I’ll limit my response to 1 player, Bob Pettit. When he retired he was the league’s all time leading scorer (1st to 20,000 points), 2nd all time in rebounds, and was the 1st league MVP. He was an all star every season in his career. St. Louis legend.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Fair point. I love how lists create the debate of who should and shouldn't be included. Petit is one that you can certainly make the argument should be in the top 10. Appreciate your comment.

Since I am vintage myself , watched all these great players play against my team ,the St. Louis Hawks.growing up. Basketball was my favorite sport and Bob Petit was the Hawks superstar. In fact the Hawks were the only team who beat the Celtics for the 1958 championship in their incredible run of championships.Petit scored the last 22 points in the fourth quarter of the 6th game and totaled 51 points to take the championship.I do have his 1957 Topps rookie card and in action 61 Fleer.. Nice review

@jon-eriksuermann9844

8 ай бұрын

What’s crazy is they traded bill Russell for multiple hall of famers and still “lost” the trade. I’m a St. Louis guy myself.

@larrygitlin6017

8 ай бұрын

@@jon-eriksuermann9844 Your right , I believe they got Ed McCauley and Cliff Hagan.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Good points. It's impossible to narrow it down to 10, but the fun thing about lists is the conversation about who should've been on it and wasn't. You make a strong case for Petit.

My top 10 in no particular order: Kareem, Wilt, Russell, West, Robertson, Maravich, Erving, Bird, Magic and Havileck. For me, I consider the Bird/Magic as a vintage card. Possibly the last great vintage rookie card for the sport as well. Sort of like Rickey Henderson wouldn't be considered a junk wax era card. I don't think it's modern either, but I could see how others could view it that way.

@chrisolivo6591

8 ай бұрын

I think vintage for each sport should be the last year one company had the exclusive rights. So 1980 Topps is the last year for Baseball vintage, where 1988 Fleer is the last year for Basketball Vintage while 1988 Topps is the last year for Football Vintage. These 1980’s cards are approaching 40 years old and should atleast be considered modern vintage.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

I don't disagree about the Bird/Magic being vintage. They're right on the edge, but for basketball, I think those cards are pretty much vintage.

Great video Graig! The only omission I see from your top 10 was John Havlicek. Big market, 13X All Star, 11X All NBA, and 8 NBA championships gives an edge over Pete Maravich to me. Maravich had 5X All Star and 4X All NBA and no championships. Pete was flashier which may be why he is more popular/collectible, but I feel that Havlicek was a more accomplished player. Elvin Hayes also had some great numbers that exceeded Pistol Pete and is very underrated in my book.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Him and Walt Frazier were right on the end of my list, and it's very hard to cut it down to just 10.

Love Vintage Basketball! I think your list is a really solid list. Some of the remaining players like Rick Barry and Elvin Hayes are even cheaper, basketball and football remain undervalued to me

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Totally agree. Havilchek and Frazier are two more. Hard to narrow it down to just 10.

Loved this video! At this time last year I had a lot of these (and almost the complete 69 Topps set). Long story short, I sold off almost all my vintage basketball to go all in on football. I have no regrets, but I still love vintage basketball and enjoyed seeing you talk about these cards. The only quasi-vintage basketball card I held on to was my Bird/Magic/Erving. Too much nostalgia behind that one to sell it.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Very cool. I have a Bird/Magic rc as well. It's my grail basketball card.

I totally agree collect what you like!!! I ignored the naysayers that told me not to get rookies signed. I love them!!!

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Atta Boy!! Always focus on what YOU like, not others.

Hi Graig, Thanks for your video today. It is great to have some new material on a Saturday! You brought back some wonderful memories of Pete Maravich. For his time he was THE coolest basketball player ever. Not that he was the best but he was a marketer’s dream. For me I always respected Bill Russell so much because you can’t argue with all those championships that he was a part of. Have a great weekend and thank you again, Peter

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Pete Maravich was amazing.

I’m trying to collect Game worn relics of the NBA Top 100. I’m also 5 cards away from finishing my 1970 Topps basketball tall boys. Love basketball.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Wow. That would be a fun run to finish!!

Not sure where to start on this one…..but I’ll leave a story that Cedric Maxwell told as a color analyst for the Celts - paraphrasing “….I was on the Celts for Larry’s rookie year….we came off the court for a timeout…Maravich says to Bird, ‘Larry, you gotta get me the ball, they’re double teaming you’…Bird responded, ‘if you were any good they wouldn’t be double teaming me’”

@jchristner82

8 ай бұрын

lol

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Lol. That’s an awesome story.

