What is a key card ? (Submit & show your votes per set!)

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

A key card is a card that would be one of the most expensive, or most difficult to obtain, in a set. Wagner is a key card in the entire white border T206 set. Mitchell is a key card in the American Caramel E90-1 set. A key card doesn't necessarily have to be a Hall of Fame player. And some sets have several key cards.

If a kid in the late 60s is swapping all of his old and new baseball cards with his buddies, swapping for any and all 1967 Topps, as they gather in garages and basements on rainy days... when he gets done and he still lacks Mike Shannon (#605) Tommy John (#609) and Johnny Roseboro (#365), I'd think of Shannon and John as key cards at that time. They are high numbers, not as plentiful. There are lots of Roseboro's out there, the kid will get one. The kid obviously has a Carew rookie (#569) and a Seaver rookie (#581), because as someone wisely observed here recently, as kids we didn't want cards of rookies, we wanted the stars. TODAY the Carew and Seaver cards would be keys. But back in 1968 and 1969 I don't think they were key cards. My recollection is that when the new year's cards came out, the swap value of the previous years' cards went down dramatically. Only old cards of stars retained any value at all. Or maybe cards of your favorite team. I recall swapping extra Mantle's and Maris' cards away, 'cause I was a Cardinals fan, and didn't care much for the Yankees. And that was not the only mistake I made in my long adolescence.