Keisha loved collecting baseball cards. Ever since she was 5 years old and her dad first took her to a minor league baseball game, she was hooked. That day, her dad had bought her a small pack of cards at the concession stand and she was thrilled to pull a shiny card of the home team’s star shortstop out of the pack. From that moment on, Keisha wanted to learn everything she could about baseball and started amassing a collection of cards.
Now at age 11, Keisha had a sizable collection of over 500 baseball cards stored neatly in plastic sheet protectors in a large 3-inch binder. But there were 8 cards in particular that she treasured above all the others. These were the cards that made up her “stack” – a small collection of her very favorite and most prized cards that she kept separate from the rest in a rigid cardboard card holder.
The oldest card in Keisha’s stack was a 1979 card of Yankees legend Thurman Munson. Her great uncle had given it to her years ago since Munson was his all-time favorite player. Even though the card was over 30 years old, it was in remarkably good condition for its age with only minimal scuffing on the corners. Keisha loved looking at Munson’s familiar stoic face on the front of the card and learning more about his impressive career statistics and accomplishments on the back.
Another card in Keisha’s stack was one of home run king Barry Bonds from his record-setting 2001 season with the San Francisco Giants when he shattered the single season home run record. That year, Bonds had hit an astounding 73 home runs and his dominant performance was reflected on his flashy grey and orange ’01 Topps card. Ever since Bonds set the homer record, Keisha had always been fascinated by just how far he was able to hit a baseball and she liked imagining what it must have been like to watch him crush one of those 73 record-setting home runs that year in person.
A card that held special sentimental value for Keisha was a 2014 Topps Update Series card of shortstop Jonathan Villar from when he briefly played for Keisha’s favorite team, the Baltimore Orioles, back in 2014. She had been at the ballpark the day Villar hit his first major league home run, a dramatic walk-off shot against the Yankees to lift the O’s to a come-from-behind victory. Ever since that magical night at Camden Yards, Keisha had rooted for Villar’s career to take off and was proud to have a card commemorating the first homer of his stellar career so far.
Another highlight of Keisha’s stack was a pristine 1987 Topps Traded card of Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson from his record-setting stolen base season with the Oakland A’s when he swiped 130 bags. No one in baseball history had ever been as daring or dynamic on the basepaths as the speedy Henderson and Keisha found his unconventional style of play endlessly entertaining to watch, whether recounting his highlights or flipping through his eye-catching baseball cards.
A card near and dear to Keisha’s heart was a 2019 Topps Royals Hometown Heroes insert of Kansas City-born Salvy Perez. Ever since Keisha and her family had attended a Royals game a few summers back and witnessed Salvy’s infectious energy and enthusiasm for the game firsthand, she had become one of his biggest fans. Salvy’s wide smile and ability to fire lasers from behind the plate made him one of Keisha’s favorite current players and it gave her a thrill to own a card paying homage to the local hometown star.
Another key piece of Keisha’s stack was a 1909-11 T206 card of early 20th century pitcher Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown. With his mangled right hand and unusual pitching motion, Brown’s incredible career achievements and overcoming adversity made him a role model that Keisha could really look up to. She found his distinctive pitching style mesmerizing to watch in old film clips online and was amazed that someone with such a handicap could still dominate on the mound the way the legendary Brown did during baseball’s deadball era.
The final card in Keisha’s most treasured stack was a 2011 National Chicle Manny Ramirez card from one of his productive seasons as the designated hitter for the Tampa Bay Rays. As a left-handed slugger, Manny’s smooth, effortless swing was a thing of beauty to Keisha. She liked reading about his unorthodox training methods and how he approached each at-bat with a carefree attitude. Plus, Manny’s dynamic early career with the Red Sox held a special place in Keisha’s heart since Boston was her mom’s favorite team while growing up.
Those were the 8 special baseball cards that made up Keisha’s prized stack – cards with incredible historical significance, cards that held personal meaning, cards of her favorite players both past and present. More than just cardboard and ink, each one represented an important figure or moment from baseball’s rich history that had really grabbed Keisha’s attention and sparked her lifelong passion and interest in America’s pastime. She loved pulling out her stack and reminiscing about how her baseball card collection first began all those years ago and the exciting journey it had taken her on since.
