Jimmie Foxx knows the truth about baseball fans, and so does his 1985 Topps Circle K All-Time Home Run Kings baseball card.

What truth?

We’ve always dug the long ball.

I mean, with apologies to Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire and Nike’s 1999 ad campaign, fans from pretty much all walks of life and across the ages have been somewhat infatuated with home runs and the guys who hit them.

Remember the way Babe Ruth changed the whole game with his gargantuan swing in the 1920s?

Or how Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle ignited the summer of 1961 as they chased down the Babe?

Or how Hank Aaron set a nation on its ear as he methodically knocked down homer milestone after home milestone en route to claiming the all-time home run record as his own in 1974?

Yeah, the long ball has always been our jam.

Same for card collectors and even card companies.

So it’s no surprise that Topps used the advent of the boxed set explosion of the mid-to-late 1980s to feature the all-time home run kings. Not just any boxed set, either — this was the 1985 Circle K beauty, the one featuring thick, premium cardstock, a clean design, and the kind of glossy sheen you just didn’t find this side of Topps Tiffany or Ronald Reagan’s hair.

And Jimmie Foxx was right there in the thick of it all, at card number 7.

Find Jimmie Foxx cards on eBay (affiliate link)

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That card numbering reminds of something else about home runs — things change fast … faster than Barry Bonds could turn a baseball into a McCovey’s Cove bobber.

Because those Circle K cards were number based on each player’s all-time home run ranking at the time. So, Hank Aaron was number 1, Babe was number 2, Willie Mays was number 3 … and Jimmie Foxx was number 7.

If you scroll down the checklist for this set, though, you’ll notice that there is no number 33, and it finishes with Lee May at 34.

Legend has it that Topps could not come to an agreement with the the man in 33rd place, Joe DiMaggio, so they just skipped him.

So … what’s all that have to do with a changing game?

Well, consider these gents’ ranks today of the dinger chart …

Hank Aaron, #2

Babe Ruth, #3

Willie Mays, #6

Jimmie Foxx, #19

Joe DiMaggio, #84

Lee May, #90 (T)

So, if Topps and Circle K wanted to pull off an encore to their 1985 collab, and include the same players, they’d have to invest a bit more cardboard.

Maybe it’s time, though — after all, who couldn’t use a few more classic baseball cards.

And we still dig the long ball.

Wow! Wax of the Day

One of the cool things about the Junk Wax era is that you can find most cards for cheap today. Take this eBay lot for instance …

It’s a complete 33-card set of the Circle K Home Run Kings cards, offered up for about what you would have paid 35 years ago. You can probably find it cheaper if you hunt around, too.

Check out the full listing right here (affiliate link).