by Paul Semendinger
December 26, 2024
***
On Christmas Eve, my father gave me the most wonderful set of baseball cards I'll ever own. These cards are also the most valuable in my collection. "Priceless" is a word used too often, but these cards, individually and as a set, just might fit that description.
These are one-of-a-kind cards. They feature the 2024 Yankees. It's a team set. A very special team set.
The first card is a Yankees team card followed by cards of Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm, Juan Soto, Alex Verdugo, Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton, Austin Wells, Luke Weaver, Clay Holmes, Clarke Schmidt, Tommy Kahnle, Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rizzo, Carlos Rodon, Luis Gil, and Aaron Judge. The cards are ordered by uniform number, a unique approach.
The front of the card features a color photo of the player, the back, in a way very reminiscent of the 1948 Bowman set, includes a short biography and one line of statistics for that player. These are all cut to standard baseball card size on card stock, each card, individually made by hand, for me.
A letter came with the card, it says that the cards came from Santa, and they did, but my 86-year-old father shared that he also played a hand in thinking of the set, designing it, and making sure it was all set for Christmas delivery.
The best gifts don't carry a price tage related to monetary value. Rather, they carry a special value that warms one's heart because that gift comes from the heart. These cards themselves and the thought (and work) behind them are extremely meaningful and special.
These cards immediately became the most treasured set in my collection.
Thank you, Dad.
Merry Christmas!
Lovely gift from a lovely Dad.
Why do they have a NY Post logo? Is it a promotion? I remember the Mets and Yankees posters the Daily News did in the '70s in the Sunday color comics section; I wish I still had them!
Priceless indeed!