The 12 Greatest Baseball Cards of All Time
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- Опубліковано 23 вер 2024
- I collected baseball cards from when I was about 6 years old (1968) until the early 80s, when all the middle-aged baby boomers came in with their money, tried to recapture their youths, boomed prices up so you needed to have "expert appraisers" rating the condition of cards to "protect investments" and completely ruined the hobby. Here are my all-time favorite cards, though, most of which I got the old fashioned way: out of wax packs with bubble gum, the rest from shoe boxes at collectors conventions in the days when the biggest baseball card show in New York was held in the basement of a church.
For a real baseball flavor, the music is by a hero of my childhood, Denny McLain, at the console of the mighty Hammond Organ from his 1968 LPs "Denny McLain at the Mighty Hammond X-77 Organ: The Detroit Tigers Superstar Swings with Today's Hits" and "Denny McLain in Las Vegas". It's too bad Denny didn't confine his swinging to the ball field or the console of the Mighty Hammond organ. He'd be in the hall-of-fame today.
I used to think Rafael Ramirez's first name was Eduardo because every morning in the box score it would say E-Ramirez.
Ramirez ended up with the Astros and believe it or not he got to be a fair to middlin' fielder. He was a pretty good hitter though.
I am in total shock that Oscar Gamble and Oscar Gamble's Ominpotent Afro aren't on this list.
Worse yet, the handsome and debonair, Mr. Otis Nixon did not crack this list either. 8D
+Tee Dee And so youthful looking too!
"There's no gamble with Oscar Gamble". Don't know how I could remember something the radio commentator used to say during the White Sox games 40 yrs ago.
I want that six minutes of my life back.
As a fan, I'm proud to see the Atlanta Braves are well represented (#12, #7, #1). Even Rowland Office at #11 spent most of his career as a Brave.
This was So funny! Wish there was more funny, genuinely silly and simple kid humor stuff around like this
This was great! Don't know why people have little humor left anymore. Funny stuff.
I'm with you.....I wish our country would lighten up a little bit. Good video!
Blame it on the SJW's, for society's current lack of humor.
Funniest piece on baseball cards EVER Your guys are right, people have to lighten up! Live, love and Laugh!!!
I remember opening the pack and seeing Don Mossi leering out at me, still gives me nightmares!!! 😂
all i remember about the astros were their pitching. you had nolan ryan and mike scott with his unhittable splitter. good times.
Ah, Rich Folkers. Didn't Jerry Coleman once say he was "throwing up in the bullpen"?
This is so FUNNY! Love it!!!
Love the background music.
Walt "No-Neck" Williams would have been a nice addition.
The same thing happened to me in 1962. I swear, EVERY pack had at least one Roger Craig!! And if you've ever seen a picture of Roger Craig, while he's no Don Mossi, he's no George Clooney either!!
Roger Craig should’ve been on his list! Craig sported super tight crew cut on his 1962 card.
yeah, I got a lot of Roger Craig's in 1962! when 'Spanky' Anderson (I would call him 'Sparky', but he believed in discipline) took over the Detroit Tigers, he tapped Craig to be his pitching coach. I shouted out, "What's he gunna do! Teach 'em how to LOSE!" boy was I WRONG!!! years later, a baseball broadcaster was asked if he would like to manage a major league team. he said, "Yeah, if I could have Roger Craig steal signs for me!"
This always seems to happen with journeymen like Spangler, but I experienced an exception to this rule. In 1975, I wanted to see if I could complete a set just by buying at the store instead of ordering it by mail, so I bought more packs than ever before in a futile effort to complete the set (I came up 6 cards short), but I ended up with about 15 Catfish Hunters, as well as a whole bunch of George Brett rookie cards, which I still have. At the time, of course, who knew how good Brett would be?
yeah, I used to buy packs of cards and complete my sets. neighborhood kids used to help me, by trading cards with me. baseball cards came out in series (example: series 1, series 2, ect, up to series 7). it cost me a total of $10 to complete a series, each! then I went to a 'card show' in 1976 and bought 2 complete sets for $7 each in MINT condition.
@@samuelmoulds1016 In 1975 I got my first ever summer job and spent most of the money on buying old cards, mostly in complete sets. I bought the sets from 1968, 69, 70, 72, 73 and 74. 68-70 were about 40 dollars each. 72 was about 30 dollars. 73 & 74, maybe 10 dollars. I wanted to buy 67, one of my favorite sets, but couldn't find it as a complete set. I didn't get 71 because that was when I ran out of money. I didn't think of it at the time but that turned out to be a very good way to invest money. Way better than putting it in the bank. I only wish I could have bought more.
