30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Saturday, September 14, 2019

The Pride of the Yankees

There are tons of classic baseball movies that I've watched and enjoyed over the years... but one stands out more than the others:  The Pride of the Yankees.  It's about some guy named Lou Gehrig.


I can't remember the first time I watched this film, but it was definitely during the 70's when I was a little kid.  It would pop up on the television every now and then and I never grew bored with the story.  And as much as I dislike the New York Yankees, I couldn't help but grow up admiring The Iron Horse.

Today I'll be showing off some of my favorite Gehrig cards as part of a contest entryBrian over at Collecting Cutch has asked his readers to write about one of our favorite sports movies, while connecting them to baseball cards in our collection.  If you're interested in participating, click here for details.

Okay, let's check out some cards...


#12007 UD Masterpieces Box Topper #MP-6


If you've never seen one of these framed and matted box toppers, you're missing out.  They're gorgeous.


This card happens to capture Gehrig standing in front of his teammates and a sold out Yankees Stadium on the day he delivered his famous "Luckiest Man" speech back on July 4th, 1939.  After watching The Pride of the Yankees and listening to his humble speech, I can't imagine any baseball fan not having a soft spot for Mr. Gehrig.


#21976 Topps #341


This is probably my favorite card of Gehrig.  Well... at least out of the ones I own.  I love the black and white action shot combined with the red, white, and blue The Sporting News subset design.


As a bonus, Topps gave collectors Gehrig's entire career stats on the back.


#31989 Topps LJN Baseball Talk #21


Before I added the actual 1976 Topps card of Gehrig, I bought this oddball issue.  If you're not familiar with these cards, they were made to be used with a handheld record player produced by LJN back in the late 80's.

Collectors who owned both the record player and this card... could listen to Mel Allen, Lefty Gomez, and Hank Greenberg talk about Gehrig.  Here's a YouTube video posted by DaClyde which captures the audio:


If you listen to the entire video, you're treated to a clip of Gehrig's famous speech.


#42004 Topps Clubhouse Collection Career Legends Relics #CL-LG2


This is hands down my most valuable Lou Gehrig card.  Last year, I entered one of Colbey's group breaks and was fortunate to walk away with this card and a few other cool Yankees relics.


The card features a piece of a game-used bat used in a MLB game.  However the way Topps wrote up the COA on the back doesn't guarantee that the bat was used by Gehrig.


#51972 Kellogg's All-Time Baseball Greats


This is my second favorite Gehrig card sitting within my collection.  It's hard not to love the combination of 70's Kellogg's lenticular cards and baseball legends.


The card back lists some of Lou's career highlights which includes his special day at Yankees Stadium.

This post wouldn't seem complete without featuring at least one Cal Ripken Jr. card, since the two will forever be associated with each other.  Here's a relic card featuring soil used at Oriole Park at Camden Yards during the season Ripken broke Gehrig's 2,130 consecutive games played streak record:

1996 Fleer Ultra Diamond Dust #NNO


I think it's interesting that collectors often talk about the 1997 Upper Deck Game Jerseys as baseball's first memorabilia cards.  However if you consider game-used dirt to be a form of memorabilia, these technically came first.

I'll wrap things up with a card that I don't own...

2009 Panini Americana Movie Posters Memorabilia #64

I've recently updated my wantlist and have included this card, since it's definitely one of those cards that stirs up fond memories of my childhood.

Thank you Brian for motivating me to write this post and for offering another contest on your blog.  Now I think I'll go and watch The Pride of the Yankees for the umpteenth time.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!


Extra Innings

2018 WTHBALLS Stars of 1940 #NNO 5x7 Box Topper

I found this card sitting in one of my folders and had to include it into this post.  It was a gift from a fellow blogger who preferred to remain anonymous and it came with a bunch of other really cool cards that doubled as a board game.  If interested, you can read more about it here.

10 comments:

Billy Kingsley said...

I'm not into baseball at all and even I've seen that movie.

The Lost Collector said...

I’m still so jealous of that Lou Gehrig Relic. It’s so cool. And that Masterpieces is basically a perfect card.

I’ve only seen that movie once and not in years. I should watch it again.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Yeah, you're making me want to watch it too.

Collecting Cutch said...

Bringing out the big guns for this post, huh? Wow! This inspired me to 1)Watch Pride of the Yankees again and 2)Try to track down one of those Ripken 96 Ultra dirt cards. What an awesome original concept from the mid 90s. So flipping cool.

Thanks for sharing the contest and for the awesome post.

arpsmith said...

Great movie, one of my favorite baseball movies of all time too. All those cards are sweet, especially the Gehrig relic!

Matt said...

I need that Ripken now!

gregory said...

Wow, somehow I missed those Baseball Talk cards in the late '80s. I wonder if they would have been more popular about 10 years earlier. By the late '80s, CDs were getting popular and that handheld audio player may have seemed a bit old-fashioned.

Pretty cool anyhow!

P-town Tom said...

I have the Masterpieces base card and it's easily my favorite Gehrig card. I've never seen the box toppers though. It looks awesome though!

SumoMenkoMan said...

Like everyone else here, that Ripken is awesome.

Fuji said...

billy kingsley - it's a classic for sure

the lost collector - easily my best group break pull of all-time. and i agree with you about that masterpieces card

p-town tom - the box topper set is beautiful (especially if you're a yankees fan). i actually bought the complete set from a fellow blogger (i am joe collector) years ago for a little over the price of a blaster.

johnnys trading spot - you totally should check it out. i have no idea how accurate it is... but it really made me appreciate mr. gehrig

collecting cutch - thanks for inspiring this post. there are two versions of the ripken card. mine is the much cheaper version. you should be able to pick up a copy for $5 to $7.

arpsmith - great minds think alike ;)

sport card collectors - wow. i just checked comc and they've jumped up in price since i last looked at these. i'm pretty sure they were in the $5 to $7 range the last time i looked

gregory - good point. the only thing about 10 years earlier is the hobby hadn't quite boomed yet. maybe three to four years earlier would have helped

sumomenkoman - thanks buddy. i would have said it was an underrated card, but after checking comc prices have spiked a little.