The Significant and the Unexpected

Ysponder

The title gives it away.

The 6,661-card Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy series may focus primarily on the bat-wielding principal tenants of the legendary stadium, but it also recognizes the people—and events—that made it so much more than just a ball park.

They're not easy to find, though, and that's what makes them the hidden treasures of the season's most talked-about insert set.

Tucked away amidst the prized singles of Yankee greats like Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Don Mattingly and Derek Jeter are unlikely appearances by boxers Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali, rock icons U2 and Pope Paul VI. There also are cards to commemorate the 1958 NFL Championship game, a 1928 football tilt between Knute Rockne's Notre Dame squad and Army, and a trio of MLB All-Star Games.


"When you've got 6,000 cards in the series, these are easy to overlook. But they do a great job reminding people of the diverse history of Yankee Stadium," says Beckett Baseball Price Guide editor Brian Fleischer. "They're also the sort of cards that might catch the eye of people who don't ordinarily chase baseball cards. If you're a boxing fan, for example, the cards of Ali and Louis would make for great additions to your collection."

Of course, most people tracking down these cards are likely to be enthralled by the greatness of the Yankees, and for them YSL provides the ultimate collecting challenge.

"Every game in the history of the Yankees is captured on a card in this set," Fleischer says. "I know of people who are collecting a favorite season, or every card from a World Series season."

There also are collectors tracking down the cards that capture the most significant home moments in the team's storied history. Among the memories that can be relived through the Yankee Stadium Legacy series are Babe Ruth's 60th home run (Sept. 30, 1927), Lou Gehrig's "luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech (July 4, 1939), Don Larsen's World Series perfect game (Oct. 8, 1956) and Reggie Jackson's three home run performance in Game Six of the 1977 World Series.

The Yankee Stadium Legacy cards are being distributed across 10 Upper Deck baseball platforms this spring and summer. They are seeded at an average rate of 1:4 packs.