MY FAVORITE CARDS:

1972 TOPPS BILLY MARTIN

 

 

            Many words have been used to describe Billy Martin. On the positive side, “bold,” “fearless,” and “shrewd” are all accurate. On a negative note, “impulsive,” “reckless,” and “hostile” are also applicable. Volatile as he was, Martin commanded respect from his players and made the teams he managed better than they were before his arrival. In all, he guided four different clubs to playoff appearances.

            Martin honed his fighting skills during his high school years, boxing at the amateur level in the San Francisco Bay area. With his unwavering hustle and grit, he became one of manager Casey Stengel’s favorites while playing for the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. Stengel, who was like the father Billy never had while growing up, promoted the fiery infielder to the majors after taking over the Yankee helm. Billy was among New York’s top utility men, appearing at second, short, and third base. He even made occasional appearances in the outfield. After collecting four World Series rings with the Yankees, he ended up being traded for his role in a notorious late night bar brawl that involved many of the Yankees’ brightest stars. General manager George Weiss felt that Martin was a bad influence on Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford, advocating for his transfer to the Kansas City Athletics. Labeled a troublemaker, Martin played his way into obscurity over the next four seasons, wearing five different uniforms in that span.

            There were brighter days ahead. Martin experienced a career revival as manager of the Minnesota Twins in 1969, guiding the club to an ALCS appearance. Some great seasons with the Tigers, Yankees, and A’s would follow. But in spite of all his success, Martin is best remembered for his struggles with alcohol and the alarming number of altercations he engaged in both on and off the field.

            In New York, Martin infamously clashed with Hall of Fame slugger Reggie Jackson. The feud reached a boiling point in 1977, when the two nearly came to blows in the dugout during a nationally televised game at Fenway Park. The Yankees won the World Series that year, but Reggie and Billy failed to coexist peacefully again in ’78, prompting owner George Steinbrenner to fire Billy with more than 60 games remaining in the season. The fickle Yankee proprietor fired and re-hired Martin several more times in the years that followed.

            Showing their appreciation for his passion and dedication to the club, the Yankees retired Martin’s jersey number in 1986 and installed a plaque in Monument Park. The inscription read: “There has never been a greater competitor than Billy.” Sadly, Martin died on Christmas Day in 1989, when his truck slid down a steep embankment not far from his home in Fenton, New York. He had been drinking at a local bar with an old friend before the crash. He was only 61 years old.

            At 787 cards (Topps’s largest release to that point), assembling the 1972 baseball set piece by piece is a massive undertaking. To many, it remains one of the most visually appealing in the Topps catalog. Player pics are framed by colorful inner borders that come in a variety of shades, including blue, green, red, and yellow. Team names appear in stylized block print that vaguely resembles the old Wonder Woman TV series logo (apologies to those born after 1980, but you can look it up).

            Martin’s card—# 33 in the series—features a shot of him standing behind a batting cage in some unidentified spring training facility. He’s dressed in his Detroit Tigers home uniform and wearing a very serious expression. Some would say he looks a bit irritable, which was his default setting throughout his career. He’s leaning on a bat in the photo and, while there is plenty to draw our attention away from the fact, a careful inspection of the card reveals the inside joke. The petulant Detroit skipper is flipping the photographer the bird!! This not-so-subtle gesture slipped past the Topps quality control team (or perhaps they saw it and decided to let it go), making the card a popular novelty among collectors even today.

As of 2026, the population of Gem Mint PSA-graded copies was extremely low at less than 10. While PSA has estimated the value of Grade 10 copies at $450 apiece, one of them actually sold for $1,500. Ungraded examples go for about $15-$20 in middling condition.      

               

 

MY FAVORITE CARDS:

1976 TOPPS FRED LYNN

 

 

            With a lineup full of young and untested players, the 1975 Red Sox were vastly underrated. Defying the odds, they captured the American League pennant with a sweep of the A’s, who had won each of the previous three World Series. Over the course of the season, Fred Lynn and Jim Rice formed a potent rookie slugging tandem, earning the nickname of “The Gold Dust Twins.” While opinions of Rice’s defensive abilities were divided, there was never any doubt about Lynn’s penchant for making highlight reel catches in center field. This was dramatically on display in Game 4 of the ‘75 World Series, when he took a potential game-winning hit away from Ken Griffey of the Reds. He was not as lucky in Game 6, crashing into the wall at Fenway Park in an unsuccessful attempt to haul in Griffey’s run-scoring triple. Lynn lay crumpled on the ground for several minutes in obvious discomfort but stayed in the game, which was won by Boston on a memorable walk-off homer by Carlton Fisk. Lynn’s exceptional performance in 1975 resonated with sportswriters, who named him Rookie of the Year and MVP. He also won a Gold Glove, becoming the first player in history to claim all three honors in the same season.

