30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Monday, February 14, 2011

Cheap Cool Cards #10: 1997 Leaf "The Big Heart"

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'll keep this sweet & short... so I can head out to spend too much money on a over priced dinner on this Hallmark holiday. Sorry if that came off sounding kind of pessimistic. Let me make it up to you by sharing this cool card that was produced for a good cause.

If you're a fan of baseball who grew up in the 70's and 80's... then you've heard of Rod Carew. The guy was amazing... making the all-star team 18 years in a row. Umm... yeah. That's 18. Insane right? Anyways... he ended his 19 year career with a .328 batting average and over 3,000 hits. In 1991, he was permanently enshrined in Cooperstown, NY.

Four years later, his daughter Michelle was diagnosed with leukemia. Sadly, less than a year later on April 17, 1996 she passed away at the age of 18.

A few months later, Frank Thomas teamed up with Donruss/Leaf Corporation to create a special set of cards called The Big Heart. According to one price guide these cards were given away with a $20 donation to The Frank Thomas Charitable Foundation, which supports the fight against leukemia. When The Big Hurt was eleven years old, he lost his two year old sister to leukemia.

Here's the first card in the four card set. It features a great photo of Frank Thomas and Rod Carew on the front. On the back, there's a photo of Michelle Carew.


This particular card books for $30 in Beckett. The other three are $5 cheaper. If you're interested, you can find these cards over at Check Out My Cards for $3 to $4 a piece. There's also a complete set on Ebay that has a current bid of $2.25.

These cards are far from scarce... 2,500 of each card were produced (gotta love the 90's)... but they're definitely unique, interesting, and were produced for a good cause.

Last week, one of my students mentioned to me that smiles are contagious. She is totally right. I couldn't help but smile when I saw these three smiling on a wonderful card created for a good cause.

Well... I have to head out to dinner. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

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