Most under rated - Yogi Berra or Jim Thome

[Lucas00]

Love Yogis '59 yoo-hoo. Definitely my favorite of his.

[Kutcher55]

I don't know how you ended up lumping these two guys together but it makes for interesting conversation.

Being a Red Sox fan I have generally tried to avoid collecting Yankee cards, but Berra is unavoidable. His 1950 Bowman card is terrific and I have one of those in addition to his '73 Manager card, and I think that's about it.

You could say both Yogi and Roy Campanella are underrated I suppose, but they were huge figures in baseball's golden era and both quite loved.

Jim Thome was a slow pitch softball masher type from the 90s who ended up putting together a great career, although in the juice era so that hangs over him, fair or not. I have no idea what his card prices are like, but as a vintage guy I would equate him to Harmon Killebrew and that guy's cards are relatively modest priced.

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by Kutcher55

I don't know how you ended up lumping these two guys together but it makes for interesting conversation.

Being a Red Sox fan I have generally tried to avoid collecting Yankee cards, but Berra is unavoidable. His 1950 Bowman card is terrific and I have one of those in addition to his '73 Manager card, and I think that's about it.

You could say both Yogi and Roy Campanella are underrated I suppose, but they were huge figures in baseball's golden era and both quite loved.

Jim Thome was a slow pitch softball masher type from the 90s who ended up putting together a great career, although in the juice era so that hangs over him, fair or not. I have no idea what his card prices are like, but as a vintage guy I would equate him to Harmon Killebrew and that guy's cards are relatively modest priced.

Thanks for the take, and I totally agree with you on Killebrew.

I was sorting my 55 set yesterday and upgrading some cards - I was examining my Berra and thought "Why is Yogi's cards pale in comparison to those who he played with." For some reason, Thome popped into my mind. Why, I don't know. I just know that Thome gets Zero hobby love, and Yogi gets just a shade more. There are many others; Gwynn, Killebrew, Spahn, Podres, Hoffman, Maris (If not for the 61 homers his cards would be commons), - the list goes on and on.

Interesting how many replies have been about Yogi and very few about Thome. This gentleman is 8th all-time in-home runs, a first ballot Hall of Fame player, and survived the Roid era. Crazy.

[ValKehl]

I loved baseball growing up in the 1950's, and I watched the Yankees (and the other AL teams) play my beloved, but pathetic, Senators. IMHO, of all the very talented players on the Yankees team (including MM), Yogi Berra was the player the Yankees could least afford to be without.

[drmondobueno]

When I was quite young -six or seven, I think, the Saturday game of the week featured the Yankees, and I sat about three feet from the old B&W TV with a terrible picture listening to an “interview” between Yogi and Dizzy Dean. I was fascinated by these two. So my first baseball hero was Berra and I could never figure out why Dizzy wasn’t on any longer...

Thome to me was a guy whose play was discounted because he was “just a power guy”. And he kept at it when others fell to the wayside. Two different careers by two class acts.

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by drmondobueno

When I was quite young -six or seven, I think, the Saturday game of the week featured the Yankees, and I sat about three feet from the old B&W TV with a terrible picture listening to an “interview” between Yogi and Dizzy Dean. I was fascinated by these two. So my first baseball hero was Berra and I could never figure out why Dizzy wasn’t on any longer...

Thome to me was a guy whose play was discounted because he was “just a power guy”. And he kept at it when others fell to the wayside. Two different careers by two class acts.

I don't know why Dizzy was taken off the broadcasts, but rumor had it when I was a kid that he said on the air "He's kissing her on the strikes and she's kissing him on the balls!". I seriously doubt that was true, but we always laughed when someone would say it.

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by gonefishin

I don't know why Dizzy was taken off the broadcasts, but rumor had it when I was a kid that he said on the air "He's kissing her on the strikes and she's kissing him on the balls!". I seriously doubt that was true, but we always laughed when someone would say it.

I've heard that about Red Barber too, seems like an urban legend.