I haven’t shared a Hank for a while! The ‘57 Lefty Hank is an all-timer. I’m lucky to have found a pretty well-centered 3 a couple of years ago.

My vintage card of the week: The 1971 Topps Nolan Ryan. I added this card to my collection when I was about 14 years old. I worked at my local card shop in Waco, TX, at the height of the junk wax era. Nolan had just come to the Rangers that season, and when this card came into the shop, I fell in love with the image and the black borders. The owner cut me a deal on it, and it’s been in my collection ever since. I regularly think about having it graded, but I can’t stomach the idea of sending it away for four to six months. It is without a doubt my favorite raw card in my collection.

My vintage card of the week: The 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle. Not much to say here. This is my favorite Mantle card. At least my favorite that I’ll ever be able to own. It's simply a gorgeous piece of baseball card history, and 1956 was the first of Mantle's MVP years.

My vintage card of the week: The 1959 Topps Bob Gibson rookie card. Although I’m not a huge fan of the ’59 Topps design in general, the pink background and Gibby’s youthful smile make this particular card iconic and unforgettable. Took me a long time to find a copy in my price range that I was happy with, and I love having this card in my collection. Pitching is my favorite part of the game, and Gibson makes a strong case to be included in any all-time starting rotation.

My vintage card of the week: The 1957 Topps Brooks Robinson rookie card. Brooks was my first strong link to baseball history and vintage baseball cards when I was a junk wax kid. I was only two years old when he retired, but my father always spoke fondly of him and was able to secure some personalized autographs for me through a work friend when I was 11 years old. Those autographs sparked my fascination with the human vacuum cleaner and the dominant Orioles teams of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. He’s been a favorite ever since.

Brooks’ stats speak for themselves:16 gold gloves. 2 World Series championships with a WS MVP. 18 all-star appearances with an AS MVP. And, of course, the MVP award in 1964 that cemented his legacy as more than just a defensive wizard. But beyond the numbers and the records, Brooks was the heart of Baltimore and a hall-of-fame human being. A true class act. When I came back to the hobby as an adult, my first collecting goal was to put together the full run of Brooks’ Topps cards. I still get more joy out of upgrading that run over the years than I get from most other collecting goals.