inherit most of my collection of Sportscards.


TED Z

T206 Reference ( http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=237816)
.

[Rhotchkiss]

This is my favorite, so much so that I commissioned Tim Carroll to create a cut art piece of the card (link below). It’s my favorite because it’s my two favorite players, taken at the World Series (Pittsburgh won), and it’s as if the current greatest of all time (wagner) is literally handing that off to the new greatest (Cobb).

http://www.timcarrollart.com/

[vansaad]

It changes depending on the day of the week, but my favorite is always one of these three:

[vansaad]

Love the sippy cup story. I have a few trinkets from when my daughter was a young'n that evoke the same memories.
Here's mine, the only card my Dad and I ever bought together. $225 bucks and that was $50 over budget which was a really big deal for our working class family. Priceless to me.

What a beautiful Mays! That is my ideal card condition for vintage. Incredible eye appeal.

[jchcollins]

It’s not much, but this is one of my very first vintage cards. This is from probably 1987 or 1988 in Cornelius, NC - and an antique mall in our small town had several boxes of older cards for sale, and others that were just on display. I later learned the cards were from the collection of former Milwaukee Braves catcher Paul Burris, who lived in the area. The “1954” stamp you see on the bottom of this card was put on there by him. I picked out a generous helping of cards that were for sale, which Mom allowed me to take home. The cards that I remember that were there but NOT for sale, included a 1954 Topps Ted Williams and a 1933 Goudey Gabby Harnett.

This one will be with me as long as I'm above ground, LOL.

[Cmvorce]

Everyone’s stories are so good. This is what I love about card collecting.

[Mark]

I grew up on a small farm not far from Pittsburgh, and I remember being very young and walking with my father to feed the animals. I distinctly remember asking him who the Pirates' best player was. He paused for a couple of seconds and said "probably Clemente." Not long after that, Clemente became my favorite player. About that time (before I could read), my mother cut this card from the back of a cereal box for me, and it's probably the one card that I'd most hate to lose.

[jpop43]

While primarily a vintage equipment and memorabilia guy, I certainly dabbled in cards as a kid and again more recently. Even as a kid I loved the 'old stuff' and was blessed to have parents who supported the habit.

I'm 43 years old now and still have the fondest memories of tuning into WPIX11 to catch the end of Cheers just before the Yankee broadcasts would start. As a kid I listened to Phil Rizzuto call the games and, somehow, he ended up becoming my favorite Yankee...even more so than the players on the field. So, I collected Rizzuto cards and have all them from the '41 Double Play to the '56 Topps. My favorite issue however was the 53' Bowman card that features Rizzuto and Billy Martin. I cherish this card as it was a gift from my Dad who I lost this past year.

Another card I picked up while antiquing with my Dad was this '48 Bowman Musial RC. I couldn't have been more than 12 years old when he bought for me at a local paper show.

Fast forward to now, and I've been putting time into completing a set of Mantle bubble gum cards...just the Bowman and Topps issues in very humble, collector grade condition. I've got all but two now with the rest of my life...and my life savings ;)...to add the last of them!

Lots of favorites...I'm glad that this thread got started...thanks OP.

Jonathan
www.dugouttreasures.com

[familytoad]

Listing a favorite card is tough... like picking the best song from Ace Frehley's solo album. Here is one from my short list though. Picked this little gem out of a fiber barrel of cards my son and I bought at auction several years ago. There were 3 barrels with about 150k cards total. Junk '80's cards on top with layers of 60's & 70's vending from the mid point down. This cards stands out to me as I clearly remember my 8 year old saying "these '68 Bench cards are really cool but I wish we would find a '69". A handful or two later - there it was :)

It was New York Groove in a runaway. It launched the most mediocre Karaoke career ever. Mine :):o

[V117collector]

Always liked the 57T Mantle, especially when it's ((centered)).

