PC Overview; Reggie Jackson

I'm not quite sure whether this will become a reoccurring series on the blog like top 5 cards and frankenset pages, but I was eager to try something new with today's post. Rather than sticking to a traditional top 5 cards post for one of my many player collections, I've decided to do a complete PC overview.

Whether or not I continue with this series of posts, I suppose I should briefly explain what a PC overview is. Basically, I'll be going in depth regarding one of my player collections. 

Today's subject is Reggie Jackson, a gold tier PC. I'll be showing off cards as well as pieces of memorabilia and other PC items that I haven't had the chance to showcase before on the blog.

As you'll soon see, I have some pretty cool Reggie Jackson PC pieces, but I've never really had the right time to incorporate them into a blog post. Now, I finally have the chance to include all those pieces and go a little more in-depth than I would in, say, a top 5 cards post for the same player.

Although I collect cards of 250 different players, I don't have quite as many options for PC overview posts as I do for top 5 cards. The whole idea behind these player collection overview posts is to explore more than just Baseball cards, meaning that I'd like to showcase memorabilia and even some oddballs.

I can do a top 5 cards post for any of the guys that I collect, but PC overviews will be a bit more challenging. Still, I'm excited to write this post and see where it goes. I really enjoy collecting Reggie Jackson for numerous reasons, mainly because there are so many different things out there to collect of Mr. October. 

I vividly remember the first player collections, Duke Snider, Ivan Rodriguez, Catfish Hunter, and Harmon Killebrew, and I'm certain that Reggie Jackson wasn't too far behind them. I've been collecting cards of the 14-time All-Star for years now. Following last weekends card show, I have 147 total cards of Mr. October in my player collection.

I also purchased my first serial numbered card of Jackson at last Sunday's Shriner's Baseball card show, an orange parallel from 2018 Topps High Tek. I must say, I originally thought that the orange background combined with the gold jersey would be overwhelming, but I couldn't be more wrong. 

It's totally a winning combination and the low serial numbering (7/25), makes it even better. Although serial numbered cards of retired players are fairly hard to come by, I'm hoping that this won't be the last one I see of Reggie Jackson.

Reggie's rookie season in 1969 allowed for only 1 card to be produced of the 1973 AL MVP in the entire 60s decade. Thus, virtually all of the vintage Reggie Jackson cards can be found in the 1970s, whether it's Topps Flagship or a more oddball product like SSPC.

Excluding his base card in my 1972 Topps complete set, my oldest Reggie Jackson card dates back to 1973 Topps. Following that year, I have a few more vintage cards of the 2-time World Series MVP on the Oakland A's before he went to the Orioles, Yankees, and Angels later on in his career.

I may be a huge stickler for oddballs, but nothing can beat that 1975 Topps card. The blue and orange borders combined with the green uniform and photo is unbeatable. 

Now, cards are nice enough, and I enjoy featuring them on the blog as much as anyone, but the whole point of PC overviews is to showcase pieces that otherwise may not be featured on the blog. 

While these may look like traditional cards at first glance, and I suppose they are, in reality, these are actually 1983 Star panels in which 3 cards are grouped together. They're kind of like the box toppers that Topps Heritage used to do except these panels can actually be separated into 3 different cards.

I have other Star cards in my collection as this company created a surplus of different mini sets centered around certain players. I've always gone back and forth as to if I should separate the panels into individual cards. 

On one hand, I'd be able to boost my Reggie Jackson PC by a substantial number of cards. By contrast, the panels themselves, especially with the gold A's uniforms, look so fantastic that I'd almost feel guilty taking them apart.

Not limited to just the Oakland Athletics, I also have Star panels that feature Jackson as a member of the New York Yankees and the California Angels. These cards, combined with the Oakland A's panels, could add 18 cards to my Reggie Jackson player collection. 

I'm going to have to decide whether 6 panels or 18 additional cards in the Reggie Jackson PC is the better choice. Still, there's one thing that cannot be denied; these Star cards are awesome, especially since the borders match the respective team colors.

I'm fairly certain that I've shown this booklet card on the blog before, but there was no way that I could leave it out when discussing the finest pieces of Reggie Jackson memorabilia in my collection. This dual relic, the only booklet card in my entire collection, is from 2017 Panini National Treasures, an unbelievably high-end product.

Like many of the sets from which I purchase individual cards, I'll likely never open a box of National Treasures in my lifetime. With that being said, I love this Reggie Jackson card, though I wish one of the jersey swatches was either green or gold.

The booklet is very polished and elegant, much like the entire National Treasures set, and it came with the one-touch case when I purchased the card at a Baseball card show several months back for roughly the price of a blaster box of cards.

While I've previously featured the NT booklet, there's one last piece of Reggie Jackson memorabilia that I have yet to showcase in any blog post. This was actually purchased on the same day as the card above. Needless to say, that Baseball card show trip was primarily centered around Mr. October.

Every once in a while, my Dad and I discover something so special and perfect for our collection that we simply feel obligated to splurge and add it to our collection. This is exactly how we felt when we stumbled upon this framed Sports Illustrated cover from the early 1970s, autographed by the Hall of Famer himself.

If the cover featured Jackson on any other team besides the Athletics, I doubt that we would've purchased it. However, because he's shown as a member of the Oakland A's as well as the iconic gold jersey, the framed cover was simply perfect for our collection.

Along with the Red Sox and Cubs, the Expos, Pirates, and Oakland A's are my favorite Baseball teams, hence why I collect so many players from each of those MLB clubs. There aren't many players that I could justify splurging for a framed autograph magazine cover of, but Reggie Jackson, admittedly, is one of them.