Five from Stan - Happy b-day!

At the end of my last post, I said that Willie Mays would be featured next, but Fuji reminded me that today would be Stan 'The Man' Musial's 100th birthday!  So I switched it up, Willie will be in a future post.

So below are the 5 favorite Musial cards in my collection.  I don't have a high end collection.  You won't see cards with a high grade, or many on card autos.  But they are mine, and I do love them.  Musial was an amazing player and checks some big boxes for me.  Like Fuji said in his post, players who are able to stay with one franchise impress me.  I know the game and its economics have changed since Stan's time, making it harder for that to happen nowadays.  But it is still super cool!  The other thing that I immediately think of with Musial ios his 3630 hits.  Still #4 all time, after Rose, Cobb and Aaron (and Ichiro if you count his Japanese hits).  Very impressive!

Here's the cards...

1. 1975 TCMA 1942-1946 St. Louis Cardinals - Sweet oddball 70's stuff.  And a bat rack to boot, I know some of you guys like that stuff.  A nice shot of Stan that is a little outside the norm.  I guess there is another card that looks just like this in the 1977-84 Renata Galasso set, but it does have a different back.

2. 2005 Donruss Studio - Portraits Diamond Kings - White Black & White #SP-6.  This one is numbered /30, which makes it my lowest numbered Musial.  And my only numbered Musial, so not the biggest accomplishment.  Clean and classic, but also a little boring.  Also, I don't really get why it is called 'White Black & White'.  White border, and a black and white photo?  Modern baseball cards are weird in their variations.

3. 1958 Topps - [Base] #476 - These 58 All Stars are great cards, and quite popular.  The pic of Stan seems less sharp than the background, but it doesn't bother me that much.

4. 1960 Topps - [Base] #250 - I think this is my favorite Musial I own.  I love the 1960 set.  And my uncles have a copy of this card in their collection, so I was exposed to it at a young age.  Always associated this card with Vintage Musial.

5. 2011 Topps Gypsy Queen - Framed Mini Relics #FMRC-SM - This is probably my favorite relic card in my collection.  I know non-auto relics are pretty devalued compared to their status in the early 2000s, but when I got this card, it felt special to me, and even though I could probably get another for $12, to me, it is a valuable card.

Bonus!  Here is my Stan the Man auto!  Back in the day, you could send away for one of these signed postcards for free or very cheap direct from Stan "The Man" Inc.  Anyone else got one of these?

And here is the back of the postcard.

Going forward, I am most interested in Vintage Musials, which are tough to come by.  But I'd probably be happy to take modern Musials, especially low numbered or especially good looking cards of his.

Happy birthday Stan!