Favorite Nolan Ryan Non-Rookie Card?

JimMeant

Nolan Ryan is one of the few MLB all-time greats that is not represented in my collection, so I’m wanting to change that.

Other than his 68 rookie, what card of his
(no oddballs please) would you all recommend me picking up and why?

My preferred budget would be somewhere between $400-1K.

Thanks!

blurryface

‘69.

first solo card.
great design.
world series winning year.

be picky. wait for one w a full inner black border line.

PaulMaul

I like the 71.

NewHere

@blurryface Holy hell! I didn't know there was a missing black border problem with this card...just looked online and saw half of these cards for sale are missing that same spot. Doh! Somehow, I got lucky on that one...

Kid4hof03

I'm not much of a Ryan fan but I've always loved his 1980 Topps card.

swish54

I don't think you can go wrong with any of his 70's cards. Love the 71/72/75 ones especially. Also, don't forget you can send him cards to sign through his foundation (for a donation outlined on his website) and he'll sign them and return to you with a hologram. I sent these 4 in last fall and got them back within 2 weeks. They are some of my favorite autographs.

blurryface

@NewHere said:
@blurryface Holy hell! I didn't know there was a missing black border problem with this card...just looked online and saw half of these cards for sale are missing that same spot. Doh! Somehow, I got lucky on that one...

>

i know the ryan run very well. and thats a nice one! and kinda what i was hitting on earlier. with that centering and full border, id pay a premium on that one.

lwehlers

i really like the1974 topps and the 1982 topps. both have photos of him in his windup.

blurryface

on the other end of the ryan spectrum, the ‘84 #470 tiffany card in a 9 has great potential. 10s might be hard to come by these days. dont even recall seeing one surface in auction format in quite some time.

first year tiffany, extremely low print run, iconic 80s ryan and the well has been dry forever while demand for them has only gone up. most sealed sets are remaining that way. and considering how they were sealed would be a gamble attempting to break one for a high grade anything since the security feature is/was basically nonexistent. not only that, its very rare to see more than 3 or 4 of the #470 card on ebay at any time, in any condition. raw or graded. the same can not be said for the ‘68, ‘69, ‘70 and so on. its crazy to think but at times there are more various venezuelan ryan cards listed than ‘84 tiffanys. op didnt want oddball cards, so dont know if the tiffany qualified as one or not.

craig44

I like the 71, but get the OPC version. I much prefer the yellow back

Hallco

The 1980 AL All-Star card is a great action shot. I have this OPC example which I feel is undergraded in the current holder. I also have a raw Topps version. It's his last card with the Angels uniform before going to Houston(which I guess is actually listed in the Astros checklist). The Topps version just says "Angels". Definitely lots of options. Have fun!

dan89

75
71
69

Need the 71 and 69

NewHere

@blurryface said:
on the other end of the ryan spectrum, the ‘84 #470 tiffany card in a 9 has great potential. 10s might be hard to come by these days. dont even recall seeing one surface in auction format in quite some time.

This one? Just checked my '84 box for the first time maybe ever. It's in there. But I think I have another one or two of these in commons boxes. Somewhere. Any other "rare" Ryan's? I think I have almost all of his cards.

blurryface

looks like the regular, not the tiffany. turn it over, bright pink back? even if not, thats a sharp example. a regular psa 10 is $500 or so last time i checked, i think,

72 opc mets team card is a tough ryan card.
94 topps bilingual is a modern toughy.
68 opc & venis certainly arent the easiest.
81 topps coca-cola #1 card is no slouch. has to be #1 card. similar to finding a redsox fisk or a yanks reggie.
72 veni league a rarity, be careful for fakes.
82 blackless
81 rawlings tag
84 test - head completely in box.
70 cloth is prolly the toughest out there
70 psa 10 is still only a pop 3. currently sitting at $100k+ at heritage right now. think it belongs to a board member here.

