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Braves A to Z - Starting With The Best

I decided to organize my Braves collection by player since scanning and posting by year makes me try to come up with different things to say about the same player.

I have literally do have cards from A and Z (Zuvella) to post about.  Some posts will be dedicated to one player if I have enough of their cards and they merit their own post.

David Aardsma is the first major league player alphabetically but the first hitter listed is Henry Aaron. 

Braves fans still consider Aaron the true Home Run King.  Turner Field is located at 755 Hank Aaron Blvd. That is until they move to Cobb County in a couple of years and I stop watching them.  (Yes, I feel that strongly about it.)

I picked up most of my early Aaron cards by trade at my favorite card show and have gotten some in trades from other bloggers.  The condition of most is far from perfect but considering my budget and desire to complete years I'll worry about condition later on.  All of the cards on this post are from when Hank was an active player.  It does not include the 1975 or 1976 Topps cards as he was a Brewer by then.

1962 Topps 320

Only 34 HR in 1961 but 120 RBI and .327 BA.

1963 Topps 1 - 1962 NL Batting Leaders





Hank was 5th with a .323 average.  Tommy Davis had by far his best year in 1962.  Nice card with 3 HOF players (Aaron, Musial, Robinson).

1964 Topps 11 - 1963 NL RBI Leaders



Hank won the RBI title by 19 over Boyer.  As proven by this card and the previous, Bill White had some really good years.

1968 Topps 370 - All Star



1969 Topps 100




Hank only hit 29 HR with 85 RBI and a .287 BA in 1968 but that was the year that the whole league hit .243 and Bob Gibson had a 1.12 ERA.

1970 Topps 462 - All Star




1972 Topps 87 - 1971 NL RBI Leaders


Three HOFer's on one card.  (OK, Torre is getting in as a manager but he was a good player.)

1972 Topps 89 - 1971 NL Home Run Leaders

At the age of 37. Hank hit the most HR of his career in 1971 with 47.

1972 Topps 299

In 1979 or 1980 one of the youth directors at my church gave me a box of cards.  These 1972 were included.  I think it was all of his doubles.  As you can see, this card got a lot of love from me over the years.

1973 Topps 100





1974 Topps 1

This card was printed before Hank broke the home run record.  Topps was very confident that he would hit at least two dingers in 1974.

1974 Topps 2 - 6 Hank Aaron Specials










I finally completed this subset at the last show I went to.  As part of its tribute to Aaron Topps shows all of his regular issue cards from 1954 to 1973.

I have other Aaron cards that I will post next.

Can anyone guess the next player after Hank that I will be posting about?



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