TV Shows/Movies featuring Cards....I'll start Hart to Hart (1982)
 

During the Christmas holidays, I was watching TV (as you do) and stumbled across an episode of Hart to Hart from 1982. To my surprise the episode was about a plot to steal baseball cards.

From IMDB: "One of Jonathan's vice presidents dies, and leaves his family penniless; the Harts try to recover stolen vintage baseball cards that could be worth a fortune to the man's family."

You can watch the episode here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x61atuo

Any other TV shows/movies that you can name featuring baseball cards (or even Football or Basketball cards)?

We do this thread every couple of years.

https://www.google.com/search?ei=dZT...4dUDCA0&uact=5

My favorite is the 1974 Topps Tom Seaver used as the evidence to link the serial killer in CSI to his childhood to figure out the very convoluted plot.

There was an episode of MacGyver about counterfeiting baseball cards.

As a kid who loved MacGyver and collecting cards I remember this one fondly.

Also -
Cop Out
Veteran detective Jimmy Monroe (Bruce Willis) needs money to pay for his daughter's upcoming wedding, so he decides it's time to sell his prized '52 Pafko baseball card. Before he can turn it into cash, it's stolen, and Jimmy and his partner, Paul (Tracy Morgan), confront a gangster who is obsessed*with sports memorabilia.

Not a great movie. Ha

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Blast from the Past, featuring Brendan Fraser. Oh, and how about The Goonies, too? They found Chester Copperpot’s Lou Gehrig card.

The movie Stand By Me features the 1958 Mickey Mantle all-star card.

The most recent season of Fargo had what appears to be some 1948 Leaf baseball cards in one scene.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Merry Christmas
 

I remember a mid-80's episode of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories I saw as a kid, starring Mark Hamill as a homeless dreamer who disappointed his parents by hoarding Comic Books, Baseball Cards, and other collectibles in his old car.

Flash forward 40+ years and he's on the verge of suicide after realizing he wasted away his life hoarding worthless junk and living out of his car for nearly his whole life, when he learns his treasure trove of "junk" is worth a fortune, and he gets a new lease on life.

It really is a time capsule of the mid to late 80's Collectibles boom. It made an impression on me at the time, because I was that kid who hoarded worthless crap, that my parents kind of looked down upon. Luckily I learned earlier then the Mark Hamill character, that, that wasn't the most important thing in life.

;)

Mask
 

A classic movie (1985) starring cher, sam elliott & eric stoltz.
teenager, rocky dennis, with a massive skull deformity attempts to live a normal life.
much of the story line revolves around rocky completing his 1955 brooklyn dodger team set.
well worth the watch!

The opening moments of the movie "Big" shows the 2 kids playing stick-ball and then sitting out front of a store opening up BB card's. They don't show which cards, but they have the classic "need it, got it, got it, need it".

My favorite episode from that series.

The scene in Goodfellas with the Babe Ruth is epic.

For the trekkers out there:


Star Trek: The Next Generation - The villain steals rare items throughout the galaxy, and one of his possessions is a 1962 Topps Roger Maris card.


Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Captain Sisko's son, Jake, is trying to acquire a 1951 Bowman Willie Mays rookie card for his father's birthday.

A couple of years ago on an episode of Better Call Saul - one of the cohorts had his valuable collection of 50s baseball cards stolen. When he got them back and went through them to confirm they were all there, it was obvious they were a box of 90s commons.

"Fury: The story of a horse and the boy who loved him"
 

Most of our members have never heard of this late 50's TV show. Anyway, Joey and Packy were baseball card collectors. When the mysterious new ranch hand shows up at the Broken Wheel, the boys notice a strange similarity between the him and a guy on one of their cards. It looked to my young eyes and my seasoned citizen's memory as a 1958 Topps style card. As it turns out, the ranch hand was the guy on the card. He had changed his name and gone underground from guilt after he beaned and killed a batter. I don't remember what role Fury played in the solution, but he always did.

This is possibly Episode 96, originally aired on October 17, 1959. Title, "The Big Leaguer". I watched Fury every Saturday morning.

By the way, 1958T's were the first cards that I collected. I still have some of them.

Hey! I just found confirmation! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0584393/?ref_=ttep_ep2

The Accountant with Ben Affleck has a brief scene where you see some old tobacco cards it looks like, in his trailer. I won't spoil anything for those who want to watch the movie.

