Bad Wax

Gellman over at Sports Cards Uncensored has asked us bloggers again to come up with a group topic.  This time around it’s about the centerpiece of your collection.  I thought about this for quite a bit since I have a substantial collection, like most of you out there.  So when you have about 1000 cards that are considered “of value” how to you find the centerpiece?  For me, no card enters my collection unless it has meaning.  So I thought about which cards mean the most to me.  I narrowed it down to five cards:

• 1978 Eddie Murray rookie card – My first card that I ever wanted doubles of.  In the end I think I have six of them in various grades.  I watched him play in my first game at Yankee stadium and he hit a home run.  I was always a Yankees fan, but if I rooted for one other player (even against the Yankees) it was Eddie Murray.
• 1970 Thurman Munson rookie card – It’s true that the 1971 version of his card is worth more (I have that one as well).  However, this was his rookie card.  It was also the first card of my hero growing up that I was ever able to get.
• 1979-80 O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky rookie card – It took me forever to get this card.  When I first wanted it, the price was well beyond my means, even now it’s way too far out of my price range.  However I found a cheap one on Craigslist, and even though the corners are round that it’s creased through the middle, it’s still a Gretzky rookie.
• 1960 Jim Brown – Not that it’s his rookie card, but it’s the oldest football card I own and I always think it’s cool to take it out and look at it.

The one I settled on was 1909 Sammy Strang:

He was not what I would consider a great ball player.  He played from 1896 – 1908 with a career average of 0.269.  Actually I don’t know a whole lot about him, but when I was 14 years old I saw this at a card show and asked my dad if I could get it.  The dealer wanted $30 we talked him down to $20.  The reason I wanted it so much was because I owned a card from the turn of the 20th century.  It blew me away that a card could last all those years.  Next year that card turns 100 years old.  Like I said, I don’t know much about Sammy but I know everytime I look at the card, I get that same feeling as I did when I was a 14 year old at that card show.

As for how much it’s worth now, I would put it at about $50, though I would never ever sell it. To me it not only let’s me think about a time of when ball players were not the superstars they are today, these were guys that had second or third jobs.  These were blue collar guys.  It also allows me to bond with my dad over cards we had gotten over the years.  Sure the other cards are worth more monetarily, but nothing comes close to the sentimental value I have for this card.

As for whether the 1/1 cards have ruined the hobby, I think not.  Personally I don’t really care for numbered cards.  I like a good old macro card, the un-numbered versions.  It’s not that I think they are undesirable, I just don’t care about them. I could care less if I have a autograph on white, gold, black or copper paper.  I just care about the autograph.

I hope this bat around is as good as the first one.  I had a blast thinking about the question.