If you've read my blog at all, even just a little bit, it's not hard to figure out that I'm a lifelong Texas Rangers fan. All the way back to 1972 when they played their first game at the old Turnpike Stadium in Arlington, TX. The thing is, I'm not just a Rangers fan, I'm a baseball fan.
I really like the history of the game. I love reading about the players from long ago. My favorite book so far, is 24: Life stories and lessons from the Say Hey Kid. If you like the history of the game, this is a great book to read. It covers his whole career and it's not just a stats book, but one full of stories.
On my recent Fall break, I traveled to St. Louis and Cincinnati and was able to walk around their stadiums. I loved seeing the statues of the great players from each team. Some of my favorites from St Louis; Ozzie Smith, Stan Musial, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Enos Slaughter and from the St Louis Stars of the Negro League Cool Papa Bell. From Cincinnati, Pete Rose and Johnny Bench.
Seeing the stadiums, the statues and remembering different players that I grew up watching play has added another wing to my collecting home.
I've been collecting Topps sets from '72 to present. I collect some of my favorite players, Texas Rangers, Topps player runs from some of my favorites and the last couple of years I picked one or two insert sets to collect. I've also started doing Topps Heritage and the last two years I've added Stadium Club. That's more than enough to keep me busy, but NO! I've decided to add something else to my collection...I'm going to start picking some of my favorite players from each team and collect just one of their cards in that uniform. If I'm doing a Topps run of a player, they won't be included. This is just for those guys that I really like, but don't really collect. For example, I'm a really big Willie Mays fan, but only have a couple of his cards. I love Mickey Mantle and don't own a single one of his playing days cards. (Hopefully, that changes soon after Christmas.)
I'm not going to limit myself to just Topps and I'm not going to just do rookie cards either. I am going to try and pick a card from their playing days, but some will definitely be out of my price range. That being said, there are quite a few modern cards of some of the greats that I like and will fit my budget. I can always change out the cards I choose, but I'm keeping this as simple as I can.
Some teams will have a bunch of players, while other teams not so much. As I write this my mind is wandering trying to think of any Miami Marlins that would make my list. Anyway, I think this will be fun.
Hopefully, the first team that I choose will be posted soon.
Well, I can't have a post about baseball cards and not post at least something that I've gotten recently. All 4 of these were picked up on Ebay.
When my son was younger we took a baseball trip to Cooperstown and saw games at Yankee, Shea, Veterans, and Camden Yard. It was a blast.
ReplyDeleteI went to Ohio right before the Indians name change. I saw their stadium, which had a giant Indians sign on the front. It was the only time I saw their stadium.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing who you come up with for each team.
He's All-In now :)
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