@@RRaquello yeah, I used "The Trader Speaks", "Sport Collectors Guide", and The Sporting News" to buy and trade 'singles''. I even wrote to "Topps". then for a few years I got lost. in 2015 I started in earnest, recollecting. I bought a copy of "Beckett Baseball Monthly" and in it found dealers. one was a HUGE help (his goal is to help collectors complete sets). THESHORE. through him I completed the 1963 set. I said, "Dave, I just did something it took me 53 years to complete." he said, "What took you so long!"....I AM wondering....do you have the 1996 Topps set!!?! I bought one for $110. 3 years later, I bought one for $10 NEAR MINT (plus postage). I AM a collector, not a seller, although I did sell 2 1976 sets for $70 each when I was going through a 'rough patch'.
Couldn't agree more! Baseball cards changed as those who made them a big deal grew up.
@harrylongballslol
I ain't making fun of the players. I'm making fun of the cards & Topps. Some of these pictures, how could anyone pick them for a baseball card? The players must have had enemies at the Topps company. How'd you like to be Dan Schneider & that picture is the one they picked for the only baseball card he ever appeared on?
Most of these are a bit before my day. Man, they used some unflattering pictures, lol. My favorite of all time is Billy Ripken's 1989 Fleer. Man, I still laugh when I think about that.
I really enjoyed this. Thanks for the post.
...that was a riot. ....Thanks for posting.
Dood, awesome music... can you link us up to the playlist, please. I want to hear more of that it's just great! Thanks.
The kicker: They all have a big-league baseball card and I don't.
Well... it was interesting to finally hear Denny McClain play the organ! Other than that........forget about it!!!
How about the 1976 Topps baseball card of Bill Greif when he played for the San Diego Padres? That was a wild photo!
Hey! Rowland Office! Cool. He has some of the best cards.
6 minutes and 7 seconds I will never get back.
What about the 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken card?
I have that card! I have always wondered who wrote that on the bottom of his bat.
This guy's collection is clearly from his childhood which looks to be from 1964-1973. The music attests. What a golden age for being a baseball fan. My ten year span for collecting was 1979-1988.
Mine was 1958-69. I had the full set of 1960 cards at one time. Of course, that was my favorite set of all time.
You have a sick sense of what is the greatest.
Try the 1965 Topps card of Smoky Burgess. First active major leaguer eligible for social security.
Another good one is Denny McLain's 1968 card, wearing his glasses.
Pretty funny. Expect my video reply BEFORE spring training. I still have MY '66 Don Mossi, along with some other pretty weird-looking dudes from the '60's, '70's and '80's. I remember Dean Chance had some winners, as did Joe Torre. And the '73 Yaz with the "Big Sideburns", immortalized on "The Simpsons". This was FUN!
Very well done sir!
Very well done. thanks
Really an excellent photo essay. In those days, Topps didn't even play players for the right to use their pictures. When Marvin Miller became the union leader he asked the players about it and was told, "Oh yeah, that's our reward for making the big leagues!"
i grew up in la and it was dodger town out here. steve garvey was the guy i tried to collect. i still remember fernando fever. i still remember the astro uniforms back then. they were white with the colorful stripes running across. great memories.
Yep, when you think now you may have stuck a Carlton Fisk rookie card on a clothespin into the spokes of your bicycle without having a clue then about the later implications.
But I agree, around 1990 baseball cards suddenly became hot collectibles, and people were hoarding box sets of cards without even cracking the package! I think most of those people got burned in the end when the prices of annual sets crashed.
the music was the redeeming factor of this video.
Other candidates: Danny Napoleon (Mets), George Alusik (KC A's). We sorted out the best cards of fat guys with double chins, dudes who look super old, greasy hair jobs, nicknames, weird photos, etc. Great video. Keep em coming.
Seems like you could have had the Bill Ripken card - can't remember the year, but you know which one I'm talking about. Or the 1970 Aurelio Rodriguez card where the bat boy posed for the picture instead of the player.
Holy Crap, Don Mossy is still alive, he looked like he was 60 years old 50 years ago.
Didn't know where you were going with this, but I did laugh out loud with most of your selections.
This is great. Thank you!
I was hoping that you would show the famous Billy Martin as Tigers manager seemingly flipping the bird at the camera.
