From Steve Garvey to Roger Staubach: Cards That Win Over Rival-Team Fans

A team logo can’t always spoil a card. Some pieces win you over with an unusual image, a personal memory or a detail that makes the scene feel alive. That’s the thread running through this collector’s picks: cards featuring teams he has rooted against, yet kept finding room for in his collection.

The idea began with a BlueSky exchange after Night Owl mentioned several 1975 Topps Giants cards he liked. The suggestion of a shared blog topic caught on: Night Owl and San Jose Fuji wrote about cards from disliked teams, and Mike Matson followed with two posts. That prompted this collector to join in. The Yankees were an early possibility, but childhood affection for both New York teams made them a poor fit. The Dodgers, disliked since childhood, offered a clearer choice.

Dodgers cards with a story to tell

Two childhood favorites come from the 1970s. The Steve Garvey card isn’t, by the collector’s own assessment, a strong photograph of the player. Still, its particular image has held its appeal. Sometimes a card’s place in a collection comes down to the way a young collector saw it, rather than a photo that would impress everyone at first glance.

The Davey Lopes record-breaker card makes a different kind of impression. Lopes may not be shown in an especially striking pose, but the card tells a story. There’s also a Mets player in the image, whom the collector thinks is Felix Millan. That extra detail gives a Dodgers card a connection to another team he followed.

A 1999 Stadium Club card of Chan Ho Park surfaced while the collector searched through binders. It had been tucked into a “random cool cards” section, a fitting home for an image that stands out for its small, playful detail: Park blowing a bubble. Cards that catch a player in an unguarded moment can have a different appeal from formal portraits or action shots.

Darryl Strawberry gets two spots. Both cards have stayed in the collector’s memory, so choosing between them would mean leaving out half the fun. One plays with scale, imagining a towering, 50-foot Darryl; the other shows Strawberry at Shea Stadium, where his presence would likely draw a mixed response from Mets fans. Together, they connect a Dodgers uniform to the player’s Mets history.

Brooklyn memories and a World Series moment

The collector’s interest in Brooklyn Dodgers cards arrived later. At some point in the 21st century, they began to feel especially appealing, perhaps through a kind of secondhand nostalgia for another generation’s childhood. A 1956 Topps card featuring a young Don Zimmer brings together that Brooklyn connection and a favorite set.

Sal “The Barber” Maglie fits the same line of thinking. The card’s draw is tied to the old Brooklyn Dodgers and the pleasure of finding a player who gives a collection another piece of that team’s history.

A 1964 Topps World Series card carries a headline that sounds, to this collector, like a taunt aimed at the Yankees: “SEALING YANKS’ DOOM.” The joke is sharpened by the fact that the Dodgers are the team doing the sealing. TCDB identifies the batter as Frank Howard, a detail the collector accepts. The card’s appeal lies in that combination of bold wording, rivalry and a specific moment on the field.

Odd equipment and a well-loved Garvey rookie

Oversized baseball equipment has a way of making a card memorable. One image in the collection shows a very large glove, prompting a practical question: could it be the same oversized glove on Mickey Hatcher’s 1986 Fleer card? The source doesn’t settle the comparison, but the resemblance is enough to make the detail worth watching for when flipping through other sets.

The collector’s 1971 Topps Steve Garvey rookie card has its own appeal, even though he doesn’t particularly like the card in general. His copy has creases, paper loss, grime and a mysterious five-digit stamp. Those signs of wear make this individual example distinctive. It’s a reminder that condition and personal attachment don’t always point in the same direction: a copy can be rough and still earn a place in a favorite stack.

One hockey favorite and two Cowboys

Fuji’s post widened the exercise beyond baseball. Hockey rivalries don’t hold the same force for this collector now, though the Islanders were once a regular source of frustration during their run of Stanley Cup wins. That history hasn’t diminished the appeal of a 1978-79 Topps card of Mike Bossy, a Hockey Hall of Famer. The image also includes a photobomb by Ron Lalonde, then a Washington Capitals player. The Capitals stopped feeling like the collector’s team in the 1990s, but the cameo remains part of the card’s charm.

The Baltimore Ravens don’t feature in the collection: most of the collector’s football cards predate the team’s first season in 1996. Dallas, by contrast, brings two cards to mind. One is Cliff Harris, the final card needed to complete a 1975 Topps Football set. Finishing a set gives a card a special role, whatever team is pictured.

Roger Staubach earns a place for a different reason. Childhood admiration put him above the collector’s feelings about Dallas, and the 1975 Topps card works as a straightforward hero portrait.

These picks show how a collection can hold affection and rivalry at once. A bubble, a photobomb, a set-completing card or a battered personal copy may matter more than the uniform on the front. And another binder could always turn up a card that belongs in the next round.