30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Piece of American Pie

Growing up in the 70's and 80's, I remember my parents talking to me about the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States.  Things like bomb shelters and missile silos captured my attention, which is probably why I enjoyed watching movies like Red Dawn, Firefox, and WarGames so much.

By the time I was a senior in high school, the Cold War was coming to an end and the world witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall.

A few months after the historic event, some of the members of the high school German Club visited Berlin during Spring Break.  My friend brought home a few small pieces of the Berlin Wall in a bag.  I was super jealous.  There's just something so cool about owning an actual piece of world history.

Topps must have read my mind, because years later they produced a special memorabilia card that contains remnants from the Berlin Wall:

2001 Topps American Pie
A Piece of American Pie Memorabilia #PAPM2

The card itself celebrates President Kennedy's famous Ich bin ein Berliner speech that took place fifty-five years ago on June 26, 1963.


This is one of his most famous speeches.


It's a shame that President Kennedy never had the opportunity to see the fall of the wall.


He didn't get to see the reunification of a proud country, nor did he have the pleasure of seeing families reunite after being separated for nearly three decades, because less than five months after this speech he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.

Thankfully his legacy lives on through moviesbooks, songs, stories, history lessons, YouTube videos, and of course trading cards.



Happy Thursday and sayonara!

7 comments:

Adam said...

That's a really neat card. I'd completely forgotten about the Topps American Pie line. Thanks for sharing!

Reds Card Collector said...

Very cool card Fuji! I might have to track that one down.

SumoMenkoMan said...

Cool card! We have a few big slabs of the wall just down the road from our house here. The graffiti is amazing in them. Thanks for sharing.

The Shlabotnik Report said...

Back in early 1990 a coworker who had been to Germany came into work with a plastic shopping bag full of small concrete chunks... purportedly from the Berlin Wall. I had a small piece with spray paint on one side, but it got lost in the rushed packing up when I was laid off from that job.

Love the S&G clip. I didn't realize there was footage from the Monterey festival!

Fuji said...

Adam Sanders - I realize there is only so much U.S. history... but I really wish Topps would put out another American Pie set. But I guess that's what A&G is for.

Reds Card Collector - They're super cheap. You can probably snag one for $5 - $7 on COMC. Maybe less.

SumoMenkoMan - Oh man... that's right. You're living in Germany! That's so cool. I've seen some of the graffiti in a video. Amazing art.

The Shlabotnik Report - Hope you one day stumble across your lost treasure. As for S&G... it's my pleasure. It's a beautiful song. I'm ashamed to say this... but I had never heard of the Monterey Festival until your comment. I looked it up and was blown away by their lineup. Lots of big names from the era.

shoeboxlegends said...

Really awesome card Fuji!

Fuji said...

Thanks! I was surprised at how affordable they are over on COMC.