I wasn't quite old enought to remember McClain mania, but my family lived in the Detroit area at the time, where my dad had been a professional musician. He went to a bar once where Denny was playing the organ to see what the fuss was all about. His assessment of Denny's playing the organ was "He's a damn fine pitcher".
He was a so, so reliever on the 1967 Red Sox Impossible Dream team. He and manager Dick Williams (who passed away this pat weekend) had a disagreement in 1968 and was let go shortly thereafter. Osinski to this day has never gotten over it. They never spoke to one another again, and he would never attend any of the '67 reunions because of Dick's presence.
yeah, Dick Williams was a stern guy. but he could get teams to the World Series (and I never heard Reggie say anything bad about him).
Obviously, many of the people looking at this can't seem to understand what you're trying to show here. It's not the best PLAYERS - it's the best CARDS - as in the picture on the card. I'd recommend that anyone who enjoyed this (I did) go out and find the book "The great American baseball card flipping and trading book" (or something like that - I can't remember the title exactly). Great stuff!
What about the famous Oscar Gamble baseball card from the 1970s where he has an enormous afro?
These cards are way before my time but I remember how crazy the sports card industry got in the early 90's. The best card pull I ever had was a signed Upper Deck 1991 Gaylord Perry Heroes Of Baseball card #999 out of #3000. The card is only worth 20 odd bucks today but it was a pretty damn good pull at the time. Pulled it in Gettysburg PA of all places on a family trip.
Thanks for posting this. I have all of these cards, also collected the old fashioned way during my youth. I still remember three cards from my first pack in 1965: Nelson Mathews, Mike Cuellar, and the NL RBI leaders (featuring Ken Boyer). Great memories.
yeah, I remember my first pack! my uncle Phil and I walked to the corner store to buy mother a loaf of bread. he said, "Whanna pack of baseball cards?" the first baseball card was the 1957 Joe Ginsberg.
You're so right. I bought that book quite a few years ago and couldn't put it down it was so funny. In fact they had a rookie card of a guy named Guido Grilli in there and later on I found out that the dispatcher where I used to work was Grilli's catcher when they were in high school. He told me Grilli was a terrific pitcher, but had some kind of arm trouble and pitched a few games for the Red Sox and K.C. Athletics before calling it quits.
The 1986 Topps #644 Mark Gubicza made me wonder if he had some sort of disability.
Where's the 1984 Glenn Hubbard card with the boa constrictor?
Love the Denny McLain international silverstring band.The Dan Osinski Story starring Billy Bob Thorton.The Lost Loves of Don Mossi starring Abe Vigoda.I'm not The Duke! starring Dan Schneider.The Mirror Has 17 Faces staring Dick Gernert.High School Horror Starring Rich Folkers.The Color Purpleand other shades Starring Lou Johnson and Hal "SKY" King.
That was funny as hell! great video
When #1 came around I was like, "I didn't know Steve McQueen played in the bigs..." lol. cool music!
The thing I remember the most about the 1972 set was that the fans up in northeast Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas had finally gotten a team when the Rangers moved to the Dallas Metroplex. And the cards all had "RANGERS" printed in capital letters, but it was obvious the players were still in the red and white Senators uniforms with the cursive W airbrushed out....LOL.
Is it me, or does Don Mossi resemble Frank Sivero (Vinny Carbone) from the movie 'Goodfellas'?
Mingya . . . cacca de geest a ca personality.
@Rickster79 That's right Henry. LOL.
The thing that really killed collecting was the greedy card companies putting out a thousand sets a year with billions of cards.. the market got flooded..
This is the best, and funniest!!! I still have '62 and '63, full sets, mint, all collected one pack at a time, from my corner candy store!!
68's a favorite of mine for sentimental reasons. It was the first year I collected. I like 70 coz it was the first time I got a complete set. I still have it.
What makes 57 so cool is that it's the only set where you can really see Ebbets Field. Topps was a BKLYN based company, so most NL players were shot in Ebbets field, but the earlier sets like 53, 55, 56 were painted from photos or like 54 the photos were cropped. After 57, the Dodgers moved. So only in 57 do you see Ebbetts Field.
No Jose Cardinal? Awesome Afro.
yeah, I love watching Jose take batting practice in Wrigley Field!
Ok, I got some kicks and giggles after watching this. There so many unflattering baseball card picks of baseball players during pre 1970. Often were taken during spring training and in the sultry heat of Florida games. Also add in card manu. Topps and for a brief time with Fleer and Donruss had poor quality control. That in 1969 a Topps baseball picture of a bat boy took place for Aurelio Rodriguez.
