Today's subject: Favorite basketball card in my collection
I collect basketball nearly as much as I do baseball so there were plenty of options here. After narrowing it down to a few finalists, this will take the cake:
Kobe Bryant – 2008-09 Topps
In my mind, I always think of this card as the “Kobe/LeBron card” and I often forget that it’s actually just Kobe’s base card, not an insert. The card is number 24 in the set which is a really cool touch. Topps assigned card numbers based on jersey number on many occasions in this set. Allen Iverson has card #3, Carmelo has #15, Dirk #41, and so on. I’m not sure if that’s unique to this set, of if that’s a trend that Topps uses often.
A few months back I purchased a whole box of 2008-09 Topps basketball. I had a few “hopes” with the purchase, and my primary desire was to pull this card (I dedicated a whole post to the box break if you're curious).
The photograph on this card is perfect. I may be looking too deep, but I like to think this is a symbolic “passing of the torch.” The ball represents the most dominant player in the NBA and LeBron is reaching to take that moniker from Kobe.
I’m simply in love with this card. It might be a pipe deam but I'd love to get my hands on the chrome version of this card as well as the gold parallel numbered to 2009. Some day…
Amazing card, Nate! I love Kobe and this set. Guess I gotta track one down for myself.
ReplyDeleteTopps has been doing the card number/jersey number thing for awhile now, especially on the baseball side. And of course way back when, Fleer and Upper Deck would often do that for MJ.
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