Howdy! Just a bit of Saturday night fun to spark some hobby thought and maybe a little debate.
All of the baseball cards listed below represent important milestones along the road to the modern hobby. But which one had the MOST influence in getting us to where we are today?
These are all iconic cards for a reason but the biggest impact was from the 89 Griffey. Topps fleer and Donruss could no longer put out trash. Rookies became cornerstones and a sales boom and overproduction became a huge problem extending the junk wax Era.
This is a great question, and I think you’ve picked the right cards. Given my age and era during which I collected, the ‘84 Mattingly was my prized possession. It’s amazing to me how the card maintains its place in history even though he’s clearly the least accomplished of those players. The other four are all-time greats. Good stuff.
I answered the 52 Mantle ( which my mom dutifully threw out when I went off to college). but I think really Tony is right. The 89 Griffey had a bigger impact on the hobby for exactly the reasons Tony specifies. In that sense, it's the entire 89 Upper Deck set. It just changed the quality of the hobby. You couldn't get away with cheap cardboard trash, fuzzy photography, etc. And of course, as he says, it elevated the status of the rookie card. I love the 52 Topps set, but I really believe that 89 UD changed the landscape.
Mantle without question. I started collecting cards in the late 50's with the many superstars like Mantle, Aaron, Mays, Mathews, Spahn, Duke Snider, Frank Robinson, etc.
These are all iconic cards for a reason but the biggest impact was from the 89 Griffey. Topps fleer and Donruss could no longer put out trash. Rookies became cornerstones and a sales boom and overproduction became a huge problem extending the junk wax Era.
This is a great question, and I think you’ve picked the right cards. Given my age and era during which I collected, the ‘84 Mattingly was my prized possession. It’s amazing to me how the card maintains its place in history even though he’s clearly the least accomplished of those players. The other four are all-time greats. Good stuff.
I answered the 52 Mantle ( which my mom dutifully threw out when I went off to college). but I think really Tony is right. The 89 Griffey had a bigger impact on the hobby for exactly the reasons Tony specifies. In that sense, it's the entire 89 Upper Deck set. It just changed the quality of the hobby. You couldn't get away with cheap cardboard trash, fuzzy photography, etc. And of course, as he says, it elevated the status of the rookie card. I love the 52 Topps set, but I really believe that 89 UD changed the landscape.
Mantle without question. I started collecting cards in the late 50's with the many superstars like Mantle, Aaron, Mays, Mathews, Spahn, Duke Snider, Frank Robinson, etc.