What player or team do you PC and why?

[carlsonjok]

I PC two players:

Paul Blair - because I had a Paul Blair glove growing up and I have always favored defensive standouts regardless of the sport. I got the chicken bucket lid from a member here. The 1976 Topps is only there for scale.

Johnny Antonelli - I grew up in Rochester and he had a bunch of Firestone Tire Centers there. I knew him first as the tire guy. This is a promotional card for his autobiography, which was published by the RIT Press. RIT is my undergraduate alma mater.

[conor912]

I was always into “old baseball” as a kid and by the time I in high school I was collecting exclusively vintage. When I was a senior I was taking the commuter rail into Boston and someone had left a copy of SI with Al Simmons on the cover. I picked it up and read about the late 20’s A’s teams that were as good as the Yankees during the same time. For the first time, I was read about Foxx, Grove, Simmons, and Mickey Cochrane, who I took a particular interest in since he grew up not far from me, and attended Boston University, where I was headed the next fall. I’m a set collector, so to this day he’s the only singular player I collect.

[vintagesportscollector]

In the 70’s I got my first cards - a huge box of thousands of cards from the ’60s and very early ‘70s that a neighboring kid was giving away. My dad didn’t seem to really care, nor take an interest in much of what I was into, but he asked "do you have any Jim Palmers?”. Apparently he was his favorite player. I pulled out about a dozen cards from 67 to 72, but no RC. My dad was pretty excited and we bonded. He wasn’t a very affectionate dad, but I remember that very fondly. He got me a 1974 the following year -still my favorite card.

[Carter08]

Originally Posted by vintagesportscollector

In the 70’s I got my first cards - a huge box of thousands of cards from the ’60s and very early ‘70s that a neighboring kid was giving away. My dad didn’t seem to really care, nor take an interest in much of what I was into, but he asked "do you have any Jim Palmers?”. Apparently he was his favorite player. I pulled out about a dozen cards from 67 to 72, but no RC. My dad was pretty excited and we bonded. He wasn’t a very affectionate dad, but I remember that very fondly. He got me a 1974 the following year -still my favorite card.

Great story.

[olecow]

Eddie Mathews. He's been my favorite player for over 30 years, even though I was born the year after he retired. I also like that his cards aren't hugely expensive, other than his 52 Topps.

[z28jd]

I've shared the story before, but I picked out a Larry Corcoran card as a Christmas gift at a young age because he was the best OJ player available for sale in a Larry Fritsch catalog. I thought OJ cards were extremely rare, so when I had a chance to get a second one and it was a different variation, I got it cheap. I then tried for all six variations, had trouble finding the sixth one (hands at shoulder, London), so I bought a few doubles to trade in case one popped up. By the time I got the first London/shoulder, I only needed two more to have two runs of the same six cards, so I got caught in the loop of buying doubles to trade in case one came up, which led to trying a third run. Eventually I just decided to buy as many as I could, though I have passed on 3-4 of them over the years when I was collecting something else. That's how I ended up with this (second scan was bought after the first pic was taken, so the count is 44 now)

[Golfcollector]

I PC Sam Crawford.

I grew up in a small town around 10 minutes from Wahoo, Nebraska.

I am biased but still of the opinion he is one of the most overlooked talents of his era

For consideration, only Cap Anson, Honus Wagner and Nap Lajoie were 3000 hit club members when Crawford left the Tigers in 1917 and headed west the the PCL.

When leaving MLB in 1917 he was just 39 hits shy at 2961.

He played a few more years in the PCL and compiled a total of over 3700 hits, an impressive number indeed.

[Brent G.]

Originally Posted by z28jd

I've shared the story before, but I picked out a Larry Corcoran card as a Christmas gift at a young age because he was the best OJ player available for sale in a Larry Fritsch catalog. I thought OJ cards were extremely rare, so when I had a chance to get a second one and it was a different variation, I got it cheap. I then tried for all six variations, had trouble finding the sixth one (hands at shoulder, London), so I bought a few doubles to trade in case one popped up. By the time I got the first London/shoulder, I only needed two more to have two runs of the same six cards, so I got caught in the loop of buying doubles to trade in case one came up, which led to trying a third run. Eventually I just decided to buy as many as I could, though I have passed on 3-4 of them over the years when I was collecting something else. That's how I ended up with this (second scan was bought after the first pic was taken, so the count is 44 now)

Great choice -- I think they're the most fascinating set in existence. What did you score Larry for and what year are we talking?

[z28jd]

Originally Posted by Brent G.

Great choice -- I think they're the most fascinating set in existence. What did you score Larry for and what year are we talking?

It was a present, plus other lower price cards were involved, so I don't remember exactly. I think it was $140 for a low grade copy. Don't remember the exact age I was, too young to know about OJ cards probably, but let's say it was around 1996. The second one I got in early 2000 on the day I went on Ebay for the first time. It was the first OJ card auction ending that day. I had to get my mom to create an account in under 20 minutes so I could bid. It was low grade as well, but I think I paid only $30