30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Token of my Appreciation

I don't like the New York Yankees.  Never have and never will.  However as a baseball fan, I've always had a deep appreciation for their rich franchise history.  I've also grown to admire some of the players who spent their entire careers wearing Yankee Pinstripes.

One of those players is Whitey Ford, who pitched his entire sixteen season career with the Yankees and is the franchise's all-time leader in wins and shutouts.

He pitched in eleven different World Series and brought home six rings.  Had he not served in the U.S. Army in 1951 and 1952, he would have won two more.  His 10 World Series wins are an MLB record.

Two of those wins came in 1955 in the Subway Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers.  In 2003, Topps produced this cool Whitey Ford relic card that honors that moment:


I've wanted one of these New York City subway token relic cards for years and have seen more than a handful slip through my fingers by last minute bids.  It was worth the wait though, because back in June I finally added one to my collection for a very reasonable price ($7.75 + $2.61 shipping).

Even though this has to be one of the most unique relic cards in my collection and it's a great addition to my Lefty PC... it still doesn't change the fact that I don't like the New York Yankees.  In fact... when neither of my teams have anything to play for (like this season)... I'd rather see the Yankees lose, than the A's or Padres win.

That's why I was so disappointed that the New York Mets were swept by the Yankees earlier in the week.  I'm hoping that Boston can return the favor this weekend and put a smile back on my face.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

11 comments:

shoeboxlegends said...

I'd never seen these, very cool Fuji! A solid pickup for around $10 to your door!

Daniel Wilson said...

That is a great looking card!

Matt said...

I have never seen those relics, now I need one lol

Billy Kingsley said...

Neat! I have s couple of those tokens in my coin/medal/token collection.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Me no likey the damn yanks either (beat my Braves too much), although I do collect many players in my PCs.

Xavier Higgins said...

Credit due to Topps on a proper relic card.

Hackenbush said...

Cool card. I think a have a couple of similar tokens from the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority).

Commishbob said...

That's a sweet deal on a card like that with Whitey Ford. I don't think I've ever been aware of these. But I have one on my radar now for sure. I'm going to try and track down one that mentions the '47 Series which was my Dad's only trip to Ebbets Field despite living only blocks away for 20 years.

The Snorting Bull said...

This is really cool! I knew they put token cards in the 2000 World Series set, didn't think they ever used them beyond that. Very nice.

SumoMenkoMan said...

Very cool! I have never see one. My late grandfather was a die hard Yankees fan due to his Italian heritage and the great Italian players through the years. I always will have a place for them in my heart due to that.

Fuji said...

shoeboxlegends - thanks. i was pretty excited to win this auction

daniel wilson - yeah. it's definitely a great conversation piece

sport card collectors - solid checklist. plenty of guys to choose from

billy kingsley - i collected coins when i was a kid. until i burned a hole in my bedroom carpet and my parents took them away as compensation

john miller - yeah. it's easy to dislike all of their championships... but hard not to appreciate and admire guys like gehrig and jeter.

xavier higgins - very true. kudos to topps

hackenbush - maybe you can use them to create some Crosstown Classic customs for Cubs & White Sox fans

commishbob - i've seen cards for the 1953, 1955, 1956, and 2000 world series. hope there's a 1947 card out there for you to collect.

snorting bull - it's a great concept. with so many new york fans out there, i feel they could probably get away with creating another set in the future

sumomenkoman - yeah... they could probably create one heck of an all-Italian line up with guys like Berra, Rizzuto, and DiMaggio.