What Are The Top 10 Most Iconic Baseball Cards Ever?

BillyCoxDodgers3B · #1 08-16-2025, 09:29 AM

I'd definitely take the Frank Thomas NNO off any list. I feel like I hadn't even heard of it until a few years ago, or I found it so forgettable that it completely escaped me. Was it perhaps more regionally hot for a time? Thomas was and is still huge in the Midwest, so am wondering if it was more something like that.

I feel like I only saw one mention of the Billy FF card. That needs to be on there. That's one that many non-collectors would remember! If you had tried creating this list 35 years ago, I could see the whiteout and black box trying to vie for space on the list as well! It was that big a deal at the time. This card, in all its variations, seemed like it was was all the talk of the hobby and non-hobby world for a year or two. In a similar vein, I'm kinda glad nobody mentioned the Dale Murphy rev neg.

Brent G. · #2 08-16-2025, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

I'd definitely take the Frank Thomas NNO off any list. I feel like I hadn't even heard of it until a few years ago, or I found it so forgettable that it completely escaped me. Was it perhaps more regionally hot for a time? Thomas was and is still huge in the Midwest, so am wondering if it was more something like that.

I feel like I only saw one mention of the Billy FF card. That needs to be on there. That's one that many non-collectors would remember! If you had tried creating this list 35 years ago, I could see the whiteout and black box trying to vie for space on the list as well! It was that big a deal at the time. This card, in all its variations, seemed like it was was all the talk of the hobby and non-hobby world for a year or two. In a similar vein, I'm kinda glad nobody mentioned the Dale Murphy rev neg.

And this site introduced me to the Randy Johnson Marlboro -- like the Ripken, a bizarre correction history, but certainly not iconic. There is a 6-year-long thread with 520+ replies on here though.

packs · #3 08-16-2025, 12:19 PM

When I think of the iconic cards I think of all the cards I’d always see on the covers of price guides and the old almanacs you used to have to buy. They always seemed to find space for a T205 Matty.

Even in the movie The Accountant there’s a scene where he opens a safe and inside there’s a T205 Matty among a stack of cards and comics.

Brian · #4 08-16-2025, 04:43 PM

I am probably more aligned with the idea of 'iconic' espoused in the last post.

For me, they are the cards that make our hobby great--the ones that are most recognizable, the ones I dreamed about as a kid (and even as an adult). For me, the hobby would not be the same without them:

T206 Wagner
T206 Plank
T206 Cobb green portrait
1914/15 CJ Cobb
1933 Goudey Ruth #53
1933 Goudey Ruth #144
1933 Goudey Gehrig
1951 Bowman Mantle
1952 Topps Mantle
1952 Topps Jackie Robinson

I don't distinguish CJ cards that look the same or prioritize cards that are most valuable. Just the ones that are awe-inspiring for me. Of course, I could add at least another 10 to the list, and for purposes of full disclosure, at least some of them are my own favorites within my PC.

BillyCoxDodgers3B · #5 08-16-2025, 05:01 PM

I'm also amazed that I don't think I saw the T205 Cobb mentioned anywhere. Surely, it should be represented even on a "For Collectors Only" list. To me, that is the iconic Cobb card, bar none. CJ Cobb comes close, but I'll take the T205.

robw1959 · #6 08-16-2025, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

I'm also amazed that I don't think I saw the T205 Cobb mentioned anywhere. Surely, it should be represented even on a "For Collectors Only" list. To me, that is the iconic Cobb card, bar none. CJ Cobb comes close, but I'll take the T205.

It made my list; see post #35. I nearly had one delivered to me in July after buying it from a member here. Unfortunately, someone evidently intercepted the package.

calvindog · #7 08-16-2025, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robw1959

It made my list; see post #35. I nearly had one delivered to me in July after buying it from a member here. Unfortunately, someone evidently intercepted the package.

As a Cobb collector, I could easily draw up lists of top ten iconic Cobb cards and Cobb PCs. There are that many.

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