[puckpaul]

Collected cards as a kid in the 70’s, but when i popped into a Long Island card show in 1989 and saw this on a table, I became smitten with pre-war vintage cards. Still my favorite card and i have several copies now.

[Exhibitman]

So, anyone here used to be a member of the West Coast Card Club here in Los Angeles? We used to have meetings/card shows in the San Fernando Valley. One of the features of these early card club meetings was the auction. Live, no commission, take the card home with you, auctions. I won these signed 1953 Bowman cards at one of them, must've been some time between 1977 and 1979:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/dropins/websize/Raschi.jpg
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/dropins/websize/Doby.jpg

I also got this Musial at one of the meetings:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/dropins/websize/Musial.jpg

Had it signed a decade later at a show in the Moscone Center in SF while I was in law school.

This is the best insert I've ever pulled from a pack:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibitman/dropins/websize/Jeter.jpg

[piecesofthegame]

In early 1996 I went to the local card shop downtown and saw this T201 Mathewson. I had literally never seen a card that old before and desperately wanted it, but the dealer wanted $250 for it. I came home and asked my dad (not the least bit interested in sports or cards) if I could borrow a couple hundred bucks to buy it. I was not surprised when he said no...and forgot about it. A few months later in June 1996 I graduated high school. At my graduation party, my dad (an avid reader) gave me a Christy Mathewson biography. When I opened the cover the T201 Mathewson was inside. He had gone down to the card shop and purchased it as my graduation gift, unbeknownst to me. It’s the only baseball/card related experience we ever shared. It was a lot of money for my parents to purchase it and started me on the vintage addiction. They may have overpaid for the card but it’s priceless to me.

[Cmvorce]

Now that’s a good story.

[tedzan]

Ted has dropped the mic. Absolutely beautiful. How much did the Anson and Kelly set you back in the 80s?


Chris.... that's a very good question.

I purchased the complete set of Goodwin Champions (50 cards). Plus, the Antique shop guy had 10 duplicates that he included in the deal.
The $$$$ for these 60 cards back then was equal to the price you would pay for just an Anson (or Kelly) nowadays.


https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan77/images/N162starsBBxFBetc75x.jpg


TED Z

T206 Reference (http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=237816)
.

[Cmvorce]

Ted, that post is a work of art

[mark evans]

Always liked the 57T Mantle, especially when it's ((centered)).

My choice as well.

[Cmvorce]

Hey fellas, just wanted to close the loop on this thread I started last week and thank you all for validating the feelings I’ve always had about the hobby. Like baseball itself there is something magical about collecting baseball cards. Reading your stories and seeing your photos and cards was a great way for me to deepens my own connection to the hobby, the sport, and the community. Great to hear from so many of you out there who seem to think and feel the same way I do about the cards in your collection. Cheers!

[JollyElm]

I'm an absolute variations hound, so these four are probably my favorites...

439306

[todeen]

It’s the only baseball/card related experience we ever shared. It was a lot of money for my parents to purchase it and started me on the vintage addiction. They may have overpaid for the card but it’s priceless to me.

I am really fascinated how all of the stories are: "My dad helped me buy..." or "My mother surprised me with...."

It's a common theme nearly all of us share.

The All Star game came to Seattle in 2001, and I begged my father to buy tickets to the FanFest so I could attend a card show. The ones in Spokane never wowed me, so I wanted to go to a big city show. I wasn't into vintage yet at that time - I was chasing Ichiro and Pujols rookies. He has told me since that he wished he had bought tickets for the games and card show. I told him "Dad, I have never had any regrets!" He stood in line with me to get autos from the free IP signings for two days! The most popular was Branca and Thomson. We waited forever. On our feet on concrete. We were both super tired at the end of the second day. But that day always shows me how much he loved me. I purchased the 2001 Fleer Traditions box and pulled a Jackie Robinson pant relics card in the convention center. They had Negro League inserts that year. That is perhaps my best insert I ever pulled, and every time I look at it I think of my dad.

[clydepepper]

Between these:

439307439308