Max Mason

Carl Yastrzemski, 1967

1967
Carl Yastrzemski, "The man they call Yaz..." went the song. For a 14 year old kid in Lincoln, Mass in the summer of 1967 he was the MAN. No one ever did more for a team than Yaz did for us that summer. He won the triple crown. He and Jim Lonborg doublehandedly took the Sox to the seventh game of the World Series where they were brought back to earth by Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals. My father rooted for the Cardinals that day. He grew up in St. Louis and never fully converted to being a New Englander. He still hasn't. When Bob Gibson himself delivered the coup de grace, a three run home run late in the game, I left the TV room with hot tears running down my cheeks. While I now root for the Phillies over the Red Sox, Carl Yastrzemski will always be my favorite player.

Curt Flood, 1969

1969
This is perhaps the most important card of recent baseball history. Curt Flood was traded from the Cardinals to the Phillies after the 1969 season for Richie (Dick) Allen. For personal and reasons of principal he refused to report to the Phillies and legally challenged the Reserve Clause, which had controlled player movement since the professional leagues were formed. Although he lost his case and barely played again, other players soon followed suit, the Clause was struck down, and the Age of Free Agency and salary escalation was born. This card is the only evidence of Flood's being a Phillie. Almost lost in this history is the fact that Curt Flood was a terrific ballplayer. He won seven gold gloves and was twice a world champion on the St Louis Cardinals.