Card Number 958: Leaf, 1998; #11
This might be a base card, but Leaf went all out on their base cards for their 50th year anniversary, including a foil stamp, bevelled edges on the frame and very clean lettering.
The design of the cardback is similarly classy, with a single season stats box and biodata arranged the way you would expect to see it on a premium card.
Tony's second card in the set had a black and white crowd scene as a background. Based on the caps and hats being worn by everyone, it looks like it might be a baseball crowd in 1949, the first year that Leaf produced baseball cards.
The write up on the back is about Tony equalling pre-war records or setting records for the modern era. Personally I don't think it's productive to compare Tony's records to Honus Wagner or Rogers Hornsby because, like all sports with a long history, baseball has changed significantly. But if there is one thing that cardback writers liked to do, it was to compare Tony's achievements with long-dead legends of the game.
Although it wasn't his highest ever batting average, a good case could be made that Tony's absulute career peak was in 1997. Across a full season he hit .372 and, as the cardback attests, he set his own personal records for home runs and RBI. It was the only season he broke three figures on RBI. He also led the league in total hits, with 220 across 149 games. Among those hits, Tony set a personal best for doubles in 1997, which helped him reach his second best slugging percentage in his career. His 'Total Bases' was 324, also a high point of his 20 seasons in the major leagues.
Total: 959 cards
By the time 1998 rolled around, I already hated the NYY. But after they swept the Padres, I hated them a tad bit more.
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