In the early 1990s, nothing caused more of a buzz at card shows than a glistening display of vintage Nolan Ryan baseball cards.
Ryan’s 1968 Topps rookie card, of course, led the way, and climbed to more than $1000 (check updated Ryan values here) by the time he hung up his spikes in 1993. That burlap-bordered beauty dragged along the rest of Ryan’s early-career cards, and soon collectors were paying three figures for pasteboards from 1969 through the mid-1970s.
Later cards weren’t all that far behind, and the years have done little to soften those prices.
But you don’t have to break the bank in order to stock up on vintage Ryan cards.
In fact, the list below contains 23 cards from throughout the career of The Ryan Express that you can pick up for a relative song.
First, though, a few ground rules …
For the purposes of this list, “vintage” means anything before 1990. You can quibble with this if you want, and I might, too, under other circumstances, but it makes perfect sense when you consider that …
I set out to include at least one card from every team for which Ryan pitched, and he didn’t catch on with the Texas Rangers until 1989.
Finally, in order to qualify for this list, a card has to be available today in NM or better condition for less than $100.
So there you go. If you can live with these terms, go ahead and soak in the vintage fireballer cardboard that follows.
(Click on the titles for each card to see copies currently for sale on eBay — these are affiliate links.)
1970 Topps – Mets Celebrate: We’re Number One! Nolan Ryan (#198)
The 1969 Miracle Mets are one of the most famous and inspiring teams of all time. Led from the dugout by the great Gil Hodges, the Mets were boosted by stellar pitching from Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman, as well as a colorful lineup, that took them all the way to a World Series championship.
In commemorating the Mets’ victory in the first-ever NLCS, Topps issued this “WE”RE NUMBER ONE!” card depicting a shirtless Ryan in the clubhouse with teammates Duffy Dyer, Tommie Agee, and Wayne Garrett.
It’s a rare light-hearted pasteboard moment for the man whose stare and power could frighten batters even from the confines of his baseball card. The best part is that you can pick this one up for less than $10 in ungraded condition and for under $50 when slabbed in NM shape.
1972 Topps Mets Team Card (#362)
Looking for Nolan Ryan’s last card as a member of the New York Mets? Normally, you’d turn to the Topps set issued during his first year with a new team, since card makers are generally a season behind in their photos — this year’s Mike Trout cards shows what he looked like last year.
But in 1972, Topps pushed Ryan into their high-number series and, since he was shipped to the California Angels in December of 1971, his new card reflected his new team affiliation. But the 1972 Topps Mets team card at #362 shows the team as it was during the summer of 1971, and that meant Ryan duly made his thumbnail appearance with his blue and orange teammates.
So Topps managed to sneak in one last Ryan Mets card while at the same time squeezing him into his Angels togs at the end of the set. Whew!
You should be able to find the Mets team card for less than $5 in nice raw condition, while a graded NM-MINT copy might run closer to $30.
1973 Topps – 1972 Strikeout Leaders – Nolan Ryan/Steve Carlton (#67)
In 1972, Nolan Ryan led the American League with 329 strikeouts in less than 300 innings pitched. It was the first of 11 times that Ryan’s name would top the leader board, and it’s fitting that he and Steve Carlton appeared together on Topps’ strikeout leaders card the next year. Those two would battle for K supremacy over the next decade-and-a-half, with The Ryan Express finally steamrolling lefty.
Today, you can buy this card for less than $10 in raw condition and unde
r $50 for graded NM-MT copies.
1974 Topps Nolan Ryan (#20)
Fresh off a record 383 strikeouts in his second season with the California Angels, Nolan Ryan was starting to make baseball people rethink the notion that he was just a one-dimensional pitcher. For this 1974 card, Topps captured the sight that was making batters from coast to coast quiver in the box as they awaited Strike 3 — or for something a bit wilder but just as fast. This is the first base card on our list, and it’s a bargain at less than $30 raw and less than $80 in graded NM condition.
1975 Hostess Nolan Ryan (#58)
If you were a collector who didn’t eat sweets in 1975, then chances are you gave away, or threw away, your fair share of Hostess p
astries that summer trying to collect the cards the cupcakery issued on the bottoms of family-sized boxes of their sweeties.
The good news was that you got three at a time, panel style, so you could at least show some restraint in your Twinkie-buying habits.
For his part, Nolan Ryan led off a sheet that also included outfielder Reggie Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals and hurler Joe Coleman of the Detroit Tigers, the cards separated by dotted lines that were meant for cutting.
While not all that rare, it’s an interesting period piece that you can find for less than $20 in ungraded condition, for either a nice hand-cut Ryan or the full sheet. Graded copies of the Ryan in NM-MT condition sell for less than $50.
1975 Topps – ’74 Highlights: No-Hitters Nolan Ryan (#5)
On September 28, 1974, Ryan racked up his third career no-hitter. Even though he had tossed two no-nos in 1973, it took Topps until 1975 to commemorate his untouchable-ness in cardboard, and even then he had to share the spotlight with the temporarily unhittable Steve Busby and Dick Bosman.
Still, it’s an early piece of ephemera dedicated to the budding Ryan legacy, and it can be yours for under $10 raw and less than $40when slabbed in NM condition.
1976 SSPC Nolan Ryan (#187)
As card companies sprouted like weeds in the infield of the hobby during the 1980s, veteran collectors continued to lament the fact that no one seemed committed to producing a pure product that focused primarily on presenting the players we idolized while eschewing fancy design elements. Inevitably, these hobbyists would point to the 1975 SSPC set as a prime example of such “purity.”
While most hardliners warned that SSPC was an unauthorized, unlicensed product and could be reproduced whenever the creators — or anyone else — decided to turn on the presses again, a fair number of player collectors added these to their master-set checklists. The fact that it was later revealed the cards were printed in 1976 and not 1975 likewise did nothing to dim enthusiasm for the SSPCs.
The Ryan card shows a typically sharp (for the time), nearly full-bleed photo of The Express in his Halos uniform and sells for less than $10 raw today. Even graded GEM MT copies trade for less than $50.
1976 SSPC Catfish Hunter and Nolan Ryan (#593)
Another SSPC card, this one shows two pitchers at different ends of the career spectrum, though we didn’t really know it then.
In his late 20s, Catfish Hunter was coming off a 23-14 record in his first year with the New York Yankees, but it would be all downhill from there, and “Jim” would be out of the league by 1979.
Ryan, a couple of years younger than Hunter, was just getting warmed up and would continue to build on his legend for nearly two full decades. The card is a contraband classic tha