NewHere

Great list. I'll comb through some of my stuff this week and see what I can pull from it. Won't have the '94, but might have a good haul from the rest of this list.

blurryface

@NewHere said:
Great list. I'll comb through some of my stuff this week and see what I can pull from it. Won't have the '94, but might have a good haul from the rest of this list.

if you even come up w just 1 on that list, i would be super impressed! seriously.

handyman

1968 3-d . I wish

Browns1981

1991 Topps, horizontal action shot. Worth about two cents unless you can find a legit DS.

Centauri

1971. Love that set in general, but the RC ad and cool action shot makes the card.

lbcoach20

1971

ArtVandelay

My favorite baseball set. My favorite Nolan Ryan.

firstbase23

I would go with 1980 Topps

Matt

PaulMaul

@ArtVandelay said:
My favorite baseball set. My favorite Nolan Ryan.

Fantastic 8. At a glance looks better than most 9s.

BigTex22

1984 Donruss, where he belongs, with my hometown ‘Stros!

Justacommeman

69

olb31

i like action shots. 1971, 1974, 1990, 1991. OF course the 1975, best set ever.

Barfvader

I like these ones.

tod41

Nothing rare to be sure, but always loved this card.

ScoobyDoo2

There are so many fantastic ones...... I'll go with the fave of the 80's ~

BigTex22

We need a Ryan card commemorating the ass whooping he put on Robin Ventura. Then that would be my favorite.

mrmopar

1980 Topps or OPC is my favorite. Hats off to 74 and 71 with both great action shots, but that 80 shot with the AS banner is just pure cool!

bruin805

It's not valuable but I always liked the photo

baz518

@bruin805 said:

It's not valuable but I always liked the photo

This one and both of his 89 Upper Decks stand out to me. But for base Topps... 71 and 80 are definitely my favorites.

bswhiten

I’m a fan of 80’s oddball.

blurryface

@bswhiten said:
I’m a fan of 80’s oddball.

completely goofed on the ‘85 mini on my obscure oddball list above! great, great card!

Nathaniel1960

I like 1979 Topps.

coolstanley

My favorite Ryan card that I own.

jay0791

The 71 Royal Crown is classic
The 69 is awesome and for several reasons
both are in your range.

GroceryRackPack

coinspacks

If topps now was around back in the day, I'd buy a topps now Nolan card when he punches Ventura.

MantleMarisFordBerra

Nolan is one of those guys (like Clemente or Mays) that almost every card of his looks great. As far as my favorite Nolan Ryan non rookie I know it's from the junk era but I'll always love the image & design of the '91 Topps Ryan:

blurryface

Gansetttime

@blurryface said:
looks like the regular, not the tiffany. turn it over, bright pink back? even if not, thats a sharp example. a regular psa 10 is $500 or so last time i checked, i think,

72 opc mets team card is a tough ryan card.
94 topps bilingual is a modern toughy.
68 opc & venis certainly arent the easiest.
81 topps coca-cola #1 card is no slouch. has to be #1 card. similar to finding a redsox fisk or a yanks reggie.
72 veni league a rarity, be careful for fakes.
82 blackless
81 rawlings tag
84 test - head completely in box.
70 cloth is prolly the toughest out there
70 psa 10 is still only a pop 3. currently sitting at $100k+ at heritage right now. think it belongs to a board member here.

Perhaps the 1982 FBI fits this list?

blurryface

@Gansetttime said:

@blurryface said:
looks like the regular, not the tiffany. turn it over, bright pink back? even if not, thats a sharp example. a regular psa 10 is $500 or so last time i checked, i think,

72 opc mets team card is a tough ryan card.
94 topps bilingual is a modern toughy.
68 opc & venis certainly arent the easiest.
81 topps coca-cola #1 card is no slouch. has to be #1 card. similar to finding a redsox fisk or a yanks reggie.
72 veni league a rarity, be careful for fakes.
82 blackless
81 rawlings tag
84 test - head completely in box.
70 cloth is prolly the toughest out there
70 psa 10 is still only a pop 3. currently sitting at $100k+ at heritage right now. think it belongs to a board member here.

