Thursday, June 27, 2013

ONE OF THE ALL-TIME CLASSIC CARDS: 1971 THURMAN MUNSON

When I started this blog, it was really with the intention of writing about my favorite cards, such as 1976 Johnny Bench, or 1979 Rod Carew, which I've already written about in past posts.
Since then I've kind of gotten sidetracked with all the other stuff, like recreating cards, pointing out funny or odd cards, or even creating cards that for some reason were missed altogether. 
As fun as that all is, today I'll go back to my original intent and write about a card that had perhaps the biggest impact on me upon first seeing it: 1971 #5 Thurman Munson.
While that '76 Bench card is still my favorite, the '71 Munson just absolutely blew me away when I first saw it at a card show back around 1980 or so. 
I was just getting into serious "collecting" and absorbing older cards like a sponge, and when I saw this card I thought it was the coolest card I ever saw. I swear I think it made me sweat because I wanted it so badly.
It had so much: the black card design, the horizontal orientation of that amazing action shot, and the super-cool "rookie trophy" on a card of one of my favorite players. It was just jaw-dropping.
All these years later I still think the card holds up well, and it's still one of my favorites. Add to the fact that to really get a "mint" copy of it, you had to search high and low and throw some decent cash around to get one, and it just grew in stature as the years went by.
I could never really tell who the Oakland A's player is making the slide at home. Maybe Joe Rudi? And check out the crowd in the background. Yes it's a little blurry and out of focus, but you can clearly see their transfixed stare at the play, waiting for the outcome.
It all makes for a classic card of a great player from the 1970's.
Man, that 1971 set is fantastic all-around isn't it?

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@wthballs
Everything baseball: cards, events, history and more.