As you can see, there were a lot of Topps Hank Aaron cards made throughout his playing career. Aaron also featured on a variety of inserts, premiums, and bizarre cards around the same period. The most expensive card in my collection is a 1984 Topps Triple Play card #12073 worth about $150. It features a photo montage of Aaron hitting three home runs in one game during the 1983 World Series.
There are several different types of cards featuring Aaron. There are standard issue cards, which are still produced today. Then there are retro cards, which look like modern-day cards but with a vintage appearance. Finally, there are award cards, which feature one of several awards that Aaron has received over the years. These include the National Baseball Hall of Fame Award, the Babe Ruth Award, the Golden Spikes Award, and the Ford C. Frick Award for Excellence in Baseball Writing. Each award is given out by its respective organization each year at the winter meetings held every December in Las Vegas.
Standard issue cards feature an image of Aaron on the front with statistics and information about him on the back. These cards were issued between 1974 and 1986. Between 1987 and 1990, they were reissued under the new checklist system used by Topps since 1991. From there, they continued to be released annually until 1995 when they ceased production again.
The 1959 Topps Hank Aaron baseball card has an attractive headshot of Aaron surrounded by a yellow backdrop. The set design is readily identifiable, making it stand out. It's the least expensive of all his mainstream cards from the 1950s, but it's still an essential part of not only the 1959 Topps set, but any serious Aaron collection. It may be cheap, but it's hard to find in good condition.
It all began with this card. In 1958, an unidentified player issued a press release claiming he had just purchased a $5,000 ($25,000 in today's money) deal on a black cat (then known as a leopard) that would hit.300 with 50 home runs and steal 30 bases for him. The rumor turned out to be true, as Aaron broke the record later that year on September 2. He didn't know anything about this card being made until years later when he saw some photos in a magazine and said it looked like him. The card became so popular that other companies started making their own versions too. In 1959, the same player who sold his home run record to Aaron also sold another one to him by hitting a ball over the left field wall at Milwaukee's County Stadium. That game is considered official by both MLB and Coors Field, but no one knows which company sold the card. If you look close enough, you can see where someone stole two cards off the wall after the game. This card has been lost and found several times since it was issued.
The 1964 Topps Hank Aaron baseball card is clean and uncomplicated. Topps didn't have many printing troubles that year, thus the cards in this collection are perhaps among the best in vintage baseball card history. The bright green team name and green border at the top and bottom anchor a nice photo of Aaron in the middle. He has a proud look on his face as he stares at you from the card.
The back of the card contains several short paragraphs about Aaron's career. One can only imagine what great stats this guy put up over the course of his career!
Hank Aaron was born on January 4th, 1935 in Georgia. He got his nickname "Hammer" when he played for a minor league team in Virginia named the Hammerheads. They had no idea how powerful a hitter he would become so they gave him some batting gloves for his first day at bat. He loved the sound of the ball against the glove so much that he decided to keep wearing them down until he could hit with his bare hand. He made his major league debut on April 17th, 1955 and ended up hitting 755 home runs during his career which lasted from 1955-2007. He died at age 65 in February 2015 after being hospitalized due to chest pains.
It's been said that there are only three things that matter in baseball: pitching, defense, and luck. But looking at the career of Hank Aaron it's clear that something else is also important: timing.
The 1954 Topps Hank Aaron Rookie Card, like many other bluechip cards, has had some enormous sales in recent years, with properly graded mint examples, such as PSA 9s, reaching six figures, including a handful that reached $300,000 in value. However, it isn't exactly clear who issued the card or how old they were when it was printed, so it can't be considered an official baseball card. It is thus not eligible for inclusion in any of our statistical databases.
In fact, there are only two ways you can acquire this card: either buy a box of used cards for about $40 to $60 or find a complete set where all the cards are intact and in perfect condition. There have been several complete sets found in the last decade, but none with all 10 cards still in their protective wrappers.
The best way to ensure you don't spend more than $40-60 on a box of cards is to buy low-end products from multiple dealers. You should be able to find a couple of cards worth at least $10, which would bring your total up to $50 or $60. These boxes tend to sell for between $80 and $100.
The highest-graded example we have data for is a PSA 9 copy that sold for $297,500 in November 2014.
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