I always wondered about that Aurelio Rodriguez card. Did the photographer mistake the bat boy for Rodriguez or did Rodriguez (or his teammates) set it up as a joke? And what was the deal with the Houston Astros cards in 1968 still saying "Houston" instead of "Astros" and most of the Astros players being pictured either not wearing caps or with their caps painted over. Houston changed their name to "Astros" in 1965, and three years later it was like Topps still wasn't sure about it, LOL.
RRaquello How about the 1972 Billy Bird? In the 1972 Topps card, Look at Billy Martin's left hand. He's flipping off the photographer. It seem so Billy.
Too bad some of these players are no longer with us. I mean, it would be interesting to see them recreate their original poses, 40 to 50 years after they originally struck them.
LOL....Yeah, I miss those days. I used to love going to the Astrodome to games. We always had good pitching, but our offense was always on the weak side due to the dome being a pitcher's park. We had Nolan and Scotty along with knuckleballer Joe Niekro and lefty Bob Knepper. Also we had a giant of a pitcher named J.R. Richard who was sort of a black version of Randy Johnson. He unfortunately suffered a stroke just when he was coming into his own in the league.
I didn't know J.R. Richard was a 'lefty'
I agree. I started collecting cards in the early '70s and I did it as a fan, not as an investment portfolio. I grew up 120 miles east of Houston and everybody liked the Astros in my region of the country. We local kids all wanted players from the Astros and the superstar teams like the Reds and Athletics at that time too. And Topps was the only company that had the big set of 600 or so cards until all those other companies came onto the scene.
since I quit collecting in the early 80s, all of my cards are more or less vintage. I think the 67 topps is the best looking set they ever did. I started collecting in 68 and remember kids throwing away (!) their last years cards & I scooped them up & still have a lot of '67s, but they are pretty beat up & worth nothing as collectibles, but still have nostalgic value to me since I've had them over 40 years. Other best sets were 57, 68, 70 & 71. Ugliest were 72 & 75. Most boring were 73 & 74
Don Mossi is, eh, interesting but why isn't Elroy Face in this list?
what about the fleer Jay Johnstone w/budweiser hat
this was fun.I remember getting cards and seeing a player with kind of a blank look and I couldnt understand it.To be a major leaguer and pose for your card! they couldnt have stopped me from grinning.Sure wish I had those old cards....burned by a visiting aunt trying to help Mom out with the cleaning.A whole suitcase full :(
yeah, back at the turn of the century I was living in Colorado, when the 'gangs' were 'watching' me. I took my cards, under the cover of night, and drove 23 and a half hours to my mother's house and put them in the guest house. SAFE (aaah, I could sleep again at night)! unbeknownst to me, and without my permission, mother gave them to her boyfriend to appraise. she had NO IDEA what they were worth (and she had NO IDEA he was a thief)!!!! seven years later, when it was safe, I journeyed back for my memorabilia. mother's lover had stolen a great deal of my cards (and had traded some of his 'crappie' cards for my 'very good' to 'near mint' cards)! when I got back to Colorado, two bank vice presidents and I sat down and figured out, the man had stolen over 4.1 million dollars from me.
And here I opened this up to see great cards like Mantles and Wagners etc etc...but this is way better...good stuff!! Ha ha..
Dan Osinski in that photo bears a strong resemblance to 1940s character actor Skelton Knaggs.
love this!! everything about it!!!
the music the cards the nostalgia the comments!!!
what is the last song when u introduce the #1 card?
I'm so happy I got all these.
Yes! And another classic Colemanism: the batter slides into third with a stand up triple! He is still doing inning for the Padres and he is so old the poor guy forget who the Padres were playing yesterday during the intro...
BTW, you can tell it's Ebbetts Field because the fence railings were painted red. If you see that, it's Ebbetts Field. There are also some good Polo Fields shots in 57, but you got to see some of those in later years when the Mets came into the league. Only the 57 set has a lot of good Ebbetts field pictures.
Left out "Old Penitentiary Face" Jeff Leornard from early 80's SF Giants. Very scary lookin' guy. Also Pumpsie Green's card from 50's Bosox is quite funny.