            As a youngster coming of age in upstate New York, the allure of the Yankees and Mets was strong. But I couldn’t help being enamored with Lynn’s obvious talents. Though his ’75 Topps rookie issue should have been high on my “want list” that year, it was (frankly speaking) a visually unappealing card. With a ghastly burnt orange and yellow outer border, portraits of four rookie outfielders are framed in blue. Lynn appears on the upper right next to Ed Armbrister of the Reds, who would gain World Series notoriety that year for getting tangled with Carlton Fisk on a bunt attempt in the tenth inning of Game 3. The collision caused Fisk to produce an errant throw that led to a Cincinnati win. To this day, many fans still believe that Armbrister should have been called for interference on the play.   

 

 

           

            While Lynn’s debut card is a visual dud, his second-year issue is a thing of beauty. It features an in-game action shot that captures him in the final stages of swinging. The colors are bright and crisp. The alluring All-Star Rookie trophy adorns the lower right-hand corner. 

            During his early years, Lynn appeared to be on a trajectory to Cooperstown. In six full seasons with Boston, he hit .307 and earned four Gold Gloves. He reached the pinnacle of his offensive capabilities in 1979 with 83 extra-base hits (including 39 homers) and a league-leading .333 batting average. But injuries seriously hampered his ability to remain on the field. “After I won the batting title, I thought I could win it again, maybe every year,” said Lynn after his retirement. “When you’re young, you can’t imagine not being young and healthy. But something happened every year.”

            It certainly did.  

Lynn’s maladies were numerous. Over the course of his career, he was felled by hamstring pulls, back problems, shoulder issues, and knee injuries that resulted in multiple surgeries. He missed more than 50 games in 1980, prompting a trade to the California Angels. Following his departure from Boston, Lynn made three consecutive All-Star appearances and became the first player to hit a grand slam in the Midsummer Classic. But he never reached the 30-homer threshold after the age of 27. And he was sidelined for at least 20 games (usually more) every year. He went on to play for the Orioles, Tigers, and Padres before calling it quits in 1991.

Lynn’s highly attractive second-year Topps card is somewhat undervalued nowadays.  As of 2026, the PSA company listed the Gem Mint population at close to 30 and placed the estimated value at $40. A tribute to Lynn’s enduring popularity, one copy sold for more than ten times that much on eBay in May of 2024. Mint copies typically sell for over $100.    

             

 

MY FAVORITE CARDS:

1914 CRACKER JACK GAVY CRAVATH

 

 

            For fans of vintage cards, the Cracker Jack issues of 1914 and 1915 are among the most attractive of all time. The white borders make the deep red backgrounds stand out. And the “Cracker Jack Ball Players” logo in the top-center of each copy reeks of old-school charm. The pictures, which are colorized photos of baseball’s early diamond stars, are more realistic and vivid than a majority of cards that were printed before then.

            While the set contains more than 100 Deadball greats (including Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, and Christy Mathewson), the card that has always attracted me most is #82—Gavy Cravath. Largely forgotten today, Cravath was baseball’s first true home run king in an era when home runs were rare. The Deadball Era got its name from the balls, themselves, which were kept in play by umpires until they were misshapen and spongy. Fans who attended games in the early-20th century were actually encouraged to return foul balls, sometimes under threat of arrest. Pitchers resorted to all kinds of dirty tricks, such as moistening the ball with various substances or deliberately throwing directly at batters to move them off the plate. It was in this challenging environment that Cravath briefly established himself as baseball’s reigning home run king.

            Cravath joined the Red Sox in 1908 after a productive five-year run with the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. Due to a considerable lack of foot speed—the result of a high school football injury—he had difficulty establishing tenure in the Sox outfield. Though he sat out more than 60 games in 1908, he finished second on the club in triples and fifth in RBIs. Considered somewhat old for a second-year player at 28 years of age, he was traded twice in 1909 and demoted to the minors by Washington manager Joe Cantillon. He found a permanent home with the Phillies in 1912.  

