The most beautiful in the hobby...
 

Admit it - sometimes you just see a card and think "Damn, that card is gorgeous!" Ok, maybe you don't and I am the only one who does, but I'd like to think others do as well. Assuming you are one of "us", which card(s) do you see that immediately draw your attention. What are some of the most beautiful cards in the hobby?

To me, T206 has some real beauties, but Bat Off is the standard bearer of eye appeal.

I don't have a picture of it to include, but there is just something about the image of the 1952 Topps Johnny Mize that gets me. I'm no Yankees fan, but...WOW!

Cobb bat off definitely qualifies for me too. Dark cap Matty is another that mesmerizes me.

https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=28887

We all have different tastes, but Leard will not be on many of our lists in this category.


https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...3-leard-zeenut

53 Bowman Peewee #1
with several others tied at #2 including 53 Stahl Campy, WaJo port, 52 Topps #357 Smokey and 54 Wilson's Ted

One of the worst 51 Bowman #195 Richards lol

Two cards I don't own:

N162 Kelly
T205 Cobb

I don't know how you get more beautiful than those two.

-Al

I have many favorites, but here is a top candidate: The E101 of Christy Mathewson (the various E92 issues, the E102, E106, D303 and T216 cards with the same artwork would qualify too).

Brian

Agreed…it’s a great card.


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:)

This card makes me think that maybe, 100 years ago, Brown and some other players may have barnstormed through my rural neighborhood, and played against some local team in a nearby cow pasture. This is probably my favorite card of all time (and I don't own it.)

I couldn't agree more, Al. And thanks for auctioning this one so I could get it back in my collection. I have always thought the T205 Cobby might be the best looking card in the hobby.

https://luckeycards.com/tyt205.jpg

I know this is sacrilege and I am at risk of being banned, but the T205 Cobb always reminds me of Michael Dunn (Miguelito Loveless on The Wild Wild West.)

A few come to mind
 

T3 Cobb
T205 Young
1921 Exhibit Ruth
1934 Goudey Gehrig (either one)
1952 Mays
1952 Minoso
1968 3D Clemente

Count me in the legion of '53 Bowman Pee Wee fans. Actually his 1952 Berk Ross is up there for me as well. If the photo and print quality matched the pose quality it would be even higher in my esteem!

https://vintagecardprices.com/pics/377/69471.jpeg

T3 Wojo
Stock image not mine unfortunatelyhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f42fb891ac.jpg

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As far as beautiful cards, I have it narrowed down to 100
the Turkey Red baseball set.
As the Wajo & Mordecai Brown are indeed fine examples.

Here's a common, Red Ames in his NY Giants sweater

https://qualitycards.com/pictures/45848203.jpg

Slightly off the beaten path, but the 1953 Bowman Luke Easter is spectacular

T206 Walter Johnson portrait

for me, it is the T205 Addie Joss, perhaps because of the back story behind it.

That Luke Easter is pretty fantastic.

-Al

Who is the base runner?

It's hard to decide between these two, so I'll consider it a tie:

Can't argue with Cobb Bat off or Johnson Portrait. Two more I think look amazing.

If I had to pick a T206 portrait it would probably be the Matty. When the color is strong that card glows.

:)

Not sure which one I like more, but these three are by far my favorites.

Bill

To Me

This is a Great looking Card

Love the Pose and the clarity of the pictures and love the different Adv backs

I've always loved the Kashin Ruth. Such a powerful pose of the most powerful man to step into a box:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e318ebf5_z.jpg

I always thought this was one of the better live action Babe Ruth cards available.

Any time this question comes up, I always reply with this one...baseball Americana at it's best:

Attachment 474279

and the runner up goes to a common from the same set:

Attachment 474280

Some say Gil Hodges.

It's the Ty Cobb from the T3 set for me. A lot of the T206 and similar cards, I just don't much care for how they look. The T3 set, on the other hand, I don't think I've ever seen one that ISN'T gorgeous.

There are hundreds of nice ones, but for me this is the best-looking card in the hobby.

52 Bowmans
 

I agree with the 52 Bowman pics and I would add Gil Coan's card from that set as well....very nice

But my personal favorite is this one from the 33 Goudey set

There are so many.,
https://photos.imageevent.com/rucker...phillippe1.jpg

These are the two most beautiful cards in the hobby in my opinion.

https://live.staticflickr.com/1855/4...2a4b00d6f6.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f213d615cc.jpg

Aesthetically Speaking......
it's tough for me to decide between these four. If forced to choose only one, it is...."Slide, Kelly, Slide".


https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...ansonkelly.jpg



https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...obbBat25xx.jpg https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...CobbBat25x.jpg




https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...ohsonSGC40.jpg



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Great thread, really enjoyed looking at all the choices. I think Nap Lajoie w/ Bat could be mine.

That Gehringer!

Many great cards, those are just amazing.

Always liked this one of the Great DiMaggio (not mine):

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ET6sWPIW...jpg&name=small

The darker the background on Joe, the more appealing the card.

Not sure who the base runner is, but this will always me my pick as the best or most beautiful card in the hobby. It a painted portrait and not some picture on a card. First time I ever saw one in person I fell in love with it.

Most beautiful card in the Trading Card hobby?:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/mN0AA...wx/s-l1600.jpg


Steve

T3 Cobb is the best looking card ever created

Several of my favorites

I have always been partial to the T3’s and the Wajo portrait, the N162 Anson and the 33G Gehringer, so agree with many others on those.also always love the Round Album.

Christie Brinkley's rookie card is from 2005? That's worse than Beckett calling the Goudeys Ruth's rookie cards.

