My Best Yankees Cards

Along with the Red Sox and Cubs, it seems that I have a natural ability to both purchase New York Yankees cards and pull them from packs. Because of that, I'd go as far as to say that the Yankees are the 3rd most represented team in my entire collection, behind only the 2 previously mentioned clubs.

While I don't quite know if this is a positive thing or not, it's somewhat odd for a collector like myself to actively collect cards of the Red Sox's arch-rival. But, with the seemingly endless number of Yankees cards out there, it's pretty difficult to avoid them. 

Whether you're opening a pack or making your way through a dime box, Yankees cards seem to be everywhere. After all, there are my Yankees cards listed on COMC than any other team, and I believe that to be a fair representation of all the cards out there to collect. 

Regardless, the abundance of Yankees cards has resulted in some pretty major cards making their way into my collection, either via a pack of cards or a direct purchase at the Baseball card show or online. 

As a result, this Red Sox fan has been left with a plethora of various Yankees cards, some of them even proving to be among the best cards in my entire collection. Today, I'll be taking a more in-depth look at the greatest Yankees cards that I own.

To commence this Yankees-centric post, I have a classic-looking card of one of the most underrated pitchers of all-time, Whitey Ford. Despite career stats that include a 2.75 ERA, 45 shutouts, and nearly 2,000 strikeouts, Ford isn't as widely recognized as other Yankees legends that you'll see later on in this post.

I have an older card of Whitey Ford from the 1958 Topps set, but the condition and the centering are pretty lackluster. Because of that, I went with my 5.5 Beckett graded card of Ford from '66 Topps instead.

The grade may not be the best, but this 1958 Topps All-Star card of Mickey Mantle is tied for the oldest Mantle card in my collection. Personally, the 2.5 grade doesn't matter as much given how fabulous these original All-Star cards from '58 are. 

My original look at these classic All-Star cards was from the 2007 Topps Heritage set with guys like David Ortiz and Albert Pujols. Nothing can truly compare to the originals, much less a Mickey Mantle card from this memorable set.

Tied with the previous card for my oldest card of the highly-collectible Mickey Mantle is another card from the 1958 Topps set, this one a World Series Batting Foes combo card, showcasing 2 of the greatest hitters in Baseball history.

Because base cards tend to possess a higher value than combo cards like the one above, the Batting Foes card isn't as valuable as Mantle's iconic base card from '58. Still, this card has been in my collection as long as I can remember, so you can definitely say I've grown attached to it. 

Even though I understood that the card wouldn't receive a high grade, getting this card graded was an easy decision to preserve this fabulous piece.

Finishing up with these combo cards, here's the final big one in my Yankees collection, this one from the wood-bordered 1962 Topps set. Originally, I had 2 of these graded, and I sold the one graded at a 4 on eBay. I saved the other card, graded at a Beckett 5, because, like the '58 card, it features 2 of the greatest players in Baseball history.

It certainly would be a "Managers' Dream" to have either one of these guys on your team, and it's still pretty surreal that I even have this card in the first place. Similar to the World Series combo card from '58, this card has always been a part of my collection. Getting it graded at a 5, however, was something totally unexpected.

In terms of my major modern-day Yankees cards, the best place to start would be the cards that were most recently added to my collection, a quartet of printing plates from the 2016 Leaf Babe Ruth Collection product. 

An entire set composed solely of Babe Ruth cards, Leaf did the best that they could without licensing rights and created a memorable and unique product. However, I didn't pull these 4 cards from a pack of cards. 

Rather, I grabbed this 4-card lot from a vendor at a major card show last year for a very fair price. At just north of $15 per card, this will go down in history as one of my greatest Baseball card show finds of all-time.

And as a result of that very same card show, I added this unbelievable card to my collection, and for the very first time throughout this entire post, the card I'm showing is one that I pulled myself from a pack of cards.

Though that feat will become more common over the next couple of cards that I show, pulling this Mickey Mantle warm-up jacket from a pack of 2010 Topps 206 was incredibly surreal. I certainly wasn't expecting anything close to this good to come from the box that I opened. 

It was simply supposed to be a fun and relatively inexpensive box break, and I ended up with a card that could pay for the entire box that I opened and then some. At some point in the near future, I could see myself submitting this card for Beckett grading as well.

Another card that I pulled from a pack myself, this one from a $10 rack pack of 2017 Topps Chrome, we have this Aaron Judge image variation rookie, a card I've likely shown here on the blog before today.

Back in August of 2017, Aaron Judge was at the peak of popularity, even making the cover of the 2017 Topps Chrome set. Because of that, everyone was looking to cash in and pull a valuable Judge card, including me. I just didn't expect that hit to come out of retail.

Flash forward roughly 1 and a half years and that card is now graded at a 9.5 and is easily the greatest Judge card that I own. Certainly, Topps Chrome retail was kind to me in 2017, and the same could definitely be said for the 2018 set as well.

If the Judge image variation was a major hit, I don't even have the words to express what this Gleyber Torres autograph pull meant to me, especially since I pulled it out of a blaster of Topps Chrome at last years' National in Cleveland. 

Numbered out of 250 copies, this Torres card is a purple refractor auto of one of the biggest rookie names of 2018. I made the decision to get this card graded as quickly as possible, while at The National, and I'll definitely be holding onto this stellar autograph, hoping Torres continues to progress as a talented and young player.

But honestly, none of these cards can truly compare to the beauty that is this 1962 Topps graded Mickey Mantle card, the one and only Topps base card of Mantle that I own, graded at a 3.5. Like all the other vintage cards showcased on this post, this Mickey Mantle card didn't receive the highest grade for the same reason that many vintage cards fail to do so as well. 

Even though the condition is obviously important for vintage cards, it doesn't matter all that much to me considering the fact that, like the rest of the cards shown above, I'll be holding onto this Mantle card from '62 Topps and not selling it.

If I wasn't convinced beforehand, this post did its job and changed my mind. All of a sudden, I'm not so certain that having too many Yankees cards is such a bad thing after all.

That still doesn't mean I like the team, though.