30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

The Spaceman Has Landed


Back in June, I wrote about falling in love with a piece of cardboard the first time your eyes gazed upon it.  This Bill Lee Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game autograph definitely falls into this category for me.

I remember watching a customer at my LCS pull one of these out of a pack and thinking... who the heck is Bill Lee?  And at the same time I instantly fell in love with the card.  I mean... what's not to like?

New York Yankees fans need not respond.

Seriously... it's a hard signed baseball card featuring a guy wearing a space suit and a propeller hat.  This might just be the coolest piece of cardboard on the planet.


And for those of you who are wondering where this photo came from... it's from the August 7th, 1978 issue of Sports Illustrated, which featured a 9 page article on the guy often referred to as the Spaceman.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!

6 comments:

deal said...

Bill Lee is one of the great personalities of the game and he had some pretty moments as well. Love that card. I think I picked up a Bill Lee auto, but not on that card.

Dawgbones said...

I actually saw a guy riding a Harley Davidson V-Rod last week (1 of the early editions v-rods too), only he's wearing a chrome German helmet with a freaking propeller on the top!! Hilarious!! as soon as he starts moving, there goes the prop, spinning like crazy!!

Nick said...

The base version of that one is one of my all-time favorite cards. I'm still hoping to track down the autographed version one day. Nice pickup!

night owl said...

I remember the issue well.

Greg Zakwin said...

It's quite the memorable card.

Play at the Plate said...

That card is really out there...pun intended.