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| Image copied from the TCDB website |
Wilt Chamberlain. Larger than life. The back of his rookie card lists his height at 7' 1 1/16". I got a real kick out of that specific measurement.
I'm not a fan of basketball now, but I did follow it during the Celtics-Lakers rivalry in the 80's. I remember watching in the 70's also when Buffalo had the Braves.
There's a lot of people that say Michael Jordan is the best player ever. I have no problem with people making that statement, because Michael dominated his era. 6 titles. A 6 year run where he averaged 33.3 points per game. I see a 69 point game in 1990 against the Cavaliers.
For me, Wilt stands head and shoulders above everyone who has ever played the game. 100 point game against the Knicks in 1962. Wilt's first 6 seasons in the league he averaged 40.4 points a game. The only player in NBA history to average over 50 points per game in a season. The first player to record a 20/20/20 game (Russell Westbrook is the only player to do it since).
I could go on and on about numbers, but when you have a nickname like "The Record Book" (Thanks to basketball reference for that bit of info), that says it all.
I recently came across one of his cards on twitter that Joe from Cheap Cards was selling and I had to have it.
I thought Panini did a good job with this card, it's almost as if Wilt is saying "that's my ball, you can't have it" on the card. A photo featuring a Lakers-Celtics matchup also works well for me.
I thought about going for a rainbow of this particular card from 19-20, but there's 40 versions if you count the Prizms, and even though I enjoy a good color spectrum (colour for my Canadian friends), that's a little overkill for me.
I was a little bit surprised to find out that Wilt only has 1808 cards listed on the TCDB (yes, I used only) site. But I guess when you played in the vintage era instead of the modern card collecting it would put a bit of a damper on the number of cards one has.
Maybe one day I'll put together a small collection for Wilt.
Enjoy the hobby!!
Robert
Good post. I'm guilty of not appreciating some of the old school guys. Wilt would have thrived in any era.
ReplyDeleteSolid guy to collect! And there's no question that Wilt was better than MJ, as were a number of other guys. Oh, and Prizm rainbows are fun, but unless you get those 1/1's right after the product comes out, you pretty much won't ever have to worry about seeing those again, especially when they're of stars.
ReplyDeleteNever got a chance to see Wilt play... but when you average 50 points a game, you're more than just special. I thought about chasing his vintage Lakers cards, but they're way too expensive for my budget.
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