            A right-hander, Cravath was an opposite field hitter. When pitchers tried to jam him inside, he would step back and slice the ball to right field. This worked exceptionally well for him as the right field foul pole at the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia was only 280 feet from home plate. A 40-foot wall was installed to discourage cheap home runs along with a 20-foot screen, but it remained one of the most hitter-friendly venues in the majors for many years. Commenting on its cozy dimensions, sportswriter Red Smith once joked: “If the right fielder had eaten onions at lunch, the second baseman knew it.”

            In 1914, each of Cravath’s league-leading 19 home runs were hit in Philly. The following year, his output (24) was more than the collective totals of almost every club in the majors. In all, Cravath led the National League in homers six times and finished in third place twice. At the time of his retirement in 1920, his 119 lifetime blasts were the most by any 20th century hitter. Playing in an era when foul balls weren’t counted as strikes, Hall of Fame infielder Roger Connor gathered 138 homers between 1880 and 1897. But 17 of those were inside-the-park shots and one bounced over the fence (ground rule doubles weren’t an official thing in Connor’s day. They were counted as home runs until the 1930s). With the foul-strike rule in effect throughout his career, only four of Cravath’s lifetime homers stayed inside the park. And only two bounced over the fence.

            Because Cracker Jack cards were inserted directly into boxes of the candy, they were often stained by the caramel coating. In 1915, the company offered the first promotional box set in the history of the hobby. The entire series could be obtained by mailing 100 Cracker Jack coupons to a Chicago address. Today, graded copies of Cravath’s card are extremely rare. As of 2026, the PSA grading company listed the total population at 29. There are no PSA examples currently above Grade 7. While copies in various conditions have sold for well over $1,000, it was a Grade 3 example that fetched the highest price to date in 2018, selling for $2,305 on eBay. PSA has placed the estimated value of a Grade 8 copy (Near-Mint/Mint) at $3,000.

 

 

MY FAVORITE CARDS:

1978 TOPPS REGGIE JACKSON

 

           

Reggie Jackson was one of the most exciting and controversial sports figures of the 1970s. He broke in with the Oakland A’s, helping the club to three consecutive World Series titles from 1972 through 1974. Referring to his home runs as “taters,” he chirped incessantly to the media about his prowess at the plate and his value to the team. While this didn’t always sit well with teammates and managers, he wasn’t wrong on either count. During his prime years with the A’s (1968-1975), he led the team in homers six times and RBIs on four occasions. His mammoth home run in the 1971 All-Star Game struck a transformer on the roof of Tiger Stadium. At an estimated 520-plus feet, it is still considered the most impressive shot in the history of the Midsummer Classic.

Jackson’s arrogance was on full display wherever he went. In Oakland, he told a reporter, “I am the storm when I hit.” In New York, he branded himself “the straw that stirs the drink.” Even before he signed a massive five-year contract with the Yankees in ’76, making him the highest paid player in baseball history to that point, he bragged that they would name a candy bar after him if he played in New York. Brash as that statement was, it actually happened!

The Reggie! Bar was first marketed by the Curtiss Candy Company in 1978. It was a chocolate covered disk resembling a no-bake cookie with peanuts and caramel inside. The candy itself wasn’t new—it had actually been produced by multiple companies before falling into the hands of Standard Brands (owners of Curtiss Candy). The bars, which sold for 25 cents apiece, were visually appealing with bright orange wrappers and a handsome action picture of Jackson in Yankee pinstripes. I ate a fair share of those candy bars as a kid (they were similar to Baby Ruths but not as tasty).

 

 

Though he was already a household name by the time the Yankees met the Dodgers in the ’77 World Series, Reggie cemented his status as “Mr. October” by launching home runs off of four different pitchers in four consecutive swings of the bat (quite literally). The first one came in Game 5 off of Hall of Famer Don Sutton. The next three came in Game 6, which was the Series-clincher for New York. The unusual feat had never been previously accomplished in Fall Classic play and remains unmatched to this day.

