Time for the latest installment of Cheap Slabs, in which I show off a graded card that I acquired for less than $25. Tonight, we have a really unique card featuring one of my all-time favorite players...
Maybe not the most aesthetically pleasing or creative design here, but what this card represents is kind of cool. In the 1983 season, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton and Gaylord Perry all surpassed the great Walter Johnson on the career strikeouts list. This was no small feat, as Johnson finished his career with an amazing 3,508 strikeouts. For these three (who are all enshrined in Cooperstown) to surpass a total that high, each in the same season, is just awesome, and I'm glad that Topps dedicated a Highlight card to commemorate it in the '84 set.
As much as I like Gaylord Perry and Steve Carlton, it was Nolan Ryan that drew me to this card earlier this year. He, Will Clark, and Cal Ripken, Jr. were the first three players I ever collected as a kid, and so I still search out Nolan Ryan cards to this day. I'm working on a graded run of his base flagship Topps cards from his '68 RC through his final '94 issue, but I still have a few holes left to plug.
Here's a look at the back, which gives you a brief write-up on each player surpassing The Big Train, so that you can see what date it occurred on for each of these three hurlers.
While I'm mainly sticking to Nolan's primary Topps card for my complete career run project, I'll gladly stray and pick up other slabbed Ryan cards like this one if the price is right. It certainly was with this card, purchased in July of this year for just $4.99!
That's all for this installment of Cheap Slabs, thanks as always for stopping by!
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3 comments:
I remember Carlton and Ryan battling for the all-time K lead. Don't remember Perry though.
I actually treasured this card back when I was a kid. It had one of my favorite pitchers (Carlton) and Nolan Ryan was one of the most popular players in the hobby.
That's a gem to me even if it didn't get the 10 and a very nice slab for the price. I am a Phillies fan and have a modest Carlton PC with his RC high on my wantlist. He and Perry were finishing up their careers when I was just getting into the game but Ryan chugged along through my high school years. The pop of the catcher's mitt when he threw was a glorious sound. I'm glad I got to watch all three, especially a few of Ryan's no-hitters.
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