if you had to downsize your collection, what would stay?

[Archive]

Posted By: Al C.risafulli

Easy.

1977 Topps Rod Carew. The first superstar I pulled out my first pack of baseball cards. I was amazed. ROD CAREW. He was the best player on earth, in my mind. And there he was, with a first baseman's glove, waiting for a throw, in living color.

1964 Topps Billy Williams. I bought this card at a show when I was about 10 years old. It was the most beautiful old card I'd ever seen, condition-wise. I bought it and immediately put it in plastic; never touched it again because I didn't want to wreck it. I still have it. If I submitted it for grading, it would get a 5.

'81 Fleer Craig Nettles error. When I was a kid we went through a tough financial stretch. My mom had to work three jobs. Nettles was my hero as a kid. For my birthday, she bought this card for me for $17, when $17 was like a million bazillion dollars to us. I had a plastic case that came with a medal I won in little league. The case was the exact size of a baseball card. I took the medal out (and lost it) and put the card inside the case, along with the foam that protected the medal. It's still there. Today, it is worth a million bazillion dollars to me.

T206 Rube Waddell portrait. Not just any one, though, the one that was my first T206, bought it for a dollar at my card shop when I was a kid. It's clipped on all four corners and completely wrinkled to death, as if it went through the wash or something. It's got a Sweet Caporal back. It's my favorite baseball card.

1960 Topps Tex Clevenger. This card was the oldest card in my neighborhood when I was a kid. At one point or another, everyone in the neighborhood owned it - whoever owned it would use it as trade bait when somebody else had a card that we REALLY wanted. Nobody could say "no" to the Tex Clevenger. Gradually we all grew up and moved away. Evidently I made the last big trade, because I have it.

All the other cards I have are just paper. Those five, though, are valuable.

-Al