Capitalizing on Jackson’s landmark performance, Curtiss Candy rushed Reggie! Bars onto the shelves. The Yankees held their ’78 home opener on April 13. In collaboration with Standard Brands, they gave out Reggie! Bars to fans who attended the game. Jackson didn’t disappoint. In the bottom of the first inning, he homered with Willie Randolph and Mickey Rivers on base, staking the Yanks to a 3-1 lead. As soon as the ball landed in the right field stands, hundreds of fans showed their appreciation by littering the field with the promotional candy bars. The game was delayed for several minutes as the Stadium crew cleaned up the mess. Jackson later joked that he was glad the disturbance had been prompted by a home run, not by him dropping a ball in the outfield. Manager Billy Martin remarked humorously that if it happened again, he would personally scoop up the treats and sell them at a discount.

The Topps company commemorated Jackson’s ’77 postseason performance the following year with a Record-Breaker card (“Most Homers, One World Series”). There is also a World Series highlight card with a picture of Reggie in the early stages of swinging. It reads: “Reggie and Yankees Reign Supreme.” The ’78 Topps set features a number of Hall of Fame rookies, including Eddie Murray, Jack Morris, Paul Molitor, and Alan Trammel.

(—an impressive array to say the least.)

 But to a 12-year old Yankee fan like myself still basking in the glory of the Bombers’ first championship in well over a decade, Jackson’s All-Star card was the “must-have” card in the set. The card features the pinstriped slugger in the final stages of swinging. When Jackson swung, he swung from his heels—lunging forward and putting his entire body into it. When he missed, he missed big, sometimes toppling sideways into the dirt. The ’78 All-Star card shows him with his right foot fully extended and his left knee about to make contact with the ground. The bat is in motion behind his right shoulder. His eyes are hidden behind shaded glasses, but judging by the direction of his gaze, it’s a safe bet that he has driven a pitch into right-center field.  A red-white-and blue All-Star logo in the shape of a badge/shield is displayed in the upper right-hand corner of the card.

Nowadays, raw copies of Jackson’s ’78 All-Star card can be purchased in great condition on eBay for less than $10. Graded examples are worth quite a bit more—especially Gem-Mint copies, which are rare. At the time of this writing, the PSA company had listed the population of grade 10 pieces at less than 50. One of those cards sold for over $9,000 at auction.  

 

MY FAVORITE CARDS:

1938 GOUDEY “HEADS UP” JOE DIMAGGIO

 

 

            The Goudey “Heads Up” collection features the company’s most whimsical design. Released in 1938, the small set (consisting of 48 cards) includes a number of prominent players, among them Hall of Famers Hank Greenberg, Bob Feller, and Jimmie Foxx. The cards display colorized head shots that are disproportionately large for the cartoon bodies they are attached to, creating an appearance similar to bobblehead dolls. Released in two series, the “Heads Up” set picked up where Goudey left off in 1933 (at #240). The pieces in the ’38 collection come in two variations. Series 1 cards (numbered 241-264) have blank backgrounds while Series 2 issues (numbered 265-288) include black and white cartoons with captions that provide biographical information. 

            For me, the most interesting piece in the set is #247—Joe DiMaggio. The card is noteworthy for multiple reasons. First and foremost, DiMaggio is positively beaming in the picture, which is highly out of character for him. This is not to say that he can’t be found smiling or clowning around in a handful of scattered photos. But Joe D’s public persona was one of cool composure. He trusted very few people and kept up a very guarded front. In fact, many of his teammates spoke at length about his enigmatic personality and quiet stoicism. I explored this topic extensively in my book, Tales of the Yankee Clipper (which is the third installment of my Yankee Icon Trilogy).   

            The cartoon captions on DiMaggio’s 1938 Goudey card make some unusual pronouncements and it’s worth breaking them down individually:

--“He’s a member of the Yanks’ Murderer’s Row and Flirts With the Home Run Record.”

The term “Murderer’s Row” was specifically applied to the first few hitters in the 1927 Yankee batting order (Earle Combs, Mark Koenig, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Bob Muesel, and Tony Lazzeri). By the time the 1938 card was released, only one of those players remained (Gehrig). But the term was occasionally used in a generalized sense during DiMaggio’s career. As far as the home run record goes, DiMaggio slammed two homers in one inning against the White Sox at Comiskey Park during his rookie season. He was the first Yankee to do so and the fifth player of the 20th century to turn the trick. Aside from that, he was not specifically noted for his home runs. He led the American League twice in that category but reached the 40-homer plateau just once, falling short of 400 for his career.

--“$25,000 Per Year—Pretty Fair Salary For a Young Fellow.”

