The Ultimate Baseball Card Set - Card #482

It's been far too long since I selected a card for my Ultimate Baseball Card Set, which is a lifelong project to build the ultimate franken-set composed of cards from all years and brands.  Today I'll be selecting card #482...

For such an obscure card number, I was surprised that I was able to find a few decent #482s in my collection.  This card would have been a solid pick because I was always an Olerud fan; he's a good representation of those dominant early-'90s Toronto teams.  Unfortunately for John there were a few others I liked a bit better...

Here's a decent contestant, the Padres team card from the 1971 Topps set.  I love a good vintage team card, and this one's in really great shape.  I don't really have any particular affinity to an early '70s Padres team though, so I'm passing on this one.

One of my favorite junk wax era sets, 1993 Upper Deck, has an interesting card #482.  Any card with The Wizard on it gets consideration, but there were two others that surpassed even this one.

First, the runner-up.  I had a really hard time passing over this card for inclusion.  The 1958 Topps All Star cards are some of my favorite baseball cards of all time.  I like them so much I've collected the entire set in grade PSA 6.  On top of that, I haven't shown much of it here, but I actually have a pretty respectable vintage Banks collection.  If Ernie's going to make it into the franken-set it will have to be a different card, because today he's been beaten out by another Hall-of-Famer:

1983 Topps - #482 - Tony Gwynn RC

I'm sure my viewpoint is skewed by the time period that I grew up in, but I consider this card a timeless classic.  It's certainly one of the top ten rookie cards from a decade that was all about the rookie card.  Gwynn was one of the most talented hitters who ever stepped to the plate, and the fact that his rookie comes from one of the most visually appealing sets of the decade made this the clear cut choice for #482 in my set.  I've had this exact copy since I was around 10 years old, and I still consider it one of my favorite cards a couple of decades later.

The Ultimate Baseball Card Set, which now stands at 5 cards and counting, can be seen here.