I think we have all been collecting the wrong cards

WOW

:):):):):):):):):)

Cobb seems to be getting a lot of love...the 1912 T227 card is beautiful...here is minehttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3b624285bf.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...5e8da67564.jpg

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That is a beauty. Nice T227!

I’ve always been fond of that Berk Ross image of Reese because it’s comparable to an item
in my collection. One of my favorite images is this original photo from when he was in spring training in Havana.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...38aa9105cd.jpg


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Great photo, but one that leaves you wondering what baseball action this is supposed to depict--Pee Wee is diving toward a base, but he has a glove on. So it seems he is not supposed to be a baserunner. But then again he has no ball in his glove, so it's not like he is supposed to be a fielder diving to the base before the runner gets there.

Still a cool photo. And they left out his "middle name", which is fun too.

Brian

There are so, so, so many I love to death. Since this hasn't been said (nor will probably not be said) I'll pick this for now: 1889 Goodwin A35 John Ward:

https://tanmanbaseballfan.com/wp-con...-1-600x700.jpg

The custom holder I created to fit around it really does it for me in terms of being a display piece.

This one stands out to me among my T3's.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...65b777db_z.jpg

I think the photographer was just trying to get him to lay out like he was diving for a ball. It's great to think what players would do for photographers back in the day. Can you imagine trying to get any of todays players to do anything like this today?

Wow that 1889 Goodwin A35 John Ward colors and details just pop

That is incredible looking

Lots of great stuff so far. I'm a sucker for all the T/E sunset cards, but apart from those, it's hard to beat this one -

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...dd81503f_c.jpg

I always thought that card was awesome as a kid. As a kid I couldn't believe that I a) actually found one at my local show and b) was able to afford it. I always thought about how uncomfortable his ass must have been. :D Still have that card:

Attachment 474591

There are probably a dozen or more T3s that could be mentioned in this thread.

Agree. My favorite Clarke. I like it almost as much as the Cobb.

https://live.staticflickr.com/1860/4...4bf7aa3857.jpg

Classic beauty.....
 

https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...ilynMonroe.jpg



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

And, beautiful classic cards displayed in their album......
 

GOODWIN CHAMPIONS album (A36)....Lithography at its best (12 pages)
https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...36%20cover.jpg . . https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...mpions%203.jpg


https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...mpions%202.jpg . . https://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan...ampion%208.jpg


TED Z

T206 Reference
.

OK, here are a few more of my favorites :)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c1b08049_z.jpghttps://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c7f786a4_z.jpghttps://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...748410ce_z.jpg

Some great cards in here!

Perhaps not quite old enough to fit in with some of these classics, but this one is my favorite. Just pretend it's well centered lol.

Not pre-war, and not even baseball. But this is my favorite card.

The orange sky with the jagged clouds just takes me away. And that behind a legendary QB ready to let 'er rip. With some of the stadium down below.

No writing, facsimile sig, or anything else. Just the art

https://i.imgur.com/ngFm2XU.jpg

Here are few of my favorites.

For me would be this 1915 Cracker Jack card with this high leg kick. What a vintage pose for a Pitcher. Also, the combination of the red background with the green grass is simply amazing!⚾️

Beautiful
 

To me it looks like a Norman Rockwell painting!

Some Great Looking cards and love the diversity

Keep Them Coming

T3's




everything else.

I am a big fan of the 50 Bowman football cards. Great set.

Not a card but I'm partial to examples from the "Fan for a Fan" series as one of the most beautiful items in the hobby.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1629646751

There is a 100% chance I'll gush ad nauseam about this when it comes in, but this is my lone Heritage pickup from last night!

http://mycollectionofcards.com/baseb...721/batoff.jpg

Super excited about its condition for the grade - centered nicely, nice colors, sharp focus. This just might be my favorite looking non-oversized card.

As a side note ...

I had one before, and went back & forth about if I should have the bat off, or the green as my T206 representation in my collection. I sold the bat off, and got a green about a year ago. Now, I have both!

http://mycollectionofcards.com/baseb...721/2cobbs.jpg

It's interesting that 90% of the cards posted are of HOFers or stars and 90% of all cards issued are not HOfers or stars (note: this is not actual research, I have no idea of the real percentages...but you get the idea). I wonder what cards someone without baseball knowledge would select...would a T206 Johnson portrait stand out from all the other T206 portraits if they had no idea who he was?

That being said, I will now fall into the same trap and say that this is the most beautiful card. Is it the stadium background, the sunset sky, the lovely composition with the glove reaching into the green space created by the diagonal of the base path, the icy (or crabby) stare? Or is it because it's Evers? If I owned a T3 Mathewson or Cobb, would I think that was more beautiful? Probably. But since it is all subjective, this is my choice for today.

Totally agree. That's a gorgeous card with top shelf design sense.

Whenever we go down the 'Beautiful = HOF/Star' route, I always like to throw in a favorite from among the commoners. Here is a T206 of Lefty Leifield.

Brian (a minor star buried in a lot of otherwise common players)

Various favorites....
 

Hard to choose, but here are a few of mine. T206's Ed Reulbach (why isn't he in the HOF?) and Rube Waddell (exquisite colors). 1941 PB's Arky Vaughn and Babe Dahlgren...41 PB's have some of the brightest colors that just pop. 1952 Bowman's Joe Garagiola (love this pose, and Joe's wide grin) and a classic Warren Spahn follow through.

Some beautifully brilliant cards...
 

I picked these not based on star power... but on beautiful designs, illustrations... and, in the case of the 60 Topps Manager set... using some wonderful portraiture, as opposed to having them yelling with their hands cupped around their mouth. The 60 set had a different design just for managers that really work well.

I'm also partial to catcher cards, as you can tell...

LOVE those choices! (Spahn's expression is priceless!)

Also I'm a sucker for Art Deco so almost any Diamond Star