There's a scene from Blast From The Past with Brendan Fraiser, where he's trying to ascertain the value of his fathers vintage collection and a card dealer tries to rip him off. Nice watch to pass the time. I think His father (played by Christopher Walken) also mentions something about having a bunch of Ty Cobb cards at the start of the movie but it's been years since I've seen it.

Did anyone see Diminished Capacity? A big scene was at a baseball card show.

Ha Ha, I remember that. Such a disappointing oversight, from an otherwise great show.

Diminished Capacity
 

what's that?
a movie involving baseball card collectors entitled "Diminished Capacity?" :o
and,
jerry g- fond memories of sat morns in socal spent watching fury, sky king and whirlybirds! :)

'52 Topps Mick ripped up in The Christmas Chronicles (2018)
 

In 2018's The Christmas Chronicles, Santa (played by Kurt Russell), offers a restaurant patron a '1952 Topps mint condition Mickey Mantle rookie card' which he's always wanted, in exchange for the patron's Porsche in order to help save Christmas. The patron quicky agrees, but his wife takes the Mick out of his hands and rips it up, saying are you crazy?!?

Great backstory:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidse...baseball-card/

For Seinfeld fans “The Muffin Tops” episode George has 2 frames on the wall in his office at Yankee Stadium. One has T205s in it and the other is harder to see but looks like older A&G cards.

Two non-baseball:

1) in the classic 1964 episode of "The Fugitive" entitled "Nemesis", Kurt Russell portrays Phillip Gerard Jr., young son of the indefatigable detective on the trail of Dr. Richard Kimble ( David Janssen). The kid hides in the backseat of Kimbles's car, and drops Topps football cards out the window in order to leave a "trail" for his dad to follow. Closeups clearly show a 1963 Jim Brown and a 1960 Forrest Gregg. Without giving away the ending, let me just say it involves the card of another contemporary icon.

2) In the big screen's 1944 "Double Indemnity", the walls in the apartment of insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) are decorated with blowups of several T-220 boxing cards, including John L. Sullivan and Jim Corbett.

In a few episodes of the first season of Seinfeld, there's a wax box of 1990 Donruss baseball on top of his refrigerator.

The Rain Man
 

Raymond the Rain Man played by Dustin Hoffman collected cards showed him shuffling cards in the movie.

I've watched that show so many times and never saw it. Here's a screenshot... Made me smile

1988 movie "RAIN MAN"....with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise.

There are several scenes of Hoffman with his BB card collection (1950's cards). Hoffman portrays the long lost (autistic savant) brother of Cruise.

In the 1990's I was set-up at a small BB card show in Robbinsville, NJ. A fellow named Pete came to my table looking for Thurman Munson cards.
He amazed me. First by telling me I was a Yankees fan......then, by perfectly reciting the bio on the back of the 1971 Thurman Munson card from
memory. I continued talking with Pete, and I was stunned with his unbelievable ability to recall events and BB related things.

Later, I found out that this fellow Pete was one of the guys that Dustin Hoffman consulted with for his performance for the Rain Man movie.

The Princeton (NJ) newspaper had a write-up profiling autistic savant people who lived in the area, and Pete was one of them.


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

At around 2:25 Mick Jones flashes a card that sort of looks like a knock off of Al Kaline's 1962 Topps all-star card:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=cHTDkJ-bQqM

There is an episode of Leave It to Beaver where he holds some 1959 topps cards in his hand

The Hart to Hart episode and Amazing Stories really stick out in my mind as a young collector back then. Especially the Amazing Stories episode.

There is an episode of the Wonder Years that centres around Fred Savage’s character trying to trade for a Willie McCovey card from his friends. You can see that the cards they hold in some scenes are actually late 80s Topps cards rather than cards from late 60s sets though.

jerry g- fond memories of sat morns in socal spent watching fury, sky king and whirlybirds! :)[/QUOTE]

SANDO 69 Yes! Sky King flying the Songbird with his honey pot niece, Penny.

Needful Things
 

Not sure about the movie but in Stephen Kings Needful Things novel one of the items in the store that's coveted is a 1956 Topps Sandy Koufax. I believe it's a 56. I haven't read the book in 25 years.

There is a 2013 episode of Modern Family that has Phil and Manny meeting a guy in a parking lot near a dumpster to purchase a mint condition signed Joe DiMaggio card. The card appears modern in the brief flashes that it is seen (1980's Topps?), but the scene is classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDssBLVALDU

Brian

If my memory serves me...in the book...in this scene...there was also a honus wagner in this "box."

