My vintage card of the week: The 1975 Topps Robin Yount RC. This card is overshadowed by the Brett RC, but Yount would be the king of this set if not for George. 3000 hits and 2 MVP awards. That’s a very rare combination in MLB history. The 1975 set is my favorite set. I love the colors and the condition sensitivity, and it’s the set of my birth year. I spent a year building a high-grade set several years ago. and this is my copy of the the Yount card..

My vintage card of the week: The 1953 Bowman Mickey Mantle. I’m sure I’m in the minority here, but I much prefer this Bowman card to the ’53 Topps card. I just side with the full color image of the young Mick over the painting. Lucky for me—my preference saved me a bunch of money! The Bowman card is about twice as rare as the Topps card but only brings about half as much in the market.

My vintage card of the week: The 1951 Bowman Dan Bankhead RC. Bankhead was the first Black pitcher in Major League Baseball. Branch Rickey signed him in 1947 after several standout seasons in the Negro Leagues. Bankhead didn’t achieve the MLB success that Jackie Robinson did, but he was a trailblazer, nonetheless. And since pitching is my favorite part of the game, I’m really happy to have recently added this card to my collection.

My vintage card of the week: The 1958 Topps Willie Mays. This isn’t my most valuable Mays card, but it is probably my favorite looking Mays card. I just love the blue background on this card. Growing up, I always heard that Mays was grouchy, so I love the soft smile shining through in this portrait, proving that reputation was a media caricature.

My vintage card of the week: The 1969 Topps Johnny Bench All-Star Rookie Trophy card. This is another case where I greatly prefer a player’s second card because it’s his first solo card. I’ve owned the ’68 card, but it doesn’t hold a candle to this ’69 in my eyes. Such a classic image here, with the blue of the name circle matching the blue of Johnny’s eyes. He looks poised to build the Big Red Machine.