Cardboard Keepers - Early Ernie Banks

Time for the next installment of "Cardboard Keepers", a thought experiment where I theoretically whittle my entire collection down to just 2,000 cards; 1,000 baseball keepers and 1,000 other keepers.

Today we show some love and appreciation to Mr. Cub, the great Ernie Banks!

I was always a fan of Banks growing up, and when I got some disposable income in my 20s I actually built a pretty decent collection of Ernie's vintage cardboard.  I decided in the last year to part with quite a few of those cards, and have sold them off on eBay to fund savings or other cardboard adventures.

There were two cards that I knew would survive the sell-off and condensing I've been going through though, and today I'll induct both of them into my Cardboard Keepers collection:

The first is my oldest Ernie Banks card, since I don't (yet anyway!) have his expensive 1954 rookie.  This is also a pretty big notch in my belt as far as my slow-burn 1955 Topps set build goes.  In fact, I think it's the first and only HOFer in my pursuit despite the fact that I'm 25% done with the set overall.

This particular card is just a beautiful example too, a great look at a young Banks here.  I wouldn't bother shelling out the cash for a PSA 6 grade these days, but like I said this one was acquired many years ago when my responsibilities were much different than they are today.  Easily my best overall card of the Chicago slugger.

Here's a look at the back, also nice and clean.

The other one that's a certain keeper for now is from the very next year's Topps set.  I like 1956 Topps every bit as much as 1955, and I'd love to complete it someday as well.  It's a bummer that we get the exact same portrait photograph used in consecutive years, but that wasn't exactly uncommon practice at the time.

I don't really care about which back variation (light or dark) I get when it comes to my '56s, and even my OCD would never force me to pick up a whole second set just because of the backs.  I'm very happy just to have this light back one in my collection.

So, there are my two oldest Ernie Banks cards, both obvious choices for this exercise.  Welcome to the Cardboard Keepers collection, Ernie!

That's 28 cards down in the baseball Cardboard Keepers collection altogether now, 972 to go.  You can see the virtual album here if you're interested.

I'll be back with more keepers soon, in the meantime thanks for stopping by!