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FanOfReds Challenge: 20 Cards

With the success of other peoples challenges, coupled with a really slow portion of the year for baseball news, I have a question/challenge for everyone.

This past Christmas, my mother gave me a wooden framed baseball card holder (with 20 individual plastic cases for 20 cards). Since Christmas, I have been diligently looking through my collection, trying to decide exactly which 20 cards I wish to display in the case.

Before I go any further with my choices, here's the challenge:

Assume you had to pick 20 cards from your collection to hang on the wall, which 20 would you choose and why?

Note: This isn't a picture of my display case, but it's close enough so you know what I mean. My display has a light colored wooden frame.


Now, each person has their own reasons for choosing cards.
So far, my cards chosen (10 out of 20...I'm slow) all stay within these guidelines I made myself:

1. I don't know where I'm going to hang this yet, so I want all cards to be doubles. I'm a big set collector so I didn't like the idea of cherry picking the best cards from a set and then have them potentially fade from exposure to sunlight.
2. A variety of brands, issues, and years. I could easily fill a board with 20 of my favorite Allen & Ginter or Topps Heritage cards, but that would be boring for anyone who doesn't care for that particular design.
3. Sentimentality over value. I want reasons for each of the cards I choose (and value isn't one of them).
4. Not all Reds. This is the hardest part for me. So far I picked out 10 Reds cards, now I need to decide whether I want 4-5 non-Reds or 10 non-Reds cards.

So, there you have it. I'm extremely curious which 20 cards each of you would choose to display. (Or perhaps you already have a similar display, in which this challenge will be easy for you!)

Leave a comment below with your picks or a link to your blog entry if you answer there. I'll write a summary blog, including my own cards (which I'll leave as a surprise for now) in a day or so.

Comments

  1. If I had such a thing, I would fill it out as a "Then and Now" kinda thing.
    My Braves starting 8 players, a pitcher, and a reliever... and an all time great Braves starting 8, a pitcher and reliever (or a manager instead of a reliever, whatever)

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  2. Anonymous3:46 AM

    Good question. I know some of the players that I would select for the display, but don't know which cards in particular. Mario Soto, Kurt Stillwell, Eric Davis, Chris Sabo, Shawon Dunston, and both Ken Griffeys would be in the display somewhere. Maybe a Strawberry, a Gooden, a Grace, a Sandberg. But again, no idea which particular cards for any of them.

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  3. I would go with Red Sox cards from past and present...mainly my favorite players...Williams, Yaz, Rice, Boggs, Clemens, Varitek, Pedroia, Youkilis, Papelbon, Matsuzaka...and I would throw in some interesting/sentimental cards that only mean something to me as well.

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  4. Good question. As set collector, I wouldn't want to separate a card from the rest of the family and leave a hole in a set binder. So, I would go with one of my favorite players - Steve Garvey. He had 17 different base cards and one traded card in 1983 so, I'd start with his '71 Topps and continue all the way through '87. Unfortunately, that is only 18 cards, so I'd put a couple of his auto's sweet spots in the middle - perhaps 1 baseball and 1 bat card.

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  5. I'm sure I'd fill it with Pirates players. I'd start with some vintage cards - Clemente, Maz, Stargell, maybe a Kiner. After that I'd fill it with Pirates players of my youth - Andy Van Slyke, Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Spanky LaValliere, Jay Bell, Jeff King, maybe even the hated Sid Bream. Maybe, just maybe I'd throw in some current players, just to remind myself of how terrible the team is now.

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