Twenty-Seven World Championships...Twenty-Seven Yankees Cards.

So I know I've recently been on a tear about too many Yankees cards in every set...including the fact that as long as that person plays for the Bronx Bombers, even if he is the third string catcher or that mop up relief pitcher, he gets a Topps card even though other players on other teams playing those same roles don't even get a whiff of Topps card stock. But there are times where having too many Yankees cards makes sense. This is one of those times.


I found this set at Target the other week called the New York Yankees World Championship Set. It is a boxed set containing 27 cards featuring, obviously, one player from each of the Yankees' championship teams. Based on the front of the box, the cards would reflect the same design as that year's Topps set, and in 14 cases, it does. For the Yankee's championships prior to 1951 (there were thirteen of those), the players featured grace the iconic 1952 card design.

The checklist, with the cards numbered #YC1-#YC27, include:

• 1923 Babe Ruth
• 1927 Lou Gehrig
• 1928 Leo Durocher
• 1932 Lefty Gomez
• 1936 Tony Lazzeri
• 1937 Bill Dickey
• 1938 Tommy Henrich
• 1939 Red Rolle
• 1941 Phil Rizzuto
• 1943 Charlie Keller
• 1947 Yogi Berra
• 1949 Johnny Mize
• 1950 Hank Bauer
• 1951 Mickey Mantle
• 1952 Mickey Mantle
• 1953 Mickey Mantle
• 1956 Don Larsen
• 1958 Enos Slaughter
• 1961 Roger Maris
• 1962 Elston Howard
• 1977 Thurman Munson
• 1978 Reggie Jackson
• 1996 Andy Pettitte
• 1998 Derek Jeter
• 1999 Jorge Posada
• 2000 Mariano Rivera
• 2009 Alex Rodriguez

Even though players like Berra, Mize, and Bauer all have cards in the 1952 set, the cards included here are not reprints from that year's set. The Mick did not actually appear in the 1951 set (although he does have a few cards created recently thanks to this year's Target/Walmart exclusive insert set. All cards honoring the Yank's World Series win after 1951 do feature that year's Topps design and a reprint of the featured player's card from that year's set. The backs of the cards include a picture of the World Series logo of that year, the NL team the Yankees faced that year and the result, and a brief synopsis about what the player on the front of the card that year.

So Yankees collectors, rejoice. There's another product out there made exclusively for you. For those who collect Hall of Famers, here's another card set for you. For set collectors who like products using older Topps designs, have at it. For fans of the other 29 teams...you might want to avoid this set.

Me, I'm adding the set I bought to the 2010 Topps binder.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama