Top 100 Cards of My Collection #20 2006 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Ensemble Signatures Ken Griffey Jr/Derek Jeter/Jason Bay

 

Don't adjust your screen, yes Jason Bay just made the top 20 of my favorite cards of all time. Of course he had a little help with the other guys who join him on this awesome triple auto from yes again Ultimate Collection. This is the 2nd Ensemble Signature to make the top 30 (The Pujols/Ortiz/Lee is #27 if you recall) and again it's easy to see why. Griffey as I have stated numerous times is my favorite baseball player of all time and you combine that with one of the greatest Yankees of all time, Derek Jeter, and those two on a dual auto alone would've been a slam dunk here. Like Derrick Lee, Jason Bay happens to be in the right place at the right time, and though he's not a bad ballplayer, no way he's near the stature of Griffey and Jeter. Yet he's included anyway on this triple auto numbered to 50. All Sticker autos which is fine but one minor complaint is that UD used a different sticker for the Griffey auto, so it stands out from the other two. Probably leftover from another product. Still though, for me personally, that's just nitpicking, cause I still LOOOOOVE this card!! Card has a grade 9 for the condition and 9 for the autograph as well so that doesn't hurt. This is a great way for Griffey to exit the countdown, a swan song as you will, cause he has no other cards on the list. What a way to go out in style though! The road to #1 has officially begun, and what a way to kick off the top 20!

Top 100 Cards of My Collection #21 08-09 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Foursomes Veteran Patch Lebron/Kobe/Nash/TMac

 

The 3rd and my hands down most favorite quad patch from 08-09 Ultimate Collection, this card has it all. Three transcendent NBA players (and TMac as your 4th wheel isn't exactly too bad), low numbering and awesome looking all star patches. Every patch on this card is multi-colored and even McGrady's has most of a star patch on his. This is what high end patches are supposed to look like. Simply amazing and jaw dropping.

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow: Cards you might regret selling

 

 When it comes to the hobby, I'm not much of a seller. For the most part everything I buy, I intend to keep forever, and this is especially the case for Michael Jordan cards. I had never sold a MJ card out of my collection in the 20+ years I've been collecting....until this past week I finally did the unthinkable. It's hard not to notice 90's inserts of Michael Jordan have been on fire for a while now,  commanding high prices. I noticed one card that was selling above book value was kind of a forgotten card in my collection. This 96-97 Z Force Slam Cam was just one of many inserts I owned of MJ, but when I saw the prices for them, I decided to bite the bullet and strike while the iron was hot. If I recall, I only paid 20 bucks for this card a few years ago. It was a big decision that I went back and forth with but decided that the money this would bring in would help fund a major purchase I made a couple weeks ago and honestly although it's a cool looking MJ, I felt I could sell it without any regrets as it's not one of my major MJ cards in my collection(easier said than done for me, I'd been nervous putting a 90-91 fleer card of MJ for sale). I listed it on EBay was able to rake in a little over $177, which I was more than happy with, but it is a little sad to lose a card of this caliber, especially when it's Michael Jordan. Maybe things will cool down (I know, not holding my breath, lol) and down the road I will be able to reacquire this card, who knows. 

What cards have you sold, that you really didn't want to or ended up regretting selling?

Top 100 Cards of My Collection #22 04-05 Ultimate Collection Ultimate Game Patch Limited Wilt Chamberlain

Wilt makes his 3rd appearance in the 20's but this time he's on his own with this super nice dual patch from Ultimate Collection. Numbered to a mere 25 copies (mine is 7/25) both patches are multi-colored which adds to the greatness of this card. Chamberlain memorabilia cards especially patch cards aren't that easy to find and when you do, collectors snatch em up quickly. Definitely by far the best Wilt memorabilia card in my collection.

Top 100 Cards of My Collection #23 85-86 Star All Rookie Team Michael Jordan

 

It's truly fitting that card #23 should feature the man who defines the number 23. The Star Company produced basketball cards (not through packs ,but rather team set bags or insert set bags like this one) during the gap between Topps exiting the basketball card market after the 81-82 season until Fleer came around for the 86-87 seasons. Since the cards weren't distributed normally like other mainstream companies, the cards are considered XRC's. Hall of Famers like Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Clyde Drexler, John Stockton, Hakeem Olajuwon and more all had their first cards in Star sets. MJ's is far and away the most expensive and desirable Star rookie which was in the 84-85 set. This card  comes from the 85-86 All Rookie Team insert set and it predates Michael Jordan's 86-87 Fleer rookie by a season. That's what I like about this card. You can never go wrong with vintage MJ (I especially really like the old school 80's Bulls jerseys with the cursive font), and the fact that it was issued earlier than his Fleer rookie makes this a very unique card. Also with Star cards, it's important to watch for counterfeits because they are some of the most counterfeited cards in the hobby. That's why I went with a BGS copy, for the piece of mind. Hopefully maybe one day I'll own the 84-85 XRC, but for now, I' don't think it's too bad to own this one!

Top 100 Cards of My Collection #24 1998 Donruss Signature Significant Signatures Sandy Koufax

In it at #24 is a on card autograph from one of the best pitchers in history of the Major Leagues. Sandy Koufax dominated the early to mid 60's winning 3 Cy Youngs and an MVP award during that span. Had injuries not halted Koufax's career at age 30, no telling the numbers Koufax would've had. Koufax doesn't have a lot of autographed stuff either, though this year Topps has an exclusive agreement with him and Donruss had one too a few years back. Still, compared to other prominent hall of famers, Koufax still doesn't have nearly the memorabilia and autographs that most have, and his stuff is always in high demand. I like that this is a an early issued Koufax certified autograph and of course that it's on-card. Also it's not too difficult to find, these were numbered to 2000. I don't care if it was numbered to 2,000,000. There's no way this countdown would be without a Koufax autograph!

Top 100 Cards of My Collection Honorable Mention: 2009 Ultimate Collection Legendary Six Patches Emmitt Smith/Gale Sayers/Franco Harris/Barry Sanders/Earl Campbell/Roger Craig

Here's a card that has all the makings for not only a spot on the countdown, but a high spot, quite possibly a top 20 spot if only for one thing. I've showcased a previous Legendary Six card before and I absolutely love this memorabilia set. It's two sided greatness and the combinations are outstanding. As is this one, 6 Hall of Fame running backs including my favorite Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders, this is LOADED with star power. Add that it's limited to 15 copies (this one being 8/15) and you would think it would be a no brainer to make it on my countdown. Alas, it's doesn't, don't get me wrong, being an honorable mention means I thought very carefully about this card, but there was one thing that was missing from this card. The lack of Multi-color patches. Only the Franco Harris patch is more than one color, the rest solid one color patches including two white patches (the Sayers and Craig) and a grey (Sanders). If the patches would've been killer, this card would no doubt be a top 20 card, unfortunately the generic patches limit this to honorable mention status. Still not a bad consolation prize for a still terrific looking card.