Card of the Day: Milton Hershey 2008 Topps Mayo #287

Card of the Day: Matt Ryan 2008 Topps Mayo #276

Card of the Day: James Harrison 2008 Topps Mayo #119

Card of the Day: Norman Rockwell ’08 Topps Mayo Cut Auto

Back From Baltimore!

Yesterday I took a trip down to Baltimore to scope things out for this year’s National.  While I was there I visited the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards and the Babe Ruth Birthplace & Museum too.

The Baltimore Convention Center takes up three city blocks and looks really nice.  I think there was a pet industry trade show going on yesterday because they had banners all over the place.  But overall I think it will be a nice place to have The National in August.  I didn’t have trouble at all finding a parking space.  In August we plan to park the car at the hotel and walk to the Convention Center each day.  I’m staying at the Hampton Inn at Camden Yards, which is right across from the stadium.

The Sports Legends Museum sits right next to Camden Yards.  It was once an old train station and was the site of an assassination plot against Abraham Lincoln.  Inside you can sit on the exact bench Lincoln sat on while he was on his way to Washington D.C.  There are three floors of historical artifacts that were really great to learn about.  After the museum, I made my way over to Babe Ruth’s birthplace.  Check out some of the photos.  Click on each to enlarge.

1895 Baltimore Championship Banner

1983 World Series Trophy

Babe Ruth has been traded!  On the bottom right-hand side is the transfer order.

Championship pins and buttons – extremely old

1895 Wilbert Robinson Mayo’s Cut Plug #33

The biggest ’87 Donruss card I’ve ever seen!

Kimono presented to Babe Ruth while over in Japan and a Jimmie Foxx All-American jersey.

Frank “Home Run” Baker Yankees sweater

Samari helmet presented to the Orioles while playing in Japan

Colts General Manager Don Kellet made his famous $0.85 phone call and was able to obtain Johnny Unitas from the Steelers using this phone.  For $0.85 he got two Championships.

Unitas’s many awards

Johnny Unitas’s uniform

Babe Ruth statue outside of Camden Yards

Cal Ripken, Jr’s retired number

Outside the Sports Legends Museum you’ll find these baseballs painted on the sidewalk.  If you follow them you should end up at Ruth’s birthplace.

Look!  I made it!  The birthplace of the greatest baseball player of all time – Babe Ruth.  Unfortunately, I was unable to go inside because its not wheelchair accessible.  Being a historic building, I guess it doesn’t have to be.  I wonder how Ruth would feel about that?  The sign out front said “See Ruth’s Rookie Card”.

Card of the Day: George Washington ’09 Topps Mayo Celebrated Citizens Mini

Card of the Day: Mark Sanchez ’09 Topps Mayo #178

Card of the Day: Matthew Stafford ’09 Topps Mayo #187

If I had the choice of opening a box of Allen & Ginter or Mayo, I’d have to go with the Mayo.  I like the overall design better, and it doesn’t contain a lot of those gimmicks you find in A&G.  Congrats to Matthew Stafford on having a great game over the weekend.  His ’09 Topps Mayo card is one of my favorite base rookies.

Card of the Day: ’09 Topps Mayo Brown/Sanders/Favre/Namath Auto/Jersey Box Topper

These have to be one of the coolest box toppers that can be pulled from 2009 Topps Mayo Football.

Originals Are Awesome

One of the best things that card manufacturers, specifically Topps & Upper Deck, have done in recent years is include original cards within their newer products.  I think its great that collectors have the chance of pulling a card from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  Pulling old cards, gives you the chance to learn about great players that you probably never heard of.  Take this card as an example.

 

This is an original 1894 Mayo Cut Plug football card of Sam “Brinck” Thorne.  He was born in 1873 and died at the age of 56 in 1930.  Thorne was a halfback for Yale and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1970.

The first time collectors could pull any type of vintage cards came during the 1990’s with products such as All-Sport Plus.  Products like All-Sport Plus didn’t last very long because the manufacturer hyped up their product making collectors think a base card from the 1970’s was really worth a lot.  You might have seen infomercials featuring Don West selling products like this.  Topps and Upper Deck have done a much better job allowing collectors to pull vintage cards.  

Just for fun.  Here is a classic Don West 🙂