Post War Must Haves........

[Bigdaddy]

I wouldn't call them 'must haves', but I will say 'iconic' post war cards. Aside from the big ones you mentioned, I'd include the following:

1953 Topps Mickey Mantle
1957 Dodgers' Sluggers
1962 AL Home Run Leaders
1962 Manager's Dream
1964 Pete Rose
1969 Mickey Mantle
1971 Thurman Munson
1976 Johnny Bench
1977 Mark Fidrych
1984 Donruss Don Mattingly
1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr

[bnorth]

1952 Topps Eddie Mathews rookie should be on the list.

[Exhibitman]

1953 Paige was one I was going to suggest. I do not like 1953 Topps but I had to have one of them. I'd also go with:

1952 Topps Gus Zernial



1953 Bowman Mantle
1953 Bowman Musial
1961 Topps Maris
1971 Topps Munson
1972 Topps Clemente

And of course, the 1972 Topps Billy Martin

[vintagewhitesox]

I would say a 1948 Leaf Paige
Gretzky rookie
Jordan Rookie

[irv]

Originally Posted by bnorth

1952 Topps Eddie Mathews rookie should be on the list.

A man who speaks my language!

Aside from Mathews being my first/#1 choice, I'd say a 52 Topps Campanella as well.

Out of my wants and needs for other high number 52's and 3 lows in Pafko, Berra and Martin, I would also love to have these:

53 Paige
53 Mantle
56 Mantle
54 Aaron
55 Clemente

And while collecting mostly hockey cards lately, I would also like:

66 Bobby Orr Rc
79 Gretzky RC
58 Bobby Hull RC

[RayBShotz]

I'm partial to 69T so I might put the 69T Bench and the 69T Reggie on this list.
RayB

[Wanaselja]

73 Clemente. Something beautiful and slightly haunting about the image. And I love that it has the nice, clean, 3,000 hits listed on the back.

[jchcollins]

Off the top of my head -

*'56 Topps Mantle - Not the most expensive or most desirable Topps Mantle, but as the notorious Brent Huigens once said, "the Mantle that feeds the masses." An attractive card, and his base card from his single greatest season. I'll be honest I can't afford a '52 Topps or a '51 Bowman. But I have two 56's and love them.

*'56 Topps Roberto Clemente - If this work of art is not one of the single most beautiful baseball cards ever produced, then I'm not sure what is.

*'57 Topps Aaron - The reverse photo aside, easily an iconic and immediately recognized Aaron card.

*'68 Topps Ryan / Koosman - The card that exploded around 1990 when people realized Nolan was on the verge of 5,000 K's. It went from a $250 card in 1988 to well over $1,000 in short order.

*'75 Topps George Brett - One of the first mainstream rookies to gain notoriety and value. The fact that George does not have to share this card with someone else is both rare for the time, and desirable.

*'80 Topps Rickey Henderson - Just a classic card. PSA deliberately withholds 10's on it, there have been several convincing studies.

*'84 Topps Don Mattingly - Sorry, but I don't know of a more desired card than this one when I first started collecting as a kid. Even those of us who had never seen him play wanted one.

*'89 UD Ken Griffey Jr., #1 - Perhaps the first post-modern baseball card. A thing of beauty.

[jb67]

Originally Posted by RayBShotz

I'm partial to 69T so I might put the 69T Bench and the 69T Reggie on this list.
RayB

Agree that these two cards are on the list.