While it’s true that Joe D. was paid $25,000 in 1938, this was only after a bitter salary dispute that dragged on deep into the spring and delayed his season debut until April 30. Without him, the Yankees posted a 6-6 record, falling to fourth place. DiMaggio initially asked for $40,000 and, when Yankee executive Ed Barrow countered with an offer of $25K, Joe held out, refusing to report for spring training. As the story goes, Barrow asked DiMaggio: “What would you say if I told you Lou Gehrig is not making $40,000.” Without missing a beat, the head-strong slugger replied: “I would say Lou Gehrig is highly underpaid.”

  --“Considered one of the Greatest Outfielders of All-Time.”

Since DiMaggio was only 23 years-old and entering his third major league season, this was a bit of an exaggeration on Goudey’s part.

--“Joe Rated a Niche in This Place From the First Year in The Major League.”

The caption is accompanied by a cartoon drawing of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Again, there is no way that the Goudey team could have convincingly backed up that statement at the time the card was released. The first Hall of Fame ballot took place in 1936, but the Hall, itself, was not opened to the public until June of 1939—a year after Goudey’s “Heads Up” series was issued. Only then were members of the inaugural class (a group that included Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, and Honus Wagner) officially enshrined. Interestingly, it took DiMaggio multiple trials to make it to Cooperstown. After falling short in 1953 and 1954, he was finally elected in ‘55.

            As of this writing, there were no PSA-graded Gem-Mint examples of the DiMaggio cartoon variation. The version with the blank background (#250) is even more difficult to find in high-grade condition although the overall population is higher. Grade 9 examples of card #274 cost a pretty penny with the highest recorded sale price to date being $288,000 (realized in February of 2017). Collectors can expect to pay a steep price for copies of any grade. In 2022, an example evaluated as “Authentic” (very low grade) sold on eBay for $1,402.

(This card is discussed in even greater detail in my upcoming book release, Cardboard Treasures)

 

 

MY FAVORITE CARDS:

1955 BOWMAN MICKEY MANTLE

 

 

            In 1927, a traveling chewing gum salesman named Jacob Warren Bowman opened his own company in Philadelphia, naming it Gum, Inc. Within ten years, the Bowman brand (known as “Blony”) had become the top-selling bubble gum in America. Looking for clever ways to market their product, the company began packaging gum with a series of non-sports trading cards that featured cowboys and soldiers. Baseball cards soon followed with the release of the first “Play Ball” set in 1939. When World War II arrived, restrictions on paper and gum ingredients forced most major manufacturers to shut down production. But Gum, Inc.—renamed in honor of its founder—re-entered the market in 1948 with a series of sports issues that included basketball, football, and baseball.

            In the 1950s, Topps emerged as a major competitor to Bowman and the two companies butted heads over legal rights to player contracts. Though a court settlement initially went in Topps’s favor, Bowman continued to have the edge in terms of exclusive player cards. This was glaringly evident in 1955, when Topps put out a 210-card set that was loaded with second-string players. Though the Topps team was able to secure the rights to Roberto Clemente, Harmon Killebrew, and Sandy Koufax that year, all three were virtually unknown at the time. In sharp contrast, the ’55 Bowman set is much larger (comprised of 320 pieces) and loaded with established stars. In addition to Bob Feller, Pee Wee Reese, and Roy Campanella (none of whom appeared with Topps in ’55), Bowman inked an exclusive deal with one of the most iconic players in Yankee history—Mickey Mantle.  

            The ’55 Bowman set is among the company’s most quirky offerings. American had entered the television age and, marking its arrival, player pictures were framed by a console TV. The design was not an original concept. In fact, the idea was borrowed from the Drake’s Cookies set of 1950. The primary difference is that Drake’s cards were printed in black-and-white while the Bowman issues appear in full color. Additionally, the Drake’s design (pictured below) was simplistic, hardly resembling a television at all.

            Mantle was entering his fifth big league season in ’55. He was a bit of a late-bloomer, having averaged just 21 home runs per year to that point. Living up to his full potential, he led the league with 37 homers, 11 triples, and a robust .431 on-base percentage. An impressive but largely overlooked stat: he also stole eight bases in nine attempts despite chronic (and at times debilitating) knee issues.  

