Show a Card that Signifies Your Personal Love of Baseball...

[JollyElm]

...and explain why.

I was looking on ebay last night and ran across a 1974 Seaver card, and man did it bring back great childhood memories...so what the heck, let's start a thread.

As a little kid in Queens, caught up in the fervor of Willie Mays' retirement (and, more importantly, my dad regaling us with his stories of the Say Hey Kid on the NY Giants back in the day) as my beloved Mets got themselves into the sun-marred World Series games in Oakland (close to where I live now, and I can tell you THE SUN NEVER STOPS SCORCHING EVERYTHING), 1973 was a tremendous season. So when the new baseball cards 'finally' started showing up at the local drugstore early in 1974, you felt like an orange and blue clad king when you pulled a Tom Terrific from a pack!! A magically cool horizontal shot with Seaver hurling one in the afternoon sun at Shea as John Milner and a packed house look on??? This says I love baseball to me!!!

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(If anyone cares, card is just a screen grab.)

So, show a card and tell us a story...

[leaflover]

The 3 Amigos! My personal love …… PITCHING!

[rats60]

At the time I fell in love with the game, there were 3 kings of baseball, Koufax (65 & 66 Cy Young), Mays (65 MVP) and Clemente (65 Batting Champ & 66 MVP).

Growing up in Southern California, this was the card to have. In 1965 Koufax pitched a perfect game (his 4th consecutive season with a no hitter), won the pitching triple crown, was unanimous Cy Young winner and finished 2nd in MVP to Mays. However, it was the World Series when he was at his best. With the Dodgers down 3-2 to the Twins, Koufax pitched shutouts in Game 5 and 7 to win the Dodgers their 3rd World Championship in the first 8 years in L.A. In the 80s when Sandy was signing autographs at a card show, I brought my childhood card to get his autograph.

[Vintagevault13]

Darren,

100% agree with your 1974 Seaver card. That is one of my all-time favorites. My card is the 1978 Reggie. I grew up a huge Reggie fan and this card is about as perfect as a card can get IMO. The picture totally embodies Reggie’s iconic swing.




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[cesarcap]

Cool idea. These 75's survived my 1st summer of playing baseball in our new neighborhood. We moved from NYC to suburbs of NJ. I had no idea of the Red Sox and Yankees rivalry but after we played. I didn't care about how lousy the Mets were--it was exciting to go to Shea.

I read the newspaper (Star Ledger) and every baseball book I could to find to get more about its history. So, I was super excited to get this MVP card which I'm glad I still have.

As if that weren't enough, the 75WS really hooked me. I kept the batting order w/ my stack of cards for both teams. This Yaz one is an upgrade to the one I have, but I do remember watching Yaz, Fisk, Rose, and Morgan while clutching their cards.

[Exhibitman]

I lived and died with the Bombers that season; as it turned out, my last in NYC. That homer, what joy it brought to my 11 year old self. Was baseball ever as important as it was at that age?

[mr2686]

I've always loved this 1968 card. My older sister gave my 8 year old self a bunch of wax packs for my birthday that summer and this was one of them. Cards, of course, were not as big a deal back then, so this one got handled and thrown around, and lost in drawers. Every couple of years it would pop back up and would make me smile...and then get lost again. It finally got lost again for good, and my sister has since passed away, but everytime I see the card online it brings a big smile to my face and I remember that great summer. Oh hell, I guess I better pick one up soon. LOL

[Peter_Spaeth]

The first year I collected. This card had me hooked. Leaving value entirely out of the equation, it might well be my favorite card even now.

[Exhibitman]

The 65 Mays is a classic and was on one of my early want lists since it was on the 75 MVP card

[71buc]

These two provoke the most poignant baseball memories from my childhood. They represent bookends of the emotional spectrum. I remember bawling on 01/01/1973 and dancing joyously in front of the television on 04/08/1974.

[ALBB]

Another one bringing you back to NY Mets glory days

[HRBAKER]

[jchcollins]

In the late 1980's and early 90's, my friend Thomas and I were in the same scout troop, and both of us were crazy over baseball cards. My favorite team was (and still is) the Cubs. His favorite team, at least then - was the Mets. So cards and star players were a big deal, but those star players who were members of our favorite teams were even more special. I knew who he collected and what cards he was after, and vice versa.

Flashback to a chilly afternoon probably early in October, and we were all getting ready to do some "cold weather camping" as our scout leaders called it. As all of us gathered in front of the scout hut with our gear and were preparing to climb into the back of our leaders station wagons - what else to do? Of course we had gloves and were peppering a ball around. Only a tennis ball of course, we occasionally used real baseballs, but when that happened it was usually only a matter of time before some kid got hit in the mouth or otherwise injured. I don't know why, I must have just recently picked up the card at the time - but to this day, when I see this Seaver, I can remember that afternoon and those details. The cards themselves were probably in the car. We all knew Seaver was a legend, but he would have been even more desired by my friend Thomas the Mets fan. I don't know why such a strong correlation to that day - maybe it's that Seaver himself in this pose is wearing what is probably a spring training jacket, and I must have imagined that he was throwing a ball around on a cold day as well - although in Florida probably not. Anyhow, that's why we love cards right? The association to memories. I have many like that with cards, this is just the one that jumped to mind first when I saw this thread.

[mrmopar]

I will keep this brief, but could gush about the early days of my discovery of baseball (and cards). I was a Dodgers fan from the beginning and was especially interested in the Boys of Summer, although it was the late 70s and I lived in WA.

I don't remember the exact year I got this book, but it cemented my love of both the game and of the cards, if I needed it for either. I am going to guess 3rd or 4th grade, which would put it right around 1979.

So many of the cards in this book were etched in my mind and the star power was pretty sparse actually, but it was the 1956 Topps Jackie Robinson that became my first dream card. He shared a blacked out page with the 63 Clemente, the only one like it in the book, and it just made both of those cards pop from the page. I knew I was going to own one of those Robinsons one day. Still one of my favorite cards of all time.

[Gr8Beldini]

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[smrtn240]

love of the game