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Cheap Cool Cards #18: 1991 Leaf Gold Rookies Nolan & Rickey

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  • Cheap Cool Cards #18: 1991 Leaf Gold Rookies Nolan & Rickey



    On August 22, 1989... exactly twenty-two years ago... Nolan Ryan struck Rickey Henderson out to become the first and only pitcher in MLB history to record 5,000 strikeouts.

    "It gave me no chance. He just blew it by me. But it's an honor. I'll have another paragraph in all the baseball books." -Rickey Henderson on Ryan's 5,000th strikeout (The Sporting News, 1989)


    Two hall of famers, who each hold records that may never be broken (Henderson's 1,406 career stolen bases & Ryan's 5,714 career strikeouts) involved in one historical event. It's as if the baseball gods were writing the script to a movie. Who would have predicted that these two superstars would share newspaper headlines again less than two years down the road.


    May 5th, 1991. Ryan's Rangers were hosting the Toronto Blue Jays and Henderson's Athletics were at home against the Yankees. When the evening was over, Nolan Ryan had fanned 16 Blue Jays, including Roberto Alomar to end the game and secured the 7th & final no-hitter of his career.


    Fourteen hundred miles away, Rickey Henderson wanted to enter baseball's record books himself. Entering the game, he knew he was tied with Lou Brock for the most career stolen bases. With Brock in the stands and over 36,000 fans in attendance, Rickey would get the opportunity in the first inning... after Yankee's starting pitcher Tim Leary walked him. On a 2-1 pitch... he took off for second... but it wasn't meant to be as Matt Nokes threw him out at second.


    In the second inning, Leary struck out Henderson... leaving the fans waiting... as the suspense kept building.


    Then in the fourth... the baseball gods helped Henderson reach base safely on an error by Yankee's shortstop Alvaro Espinoza. Dave Henderson hit a single advancing Rickey to second base. Two batters later... on a 1-0 pitch to Harold Baines, Rickey was off and running... diving head first into third safely to become the Stolen Base King.


    Later that year, Leaf produced two cards to commemorate these two historical events:



    1991 Leaf Gold Rookies #BC25 Nolan Ryan





    1991 Leaf Gold Rookies #BC26 Rickey Henderson


    Unfortunately, I don't access to price guide information regarding these two inserts. But if I'm not mistaken... the card shop I worked at sold these in the $10 to $15 range... and we couldn't keep them in stock.


    These days, you can pick up either one for less than a quarter on COMC... which is either a blessing or a nightmare depending on your point of view.


    Now for today's question of the day:


    Do you think anyone will ever break Ryan's seven no-hitters record, or his 5,714 career strikeout record?


    And will anyone ever break Henderson's single season record of 130 stolen bases or his career record of 1,406 stolen bases?


    It's hard to say never... but in these four cases, I just don't see it happening anytime soon.


    I'll start off with with the no-hitter record. Second behind Ryan is Sandy Koufax with four. I'm not 100% sure, but I think Mark Buehrle and Roy Halladay are the current MLB leaders with 2 a piece. Nobody is even close.


    Then there's the insane career strikeout record. A pitcher would have to nineteen 300 strikeout seasons to catch up to Ryan's career totals. The last person to record a 300 strikeout season was Randy Johnson in 2002.


    Rickey's records seem to be untouchable as well. These days a player is lucky if he steals 75 bases in a season... or even 100... let alone 130. And he'd have to average over 70 stolen bases for 20 years to catch up to the career record.


    But it could be just wishful thinking on my part... and maybe I'm just being selfish... hoping both of these guys remain the Kings of their records forever. Both of these guys played when I played (lol... little league of course)... and both were a huge part of my childhood in terms of collecting cardboard.


    And if you looked around my office... you would eventually come across these two cards, which are both cool and cheap. So what are you waiting for? Pick up these two beautiful insert cards from the overproduced 90's and grab a piece of baseball history.


    Good night everyone... and have a great week. Sayonara!





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    Collecting autographs, game-used cards, & certain inserts/parallels of the following players/teams: Tony Gwynn/Padres, Kurt Suzuki/A's, Greg Maddux, Brett Favre/Packers, Steve Largent/Seahawks, Kobe Bryant/Lakers, & Devin Setoguchi/Sharks.

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  • #2
    In regard to answering your questions, ALL records are "made to be broken". However, if these two are to be broken, it'll be a while down the road. Currently I don't see ANYONE playing who has a chance at breaking the STRIKEOUT and STOLEN BASE totals. If and when they get off this PITCH COUNT thing and let pitchers pitch longer, ONLY THEN will they have a chance to break NOLAN RYAN's strikeout record. And even then, like you stated, it'll take a long and good career to do so. With the stolen base record it'll take - a runner who always has the GREEN LIGHT to do so no matter the situation, a long career, SPEED all of his career, and the hope that there won't be many catchers like MATT WIETERS who can throw out over 40& of those who try to steal.

    The main items Im looking to trade for are
    Baseball HOFers Autos I need
    Orioles Autos I need
    Baseball HOFers GU I need
    Orioles GU I need
    Vintage Orioles I need 1950s through 1970
    However other offers will be considered

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