            The 1955 season is best remembered for the Dodgers’ surprising World Series victory over the Yankees. This was due in part to Mantle’s diminished role. The Series went seven games, but Mickey was limited to three appearances due to a hamstring injury. He managed just 2 hits in 10 at-bats while demonstrating limited mobility. Years later, he was asked if he was glad that the Dodgers had finally won it all. “Hell no, I’m a Yankee,” he said. “I didn’t want any other team to win the World Series. But maybe in some hidden corner of my heart, I was kind of happy for them.”   

            Mickey’s 1955 Bowman card looks more like a cartoon than an actual photo, which adds to its nostalgic appeal. Mantle is standing along the right field foul line in his road grays. He’s wearing a cap with the interlocking “NY” as opposed to a batting helmet. Interestingly, helmets would not be mandatory in the American League until the late-‘50s. Though they were widely accepted in Mantle’s day, their use would not be strictly enforced until after the 1970 campaign.

            The switch-hitting Mantle is demonstrating his right-handed swing in the Bowman photo. A high outfield wall is visible in the background along with a section of empty stadium seats. An unidentified player is standing behind Mantle warming up. The wood console TV design creates some problems for modern collectors since defects are easily detectable. As of January 2026, the PSA website had listed the total population of Gem Mint copies at three. Grade 9 (Mint) copies aren’t much easier to come by with just nine having been evaluated by PSA at the time of this writing. One of them sold for $246,000. Even in Poor condition, copies carry price tags above $300.

            In an unexpected twist to the Bowman-Topps saga, the latter company bought out its bitter rival before the 1956 season, shelving the Bowman name for more than 30 years. In 1989, Topps finally began producing cards under the Bowman label. To this day, the Bowman rookie issues are among the most valuable and highly sought-after in the industry.   

 

MY FAVORITE CARDS:

1971 TOPPS THURMAN MUNSON

 

 

 

 

            At the time of its release, Topps’s 1971 collection (containing 752 cards) was its largest to date. Had the design team known in advance that it would be virtually impossible to assemble the set in pristine condition, they might have reconsidered the color scheme. The black borders make even the slightest defects glaringly evident. As a result, Gem Mint copies are virtually non-existent.

            Even so, there is plenty to like about the ’71 cards. Topps included player photos on the back-sides—an unusual feature for the era. Front-side action pics are abundant with a pleasing balance of vertical and horizontal alignments. The set is loaded with Hall of Famers—some who were entering the final years of their playing careers (like Ernie Banks and Bill Mazeroski). Other Cooperstown inductees appear on manager cards, including Ted Williams, Bob Lemon, and Red Schoendienst.

            In the 1970s, there was a lively debate as to who was the best catcher in the American League. Most fans in New York believed it was Thurman Munson while New Englanders typically argued in favor of Carlton Fisk. In the end, it was Fisk, not Munson who wound up in the Hall of Fame. But Fisk never won a World Series ring or an MVP Award like Munson did in the Bronx.

            The rivalry between the two backstops came to a head on August 1, 1973. In the ninth inning of a game between the Yanks and Sox, Munson was on third, Gene Michael was batting, and Fisk was behind the plate. Michael squared to bunt but failed to make contact with the pitch. Munson—not the speediest of runners—came barreling home anyway. There was a collision between the opposing catchers followed by a hellacious fight.

            Munson’s ‘71 Topps card shows him in his catcher’s gear applying a tag to A’s pitcher Chuck Dobson. Both players have their eyes closed as a cloud of dust and flying dirt partially obscures the view. The photo is horizontally aligned with the iconic gold All-Star Rookie symbol on the left side of the card. This is the old design when it more closely resembled a trophy with a batter standing on top of a pedestal. The trophy was later replaced with a gold cup. Munson was entering his second full season in ’71 and had walked away with Rookie of the Year honors the previous year. Seven All-Star selections, three Gold Gloves, and two World Series titles followed.

            Although he could be gruff, dismissive, and downright ornery, Munson remains one of the most popular Yankee icons. Sadly, his life was cut short on August 2, 1979, when the private jet he was piloting crashed at the Akron-Canton Airport in Ohio. The Yankees retired his number (15) and added a plaque to Monument Park. More than 40 years after his passing, he still enters into discussions of the greatest Yankee catchers of all-time. In a 2026 MLB online survey, Yogi Berra received the most votes for franchise best with Munson coming in second. Jorge Posada and Bill Dickey ranked third and fourth respectively.

            High-grade copies of Munson’s ’71 Topps card have been known to sell for tens of thousands while mid-grade examples can be obtained on eBay for less than $200.