Mays Rookie 51 Bowman
 

Houston we have lift off.

PSA 8

Feb. 2020 - 48k at Heritage

Last night - 103k at Memory Lane

I come from a working class background and we never had much money, Dad always working, yada yada...
The one and only memory I have of my Dad and I in this hobby was when he took the time out to drive to an out of town card dealer, I must have been 11 or 12. I was in heaven when I walked in that store, my Dad was patient. 52 Mantles were going for 2500 bucks. He said I could choose one card, I chose a 51 Bowman Willie Mays. It cost him $225 for that card and I knew he was stretching the budget to get it for me.

I still have that raw card today, I told my Son when I go, put that card in my casket, you can have everything else.

I suppose it was only a matter of time with what's been going on with modern cards. Mantle has been pretty hot too. Nothing compared to what's going on with Jackie Robison though.

I'm just curious, where do you plan to be buried?

Haha! Harry Hooper is buried 2 blocks from my house, I'm thinking my kid can spread my ashes, along with Willie's around Hoopers above ground crypt.

I hope your son will be smart enough to NOT do that! :)

Anyways, let me tell you guys my Mays story. When I started getting into baseball - I'm Canadian and hockey is my first love - I decided to do some online research. I came across "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players" list by The Sporting News and I was surprised to see Mays in second place (just behind Ruth). I never knew he was THAT good! Heck, Mantle sat in seventeenth! I always thought that Mantle was the best of the best. I mean, wasn't that why his cards were so damn expensive? But nope, I had it all wrong.

So, I decided to look up some Mays rookies on eBay, and again, I was surprised how cheap they were considering how high he ranked as a player. I eventually made a deal on the BST section over here. I found an old thread, like all the way on page number 5, and the guy told me that his PSA-graded Mays rookie was still available. His price was pretty fair, and so this means that all of you folks on here weren't willing to pay it! :p We made the deal and I still have the card today. It's worth double now - SAY HEY! ;)

Love mine...with all bowman's it's about centering, lack of print lines, registration/color/clarity and lack of back wax.

Dang that’s nice.

I pieced together a 1950 Bowman set back in 91-92. Back then, the centerpiece card was the Ted Williams. The Robinson card was a close second, at least according to early 90s Becketts. Now the Robinson card seems to be the #1 card in the set.

Back then I bought a Williams PSA7 for 1,100 and a PSA8 Robinson for 1,200.