As with many of King's stories, there's both a book and a movie. Interestingly, there's a divergence whereas it concerns the card.

Yes, it's a 1956 Topps. In the book, the card is a signed Koufax. For the movie, it was Mantle.

Pretty sure I posted this in a old thread as well . It’s called amazing stories gather ye acorns . It definitely had a impression on me. Spoiler alert �� at the end he auction off his stuff and one one the items is a silver photo of Lou Gehrig or something like that.

Field of dreams. The Cracker Jack babe Ruth card that never was...drool

According to Jim the episode Kentucky Fried Beltzman April Fool's Day. Jim has retired from pranks. Cheryl brings his baseball cards to the garage where his band rehearses. Then Jim's most valuable card vanishes. After that, Andy tells that Beltzman, the guitarist, died. Is it a coincidence?

The card in question was an Ernie Banks rookie. Beltzman's last request was to be cremated with the card. Jim thinking it was his stole the card from the casket before eventually find his.

Barney Miller, not a card but a signed 1936 Yankees World Series baseball, the episode The Social Worker explains what it is as Inspector Luger tries to take it from Wojo's desk even offering to buy it for $20. Listing names like Mel Ott, Carl Hubbell, Red Ruffing, and others. They arrest a forger and later Wojo gives the ball to Luger who starts reading the names on the ball again and gets to John Hancock and asks was he on the Giants? To which Wojo says no he was one of the original Yankees. Luger nods in agreement and leaves.

The Barney Miller episode reminds me of the T206 autograph scandal. It also stikes me as funny that a Yankees ball has more than a few Giants autographs on it.

'Needful Things' - 1956 Mantle

'Switchback' - 1974 Seaver

"Good Will Hunting' - several 'images of cards' in Robin Williams' office.

Rocky Dennis was still a better looking chap than Don Mossi!

Family Matters

Urkel trades Johnny Gill one of his two "gem mint" '52 T Mantles (so that he'll sing to Laura).

You can see the cards from a distance, and I gave them kudos for actually using the Mantle. Given that Jaleel White was a serious collector back then, I wondered if they could've possibly been real. But since it was just the third season and White hadn't been a big star for long, dunno if he would had the $$ to land those during the junk wax era

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0577147/

I remember an episode of Ray Donovan about two seasons ago when he went to the basement of a house in New York and some T205s were on the wall.

Cards in Movies
 

The Sandlot:

The Babe taking Aaron's 54 Rookie card. The scene at the kitchen table at breakfast and a full box of Post Cereal from 1962 with cards on back.

The box box was borrowed for the scene from Dr. James McAvoy.

Painful to watch.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xzYOd5I2M_I

There were a couple in different Star Trek shows. A 62 Maris in an episode of TNG that was supposedly the last known baseball card. And a 51 Bowman Mays in DS9 that Jake wanted to buy for his dad.

Just noticed this is a duplicate of an earlier post.

One of those tobacco cards in the accountant was a t206 Wagner. I doubt a real one was used though.

The Larry Sanders Show, Season 6, Episode 6, "Adolf Hankler" (original airdate 4/19/98).

There's a scene where Larry's brother pays him a visit, and Larry gets out the old baseball cards. They're going through them, but all his brother wants to do is talk about investment schemes he's trying to get Larry to finance. We don't see specific cards, but I recognize backs of '65 and '87 Topps, and at the end of the scene the brother offers to buy Larry's Roberto Clemente card off him.

In the movie Ruby Cairo (1992) a group of baseball cards with clues left behind by a missing husband send a wife on a search for money and him.

In Memphis Belle one of the airmen kept Play Ball cards in his Bomber jacket if I remember correctly.

Twilight Zone episode "Extra Innings"

A down-and-out, injured baseball player named Ed Hamner tries to juggle his love for baseball and time with his wife Cindy, who insists he needs to get on with his life. Moreover, his teenage neighbor Paula shows her adoration for him by encouraging his baseball card collection and her potential as a player herself. Paula finds an old baseball card of a player from the early days named Monte Hanks, who happens to resemble Ed. After a fight with Cindy about a missed job interview and a victorious game for Paula, Ed goes to sleep and awakens to discover the card magically opening a door. Ed stumbles through the doorway to find himself in the uniform of Monte Hanks. He no longer has an injury and he is ready to play baseball.

