The Mount Rushmore of Basketball Cards - Survey

SportsModerator · October 30, 2015 9:10AM

Hi everyone,

In the upcoming issue of SMR, Joe Orlando discusses a great question in his monthly editorial, Taking My Hacks: What four basketball cards would make up your Mount Rushmore?

Some slots were tough to fill, but in this editorial he provides his top four choices. Now it's your chance to chime in!

Vote at www.PSACard.com/rushmore

Thanks for your participation,

The PSA Team

seebelow · October 30, 2015 9:21AM

Its not really my prime area of interest but id say.

bird/johnson

wilt

jordan

dr j vs russell?

don't really know the old timers or what their order of relevance even is.

flcardtrader · October 30, 2015 9:22AM

Mine would be:

Mikan

Russell

Bird/Dr. J/Magic

Jordan

But then again, I am a Celtics fan so Russell is going to win the jump ball with Wilt 11 out of 13 times (no pun intended).

DanBessette · October 30, 2015 9:37AM

Originally posted by: flcardtrader

Mine would be:

Mikan

Russell

Bird/Dr. J/Magic

Jordan

I don't really collect basketball, but this was my exact list off the top of my head.

cardsnbeads · October 30, 2015 10:52AM

Mikan 1948 Bowman

Russell 1957 Topps

Wilt 1961 Fleer

Jordan 1986 Fleer

jordangretzkyfan · October 30, 2015 11:16AM

Russell, Wilt, Bird/Magic, Jordan. There is no way that the Mikan card is more recognizable nor more meaningful to the sport of basketball than the Bird/Magic. Without The East/West rivalry that Larry and Ervin brought to the 1980's, the NBA wouldn't even exist. Don't pick a card just because it is old and rare, pick them for the players and worldwide demand they command.

RynoandBo · October 30, 2015 11:46AM

I would love to add the Mikan to the collection one day, but I would leave him off the Mt. Rushmore discussion. Here are my 4:

49ersGuy · October 30, 2015 4:12PM

1969 Kareem

1980 Bird/Magic

1986 MJ

1972 Doc

jay0791 · October 30, 2015 11:08PM

Mikan

Russell

Wilt

MJ

arex · October 30, 2015 11:12PM

To me the two that have to be there are the Jordan and the Bird/Magic. One is the greatest ever and the other has the two most important players in the history of the NBA (remember before Bird and Magic the NBA finals were on tape delay) and just happen to be in the top 5 players on league history. The other two spots can be fought over but those two cards are stone cold lead pipe locks.

miwlvrn · October 31, 2015 2:45AM

Surprised not to see 1969 Lew Alcindor as one of the survey options in the article

49ersGuy · October 31, 2015 11:47AM

well...he was mentioned....just as Kareem

Doublestriker · October 31, 2015 2:22PM

For me it is

MJ
Bird/Magic
Dr. J
Wilt

GDM67 · October 31, 2015 2:40PM

I know the Mikan card is a major item but I don't see how you can have a list like this without the league's career leading scorer.

Warriors8 · October 31, 2015 4:21PM

Mikan

Wilt

Russell

Jordan

estang · October 31, 2015 10:26PM

The picture nails it.

Had Topps not used the idea of 3-panel cards in 1980-81 to depict Bird & Magic -- perhaps Chamberlain would be replaced on that list...

miwlvrn · November 1, 2015 12:01AM

Originally posted by: 49ersGuy
well...he was mentioned....just as Kareem

Oh, didn't notice you had listed that one too. What I really meant though was I was surprised it wasn't an option in the survey poll or discussed within the article even if it might not win the popular vote over a couple other good options.

miwlvrn · November 1, 2015 12:15AM

Originally posted by: SportsModerator1

Hi everyone,

In the upcoming issue of SMR, Joe Orlando discusses a great question in his monthly editorial, Taking My Hacks: What four basketball cards would make up your Mount Rushmore?

Some slots were tough to fill, but in this editorial he provides his top four choices. Now it's your chance to chime in!

1957 Topps #77 Bill Russell - Sports are about winning. That is the ultimate goal. No player, in any team sport, won more championships than this man. With 11 championships in all, Russell stands alone.

Good on Russell for his achievements, but with all due respect to Henri Richard, Russell does not stand alone with 11 championships as a player.

rtimmer · November 1, 2015 1:35AM

I too would replace the Mikan with the Bird/Magic rookie. Bird or Magic have a good chance of replacing Mikan in importance to the league and sport but both combined clearly surpass him. I would also rank the Bird/Magic card above the Russell. Oh and if you feel bad leaving off Dr J well then bird/magic card helps correct that too.

If you include the Russell card mostly because he was on 11 championship team you'd have to rank the Bird/Dr J/Magic card a little higher because that card actually has the 3 leaders of their teams to 11 championships. Not to mention twice as many league MVP awards belong to the Bird/Magic card over the Russell and Mikan never actually had any when the award started later in his career.

Stewie · November 1, 2015 1:38AM

We're gonna need a bigger mountain.

rexvos · November 1, 2015 5:37AM

Originally posted by: arex
To me the two that have to be there are the Jordan and the Bird/Magic. One is the greatest ever and the other has the two most important players in the history of the NBA (remember before Bird and Magic the NBA finals were on tape delay) and just happen to be in the top 5 players on league history. The other two spots can be fought over but those two cards are stone cold lead pipe locks.

Agree. I also think Wilt and Alcindor should round it out or maybe the Russell. I also think that Shaq, Wilt or Jabar would all score 100 on Mikan.

miwlvrn · November 4, 2015 12:24PM

Originally posted by: miwlvrn

Originally posted by: SportsModerator1

Hi everyone,

In the upcoming issue of SMR, Joe Orlando discusses a great question in his monthly editorial, Taking My Hacks: What four basketball cards would make up your Mount Rushmore?

Some slots were tough to fill, but in this editorial he provides his top four choices. Now it's your chance to chime in!

1957 Topps #77 Bill Russell - Sports are about winning. That is the ultimate goal. No player, in any team sport, won more championships than this man. With 11 championships in all, Russell stands alone.

Good on Russell for his achievements, but with all due respect to Henri Richard, Russell does not stand alone with 11 championships as a player.

Well, I emailed Joe Orlando to let him know about the inaccuracy in his article (that you can't say "...Russell stands alone" since H.Richard stands right there next to him in that regard. I did not get a reply, but I did however notice that subsequent to my message, he has since revised his article so that the text now reads "With 11 championships in all, Russell remains at the top." Still technically correct to say that "No player, in any team sport, won more championships than this man." since their championship win totals are equivalent (neither Richard nor Russell won more than his counterpart).

The Mount Rushmore of Basketball Cards - Survey

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