Those of you who know me well are aware that I am an avid sports card collector, mainly hockey. I thought it would be fun to use this space to showcase some of my favorite cards and write about them. So stay tuned! Newest additions will be featured at the top of this page!

1961 Topps Willie Mays #150 PSA 5 (EX)

I vaguely remember Willie Mays as a player, but of course I've read about his legendary career and seen film… and some will argue that he was the best ever. Ever! I was lucky enough to acquire this card before prices on vintage began to explode and its been a favorite in my collection for a long time and owning a card of an all-time great from his prime is pretty cool.

The front of the card presents nicely. Some centering issues for sure, but it does not detract from the overall eye-appeal of the card. Note the early PSA serial number.

The reverse of the card is pretty nice, clean. The centering is decent and it just adds to the overall sweetness of this card.

1935 Diamond Stars Lefty Grove #1 (PSA 3)

The National Chicle Company of Cambridge, Massachusetts released the Diamond Stars set which features 108 cards including over 30 Hall-of-Famers. This Lefty Grove #1 card is arguably the key card in this set and you will notice that this card was packaged by PSA as part of the eBay Authenticity Guarantee for all cards sold over a price of $250. Lefty Grove is a legendary pitcher who played for the Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox across 17 seasons. Grove is a 300-game winner and won the AL MVP in 1931. This is a set that I have been slowly chipping away at, but some of the high number cards are challenging to find in “affordable” condition!

The Lefty Grove card is super tough to find in acceptable condition. You can see that this is a low serial number, the card having been graded when standards for grading were not as strict as they are today. Then again, with PSA, you never know how grading will go as certain issues are given tolerances for a variety of reasons. Regardless, this is a super cool card to own and a cornerstone of my collection.

Here is one of my issues with the eBay Authenticity Guarantee - the eBay stickers obscure the reverse of the card. After spending a minimum of $250 for a card, as a collector, I would love to be able to remove the card from the packaging and examine it in its entirety. But I am reluctant to remove the card from the packaging. Why couldn't the stickers be made smaller and placed strategically so that the card is fully visible?

1933 Sport Kings Gum Howie Morenz #24 (SGC 2.5)

The 1933 Sport Kings Gum set includes 48 cards, the most famous of them being the Babe Ruth #2 card. There are many cool athletes in this set including Ty Cobb, Jim Thorpe, Bobby Jones, and Knute Rockne. The card featured below is of hockey star Howie Morenz, a Hall of Fame Center for the Montreal Canadiens and briefly for the New York Rangers. Morenz is considered the “Babe Ruth of hockey” and this card is simply iconic in any condition!

 

This card of Howie Morenz is simply iconic! The SGC 2.5 grade, while accurate, does not detract from the vivid colors and eye appeal revealed by this card. It's not a card you come across often!

Sure there are some issues with the card's reverse, but the text is still bold and readable. What a pleasure to own this card!

1940 Play Ball Max Carey card #178 (PSA 5)

The 1940 Play Ball set features 240 cards, with card numbers 181-240 short printed. There are 61 Hall of Famers featured in this set including Joe DiMaggio (#1) and Ted Williams (#27). Although not in the Hall of Fame, Shoeless Joe Jackson is also featured in this set (#225). This card features Max Carey, a Hall of Fame centerfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Brooklyn Robins during the 1910s and 1920s. He also managed the Brooklyn Dodgers for two seasons, 1932-1933. He led the National League in stolen bases ten times, owns a career 47.1 WAR, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1961. 

Beautiful 1940 Play Ball example featuring Hall of Famer Max Carey. These are beautiful black and white cards with an ornate frame.

The card back features a lengthy summary of Max Carey's career as well as all the usual biographical information.

1964 Topps Venezuela Don Zimmer #134 (SGC 1)

A curious first card to feature here in my card blog… The 1964 Topps set is a favorite of mine and I am about 70% or so into building this complete set. This card, however, is from the 1964 Topps Venezuelan set. Topps had issued smaller sets for Venezuela beginning in 1959 and then again 1960 and 1962. It is extremely difficult to find these cards in acceptable condition and while I am not collecting the Venezuelan version of this set, I did want to have at least one example in my collection. The Don Zimmer card was available to me at an acceptable price and even though graded just a “1” by SGC, it presents nicely and meets my collecting goal of owning one of these cool cards.