From My Collection: 1981 Topps Harold Baines Rookie Cards

In the late 80s and early 90s, I would read all that I could about baseball.  My parents got me a subscription to The Sporting News, and I am sure I also had a subscription to Beckett, or Baseball Cards, or something similar.  I would buy other sports magazines at the 7-Eleven or elsewhere, and I would also get a bunch of books about baseball, mostly as gifts.  In one of these places, I read about each team's all-time home run leader.  Some of the players were familiar, like Mike Schmidt for the Phillies and Willie Stargell for the Pirates, but some I had never heard of, like Gorman Thomas for the Brewers and Harold Baines for the White Sox.

Two 1981 Topps Harold Baines rookie cards, not in great condition.

I took an interest in Harold Baines after that, and checked to see if I had his rookie cards.  Like the Cal Ripken, Jr. card that I wrote about before, Baines' rookie card fell into the time period for which I had a few cards but I hadn't taken care of them.  It turns out I had 3 of them -- the picture above shows the two I still have (at some point I traded one).  As with my Ripken rookie, they're fairly beat up, but I've always liked them.  Baines finished his career with over 2800 hits, almost 400 home runs, and over 1600 RBI.  I gather he's considered a possible, if perhaps unlikely, Hall-of-Famer, through the Veterans Committee; I was always a fan, and he would have my vote.  I'm sure I'll feature more of his cards on this blog in the future.