I remember Garvey well. He was a helluva hitter and terrific 1st baseman. I always thought he'd be in Dodger blue his whole career and was really surprised when he went south to San Diego. LA had that terrific infield of Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey. In those days, even though I was an Astros fan, the N.L. West really was all about Dodger Blue and the Big Red Machine. My Astros, along with the Padres, Braves and Giants were usually bystanders by the all star game.
Son Garvey was the man until he started whoring around. I wanna let you know. That Jabroni was gonna run for governor state of California
I grew up doing the same exact thing RRaquello - love it. I grew up in San Diego and at our 7/11 stores we could buy slurpees in plastic cups designed like baseball cards - likeness on the front, stats on the back (football too). I had stacks of those cups in my closet and I got rid of them all in my early twenties - made a huge mistake that I still regret and sold them at a garage sale...did you collect them?
Obama's ears makes Mossi's look teeny
You should have included the 1963 John Roseboro card.
Looking at Roseboro's expression, something is going on behind the camera, but I'm not sure I want to know what it is!
this is like the scene from "throw mama from the train" where owen (danny devito) is showing billy crystal his coin collection that has only sentimental value.
That was awsome. You missed Wiilie Magee and others, but it's inevitable to miss some, too many players and far too many cards!
Don Mosdi could not help what he was born with! He was a major leauge ball player! How many " male models" played baseball? I can count them one one hand!
the last guy looks like steve mcqueen.
i guess if they never heard of him ?
@@scissors656 More like His Psycho Brother...lol
Everyone remember flipping em in the schoolyard in the early 60's?
"Matchee Touchee". ?
Won a lot of cards. Lost a lot, too.
Always extra fun on a windy day.
Dan Schnider was gomer pyle and dave gusti was sgt carter. Manny Sanguillen 1968 card was pretty good. The Angels batboy card was good also.
pretty entertaining for some boring cards, can't decide though if Don Mossi looks like a cartoon or a mafioso, nice job
Being ugly was required to play MLB in those days... Nowadays you gotta have an ugly or awkward name... Jordany Valdespin... Xander Bogaerts... Pablo Sandoval... Dan Uggla... Elvis Andrus... Chris Johnson... Jameson Taillon... Jurickson Profar... JP Arencibia... Emiliano Fruto... Tanner Scheppers... Yoenis Cespedes... Chris Young... etc etc...
How about Dick Pole or Rusty Kuntz???
I wonder if Denny McLain's LPs ever got put onto CDs. I'd be interested in purchasing those if so.
I totally agree. I was actually going to say the same thing before I saw your post.
My brother's favorites were always the pitcher cards, where you see their arms bent at these horrible angles during the delivery of the ball. Action shots. Looking at them closely would make you wonder how long anyone could throw a ball at all!
Love it -- both the cards and the groovy organ music. You should offer the soundtrack for a buck. ;-)
For some strange reason, I always seemed to wind up with more than my fair share of Mike Cubbage cards. BTW, young Joe Niekro looks like Leonardo DiCaprio. Great video!
great stuff
I clicked this vid because Don Mossi is the thumbnail. Check out his 1956 topps card. It's hideous. This video was awesome !!!
Beaten relentlessly with the ugly stick. You're also right, as he aged, his ugliness became more suitable.
my guess is half these guys didn't know their picture was being taken.
Don Mossi, one of my coolest earliest heroes, ad a kid, when he was with the Tigers. Still love the guy.
yeah, Don Mossi toiled all those years for the Tigers and never made it to the World Series! you could always count on the lefty for 9 innings. never heard anything bad said about him.
1970 Al Downing. 1966 Bill Rigney. 1968 Ron Willis. These three cards were made infamous by a Drew Friedman cartoon about ugly baseball cards.
To me the end came when the card companies started issuing "limited edition" sets, and the dealers would buy up the entire inventory before the public could even get them, then jacked up the prices way above the original retail before we collectors had a chance. I remember Topps came out with their 1953 reprint & knowing I could never afford the real thing, I wanted to buy the reprint. I found you couldn't buy them except at a huge markup from chiseling dealers and I quit collecting right then.
yeah, I bought the 1953 Topps baseball set minus 4 cards!
How did 1982 Fleer Ellis Valentine not make this list? Or any 1982 Fleer card, really.
LMFAO #2, I was thinking something similar for the description part of the card. But yours was better.
RR: What's the point here? None of this is nice. You are a better person than this, I hope.
yeah, this is what I thought!!! Mossi toiled all those years for the Tigers and never made it to the World Series. you could always count on him for 9 innings! I never read or heard a bad thing said about him.