Nice comments. I agree with you about the Ryan RC. Huge pop count. I suppose it’s one everyone “should” have in their collection but it’s never been a huge target for me. Arguably one of the 25 most famous cards in the hobby so there is that.
As for Ryan himself, very unique career. Probably not as effective as Seaver or Carlton but he owns the all time K record and chicks dig strike outs. He also has seven no hitters, threw the ball as hard as anyone in MLB history. Not sure if he owns the all time official mph record but he used to for quite some time. And yeah he kicked Robin Ventura’s ass.
Here’s the other thing about Nolan Ryan - he was a good looking dude compared to say, Tom Seaver who was more stocky. I’m convinced Nolan Ryan loved posing for baseball cards and that makes him more desirable to collectors. Some of his cards have tremendous imagery. In particular the ‘71 Topps, ‘72, ‘74, ‘76 and ‘80 issues are all just awesome looking baseball cards. Some guys just have the “it” factor.
That’s my 2 cents.
|