1967 Topps, Elston Howard

Card No. 25

One of the all-time great backstops and the man who broke the New York Yankees' color barrier in 1955, hats off to Elston Howard....I picked this card up at a show a few summers ago and was elated to do so....This is Elston's penultimate Topps card and his final as a Yankee....He's wearing a Boston uniform on his Topps swan song in '68....Howards' rookie appeared in the beautiful '56 set....The Yanks traded the former MVP and 12-time All-Star to the rival Red Sox on August 3, 1967.

*MK*

2001 Topps, Mike Mussina

Card No. 562

This might be my favorite card of Hall of Famer Mike Mussina....It's nothing fancy, but just a nice, clean photograph of the right-hander...."Moose" authored 270 wins during his 18-year career....This is the second Moose we've featured on the Jukebox...Mussina, who signed with the Yankees after the 2000 season, actually has two cards in the '01 set....This one is from Series 2 and it's his first in a N.Y. uniform....His first regular Topps card appeared in the '92 set....Won 17 games and finished 5th in A.L. Cy Young voting in '01 for the Yanks.

*MK*

1972 Topps, Thurman Munson

Card No. 441

I've always been a sucker for catcher cards and this one of the great Thurman Munson is unquestionably among my favorites....Munson, who in 1976 became the first Yankees' captain since Lou Gehrig, tragically died in a plane crash in '79....Won the A.L.'s Rookie of the Year ('70) and MVP ('76) awards during his 11-year career....This is Thurman's second stand-alone Topps card....He shared his 1970 "Rookie Stars" card with first baseman Dave McDonald....Batted .280 with 7 homers and 46 RBIs for the Yanks in 1972.

*MK*

2015 Topps, Derek Jeter

Card No. 1

The 23rd and final Topps card of Yankees captain Derek Jeter....The great photo choice plus the attractive design of 2015 Topps places this one firmly in my top-three favorite Jeter cards....Derek first appeared in a Topps set in 1993 when he was featured in the "1992 Draft Pick" subset....Jeter boasts a rare trifecta, earning Rookie of the Year (1996), All-Star Game MVP ('00) and World Series MVP ('00) accolades during his storied career....Retired after the 2014 season with 3,465 hits, which is 6th-most in MLB history.

*MK*

1976 Topps, Bobby Bonds

Card No. 380

By the time the 1976 baseball season began Bobby Bonds was no longer a member of the New York Yankees....Was traded to the California Angels in December of 1975 for Mickey Rivers and Ed Figueroa....Bonds was pictured as a Yankee on his '75 Topps card also, albeit wearing a badly airbrushed 'NY' cap....Bobby's rookie card can be found in the 1969 Topps set, adorned with the coveted Topps Rookie Cup....While he enjoyed an All-Star season in '75, Bonds mustered just 10 homers and 54 RBIs in 99 games for the Halos in '76.

*MK*