I don’t know about current kids, but I was introduced to baseball through baseball cards. It wasn’t because my Dad or Mom was a collector, either – my dad tolerated the sport because I loved it and my Mom was always a casual fan growing up. It was because, before MLB.tv and Baseball-Reference, the best way to see baseball players and ogle their statistics was through baseball cards. My first memory is watching the 1995 Opening night game between the Dodgers and Marlins while Mom and I lay on the family room rug sorting a small baggie of Ken Griffey Jr. cards I had managed to acquire.
The point is, baseball cards are not only a great historical document of the game over the years, but because they are tangible thing you can hold, they have a personal connection to people that few other things do. Like a song on the radio or a certain smell on a rainy day, a baseball card can transport you back to a place.
So, for this year’s National Baseball Card Day, we went all out at Cut4. I talked to a variety of people to choose their favorite Topps card for every year that Topps came out with a product. I didn’t want the most iconic card or the one that costs the most. I wanted the one they cared about the most. Maybe it’s because they loved the player, or the photo, or they remembered the time they came across the card in a Rite Aid in 1987.
I talked to Bob Costas for the 50s. Mariners broadcaster Dave Sims for the ‘60s. Columnist Joe Posnanski for the ‘70s. The MLB.com offices convened to figure out the ‘80s. Mike Oz of Yahoo Sports did the ‘90s. Nick Swisher supercollector Chris Olds took the 2000s, while Beckett Media’s Brian Fleischer handled the 2010s. It was an amazing project and a lot of fun (and work) to put together. And I found a lot of cool cards along the way.
You can click here for all of them.
And then, when you’re finished, we put together the coolest 10 of all-time here. Check it out.
I also had a hilarious chat with Joe Pettini, who has an outrageously goofy card, about his feelings on it.
Finally, one post that has nothing to do with baseball cards: Perry Hill wears lettuce on his head during baseball games. Because that’s a normal thing to do, I guess.
