My NFL-MLB Collection Connection

Once again it's Sunday. We are one week closer to the Super Bowl, which means one week closer to Spring Training. It's conference Championship weekend, but I'm not invested in any of the teams. Now that my beloved Denver Broncos are home until training camp, I watched the games just for the sake of watching and hoped for some good games. After getting thumped by the Colts last week, there is still only one man that has led the Broncos to the Lombardi Trophy: John Elway. Growing up, he was my favorite player. I struggled through his Super Bowl losses and cheered as loudly as anyone at his back to back Championships which culminated with his Super Bowl XXXIII MVP performance. As much as I loved watching him play football and collecting his NFL cards, but my favorite card of him does not show him in his Bronco orange, blue, and white. 

It is this, showing him in minor league Yankee pinstripes! I am an Elway fan. I am a Yankees fan. How could I not love this card? This beauty that marries my two sporting loves was released back in 1998 at the All-Star FanFest in Colorado. Way back in those 'old days' this was my first ever eBay purchase. It was the first card that made me wonder if there were possibly any other Elway baseball cards out there. At the time, I found only one other. That 'other' Elway Yankee card currently inhabits the top spot on my Cardboard Wishlist. It comes from his 1982 Oneonta Yankees minor league team set. It looks something like this:

...and the flip side:

This card is incredible. It isn't easy to find, and it isn't cheap. I love the black and white photo of the first sports idol of my childhood. The design is simple, front and back. These days there are a few other Elway baseball cards floating around out there, but for the moment, the FanFest card is the only one I own. I'm sure that I'll come across a few of the others at some point and I will happily add them to my collection. I have longed to own that 1982 Oneonta card for over 14 years. I'll likely continue to do so for many years to come because for now, spending the amount of money that I'd need to buy this card is just not feasible. With two young daughters, there are plenty of other things to spend that money on.

One day I will own it. The circumstances will line up just right and a copy will end up as one of the focal points of my collection. Until then, a guy can dream... Can't he?