30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Sports Card Trifecta #30: Cal Ripken Jr.

You'd think that after a three day holiday weekend, I'd be recharged, full of energy, and ready to take on the world.  I'm not.

I'm dealing with a lingering headache, five periods of impacted classes, the first round of projects being turned in, learning how to use a new grade book, Back to School Night preparation, and contract negotiations that for the first time in twenty-one years might result in a teacher's strike.  Ugh.

How does it affect you?  Not much... except that I won't be getting around to posting my Flea Market Finds from last weekend until hopefully next week.

1992 Topps #40

Instead... I went to my last resort "idea bank", which is a website that lists out sporting events that took place on this date.   Back on September 6th, 1995... Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig's record by playing in his 2,131st consecutive game and became MLB's official Iron Man.

To celebrate, I figured I'd show off my Cal Ripken Jr. trifecta, which is his rookie card, an autograph, and a memorabilia card from my collection.


Rookie Card:  1982 Topps Traded #98T


Okay.  So technically this isn't Ripken's rookie card.


But it's from the same year as his official rookie cards and probably one of the most recognizable cards of Cal around.  But just in case, you don't approve of this selection, go ahead and take your pick:

1982 Donruss #405
1982 Topps #21
1982 Fleer #176

Which one is your favorite?


Autograph:  2008 Sweet Spot Signatures #S-CR


This is the only autograph of Ripken that I could find.  At least it's a nice one.  Sweet Spot has always been one of my favorite products when it comes to autographs.  The only downside is that some of the signatures tend to fade over the years.  So far, this one is still putting up a fight.

And now, a truly underrated card in our hobby...


Memorabilia Card: 1996 Fleer Ultra Diamond Dust #NNO


Rounding out the trifecta is this outside the norm memorabilia card, which features game-used dirt from Camden Yards which was Ripken's playground for the second half of his career.


Upper Deck often gets a lot of attention for producing baseball's first game-used jersey cards, however we don't really hear about this card when we discuss 90's innovation.  It's time to give credit where credit is due.

Let's wrap things up with three more cards that relate to the 23rd anniversary of Ripken's special day:

2010 Topps History of the Game #HOTG23

I'm not a huge fan of Topps flooding the market with their cheap inserts, but at least this is a good looking card.

2004 Topps Clubhouse Career Legends Relics #CL-LG2

Can't have a post about Ripken without showing off baseball's original Iron Man.

And since tonight kicks off the 2018 NFL season, here's football's Iron Man:

2006 Sweet Spot Signatures #SSS-BF

Anyone brave enough to leave their World Series or Super Bowl predictions in the comments?

My heart wants the Oakland Athletics and the Green Bay Packers to take home the titles, but if I had to put money on it, I'd go with the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Rams.

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

12 comments:

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

I'm Brave enough, lol. Braves vs. um um um Astros, lol. As for the Ripken, my favorite is the Topps Traded, I don't own one yet, and it need not be graded. Sweet (pun intended) auto of the iron man.

Jeremya1um said...

I never knew about the Ultra card and am surprised I wasn’t hearing about it all of the time in 1996. Beckett was talking about Upper Deck’s ‘97 jersey cards the whole year, and while the Ultra card may have been listed as a commemorative card at the end of the set in the guide, that was it, but no story or anything.
I have no clue on the Series. Maybe Boston over Chicago? I would go with an AL team (maybe Houston or Cleveland) over any NL team at this point, but you never know. I have no clue in football I like Cam Newton, so maybe Panthers over Steelers?

TSHenson said...

Thanks for the retrospective on Cal Ripken Jr. He is my favorite all time non Indians player, and top player collection. I am partial to all of his rookie cards.
As for the World Series, I am going with Cleveland over Chicago in seven. And a very early Super Bowl pick will be Pittsburgh over the Los Ageles Rams.

Matt said...

No predictions from me. Don’t wanna curse anything

Nice diamond dust card

The Shlabotnik Report said...

The 1982 Donruss card is my favorite Ripken rookie, with the Topps Traded card in second.

I'll never shy away from predictions, even when I don't know what I'm talking about. I'll pull two predictions out of my... uh... hat and say Indians over the Dodgers in the World Series, Saints over the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

SumoMenkoMan said...

I’d have to say the 982 Donruss is my favorite

Greg Zakwin said...

Traded is his best rookie because he looks badass on the card.

gcrl said...

I think of the topps flagship card as my favorite ripken rookie card. I think the astros will repeat and I'm hoping I can reverse jinx the Vikings into finally winning the super bowl.

Fuji said...

john miller - i'd love to see kurt suzuki win a world series ring (although not at the expense of an a's championship)

jeremy1um - felt it was time to give that card some publicity. too bad it's two decades too late

tshenson - repeat of the 1979 super bowl, right?

sport card collectors - thanks.

the shlabotnik report - the perfect card for me would be take the photo from his 82F card and place it in the 82D design

sumomenkoman - back to back 82D votes.

greg zakwin - but is it a really a rookie card? discuss.

gcrl - astros look amazing. just look at the way the came back tonight.

The Lost Collector said...

I didn’t know about Diamond Dust either! I remember the insert well and overpaying a friend for a Mark Grace because I liked the set so much.

Community Gum said...

I really love all the quirky relic cards. Some may not like them because they're not part of the jersey or whatever, but I want to see more parts of the baseball experience embedded in cardboard.

Fuji said...

The Lost Collector - There was a Diamond Dust insert? I'll need to do a little digging...

Community Gum - Me too. I love collecting things like walls, bases, gloves, batting gloves, shoes, etc.