Respect your choices. I've gotta give a shout out to the Ice Man George Gervin! Saw him play live many times in the 1970s and 80s.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

The best part about lists is debate about who was left off. Totally get why you'd want him included. I had a few that were tough to cut.

You nailed it!

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Thanks. Glad you liked it!!

Cool video…I’ve always been intrigued with the Mikan card when seeing it pop up in auction catalogs. And also for selling for so much. Never really looked into why since I’m not a basketball card collector. Thanks for the info.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Awesome. I think basketball cards are great. I have quite a few and am happy to talk about them.

Thanks Graig, appreciate this video. Definitely vintage basketball is underrated.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Thanks Orlando. Always appreciate your comments.

Excellent video Graig. My favorite player from this era would have to be Dr. J, just so hard to defend and all around great player as well.Maybe even though he wasn’t really talked about quite as much because of his reported unlikable demeanor , was Rick Barry. Superb scorer at almost 25 per game and a rare underhanded free thrower was hitting those at 90% , one of the greatest of all time as far a free throwers. Imo, hard to keep him off that list. Keep them coming, really enjoy your input to the collecting hobby.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Thanks a bunch. Glad you liked it. A lot of people are baseball collectors only. But, I like collecting a lot more than baseball. So, I'll always sprinkle in some videos of other stuff, too.

I enjoyed the video very much. I started a collection of vintage basketball best nick names and more then, a few guys you mention are on that list. I was surprised when I saw the 1969 Big O 2nd year card you displayed because that is the actual card I purchased off eBay a few days ago.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

That’s awesome. Great buy. Good looking card for super cheap!!

Guess you didn’t have the experience of listening to Chick Hearn do radio calls of the Lakers for four decades. He was the un-matched standard of basketball play-by-play on the radio that hooked in generations of Laker fans. He was a big reason why the Lakers are arguably the most popular NBA franchise.

@MidLifeCards

7 ай бұрын

I actually watched most Lakers games while I was a student at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and heard his call a lot. He was one of the best!!

I need some Jerry West. The one you came across at the EBCS was gorgeous (from what the video showed). For 30 I would have snapped that up in a heart beat. Not only was he a great player but theres some history tied to my mother that makes it really special for me. Chamberlain too. Unfortunately KAJ has turned me off of his cards recently. While not too old, the Magic, Bird, Erving card is one ill keep trying to score. Thanks for another information packed video. Catch you on the next one.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

My biggest regret from that EBCS is not buying that Jerry West. It has been haunting me.

There's a lot of great players that could be on this list. John havlicek, Bill Walton, Jerry west, Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, Gail goodrich.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

No doubt about it... it's tough to narrow the list down to just 10.

@kinggrom1

8 ай бұрын

@@MidLifeCards yeah I know. Can't go wrong with your list though, great players.

This is a great video for those like I that are beginning to dabble into collecting vintage Basketball cards. I just acquire my first vintage Basketball card at my local card show two weekends ago. Do you know why in the vintage cards from the ‘69 set on the players seem to have their jerseys on backwards and their team name or city isn’t visible? Was it a copyright issue with Topps and the NBA and ABA? Keep it up!

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

My understanding is that some of the players wore them backwards so their name was showing on the front.

For your information wade boggs is definitely better than Tony gwynn lol just messing w u. I agree w u and u r the first person to talk about rickey hendersons legs and that he could have been on Steroids, I have often thought the same thing. Great show keep it up. Thanks for responding to everyone, I know that takes a lot of time. Much appreciated

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Thanks a bunch. Appreciate the positive feedback. And, Rickey was either a freak, orrrrr.......

I am a part of the fan base that baseball lost after their last strike! #1. Football, #2. Basketball, and #3. Baseball.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

I get that. I like to talk about all the different things that I collect and totally understand that some people are into some of it and some people aren't. Totally love that about the hobby.

@dacryptkeeper6836

8 ай бұрын

@@MidLifeCards If you aren't careful, I just might have to send you my 1939 Play Ball Ted Williams! Given my health, it will be needing a good home before long! ;)

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

@@dacryptkeeper6836 I’m gonna hold out hope that your health improves.

But basically we have a similar list. If I were to remove Bird/Magic. There would be a few other great options. Walt Frazier, Elgin Baylor, Rick Barry, etc. I think we're pretty much on same page though.

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

Those three were at the end of my cut list. It's hard to narrow it down to just 10. Havlicek is right there too.

Hobby has changed 😎 mass production is a high priced lottery game now 😂 just sayin

@MidLifeCards

8 ай бұрын

No doubt about it.