Perhaps the 1982 FBI fits this list?

i am not familiar with that one. im gonna guess its oversized? my own stupid ocd makes me ignore what seems to definitely fit the top obscure list. just did a quick ebay search and came up w zilch.

have a pic by chance or any other info? is it a test, promo or never released version?

voxels123

1989 upper deck!

BullJack13

No intention to highjack this thread but I didn't realize this one was real tough. I did think it was a little harder to find than the regular one and paid a little more for it but had no idea it was in the company of some others listed in an earlier post. Sorry for the crappy pics.

scotgreb

I'm also partial to the 1969 - it holds the spot in my HOF collection. While it's widely known / noticed, maybe some have missed it . . . Clearly he is feigning a pitch yet the ball remains in his glove.

blurryface

@BullJack13 said:
No intention to highjack this thread but I didn't realize this one was real tough. I did think it was a little harder to find than the regular one and paid a little more for it but had no idea it was in the company of some others listed in an earlier post. Sorry for the crappy pics.

great card! they dont surface all that often. #9s are a dime a dozen.

still never found out exactly how #1 came into fruition. there are a few other odd ones in the 81 coca cola set. the carlton fisk card wasnt issued in the team set. there are a few packs that pop up here and there from time to time w him on the bottom. maybe an early limited release? same goes w the reggie jackson yankees card. all three cards got yanked or changed. i think theres one more player w similar circumstances but its slipping my mind at the moment. if anyone has any definitive answers on any of these, id love to hear about it.

Hallco

@coinspacks said:
If topps now was around back in the day, I'd buy a topps now Nolan card when he punches Ventura.

It would have been interesting to see if they would have done it back then. They had a chance to do something the first year Topps Now came out(2016) with the Jose Batista/Rougned Odor confrontation. Even though there were many collectors on the Blowout forum begging for it....it was never made. I do believe there are some homemade custom versions of it though!

tulsaboy

@blurryface said:

@BullJack13 said:
No intention to highjack this thread but I didn't realize this one was real tough. I did think it was a little harder to find than the regular one and paid a little more for it but had no idea it was in the company of some others listed in an earlier post. Sorry for the crappy pics.

great card! they dont surface all that often. #9s are a dime a dozen.

still never found out exactly how #1 came into fruition. there are a few other odd ones in the 81 coca cola set. the carlton fisk card wasnt issued in the team set. there are a few packs that pop up here and there from time to time w him on the bottom. maybe an early limited release? same goes w the reggie jackson yankees card. all three cards got yanked or changed. i think theres one more player w similar circumstances but its slipping my mind at the moment. if anyone has any definitive answers on any of these, id love to hear about it.

It's my understanding that there was a "promo pack" for each of the teams, where three players were included and were numbered 1,2, and 3. Those packs are not scarce, but are not particularly plentiful. Last I saw there were a handful on ebay. The Red Sox Fisk comes from a pack like this, as do three Yankees players (Cerone, Reggie Jackson, and somebody else) that are more common than the rest of the unissued Yankees 1981 Coke cards. Fritsch has historically had a ton of the 3 Yankees that came from these promo packs, and I suspect he had a case of them at some point. There has been a decent thread on the Net54 board in the "modern" section about these cards, with an uncut sheet or two posted if you're curious.
kevin

tulsaboy

@blurryface said:

@BullJack13 said:
No intention to highjack this thread but I didn't realize this one was real tough. I did think it was a little harder to find than the regular one and paid a little more for it but had no idea it was in the company of some others listed in an earlier post. Sorry for the crappy pics.

great card! they dont surface all that often. #9s are a dime a dozen.

still never found out exactly how #1 came into fruition. there are a few other odd ones in the 81 coca cola set. the carlton fisk card wasnt issued in the team set. there are a few packs that pop up here and there from time to time w him on the bottom. maybe an early limited release? same goes w the reggie jackson yankees card. all three cards got yanked or changed. i think theres one more player w similar circumstances but its slipping my mind at the moment. if anyone has any definitive answers on any of these, id love to hear about it.

Blurry,
Here is the thread I referenced:

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=280979&highlight=coke

kevin