When Paula shows up the next day, Ed explains all that happened: that he went back in time seventy-eight years and played ball without the use of his cane. Paula is skeptical until she sees the back of the card which reveals more home runs (hit by Hamner) than were there the day before. Still skeptical, Paula agrees to try to go with him. As they stare into the card, it envelops them and they go to the ball field in the past. After returning to the present, Paula leaves both excited about another game tomorrow and for Ed to play in the World Series. An uncomfortable dinner with Cindy that evening leaves Ed wanting to migrate to the other life even more.

Paula comes over sad because she cannot go to the game with him today, but wonders whether or not Ed belongs back in 1910. He seems so much happier there. At the game, Ed (as Monte) is playing late much later than the dinner he is supposed to attend with Cindy. Cindy arrives at the empty house but is upset that Ed is gone so she burns his card collection. Paula comes in just in time to save the magical card with Monte Hanks on it. Paula realizes she can help Ed have the life he truly wants. She tears the card in half leaving Ed in 1910. At home, she later looks at the torn card, which magically begins to fill itself with statistics. Ed went on to be a great Monte Hanks, a batting champion and happily played baseball for many years.

In the movie 'Mask', the title character was completing a 1955 Topps Brooklyn Dodgers set.

Attachment 433797


In a more recent movie, 'The Accountant', the title character was sometimes paid for his 'work' with Baseball Cards and he had some pricey ones in a drawer.

Attachment 433795

.

Actually, this probably covers it all:

https://baseballcardbreakdown.blogsp...es-and-tv.html

I remember watching an early Dick Van Dyke Show episode a few years back. Richie was playing with Baseball Cards. They were from 1961 which is the first year of the show.

I think there was also a '62 Lou Brock pinned up in the treehouse

It's not a tv show, but a commercial I've been trying to find forever and can't. I want to say it was a Hallmark commercial, but since I have never been able to find it on YouTube or otherwise throughout the years, it's possible I'm wrong. Anyway, this would have been from the holiday season of around 1988 if I'm remembering correctly - but the premise is there is a girl that is a baseball (softball?) player and for gifts everyone knows she's a tomboy, but it's one special uncle who gives her baseball stuff. At the end of the commercial there is a '52 Topps card (I'm not sure who...but I want to say a Cardinal...) tacked to her dresser. It was just a neat, nostalgic piece - maybe she also got a catcher's mitt for Christmas? I did too around the same time, maybe that's why I remember it so fondly.

I did see also mentioned earlier the '58 Mantle All-Star in Stand By Me. The error there is the '60 Yogi Berra that is with it. (The movie was set in 1959).

Also with Stephen King's Needful Things - the card in the book interestingly enough is a '56 Koufax, not Mantle. I guess the Hollywood folks thought Mantle would play better on the big screen. Also if you read the book, you will pick up enough about Stephen King's description of the young boy as a card collector to know that he can do good research as an author -- but he's no card collector himself. :) "Fleers" and some fictional "Lucky Strike" cards?

I remember in the movie House Guest with Sinbad and Phil Hartman, Sinbad's character had some kind of baseball card scheme and there's a scene where a bunch of boxes of cards get delivered to his house.

MASK with Rocky and his Dodgers wall is great. I watched that movie over and over as a kid, at first admittedly just because there were cards in it. Rocky talks about the '55 Dodgers but if you look closely, he also has '56 Topps cards as part of that collection. Love the scene with Cher ripping up a card - I think it is a '74 Ron Cey? And then Rocky's prized possession on his wall is obviously the '55 Jackie. If the movie was set in the late 70's that was probably a $15 or so card then. Oh and then his grandpa brings him a '55 Bowman Pee Wee but drives a thumb tack straight thru the card itself...classic.

Pride of the Yankees. One of my all time favorite movies. In the opening a young Lou Gherig is asking some other kids to play baseball. He says he has some baseball cards he will give them for an at bat...one of which is "Babe Ruth? A Rookie!"...classic line from a classic movie. I think they mention Hans Wagner as well, but my memory may be failing me. I'll have to bust out the DVD and re-watch it.

Americans
 

I noticed in several episodes the boy has baseball cards tacked above his bed, supposed to take place in 1980 or 81-ish, I think I remember it being a 1987 Topps All Star card.

Criminal Minds
 

There was also an episode of Criminal Minds, one of the first two or three, where Spencer solves a riddle involving a 1963 Topps Nellie Fox.

In the movie "Iron Eagle" from 1986, (Jason Gedrick, Lou Gossett Jr...) Doug's kid brother is in a scene where he is talking to a girl on the phone in his room pretending he's older. There are lots of 1985 Topps cards up on the walls. This led me as a 9 year old kid to subsequently tack up '86 Topps cards on my bulletin board walls, I'm assuming at some point after I saw the movie. Some survive in my collection to this day, only slightly worse for the wear with the thumbtack hole as a reminder. I think one is Reggie as a California Angel, and some of the box bottom cutouts that year (Rose, Fernando Valenzuela...) that I still have also have the thumbtack hole.

Thankfully the movie / me as a collector came out when they did, and not say in...1952.

Season 1, about episode 20...watching it now!

Anyone watch Loki this week and notice the T206 Honus Wagner card in the drawer full of infinity stones at the TVA? Obvious reprint, of course!

Bill

Bumping as I’m finally getting around to watching Better Call Saul. The whole episode was devoted to this guy getting his baseball cards back. Pretty funny as I can relate. If this happened to me, I’d go to the cops too. He’s spouting off names and cards that would be upsetting to have had stolen.

Anyway, another weird movie fact I saw a few years ago (2018). While watching Creed, they show Pardon the Interruption on tv, which happens to show that Patriots vs. Eagles on the bottom line. This was the Super Bowl matchup in 2018. Cool thing is, Creed was made three years earlier in 2015! Great prognostication? Cool that I happened to watch this movie shortly after the 2018 Super Bowl, so it stood out to me.

How about 'Cop Out' from 2010 with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. Willis is a cop who loses his 1952 Topps - Andy Pafko card #1, and spends the whole movie trying to get it back so can sell it to help pay for his daughter's wedding.

I remember watching an episode of Dennis the Menace where he had a 1955 Topps Koufax.

Wow this is a fun thread.

Watch many of those and never paid attention pretty cool

Xtandi commercial....
 

Just saw a new Xtandi (drug) commercial and a guy named Karl Foster plays catch with a kid then shows him a box with his baseball card in it. It was a fantasy 1980 topps card and showed him playing for the Armadillos.

Pretty cool commercial with a card that never existed but showed him playing catch with a neighbor kid which was cool.

Mike

CONTENT ADVISORY: NON-SPORT CARD RELATED, WITH SPOILER

Everybody Loves Raymond, season 4, episode 17, "Hackidu," original airdate 2/21/00

Synopsis (cut-and-pasted from Wikipedia, slightly edited and supplemted by me): In a spoof of the Pokémon craze, Ray's daughter Ally makes a Hackidu card trade (all of her cards for one Scramisaur card) which Ray does not agree with. He reverses the trade, only to find out that the Scramisaur card that Ally was getting is actually very rare and an expensive. Ally is devastated and to make it right, Ray buys her a Scramisaur from an eccentric card shop owner. Ray presents the mint condition card to Ally, who promptly folds it and puts it in her pocket.

I remember Magnum PI had an episode once involving a 1954 Al Kaline rookie card.

George Costanza has good taste.
Rewatching Seinfeld and saw these beauties in the background.

Sort of tangential, but I just watched 'Psych: The Musical' and one of the songs randomly mentions Harold Baines (this was before he made The Hall).

The coroner sings about his cheating wife..."Think your wife was not with White Sox slugger, Harold Baines...it's the opposite of that, he even left behind his bat."

And then Shawn says, "The real question here is, who still has a Harold Baines bat?"

Completely and utterly random.

Cards on TV
 

Here's a couple of more:

Dick York in a Alfred Hitchcock episode from 1961 called the Doubtful Doctor. He has blackouts and his life reverts back 2years. He buys what appears to be 1957 Topps baseball cards from a kid.

Leave it to Beaver, Wally gets a job at the soda fountain in the town drugstore. When Beaver, Gilbert and another come into get sodas they can't pay. When Wally tries to get them to pay, Gilbert empty's his pockets and there are 59 Topps Baseball cards dropped on the counter, episode: Wally's Weekend Job.

It's Garry Shandling's Show - "Foul Ball" (season 1, episode 4), original airdate 10/1/86, has a couple of interesting scenes.

At the top of the show, Garry talks about looking forward to going to a ballgame. To get in the mood he shows the audience his baseball card collection, and during the opening credits they show closeups of some of the cards. (2:11 in the linked video)

Later, there's a scene where Garry and his neighbor's son are looking over their cards. Garry offers the kid a Mickey Mantle, a Roger Maris, and $10 for a Dwight Gooden card. ("It cost me a lot, but Dwight Gooden is really a rare card.") (13:51)

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7qrz9n