1951 Bowman Duke Snider

I was pretty excited when this old card arrived in the mail a few days ago. It was purchased from eBay for a buy-it-now price of $20.

That might seem a bit much, but I was happy to pay it for this gem. And this 1951 Bowman really takes you back to what baseball cards were like before Topps came into the picture, in wide circulation, a year later.

Duke Snider was a major player of the 1950s. Some might argue he was a superstar. And when you have a blog called Poor Old Baseball Cards, that vertical crease doesn't hurt this card's appeal. Check out all those creases and the rounded corners. Beautiful. And what about those tape stains? They give this card even more character. There's no doubt this card was well loved.

To a kid in Brooklyn, pulling this must have been like winning the lottery.